The purposes of this experiment were: (1) to examine the development of categorical representations by comparing the performance of children of various ages to adults, and (2) to compare the internal representations of basic level and superordinate categories. Subjects were 48 children (in second, fourth and sixth grades) and 16 adults. The…

Reading lessons were observed, taped, and analyzed to determine how teachers' questioning strategies contribute to students' ability to comprehend materials read. The kinds of thinking elicited by teachers' questions were investigated by means of a classification scheme developed which included recognition, recall, translation, conjecture,…

A theory of the nature of mental abilities is presented. In this theory, mental abilities are hierarchically organized into four progressively deeper levels--the levels of composite tasks, subtasks, information-processing components, and information-processing metacomponents. Composite tasks can be decomposed into subtasks, subtasks into…

This theoretical paper reevaluates the Piagetian tradition in the study of propositional reasoning. Piaget's assertion that children's logic, prior to the stage of formal operations, is structurally adequate for dealing with objects and their properties, but is inadequate for fully competent propositional reasoning, is challenged on three grounds:…

This paper argues in favor of using interactional strategies in the study of formal operations reasoning. Interactional designs allow a convergent approach to specifying processes underlying the interaction of variables. In contrast, current methodologies contain two inherent disadvantages: they have limited utility in specifying the processes…

This self-instructive workbook focuses on a set of propositional abilities related to learning. It utilizes written materials, manipulative materials, videotapes, and students, and is supplemented by a program and support system which includes instruction, teaching experiences for practice, discussions, and individual conferences. The three major…

The purpose of this study was to provide a more complete understanding of the storage and retrieval processes of developmentally different youngsters. Forty-four second and fourth grade subjects were given a lesson consisting of 25 facts to learn and remember. Half of the group learned the facts in a context containing superordinate statements…

This paper presents a study designed to determine if groups of concrete and formal operational children can be identified through the technique of cluster analysis, using a battery of Piagetian tasks. A Total of 64 subjects, 8 boys and 8 girls from each of the second, fourth, sixth, and eighth grade levels, were selected from a public elementary…

This study examines the effects of using different classes of ratios on adolescent performance on proportionality problems. Problems of the form a/b = c/x varied on four dimensions: size of a/b, equality or inequality of b and c, complex or simple fractions, and form of the test. Tests consisted of six proportionality problems involving sizes of…

Two experiments compared the cognitive maps (mental representations of the spatial environment) of first graders, fifth graders and college students, and investigated developmental changes in the ability to manipulate cognitive maps mentally. In the first experiment, subjects were asked to move from stationpoint to stationpoint and at each, to…

A total of 100 second graders were pretested for conservation of length and weight. Fifty pairs were then formed, each pair consisting of one conserver and one nonconserver. During the second session, the children attempted to resolve their opposed answers on the conservation tasks and on two control questions as well. On both length and weight,…

A total of 72 kindergarteners received eight conservation of number trials which varied in the degree of perceptual support for one-to-one correspondence (four levels) and type of stimuli (toy animals or corks). A between-subjects variable was the method of presentation (standard conservation presentation, a partially fixed array, or a fixed…

The concept of "structure" is discussed in connection with the biological and psychological sciences and shown, through a short historical analysis, to have been subject to imprecise use. The recent "structuralist movement" in the social sciences has also tended to cloud the meaning of structure rather than to clarify it. Using…

A study was undertaken to determine (1) if six student teachers who received instruction (in eight weekly individual or group training and feedback sessions) in the use of Bloom's taxonomy would operate within the classroom at a higher cognitive level than a control group of six who received equal time instruction using a placebo-type treatment;…

Sixty-four existing motion picture tests are listed and briefly described. Included are tests of perception, memory, abstract reasoning, attention span, and language. (RC)