Addresses the practical validity of self-instruction training as an intervention for severely disabled children. Three issues are examined: (1) the development of verbal strategies adaptable to children with knowledge deficits, (2) the effects of generalization training, and (3) the role of self-talk (verbalization) in self-instruction. Four…

Examines the development of children's knowledge about the presuppositions of cognitive verbs that take sentential complements. Results indicate that the presuppositions of the factives "know,""forget," and "remember" and the nonfactive "think" are not learned until age four. "Believe," which has factive and nonfactive properties, is mastered…

Explains the theoretical positions of Russian Marxist psychologist and educator, L. S. Vygotsky, and their philosophical foundations. Discusses Vygotsky's major psychological theories regarding cognitive development, the development of scientific and spontaneous concepts, the zone of proximal development, and language's relationship to thought.…

Ordering theory was used in two studies to empirically determine hierarchies of developmental precedence for Piaget's 16 logical combinations. In study 1, subjects (N=94) responded to statements about odd and even numbers; in study 2, 30 subjects responded to statements about line segments. Results are reported and discussed. (Author/JN)

Describes the van Hiele levels of reasoning in geometry according to responses to clinical interview tasks concerning triangles and quadrilaterals. Subjects were 13 students from grades 1 through 12 plus a university mathematics major. Students' behavior on tasks was consistent with the van Hiele original general description of the levels.…

The relationship of maternal behavioral style to cognitive development states of 60, 1-, 2-, and 3-year-old organically impaired, mentally retarded children was investigated. Factor analysis of maternal behavioral items revealed three major parameters of behavior. Child-Oriented/Maternal Pleasure was related positively, whereas Quantity of…

Describes a study which explored developmental changes in preschoolers' knowledge of the writing system. The children were asked to write four utterances without knowing the purpose of the request and without additional explanations. The purpose was to determine how early children's graphic responses in decontextualized situations have features of…

Discusses the three domains of learning (cognitive, affective, and psychomotor) and the use of each domain in writing educational objectives for home economics. Also examines elements to consider when selecting software to foster higher levels of learning. (CT)

A total of 41 children ranging in age from 9 months to 6 years, 6 months of age were observed playing at game-like tasks. Disruptive interventions were made at different times and with different levels of intensity. Children's reactions revealed developmental stages in wanting to do things by themselves; stages varied with the development of…

Longitudinal psychometric test data collected at two different ages (approximately 9.5 and 15 years) were utilized to compare the developmental rates of 69 pairs of reading-disabled and matched control children. Results indicated that reading-disabled children manifested deficits on measures of academic achievement, symbolic processing speed, and…

Topics discussed in this issue include the cognitive education of the preschooler, general problems in aesthetic education and child development, educating children through play, family influence on the preschooler's personality, and the preparation of children for school. (RM)

Metalinguistic knowledge and its antecedents were studied in an investigation of performance- and reflective-based knowledge in 27 young children. Piagetian assessment tasks were used to determine cognitive functioning level, and then the children were tested as to knowledge of words' structural and significative features. Results support an…

Differential effects of parental deafness and early exposure to manual communication were not observed in the cognitive and communication performance of the 38 experimental subjects. Furthermore, the Delayed sign language group performed significantly better than the early American Sign Language group on tests of speech perception and speech…

In two experiments, 5- to 13-year-old children mentally tracked the rotation of a pointer around a circular backdrop to indicate the pointer's imagined position on a backdrop at the sound of a signal. Results indicated that children older than eight years generated linear distance x time functions indicating mental tracking but that younger…

Analyzed was the mental activity required to answer Profile Test questions. This was then related to the results of pupils with differing profiles. Most of the mental activity could be reduced to three categories of knowledge: data, short operations, and paths. These categories are then discussed and applied. (MNS)