Background: "Volume & Heaviness" was one of three Piagetian tests used in the CSMS survey in 1975/76. However unlike psychometric tests showing the Flynn effect--that is with students showing steady improvements year by year requiring tests to be restandardized--it appeared that the performance of Y7 students has recently been…

This study examined the ethical sensitivity of 2 Finnish urban schools' 7th- to 9th-grade students (N = 249) with the Ethical Sensitivity Scale Questionnaire (ESSQ), based on Narvaez' (2001) operationalization of ethical sensitivity. Three research questions were formulated: (1) Are the psychometric properties of ESSQ scientifically valid? Are…

The focus of this study is how educational leadership can respond to the emerging spiritual culture amongst college students in the United States as documented by the recent study published by the University of California--Los Angeles (UCLA) Higher Education Research Institute (HERI). The suggestion in this work is that the evolving notion of…

Educators are faced with developing performance indicators for reporting to state and national agencies on pre-service teacher candidates' ability to teach using innovative pedagogy as well as content- specific standards. Portfolio assessment has gained momentum as a standard in assessing student-learning outcomes. This paper is a discussion of…

This study looked at specific influences on the cognitive development of adult students in two settings. The results of this study demonstrated that some students increased in cognitive complexity according to Perry's scheme. From this study, one cannot identify a single experience that is solely responsible for assisting students in developing…

This paper explores the intimate connection between creative and critical thinking, by arguing that both are inseparable in everyday reasoning. The details of the relationship between creative and critical thinking are worked out in relation to the processes of: (1) thinking through the logic of things; (2) taking command of reasoning and logic;…

A discussion of tentative generalizations that developers of instructional materials can use on aptitude-treatment interaction. The author combines what research findings seem to indicate along with theories about how individuals learn and process information. (Author/HB)

Suggests that students who reason with only concrete thinking patterns may become formal thinkers through the use of the following instructional pattern: (1) the introduction of an undifferentiated whole, (2) differentiation of the whole through concrete experiences, (3) invention of symbolic notation, (4) application of concepts which lead to…

Article describes an approach which employs a structuring of the user's conceptual reference spaces into sets of "action primitives", peculiar to the type of computer-aided task involved. (Author)

The degree to which human intelligence can be improved by psychological and educational means will depend largely upon the level of analysis accepted as representing intelligence. Training and structured learning can enhance achievement in the form of knowledge and skills. Traditional Intelligence Tests (IQ) are fairly broad samples of…

The influence of perceptual factors and language comprehension on quantity judgments (number conservation) was assessed in children, aged 2-5. (ST)

The author argues that no "hard" data exists on genetically based differences in intelligence among human groups. IQ measures the heritability of IQ, and statistical inaccuracies in reported studies are discussed and questioned. The current interest in biological determinism of intelligence is trivial; individuals can not be judged by group means.…

Provides the following possible reasons for the unpopularity of college chemistry: the shortage of good teachers due to higher salaries and prestige in chemical research; the increasing intellectual demands of chemistry study; and the emphasis in chemical education on vocational, rather than intellectual, development. (MLH)