This study investigates the reliability and construct validity of a group administered test of Piaget's formal operations stage. A related problem involving a learning effect associated with Piaget's clinical methods is also investigated. The Piagetian Logical Operations Test (PLOT), a group-administered instrument, was developed and field-tested.…

The Chi-Square Test for Hierarchical Dependency (THD) is presented. The THD tests the hypothesis that all members of a population who possess a certain skill are a subset of the members who possess another skill. This hypothesis is basic to the writings of several prominent theorists, such as Gagne and Piaget. The THD is designed as an improvement…

A theory of the nature of mental abilities is presented. In this theory, mental abilities are hierarchically organized into four progressively deeper levels--the levels of composite tasks, subtasks, information-processing components, and information-processing metacomponents. Composite tasks can be decomposed into subtasks, subtasks into…

The structure of knowledge in a particular subject-matter discipline and the structure of behavior in a given task-skill domain are often regarded as unrelated or even antithetical bases for the systematic design of instructional products and procedures. This volume documents progress toward a methodology of instructional design founded on the…

Outlined are similarities between the developmental system of J. Piaget and the system of N. Kephart. Considered are views of the two men in areas such as organization and adaptation, early development, and mental structures. The author concludes that for learning disabled children, Kephart's conceptions lead more clearly to educational programs…

This report discusses mathemagenic behaviors, which are activities that promote learning. During instruction these are the activities that learners perform when confronted with instructional stimuli. Three groups of hypothetic mathemagenic behaviors are discussed: translation, segmentation, and processing. A review of the literature on…

Eighth-grade subjects, classified as formal or concrete operational, learned a mathematical group structure with either a pre-determined sequence of trials (Reception Mode) or a free choice of trials (Selection Mode). All subjects learned a similar group structure one week later in the Selection Mode. Formal subjects learned in fewer trials and…

Piaget's theory of cognitive development is explained, especially in relation to the teaching of elementary school science. Several research projects involving Piaget's theories are reviewed. (MLH)

This study examined the effects on long-term retention of variations in intensity and of temporal parameters of arousal following a single learning trial in a paired-associate task. The subjects were 56 female university students. Intensity of arousal was manipulated by using two levels of white noise--75 decibels and 90 decibels sound pressure…

The concept of an algorithm derives from the physical sciences, but it has often been misunderstood and misapplied in the social sciences and in education. The theoretical and practical significance of algorithms stems from their applicability to problems of learning, instruction, and instructional design, and they may potentially provide the…

The tragic feature of our society is that much time and effort has been placed into the remarkably successful feat of prolonging life. But somehow in our society we have failed to build in reasons for appreciating those added years. Our heritage has been adapted to career building with the concommitant factors of home-making and family-raising.…

The documents listed in this selected bibliography on language teaching and learning appeared in the January through November 1974 issues of Research in Education (RIE). The entries are divided into three categories: (1) documents concerning language acquisition and development, (2) documents dealing primarily with the theoretical aspects of…

After a brief description of three Piagetian stages (pre-operational, transition to concrete operations, and concrete operations), the author identifies 12 key statements from Piaget's writings. These statements, together with related implications for teaching elementary school mathematics, methods of diagnosing stage acquisition, and examples are…

Subjects, differing in imagery ability, learned a list of paired associates with the presence of a verbal context related to the stimulus item, with a pictorial context related to the stimulus item, or without the presence of any context. Following testing for recall, the subjects were required to learn one of two transfer lists. Both lists were…

The studies described in this report were concerned with the effect of active student behaviors, such as note-taking, listening, verbal responding, and test-taking, and the effect of individual differences on the transformation, storage, and retrieval of information. The roles of such individual characteristics as personality, background, and…