This study examined patterns of social interactions and play activities in Japanese day care settings. Fifty children between 6 and 36 months of age in five day care centers in Tokyo were observed over several prescribed time intervals. Variables measured during the observations included: (1) type of social interaction; (2) type of activity…

Science teachers tend to focus on schemas rather than underlying structures with greater explanatory power. One such structure is the recognition that the logical statement implication can only be falsified. After instruction with a modified version of the four-card hypothesis testing task, a grup of 48 preservice elementary teachers were…

A paper describes how David Bohm's holographic world view can be used to design a whole language program. Characterized by interconnectedness and multidimensionality, Bohm's holographic paradigm joins Eastern and Western belief systems in an old fashion pursuit of wisdom, on the one hand, and a new fashion pursuit of solutions to nonlinear…

To clarify the relevance of Russian psychologist, literary critic, philologist, and educational theorist Lev S. Vygotsky's research to composition theory necessitates an examination of his account of the development of inner and oral speech. Vygotsky argued that the acquisition and development of oral speech is due to its function: it is primarily…

The Cognitive Project at Passaic County College (New Jersey) was designed to develop a curriculum that would give educationally underprepared, nontraditional students an opportunity to actively experience ways of acquiring, solidifying, and using knowledge while acquiring the basic skills necessary for college work. Student explorations were…

One of a series of activity guides designed to aid teachers in developing the thinking skills of intermediate grade students, this publication offers a variety of learning activities and resource materials. The activities and resources include: a calendar which lists important days and birthdays in September, October, and November; poems; word…

In a study investigating the hypothesis that verbal paraphrase and explanation tasks account for part of the difficulty that young children have with tests of metaphor comprehension, 32 six-year-old children were read short stories that ended with metaphorical sentences. Half of the children were asked to paraphrase the metaphorical sentences…

Reported are the results of an experiment in which twelve different conservation of length tasks, indicative of passage from Piaget's pre-operational to concrete operations stages of cognitive development, were administered to a sample of individuals from Imbonggu-speaking people, a remote and traditional society in Papua New Guinea. Individuals…

Investigated were school children's recognition of social class distinctions, cues they used, and the relationship of their ideas about social class to other beliefs and attitudes about the social world. An ethnically mixed group of 201 male and female subjects participated in the study. Five age groups were represented: second, fifth, and sixth…

Oklahoma State University's proposed model for combining preservice education programs for elementary and special education (mildly handicapped) majors is based upon three levels of understanding: cognitive understanding, affective understanding, and actional understanding. Each level addresses the same six components: reflective teaching,…

The second in a series of manuals on adults with learning disabilities, the booklet covers assessment techniques. The nature of assessment as an ongoing process is stressed, and the role of observation (both systematic and nonsystematic) and interview data are discussed. A seven-step evaluation sequence is proposed, with the major goal of…

Discussion covers underlying assumptions of children's acquisition of a concept of space and explores educational implications of the knowledge of these assumptions for early childhood programs. Initial sections of the paper concern activity as a basis for cognition of space, graphic representation, and mental imagery. Findings of studies that led…

Based on the premise that literacy research and instruction is becoming more focused on connections between reading and writing, this FAST Bib contains selected references from 1985 to 1989. The 31-item annotated bibliography is organized into four sections: (1) overview; (2) research; (3) integrating language arts; and (4) classroom applications.…

Issues pertaining to thinking skills are discussed in an attempt to clarify what thinking skills are and their components, how they function and how they can be developed in the teaching-learning environment. Chapter 1 reviews the definitions of thinking skills. These definitions are selected from the current literature on education and…