Examines Piaget's concrete and formal operational stages of intellectual development in relation to the middle school learner. Presents teaching strategies requiring the learner to use concrete and formal operational forms of thought in dealing with a social studies unit about Quebec. (Author/JK)

This work investigated the young child's ability to respond appropriately to the intended, as opposed to the literal, meaning of one class of such utterances, requests for action. An action-based response heuristic is proposed to explain the apparent ability of two-year-olds to deal with indirect speech acts. (Author/SW)

Investigation of infant development among African tribesmen discovered the development of emotional responses follows identical time schedules of youngsters in civilized society. It is suggested that behavioral development is linked to early anatomical changes in the brain. (SL)

Word formation is seen as receiving too little attention in foreign language teaching; its study increases auditory and reading understanding. Practical suggestions are given for collecting and arranging material, and for analyzing the structure of words. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

"Childhood and youth are sacred times when innate curiosity is intense and health and zest tend to be strong. Those years are too important to be frittered away memorizing irrelevant trivia." A shorter school year is advocated and alternative means of learning are seen as plentiful. (Author/MLW)

A review of research indicates that early (including prenatal) continuous exposure to music not only positively influences children's advancing musical aptitude but also generates and increases children's abilities in some components of giftedness, such as problem solving, risk taking, and creativity. (Author/CB)

Contexts in which mentally retarded children learn may be counter-productive in that they reinforce excessively dependent learning strategies. Research on nonhandicapped children suggests that contexts which allow children to initiate as well as respond promote independent learning, suggesting ways to structure learning opportunities for mildly…

Addresses the question: If an intellectual change is truly fundamental, how can it be socially comprehensible? Claims that the question is particularly pressing in the case of Darwin's "Origin." Argues that the answer lies in an understanding of how scientific revolutions depend on continuity with an existent cultural grammar. (JD)

There are serious shortcomings in the arguments that researchers have advanced to support the symbolic racism thesis. The following aspects are critically discussed: (1) concepts of symbolic racism; (2) methods used to measure symbolic racism; (3) the statement that traditional racism is a spent form; (4) the theorist's disregard of current…

The article discusses the following two explanations for White opposition to efforts to bring about social equality: (1) Whites' perception of Blacks as a threat to their personal lives; (2) Whites' endorsement of racist sentiments and traditional American values, particularly individualism. The second explanation is supported, and further…

The article reaffirms a negative judgment of symbolic racism, criticizing the following: (1) the suggestion that symbolic racism is a new form of racism; (2) the term "symbolic racism"; and (3) research on symbolic racism. The article also sketches a constructive agenda for research on racial policy reasoning. (PS)

Explores age differences (6 to 22 years of age) in conceptions about the nature of the skills required by verbal and nonverbal (abstract) intelligence tests. (HOD)

Observes 75 first- and third-grade children in their classroom mathematics seatwork to test assumptions drawn from Vygotsky's theory about the development of private speech and its relationship to task performance, attention, and motor behaviors accompanying task orientation. (HOD)

Discusses a developmental approach to children's library services in which the communication element is essential to successful programing and reader's advisory, both of which provide opportunities for using communication techniques that are meaningful in the pattern of a child's intellectual development. The stages of development are outlined.…