Describes the characteristics of play and its contributions to development, and proposes fundamental principles and practices for its encouragement. Delineates the necessity of play and affirms its centrality in the lives of all children. Stresses both teacher and parental roles in providing a safe and calalytic play environment. (Author/RWB)

Explores the rationale behind the importance of teaching young secondary school students how to look for correlation patterns. Describes two lessons that show how pupils can experience zero, positive, and negative correlation patterns between variables. Indicates the possible success of the Cognitive Acceleration through Science Education project.…

Reviews recent product-oriented outcome studies from the perspective of whether VLBW (very low birthweight) infants born since 1975 (when intensive care methods became relatively stabilized in effectiveness) show behavioral problems, intellectual impairment, linguistic or social deficits. (RWB)

Reviews recent research addressing the problem of matching students' cognitive levels to science textbooks. Suggests that most texts are written above the level of the students for whom they are written. Promotes experiential learning at the middle level and concentration on "right thinking" rather than on "right answers." (CW)

Explored the relationship between adolescents' level of cognitive reasoning and their contextual judgments of the factors affecting quality of life. Showed that those 10th grade students who achieved higher levels of cognitive reasoning were more likely to identify social and interpersonal aspects of life as factors related to quality of life and…

Assumes a process-in-action approach to studying young children's concept of self. Conceptualizes self-concept as spontaneously emerging from social interaction. Pedagogical implications are provided to suggest that teachers can take a number of positive steps toward respecting and enhancing children's attempts to achieve self-other knowledge.…

Describes the theory and known influences on learned helplessness, particularly in the mathematics field, and discusses prevention and remediation with respect to this phenomenon. (PK)

Controversy, an aspect of small-group interactions, was investigated in 10 mixed-ability, mixed-sex, elementary math groups through analysis of dissension episodes. Results showed that boys and higher-ability students had significantly more prevailing answers and demonstrations. (Author/LMO)

Analyzes the nature of the concepts shared and the manner in which they develop within the shared reading of five parent-child dyads. (FL)

A grant-funded program to use computers to develop thinking skills in gifted sixth- and seventh-grade students is described. Students learn to apply different types of thinking, use different types of software, and develop their own programs and programs for teachers in other classes. (PGD)

Compares the effects on high school achievement of family socioeconomic factors present during students' early childhood and during students' late adolescence. Results point to the potentially stronger role in cognitive development and school learning of early socioeconomic factors, except in the case of family size. (RDN)

Proposes the use of a distancing strategy model as an approach to studying the social genesis of representational competence in children. Explains how the model describes teaching strategies that make cognitive demands on children. (HOD)

Explains how the Suzuki Method introduces young Japanese children to learning situations in structured ways that develop their control of learning behavior earlier than is typical in the West. (HOD)

Explores several European models of early childhood education that have influenced day care in North America, noting such influences as religion, educational philosophy, and concepts appropriate to a child's cognitive development. (HOD)

This critical examination of the assumption that computer-based instruction enhances student learning and performance over traditional means summarizes arguments from past and present analyses of research, examines media attributes or symbol system theories, and presents evidence that much research is susceptible to rival hypotheses. (MBR)