The data from verbal learning studies have been partially instrumental in the development of the theory of extraversion-introversion (E-I) relative to levels of cortical arousal. In most of the studies relating E-I to verbal learning, the approach was to determine if there was an overall superiority for one of the personality groups. Differences…

This report examines the process of learning large complex subject matters, by asking about the ways in which teachers and students communicate the necessary knowledge structures to each other and how a student comes to select an appropriate paradigm for solving a problem and revising inappropriate solutions. Protocols from several different…

The relationship between scores on three area conservation tasks and scores on two area measurement tasks, as affected by two sequences of presentation of Piagetian tasks to children in grades one through three, was investigated. The five area tasks were administered individually to 168 children ranging in age from six years five months to nine…

Three experiments tested the generality of the conclusion that associative unlearning is minimal in the A-B, A-D paradigm. In Experiment 1, single-trial study of A-D, following single-trial study of A-B, did not produce retroactive inhibition in the recognition of A-B. In Experiment 2, A-B was acquired by associative matching. The interpolated…

As the proceedings of a symposium held at the 1973 Annual Meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, theoretical and experimental results from research in the use of information theory to study human learning are presented in this volume to reflect the efforts made at the University of Pittsburgh over the past four…

This study attempted to determine if performance on Piagetian tasks can be predicted from Stanford-Binet mental age or IQ. Subjects were 143 children of bright, average, and retarded abilities as measured by performance on the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Test. Bright and average children were chronologically aged five to seven years; retarded…

A Piagetian-based early childhood education program is compared with the Lavatelli program and the Weikart program. Interpretation and application of Piaget's theory are examined on a number of levels: conceptualization of curriculum objectives, methods of teaching, principles of teaching, and the role of the teacher. Lavatelli's program is…

Three self-instructional episodes for use in physical science classes were written and tested with ninth grade students. The development was based on Piaget's learning theory leading students from actions with physical apparatus to the formulation of a mathematical equation. The episodes concerned: (1) equilibrium in a balance; (2) the oscillation…

Both assessment and remediation of primary and secondary behavioral handicaps to learning are discussed, and a classification of behavior styles detrimental to learning, based upon observation of the child's behavior in learning situations, is presented. Primary learning-handicaps are defined as aspects of impairment of temperament which are in…

The role of negative instances in the acquisition of the mathematical concepts of commutativity and associativity of a binary operation was examined. Two levels of instruction (positive instances, and positive and negative instances) for commutativity and for associativity were crossed to form a 2 x 2 factorial design with 16 ninth grade subjects…

The purpose was to evaluate the effectiveness of a geometry course for preservice elementary teachers and, at the same time, to validate the assumptions that the arrangement of categories in Bloom's "Taxonomy" is hierarchical and cumulative. Sixty-two preservice elementary education majors took an investigator-constructed achievement…

Efforts to create instructional materials which would be cognitively appealing to students demonstrating aptitude for figurally, verbally, or symbolically oriented materials are described. Students enrolled in preservice freshman level mathematics content courses for prospective elementary school teachers were given a battery of tests designed to…

Three experiments were conducted to determine the effect of several instructional variables on concept attainment. In Experiment I, the effect of presenting a rationally chosen set of positive and negative instances was contrasted with the effect of presenting either a rationally chosen set of positive instances alone or two randomly selected…

First-grade students' understanding of several basic measurement processes was examined. Twenty randomly selected students from five first-grade classes in two different schools were individually examined on 11 measurement tasks. Seven of the tasks were adapted from items reported in the Gal'perin and Georgiev study, designed to test understanding…

The purpose was to examine the assumption that all children of various abilities can profit from instruction demanding activity on a variety of cognitive levels. Two groups of about 40 sixth graders each were chosen by their scores on the "Analysis of Learning Potential." Students were classified as having high or low success potential. A series…