Very little is known about the conditions under which young children acquire strategic means of remembering in natural learning environments. A promising line of research attributes the emergence of "internal remembering strategies" to formal schooling environments. Data gathered from 173 children in kindergarten through the third grade…

Learning and developmental theories establish a basis for realistically evaluating expectations for responsible sexual behavior by adolescents. Knowledge of the ways in which individuals learn and of the characteristic developmental levels and stages of an individual's physical, cognitive, and psychosocial development should be applicable in…

Currently, three theories of learning dominate classroom practice. First, B.F. Skinner's Theory of Operant Conditioning states that if behavior, including learning behavior, is reinforced, the probability of its being repeated increases strongly. Different types and schedules of reinforcement have been studied, by Skinner and others, and the…

Preschoolers 4 and 5 years of age were found to use four strategies differing in temporal characteristics as they solved simple addition problems with sums of 10 or less. Three strategies had visible and/or audible aspects, and one was covert, involving retrieval from memory. The harder the problem, the more often the children used an overt…

The study examined the manner in which self perceptions of learning disabled (LD) children (1) develop in relation to growing social awareness and (2) differ among groups of LD students who are segregated from normally achieving students for varying amounts of their instructional time. Eighty-seven children (in grades 3 though 8) had been placed…

This discussion reviews literature on early bilingualism and early reading in two languages and summarizes a research project aimed at developing the experimental conditions for teaching early bilingual reading in institutional settings. The review notes positive effects of early reading generally and of early bilingual literacy on intellectual…

This study investigated forms of adult social cognition in the domains of justice judgment and ethical evaluation and their relationship to IQ scores and personal and vocational interests. Subjects were 150 adult members of the MENSA organization: 69 females and 81 males ranging in age from 18 to 83 years. Each subject completed a battery of…

Examples of explanations students give during science lessons are used to demonstrate that there are a number of very different modes of explaining. In addition, it is suggested that the peculiarly scientific method of explanation is fraught with difficulties, some of which current learning theories may just be able to describe. Areas discussed…

One common paradigm used to study moral reasoning involves assessing the reasoning leading to choices among alternative actions, each with moral implications. Preconventional reasoning emphasizes external rewards and punishments, conventional reasoning centers on acceptance of societal rules and expectations, and postconventional reasoning is…

The combined methods of observation and interview were used in a study examining how English teachers conceptualize instruction in literature. Nine high school English teachers from two midwest, suburban high schools served as the subjects. In the first two meetings, the teachers were informed that two people would be observing and taping one of…

A number of college students in forensic debate may be deterred from debating broad topics due to a lack of appropriate cognitive development and a perception of unacceptable certainty. These students have failed to develop formal thinking patterns because they lack reinforcing experiences in reasoning at that level. A sequenced pattern of…

A review of a multimedia program for children aged 3 to 8 years, which is designed to introduce new concepts and stimulate cognitive development. (Author)

Emphasizes the point of view that the teaching of science should not be postponed until children are mature enough to deal with abstract scientific concepts but that a wide variety of concrete experience facilitates the development of a scientific way of thinking. (PEB)

Reported is a study to verify the pattern of bias associated with the Model Identification Test and to determine its source. This instrument is a limited verbal science test designed to determine the knowledge possessed by elementary school children of selected concepts related to "the particle nature of matter." (PEB)

This study sought to identify prerequiste concepts for a child to perform length measurement meaningfully. Conservation of length and use of transitive reasoning were major areas identified. Implications for teaching are given, especially concerning the use of a number line as a model for presenting arithmetic operations. (LS)