This study assessed the relationship between parent/teacher ratings of hyperactivity and developmental indices in psychiatric clinic children (ages 5-16). Findings suggest that chronological age should be considered when behavior ratings are used to assess cognitively delayed children for hyperactivity but do not support use of mental age in…

Explored whether there are changes with age in understanding the specific distinction between natural and human-made phenomena and whether an appreciation of this distinction influences children's beliefs about the possibility of altering or transforming different categories of objects. Found that this distinction, a powerful organizer for adults,…

Students (n=46) were assigned to one of three instructional groups (descriptive, question design, and hypothesis testing) to test the hypothesis that descriptive learning cycles are not sufficient to stimulate students to reason at a formal operational level. Analyses indicated that the hypothesis-testing group exhibited a significant increase on…

In this study of sensitivity to viewpoint, children between the ages of 6 and 14 years were asked to draw an L-shaped array of 3 cubes from 1 of 3 views. At every age, children showed sensitivity to their view in the sense that there were consistent differences between the drawings produced in the three viewing conditions. (SH)

Examined third and seventh graders during dual tasks to estimate the mental effort required to elaborate accessible noun pairs. Findings indicated that the accessibility difference was limited to the third grade. Findings support a knowledge-base view of developmental differences in elaboration effort. (SH)

Analysis of retrospective self-reports about childhood curiosity to see persons in the nude, with heterosexual and homosexual pedophiles, gynephiles, and androphiles, suggests that establishment of erotic sex preference proceeded that of age preference, and a greater proportion of pedophiles than gynephiles or androphiles remembered childhood…

The development of understanding of Biblical parables on the part of 28 Swiss subjects of 7 to 50 years of age was studied. It was found that Biblical parables were interpreted through the lens of one's stage of religious judgment in the manner described by Oser's and Gmunder's (1988) model. (BB)

Discusses the relationship between Lawrence Kohlberg's cognitive-stage theory as a further development of Piaget's moral theory. Argues Kohlberg describes moral thought and not the formation of the independent moral function. Finds Kohlberg's major interest is in the characteristics of stages of individual moral reasoning and the principle of…

Discusses Piagetian stages of infant development during the first two years of life. Describes activities that caregivers can use to foster infant capabilities at each developmental stage. (BB)

Cardinality responses are affected by both the direction and nature of the elements in the counting sequence. Error analysis suggests six stages in the acquisition of cardinality. Although there appears to be a developmental dependency between counting and cardinality, this relationship is not significant in all cases. (RH)

Examined long-term relationship of 31 older couples and looked at second half of life cycle of marriage. Findings suggest that developmental relationship tasks are important to the changes and adjustment which couples must work through during successive stages of old age. (NB)

This study found no significant relations between junior high school students' (n=50) prior alternative frameworks on energy and their cognitive levels of operation. Significant differences in learning outcomes were achieved by students (n=29) who had higher cognitive level scores. The extent to which students succeeded in learning the energy…

Investigated how learners' developmental readiness interacted with instruction in second language (L2) acquisition. Researchers pretested francophone children (age 11 to 12) on their knowledge and use of English questions, determined their developmental stages, then exposed them to numerous English questions in class. Posttesting indicated that…

Provides a model of the domains of preliteracy development that contains four components: an orthographic, phonological, meaning, and context processor. The relationship of subskills to prereading activities and later reading is discussed. Developmental progressions for various preliteracy skills are identified, and methods of assessing…

Two studies examined whether 4- to 8-year olds use social comparison (SC) for self-appraisal before temporal comparison (TC). Found that even 4-year olds rated themselves higher after doing better versus worse than another person and explained their ratings in terms of SC. Children in TC conditions attended only to their last outcomes; comparisons…