This paper presents a discussion, based on current research, of what can be done to help children achieve the highest level of cognitive development (Piaget's formal operations). The four factors which Piaget found to be involved in cognitive development are discussed in relation to recent research. These factors include: (1) organic growth and…

A series of Piagetian concrete operations period tasks dealing with classificatory concepts was administered to 280 children (40 subjects from each of seven levels--preschool, kindergarten, and first, second, third, fourth, and sixth grades). Significant main effects for age were found for all the tasks. Few significant sex differences were…

This paper presents a structural-developmental model of social cognition and discusses the implications of this approach for social intervention research. This model of social development is concerned with social reasoning and judgment. The basic assumption of this model of social cognition is that the structure of social reasoning develops…

A Piagetian preschool emphasizes the child's active construction of mental images rather than passive association of words and pictures with real objects. The role of the teacher is neither to dictate good behavior nor to transmit ready-made predigested knowledge. Her role is to help the child to control his own behavior and to find things out as…

This yearbook focuses on the teaching of a geometry course emphasizing critical thinking and methods of proof rather than on learning a body of theorems. In the first chapter the problem is defined, and its origin and background are discussed. Next the organization of the experimental situation is described. Chapter 3 gives numerous illustrations…

An experiment was conducted to investigate three topics of current interest in education: critical thinking, programed instruction, and aptitude-treatment interaction. Thirty college students and 31 ninth graders with extreme discrepancies between their verbal and quantitative aptitude scores were taught eight principles of class reasoning by…

This research project was carried out to test the hypothesis that symbolic logic instruction, if taught in a secondary school field situation in a way which included specific applications to argumentative composition, would effect greater improvement in composition and logical sentence analysis than if the students received little or no…

The general needs assessment instrument can provide the means for a school district to assess its needs relative to the Ten Goals of Quality Education. It is comprised of 63 area behavior statements, which encompass the 10 goals, and a 5-point rating scale (most important-least important) for each. The individual needs assessment instrument is…

The paper investigates the relationships among indoctrination, education, believing, and action in order to inform students and teachers of methods of openly and collectively guarding against indoctrination in the American school system. Four conditions for distinguishing indoctrination from education are: (1) intent of the teacher; (2) truth or…

Reports on a study which tested eight categories of logical fallacies with secondary students, student teachers, and teachers from Australia, South Africa, and Israel. Results indicate that logical fallacies were exhibited by all the groups. Implications are discussed. (ML)

Listening and reading comprehension are seen as problem-solving activities, which require instruction in thinking skills. An instructional technique, reciprocal teaching, is conducted as a group problem-solving activity to teach remedial and special education students to predict, question, summarize, and clarify while reading and listening to…

This study explored possible configurations of the new SAT® critical reading section without analogy items. The item pool contained items from SAT verbal (SAT-V) sections of 14 previously administered SAT tests, calibrated using the three-parameter logistic IRT model. Multiple versions of several prototypes that do not contain analogy items were…

Reviews recent research on problem solving, summarizing differences between problem-solving styles of novices and experts. Also describes a text by Daniel Solow ("How to Read and Do Proofs"). Includes chapter titles for the text useful for students who wish to improve their understanding of mathematical reasoning. (JM)

An elective course in the history of medicine focuses on clinical thinking using the case study method. Course goals include: student recognition of clinical reasoning as a historical process; understanding of distinctions between disease categories and etiological frameworks; and different conceptualizations (etiological and syndromic) of…

A two-year study randomly assigned children (K-grade 2) with advanced mathematical skills (n=276) to two groups, an intervention group reflecting a constructivist approach or a control. Boys gained more than girls on quantitative and visual-spatial measures in the control, whereas the intervention group made greater gains in quantitative measures…