Argues that teachers should encourage critical thinking among primary school students. Asserts that readiness exercises can help students develop the mental reasoning skills necessary for critical thinking. Suggests (1) posing questions that elicit reflective responses; (2) encouraging students to ask questions to obtain information; and (3)…

An overview that gives an introduction to the theories, terms, concepts, and prior research conducted on visualization is presented. This information is to be used as a basis for developing spatial research studies that lend support to the theory that the engineering and technical design graphics curriculum is important in the development of…

Experiences with an instructional strategy which enabled students to build for themselves the appropriate scientific concept for energy are described. This was done by pupil/teacher dialogue in small groups, in which students were expected to create for themselves a "generalization mechanism" based on their own frameworks. (KR)

Students' conceptions of models and how models function in science were assessed by administering a clinical interview about models to a group of mixed-ability seventh and honors eleventh grade students. Students' preconceptions about models, themes that appeared regularly during interviews, differences of themes between the two groups, and the…

A model of the character and mechanism for knowledge restructuring is presented and a model of educational practice designed to facilitate this form of restructuring is described. A broadened and integrated view of assessment and instruction called a portfolio culture, central to the educational model, is discussed. (KR)

Offers a theory of how commonsense reasoning about motion may develop. Takes as fundamental the basic categories: action, object, space, cause, time, and movement. Suggests that very primitive elements could combine to provide schemes of motion recognizable in psychological accounts of infancy and generate prototypes of and rules for motion. (DK)

Compared the effects of instruction using social interaction from a cognitive developmental perspective, and instruction with no peer interaction, on correspondence between sound and symbol as displayed through invented spelling. Children exposed to social interaction made greater gains than those exposed to individual work with teacher modeling.…

This paper highlights the need for research on the motor, cognitive, and psychological development of children with congenital limb deficiencies. Issues reviewed include optimal age for prosthesis fitting, training procedures, prosthesis usage, cognitive deficits, and vulnerability to psychosocial problems. (Author/DB)

Misconceptions about thinking skills instruction are that it will make students "smarter," raise achievement levels, and create better citizens. Reasonable expectations are that thinking skills instruction should be measured by short-term goals, a changed classroom atmosphere, concrete behavioral criteria, and the improvement of specific task…

Presents results from an Australian study examining whether children who use cognitive strategies in solving simple addition questions develop greater proficiency in addition than children who do not use such strategies. Describes the subjects, instruments, procedure, and instructional treatment. Concludes that the development of cognitive…

This article reviews Piagetian theory on formal operational thought, the relationship of psychometric intelligence and formal operational thought, the development of formal operational thought in gifted children, problems encountered with Piagetian theory and attempts to modify it, and implications of the post-Piagetian perspective for education…

Examines the relationship between young children's use of two languages and their cognitive development. Discusses the simultaneous and sequential acquisition of two languages; theories on cognition and language; and studies on the effects of bilingualism. Offers strategies for creating an effective language learning environment for young…

Interviews with skilled mine workers in Queensland, Australia, suggest that informal learning in the workplace enables authentic activities, access to experts, and sociocultural environment conductive to the development of expertise. Skilled work means technical competence in a context of sociocultural values. (SK)

Infants were exposed to symbolic gestures from their parents beginning at 11 months of age. In bimonthly interviews, mothers reported their infants' use of gestures and words. Results indicated a smaller but reliable difference between the onset of infants' use of symbolic gesture and the onset of their use of words than earlier research…

During a seven-year period, cognitive training by means of a pretest-posttest was used in a study of old adults' problem solving in regards to figural relations. Results showed significant training effects at each phase, with the largest gains occurring at the first phase. The performance of old adults after the last phase was significantly above…