Describes learning activities based on the U.S. Constitution that enhance higher level thinking skills in elementary students. One activity proposes a hypothetical constitutional amendment banning Saturday cartoons; a second taxes children's earnings; and other activities focus on dramatizing events surrounding the Constitutional Convention. (LS)

Based on Luria-Das information processing theory, hypothesized that 26 educable mentally retarded children would score significantly less well on relatively pure measures of planning ability than would 13 younger average ability students after students were matched on cognitive processing ability. Hypothesis was not supported by study. (Author/NB)

Whereas the writing process is recursive, Instructional Theory into Practice (ITIP) is a linear, sequential series of instructional decisions. By understanding the relationship between these two models, staff development and curriculum specialists can assist teachers by coordinating support group sessions and followup training using a common…

Explains the significance of stories in productive thinking by collecting and analyzing the reactions of 40 children of 3 and 4 years to 10 stories. Results indicate that stories can be used to understand preschool children's thinking and increase their productive thoughts. (BB)

A parallel distributed processing model of visual word recognition and pronunciation is described. A key feature is the assumption that there is a simple, uniform procedure for computing a phonological representation from an orthographic representation for irregular words as well as regular words. (SLD)

Results suggested that preadolescents and adolescents understand but reject or subordinate parents' conventional interpretations of family conflict, and reinterpret them as issues of personal jurisdiction. Parents understand but reject children's claims to personal jurisdiction, and state the issues in conventional terms. (RH)

Results of an experimental study of 46 field-independent and 39 field-dependent undergraduates indicate that immediate testing after a lecture resulted in no performance differences on a delayed test. However, without immediate testing, field-independent students performed better. All students reviewed notes before delayed testing. (IAH)

A review of studies investigating the effects of bilingualism on the cognitive and academic performance of language-minority students indicates both negative and positive effects. Compared with monolingual students, differences favoring bilingual students are found in studies utilizing Piagetian measures, which are not heavily language dependent.…

Examines the rules that determine presence or absence of the definite article with place names in English. To help students of English-as-a-Second-Language learn when to use the definite article, a prototype concept is proposed based on the notions "at home" and "on the road." (23 references) (OD)

Examines the effects of participant and observer perspectives on the quantity and quality of information recalled from conversations. Finds that conversational memory may be linked to the social cognitive bias, which has long been associated with the observer perspective. (MS)

Focuses on a subgroup of nonconcept-aware readers--children who have sufficient concept knowledge, but who rely excessively on the processing of the data on a printed page. Discusses the nature, contexts, and how to assess overreliance on data processing. (MS)

Discussion of expert systems focuses on knowledge acquisition methodologies and their potential application to cognitive science research and the development of instructional materials. Topics discussed include subject matter experts; types of knowledge; structured interviews; task analysis; intelligent computer assisted instruction (ICAI);…

Examined effects of sugar on behavior of 45 preschool and elementary school children. Provided all children with basic breakfast that included drink containing either 50 g of sucrose, a comparably sweet placebo, or very little sucrose. Found some small behavior changes in high-sucrose group. All effects were small in magnitude and not considered…

Data from three studies identified the cognitive deficits associated with reading difficulties as distinct from attentional deficits. The studies found consistent cognitive deficits (especially naming and phonological awareness) associated with difficulty in reading. Deficits were consistent across samples, developmental levels, definitions, and…

Graduate students (N=28) in counseling read client information that was nonemotive and factual, indicative of well-adjustment, or suggestive of need for psychological help, then rated mental health of clients. Results revealed anchoring errors for all cases regardless of severity; presence of anchoring errors was restricted to those made as result…