The theories and practices of Jean Piaget and Maria Montessori are outlined in relation to the teaching of beginning reading. Parallels are drawn between the two authors' views of the nature of intelligence and of motivation, leading to the conclusion that there may be danger of overemphasizing reading at the expense of other areas of the…

Reduced intellectual performance in the elderly was conceptualized as an experiential dificit that can be reversed by training relevant component skills. Female elderly subjects (N=60) participated in three phases of the experiment: Training, Immediate Posttest, and Delayed Posttest. Training was geared at strengthening covert self-monitoring…

The article reviews some of the conditions that might counteract decline in the intellectual development of gifted children and adolescents. (DLS)

Reports two experiments to assess the usefulness of an alternative position to the "deficit hypothesis" and the "differences hypothesis," namely, that environmental/situational factors attenuate the performance of lower-class children, but that their competence, while genotypically equivalent to that of middle-class children,…

Analyzes the writing the author has done since he first began to write, and traces his writing development. (DD)

Administration of a placement task to 66 preschool and grade school children revealed that the concept of higher/lower was understood earlier than above/below, which in turn was understood earlier than rising/falling. Within each pair of terms, the one referring to upness was comprehended earlier. (Author/JMB)

A replication and extention of a previous study involved 61 children aged three to five, who were asked to carry out certain instructions. Results indicate that children do observe the distinction between definite and indefinite pronouns as it applies to quantity. (Author/RM)

In an investigation of comprehension strategies in young children, children in R. Brown's Stages I, II, and III responded to commands varying in length, grammaticality, and meaning. (SB)

A strong conservative current underlies much of what is currently said about authority in schooling. Educational authority should be rooted in the ideal of democratic social transformation, a function it cannot have when conceived of more narrowly in terms of institutional heirarchy and stability. (CB)

This article analyzes the findings on critical thinking in six major national reports on the status of education and the subsequent implications for teacher preparation. This information suggests that critical thinking is an essential component of an effective teacher education program. (MT)

Scores of 20 court-identified and 20 school-identified violent and assaultive youth were compared on the Revised Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children and the Peabody Individual Achievement Test. The possibility that court-identified violent and assaultive youth have more severe cognitive deficits that contribute to their excessively aggressive…

The myth that genius never shows up in individuals past early adult life results in the dismissal of all who are not geniuses and the view that their activity contributes nothing. If genius needs goading, it needs also patience, tenderness and reassurance in the educational system. (MT)

A referral population of 108 six- to 11-year-olds was divided into Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and non-ADD subgroups and were compared on two intelligence tests and a measure of depression. Though not intellectually distinct, the ADD group was more depressed relative to teacher ratings. The possibility that diagnostic criteria for ADD are…