According to Matthew Lipman, director of the Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children, philosophy is the best answer to the call for critical thinking because it provides experience in reasoning that will prepare children much better than the limited knowledge of the disciplines. (TE)

The study examined whether learning disabled students differed in development of proportional reasoning and whether their disability was in the use of symbols and language rather than ability to solve proportional problems. Developmental scalograms supported the hypothesis that LD Ss' proportional reasoning abilities are developmental, not unlike…

Assesses five- and 10-year-old children's understanding of second-order belief structures in acted stories in which two characters were independently informed about an object's unexpected transfer to a new location. Results show unexpected early competence around age six or seven under optimal conditions when inference of second-order beliefs is…

Examines Paul H. Hirst's concept of reason as implied in his theory of the forms of knowledge. Explains Hirst's view of the temporal nature of knowledge and analyzes his key concepts of objectivity, judgement, the given, and facts. (Author/DMM)

One hundred and sixty gifted children (4-11 years old) participated in a study confirming a hierarchy of difficulties for logic activities and the existence of a developmental trend in logic learning. (CL)

A common approach used for introducing algebra to young adolescents is an exploration of visual patterns and expressing these patterns as functions and algebraic expressions. Past research has indicated that many adolescents experience difficulties with this approach. This paper explores teaching actions and thinking that begins to bridge many of…

It is claimed that, since mathematics is essentially a self-contained system, mathematical objects may best be described as "abstract-apart." On the other hand, fundamental mathematical ideas are closely related to the real world and their learning involves empirical concepts. These concepts may be called "abstract-general" because they embody…

What is involved in consolidating a new mathematical abstraction? This paper examines the work of one student who was working on a task designed to consolidate two recently constructed absolute function abstractions. The study adopts an activity theoretic model of abstraction in context. Selected protocol data are presented. The initial state of…

The ability of some individuals to understand self-embedded sentences, which occur when a sentence is placed within another sentence of a similar type by means of a relative clause, is shown to be related to their ability to reason with the use of the syllogistic form. (Author/KM)

Rebellion against intellectualism has been caused by the lack of reason in intellectual pursuits. (HS)

In order for students to fully develop their intellect, they must be exposed to the finest professors and the most demanding disciplines. (HS)