A decline exists in children's ability at ages 4 and 5 to accurately respond to the difference between polar adjectives such as "big" and "tall.""Taller" and "bigger" are both taken to mean "having a higher top point," rather than "bigger" meaning "greater overall mass." Two hypotheses are put forth to explain this. The "strong cognitive…

This paper reviews the research of Ference Marton and his group of researchers at Goteborg University. It describes and explains research on: 1) what students learn, 2) how students approach learning, 3) the relationship between approach and learning outcome, 4) student perceptions of learning, and 5) the possibility of manipulating student…

Two comprehension-time experiments were conducted to identify factors affecting the comprehensibility of written materials. The subjects (a total of 52 college students for the two experiments) were presented with pairs of sentences--"context" sentences followed by "target" sentences--and were asked to relate the content of the target sentences to…

A study was conducted to examine patterns of information processing over time in self-analytic groups. Communication patterns in two 25-member groups of college students that met for 32 50-minute sessions were categorized by means of the Systems Information Processing Analysis (SIPA) category system. Messages were coded on four dimensions of…

This study explored some ways that cognitive style (different individual patterns of perceiving, memorizing, organizing and utilizing stimuli) might influence intellectual achievements. It was specifically concerned with cognitive tempo--the individual's tendency to be either slow and accurate (reflective) or fast and inaccurate (impulsive). A…

Composing in writing is a complex psycholinguistic process about which very little is known. Nearly all of the research on composing in writing has looked at the written product, not at the process by which it came into being. This document reviews past research on the composing process and proposes a study in which video cameras would record…

In this study of the development of logical propositions in children, two hypotheses were tested: (1) There will be a significant difference in the scores and proportions of students from age level to age level in the ability to supply missing elements of syllogisms, and (2) There will be a hierarchy of difficulty for all subjects in supplying…

A discussion of the functions of human communication shows that underlying them is the cognitive process by which people have the ability to take the view of others, to internally represent reality, and to take into account knowledge and experience to choose future actions. These features of decentration and abstraction reveal the link between…

This study examines the development of children's concepts of illness in light of Piagetian findings regarding the ontogenesis of causal relations. The Concept of Illness protocol was administered to 72 3-, 7-, and 11-year-old children; 24 from each age group. Children were interviewed individually in a school setting. Raters assigned subjects'…

Three experiments were conducted to test the psychological relevance of objectively quantified word collocations. The first experiment showed that perceived frequency of word combinations roughly followed the objective count. Another recurrent quality of words, constructional tendency, was supplemented as independent variable in the two following…

Training in Interpersonal Cognitive Problem Solving (ICPS) can be a means of promoting social competence and adjustment. Empirical findings suggest that the process of being able to consider multiple options for solutions of interpersonal problems is important for healthy adaptive functioning, even in children as young as 4 years of age. If one…

The issue of specialized teacher education and certification for the middle school grades is discussed. The general background on teacher preparation for the middle school grades is covered, and findings of studies concerning teacher education and certification for the middle school are presented. The history of the growth of the middle school is…

A New Zealand study examines the interaction between 18 teachers and their respective classroom environments and actions in an attempt to isolate those factors contributing to each teacher's philosophy concerning the role and responsibility of pedagogy. Nine classroom teachers and nine student teachers are examined for degree of congruence between…

Communication may be complicated in the kind of complex polyethnic interaction setting that is part of the Australian educational scene. In a polyethnic school, breakdowns in communication can occur from interference not recognized by either the teacher or the student. Interference may occur because the cultural grammar of the child may not mesh…

This study investigates the perceptual processing capabilities by analysis of eye movement of children from differing levels of field independence/dependence. Forty nine field independent (24 girls, 26 boys) and 36 field dependent (19 girls, 17 boys) children in third grade were analyzed as they viewed either seven dynamic or seven static segments…