This study investigated the extent to which certain aspects of the structure of a learner's memory following instruction corresponded with the structure of the instructional material. Content structure was represented using digraph theory. The digraph analysis revealed a formal structure built substantially on six specific concepts. Cognitive…

This learning package is designed to enable the learner to: (a) define behavioral objectives and list characteristics of those objectives; (b) distinguish between objectives which are behaviorally stated and those not so stated; (c) identify action verbs useful to constructing behavioral objectives; (d) write objectives for a field of cognitive…

This review brings together some general findings on empathy that have emerged during the last decade of research with children. From a recent review of the research on social cognitive development (Schantz, in press), this paper responds to three specific questions: (1) What is empathy? (2) Under what conditions is empathy likely to occur? and…

To the question of whether Chomsky's hypothesized Language Acquisition Device (LAD) in young children is an adequate and feasible model of language acquisition, this paper answers that LAD should be reformulated so as to include semantics; that "informant presentation" rather than "text presentation" is responsible for language…

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…

After a brief description of three Piagetian stages (pre-operational, transition to concrete operations, and concrete operations), the author identifies 12 key statements from Piaget's writings. These statements, together with related implications for teaching elementary school mathematics, methods of diagnosing stage acquisition, and examples are…

Sixty kindergarten, 60 second-grade, and 60 fourth-grade students performed several memory tasks under one of six conditions. The conditions differed as to the method of presentation of information. The study was focused on developmental changes in children's use of verbal, nonverbal, and spatial-positional cues for memory. The results, in…

The present study was conducted to demonstrate the power of imagery instructional sets to improve the recall of units more complex than in the traditional paired associate (P-A) paradigm and to evaluate imagery as a memory organizer. Forty-eight sixth grade children were randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions, defined by the…

This study assessed the value of teaching young children the relevant attributes of a concept and the conceptual rule by which the attributes are organized. It was hypothesized that only if children had prior knowledge of both components could they follow instructions designed to teach a new concept. It was further hypothesized that children who…

This interim report is part of a longitudinal study of developmental behavior designed to determine whether infants from culturally disadvantaged homes have different developmental patterns than infants from advantaged homes. Twenty six culturally disadvantaged infants were individually evaluated on the Bayley Scale of Infant Mental and Motor…

This paper examines recent research for differences on rate of conservation achievement between the subcultures: (1) rural vs. urban-suburban, (2) white vs. black, (3) subculture of poverty vs. middle class WASP, and (4) lower vs. middle socioeconomic status. The author concluded from his examination of research that: (1) among middle-class whites…

Consistent with definitions of theory as offered by Skinner and Bruner, and based on psychological and neurophysiological evidence for a cognitive hierarchy as propounded by eminent psychologists, the structure process theory has validity in constructing a model of reading instruction. The appropriateness of model construction arises from the…

This handbook for teachers contains language lessons for young children. Through sequencing and feedback, the program uses a direct method of teaching and learning standard English. It is an expository approach, in which progress is based on performance, rather than on the knowledge of rules. Each unit is organized so that language development and…

To determine the effects of instruction in general semantics on the critical thinking of secondary students, 104 tenth- and eleventh-grade students in control and experimental groups completed the "Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal" test before and after the 12-week teaching period, in which two teachers spent 1 hour per week in the…

The Perry Preschool Project, for educable mentally retarded 3- and 4-year-olds from disadvantaged homes is described. This program uses a cognitively oriented curriculum (based on Piagetian theory) designed to help the child construct the mental representations of himself and his environment that will lead to the development of logical modes of…