Examines the role of prior intention and knowledge in the comprehension of "forget" by young children. Results reveal that children initially have two interpretations of "forget": an unfilled desire and a state of not knowing. Discusses explanations for the late comprehension of "forget" in terms of representation of knowledge and intention,…

Parents (N=239) of preschool children with either a speech-language impairment, different disability, or no disability completed a survey of home literacy experiences. Significantly different activities and interactions with print were available to the children with speech-language impairments. Results suggest these children are exposed to print…

For 62 African American families, mothers' social network, family structure, home environment, mother-child interaction, child's temperament, and child's cognitive development were periodically assessed until children were 54 months old. Mothers with larger support networks were more responsive to their infants and provided more stimulating home…

Analyzes data from oral interviews with child learners of Japanese as a second language. Findings indicate that: tasks sensitive to students' understanding of critical syntactic structures and manageable for their cognitive level were effective; high-level students tried to produce more Japanese with more complexity; and phrase particle use was…

Argues that Piaget did not consider social factors to be important in his developmental theory and considers some of the practical educational implications of Piaget's social theory. Piaget's notion of the role of social factors is reviewed, and the educational implications of the cooperative context favoring operational development with reference…

Junior high students who were at risk of dropping out of school (n=45) were taught using the Cognitive-Based Instructional System (CBIS). Positive cognitive skills change occurred in 38%; there were discrepancies between dropout prediction test results and teacher perceptions of students at risk; CBIS implementation would require a significant…

Investigates the effects of a role-taking, action-learning program on the cognitive and ego development of African American rural high school students. Main effects were assessed in two related domains: concrete to abstract thinking, and self-concept development. Results indicate significant gains in both abstract thinking and ego stage. (RJM)

Reviews the career and contributions of N. A. Menchinskaia, from her tutelage under Vygotsky in the 1930s, to her emergence as one of the Soviet Union's preeminent educational psychologists. For over 50 years, Menchinskaia researched knowledge acquisition and cognitive development. Discusses her major theories and places them in the overall…

Examines the scientific concept of evaporation. Attempts to show how students develop their understanding through the levels of the Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome (SOLO) taxonomy. Shows how designing learning experiences to suit the learners' developmental stages in understanding a concept is paramount to the overall growth of the…

Examined whether the quality and content of everyday parent-child conversations about negative emotions differed from everyday talk about positive emotions. Found that children and parents talked about past emotions, causes of emotions, and connections between emotions and other mental states at higher rates during conversations about negative…

This study examined whether cumulative family risk would moderate the relation between regularity of Head Start attendance and child outcomes. Found that the relation between attendance and receptive vocabulary was moderated by cumulative risk, with children from higher risk families benefiting more. Regardless of family risk, attendance predicted…

Presented is a study which focused on using turtle graphics programing for geometric problem solving. The goal was to investigate changes in children's mathematical knowledge and results indicate that the LOGO environment enriched children's geometric conceptualizations and sophistication of their geometric thinking. (KR)

Examined is the relationship between junior high school students' directional reasoning about rates and numerical reasoning on proportion-related word problems. The relationship between the ability to solve context-free fraction exercises and the ability to solve mathematically similar word problems is discussed. (KR)

Described are the general problem-solving strategies and their nature and functions. The importance of integrating different types of general problem-solving strategies with content-specific teaching in mathematics classes is discussed. (KR)

Described is an activity where base-10 blocks are used to develop students' skills in reading, writing, and visualizing large numbers. An activity sheet that helps students with decimal points is included. (KR)