The approaches and methods of teaching and learning social studies are examined. Fundamental study skills are emphasized: effective questioning techniques, data gathering, ability to recognize relationships in terms of time and space, and ability to recognize facts, opinions, and propaganda. To develop these skills it is recommended that priority…

SEVERAL APPROACHES FOR TEACHING BIOLOGY IN EIGHTH GRADE CLASSES WERE COMPARED FOR EFFECTIVENESS IN IMPROVING STUDENT'S CRITICAL THINKING ABILITIES, UNDERSTANDING OF SCIENCE, AND KNOWLEDGE OF MAJOR CONCEPTS AND FACTS. STUDENTS WERE RANDOMLY ASSIGNED TO THREE CLASSES, EACH TAUGHT BY A TEAM OF THREE TEACHERS. CLASS A USED A TEXTBOOK LABORATORY…

AN EXPLORATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AN INDIVIDUAL'S PATTERN OF LIVING AND THE RETENTION OF MENTAL ABILITIES WITH AGE WAS MADE AND EVALUATED. THE OBJECTIVES WERE (1) TO ESTIMATE THE EFFECTS OF AN 11-YEAR INCREMENT (50-61) UPON EIGHT MEASURABLE MENTAL ABILITIES, (2) TO ESTIMATE THE EFFECT OF THE GIVEN AGE INCREMENT UPON INDIVIDUAL AND TRAIT…

The goal of this paper is to describe the black cultural style and to demonstrate its relationship to the cognitive development of black children. Children raised within a black cultural environment tend to develop a relational cognitive style rather than the more analytic style required in American schools. Children's cognitive styles are based…

This paper presents the thesis that a perceptual rationale for visual literacy may be found in operational form within what is measured by established tests of cognitive style. Ten primary dimensions of cognitive style are briefly reviewed, including field independence-field dependence, impulsivity-reflectivity, visual-haptic, leveling-sharpening,…

Piaget's early contribution to theorizing about play is discussed critically with reference to three major interrelated problems. These are: (1) that despite their equipotentiality in Piaget's theory of intelligence, imitation and play are not conceptualized as making an equal contribution to cognition, play taking a subordinate role; (2) that…

Twenty-four profoundly deaf children (7 to 13 years old) from a residential school were presented with conservation problems of liquid, matter, weight, and volume. Analyses of variance showed that age was significant beyond the .01 level and type of task (conservation) at the .25 level. No significant sex effect was found. Differences among means…

THIS MANUAL DESCRIBES MEASURES USED IN "THE COGNITIVE ENVIRONMENTS OF URBAN PRE-SCHOOL CHILDREN" PROJECT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO. THE SAMPLE FOR THE STUDY CONSISTED OF 163 NEGRO MOTHER-CHILD PAIRS SELECTED FROM 3 SOCIOECONOMIC CLASSES BASED ON THE FATHER'S OCCUPATION AND THE PARENTS' EDUCATION. A FOURTH GROUP INCLUDED FATHER-ABSENT…

USING THREE FIFTH-GRADE CLASSES IN RACINE, WISCONSIN, AS AN EXPERIMENTAL GROUP AND THREE FIFTH-GRADE CLASSES AS A CONTROL GROUP, CONFORMITY TO GROUP PRESSURE WAS COMPARED FOR 76 SUBJECTS RECEIVING A FOUR-WEEK PROGRAM OF CREATIVITY TRAINING AND FOR 88 MATCHED CONTROLS. EFFECT OF CREATIVITY TRAINING ON CONFORMITY WAS QUITE SPECIFIC, WITH CONFORMITY…

AS PART OF AN EFFORT TO ASSESS THE EFFECT OF THE BALTIMORE HEAD START PROGRAM ON COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT, CHILDREN ENROLLED IN THIS PROGRAM WERE GIVEN THE PEABODY PICTURE VOCABULARY TEST (PPVT) AND THE DRAW-A-PERSON (DAP) TEST AT THE START OF THE PROGRAM, AT ITS TERMINATION, AND WHEN THEY ENROLLED IN KINDERGARTEN. A CONTROL GROUP, DRAWN FROM THE…

Determined was the effect of advanced organizers, as defined by Ausubel (1963), on the acquisition and retention of meaningful verbal material by elementary education majors at Purdue University. Two approaches were utilized. In one, the experimental group was exposed to an 800-word organizer on two occasions prior to the study of the learning…

The effectiveness of a Keller and Bloom mastery learning program for high school science students was examined by comparing remediation strategies of both programs and that of a traditional strategy. The data gathered in the experiment in chemistry were from a pre- and post-achievement test. Cognitive achievement was statistically different (p…

Forty elderly adults were required to memorize a list of 15 simple nouns belonging to three separate categories. The arrangement of the list of nouns (randomized or completely categorized) and instructions (instructed that the nouns could be in terms of categories or not instructed) were manipulated as factors. Individuals participating in the…

Changes in manipulative play with objects were examined in a longitudinal sample of 10 boys and 9 girls tested at ages 9, 13, and 18 months. Stability of individual differences in play was also examined. Each child was observed individually for 7 minutes in a room in which a tea set was the only toy present. Seven types of play behavior were…

A model for learning and teaching mathematics is described which focuses on the relationships between mathematical concepts, the psychology of the learner, and instruction. The model distinguishes between figural and operational concepts and the types of abstraction (simple vs. reflective) needed to comprehend these concepts, that is, to…