Higher-order thinking is relational reasoning in which multiple representations are linked together, through inferences, comparisons, abstractions, and hierarchies. We examine the development of higher-order thinking in 64 preschool-aged children, observed from 14 to 58 months in naturalistic situations at home. We used children's spontaneous talk…

This study aims to explore the extent of intergenerational social mobility in the United States for the population as a whole, as well as differentiated by gender and race/ethnicity. Study of intergenerational social mobility is important because it shows whether individuals can prosper in a society regardless of their socioeconomic background, as…

Organized semantic representations encoding across- and within-domain distinctions are a hallmark of mature cognition, and understanding how they change with experience and learning is a key endeavor in developmental science. Existing computational modeling studies provide a mechanistic framework for understanding how structured semantic…

In executing purposeful actions, adults select sufficient and necessary limbs. But infants often move goal-irrelevant limbs, suggesting a developmental process of motor specialization. Two experiments with 9- and 12-month-olds revealed gradual decreases in extraneous movements in non-acting limbs during unimanual actions. In Experiment 1,…

Four studies explored the abilities of 80 adults and 180 children (4-9 years), from predominantly middle-class families in the Northeastern United States, to use information about machines' observable functional capacities to infer their internal, "hidden" mechanistic complexity. Children as young as 4 and 5 years old used machines'…

The basic assumption underlying this article is that the really significant changes in human history are those that occur, not in the mechanical gadgets which men use nor in the institutionalized arrangements by which they live, but in their attitudes and in the values which they accept. The revolutions of the past that have had the greatest…

We often assume that students will simply understand specific ethical requirements as they progress, but in reality this does not happen. Students need instruction in ethics. With adherence to the TriCouncil's ethics policy now mandatory for university research with human participants, understanding of ethics is a necessity. We need students to be…

The field of early childhood education (ECE) is currently unable to reach consensus on the extent to which ECE should be based on child development. One manifestation of this situation is the dilemma that early educators purportedly face between teaching the whole child and the curriculum, between developmentally appropriate practice (DAP) and…

Counting is an evolutionarily recent cultural invention of the human species. In order for humans to have conceived of counting in the first place, certain representational and logical abilities must have already been in place. The focus of this article is the origins and nature of those fundamental mechanisms that promoted the emergence of the…

This article seeks to examine critically South African early child development (ECD) in order to uncover some of the challenges that lie ahead in creating a more equitable future for its youngest children. An investigation of play and learning within varied ECD contexts, using observation and interview, is presented. The social constructionist…

In this interview, digital consultant and author Dean Shareski talks about the fundamental aspects of authentic learning: joy, wonder, play, and community. He believes that technology can bring a sense of fun and curiosity to the classroom by allowing students to do things they couldn't do before, like editing photographs or meeting a scientist…

The scientific study of reading has taught us much about the beginnings of reading in childhood, with clear evidence that the gateway to reading opens when children are able to decode, or 'sound out' written words. Similarly, there is a large evidence base charting the cognitive processes that characterise skilled word recognition in adults. Less…

This article reviews developmental studies of creativity in children and adolescents with a focus on "peaks" and "slumps" that have often been described in the literature. The irregularity of the development of creativity is interpreted in light of conceptual and measurement issues and with regard to the interaction between…

This article argues that children and young people in places such as England or the USA are subjected to an educational regime which constrains their development and eclipses their emergent identities. Paradoxically, the accountability systems which claim to make children's learning visible to management create a distortion of vision by…

Creativity is an essential human ability, allowing adaptation and survival. Twenty-nine 1-year-olds and their parents were tested on divergent thinking (DT), a measure of creative potential counting how many ideas one can generate. Toddlers' and parents' DT was moderately to highly correlated. Toddlers showed a wide range of DT scores, which were…