Tested 63 kindergarten children on a spatial perspective task in which they copied the location and orientation of objects when the model and response spaces were aligned or when one was rotated 90 degrees or 180 degrees. (LLK)

Examines the concepts employed by normal and retarded children matched for mental age in kindergarten through fourth grades. Two studies explored the schema by which these children organized their experience into meaningful patterns. (LLK)

This study investigated the development of the concept of a critical search area by means of an action sequence in which a cartoon character loses his toy while walking through his house. The results showed that it is not until ages 7 or 8 that children readily make the inference that the critical area is the only plausible place to search for the…

This study investigated the use of covariation as a principle of causal analysis in children 3-4, 6-7, and 9-11 years of age. The results indicated that children as young as 3 years were capable of using covariation information in their attributions of simple physical effects. (Author/CS)

The patterning of recall of linguistic subunits was found to be strongly related to the semantic dimensions of abstractness-concreteness, specificity of denotation, comprehensibility, and interest. (Author/BJG)

Twenty children, 3-12 years old, were given a newly constructed interview on their concepts of human reproduction (social causality), in conjunction with Piaget-type tasks assessing physical conservation-identity, physical causality, and a new social identity task. The children's concepts of human reproduction appeared to proceed through a…

Three experiments with children between 5 and 7 years are described. It is shown that nominal predication of an unknown word by a superordinate term enables young children to make appropriate inferences concerning its attributes. The results are discussed in relation to semantic development and reasoning in the young child. (Author/RM)

This paper argues that if conclusions about children's grasp of logical concepts are to be reached and acceptable lines of research followed, then more precise definitions of the concept "logical necessity" must be formulated. The paper defines logical necessity as "the unconditional guarantee of truth that accompanies valid…

WRITTEN COMPOSITIONS WERE OBTAINED FROM 48 CHILDREN, FOUR FROM EACH AGE GROUP FROM EIGHT THROUGH 11, ASSIGNED TO THREE IQ GROUPS--RETARDED, NORMAL, AND SUPERIOR. USING SEVERAL OF THE FLESCH CRITERIA (WHICH USE NUMBER OF SYLLABLES, AVERAGE SENTENCE LENGTH, AND NUMBER OF DEFINITE WORDS AS INDICES), COMPOSITIONS WERE SCORED FOR DEFINITENESS OF STYLE.…

This paper is a theoretical discussion of several functions of knowledge systems based on the idea of partial matching, that is, comparison of two or more descriptions by identification of their similarities. Several knowledge system functions are described in terms of partial or best matchings including analogical reasoning, inductive inference,…

Children's use of humor in hospital settings and ways hospital personnel might encourage positive uses of humor are discussed in this paper. Three questions are raised: (1) How is humor viewed in hospitals treating children? (2) How can developmental psychology help us understand children's humor? (3) What implications does an understanding of…

The measurement of a pupil's comprehension development from literal comprehension to evaluation focused on two questions: (1) How do we measure the various types of comprehension? and (2) How should we measure the various types of comprehension? Literal comprehension is presently measured by the recall or memory-type question. However, one should…

A Piagetian type task, The Island Puzzle, was administered to children grades 5 to 12, to science teachers attending a National Science Teachers Association Convention, and to college physics teachers attending a regional meeting of the American Association of Physics Teachers. The procedures differed from those of Piaget in that the puzzle was…

It was hypothesized that the acquisition of conservation behavior would be facilitated when stimuli were more concrete than abstract. Eighty white second graders were randomly assigned to four groups and presented with three conservation-of-weight problems. Clay balls and the conservation transformations were either shown, demonstrated, and…