The purpose of this study was to test the predictive efficiency of the Graduate Record Examination Analytical (GRE-A) score when used in combination with other predictors for doctoral candidacy decisions in an educational psychology department. It was hypothesized that the GRE-A would be a more efficient predictor than faculty ratings on a…

A project to improve higher level thinking skills of elementary students in Hillsborough County, Florida is reported as a feature article (66p). An introductory overview chapter reviews the literature on teaching thinking skills. Chapter 1 provides background information on the community and the two schools selected for the practicum. The second…

An experiment was designed to test the hypothesis that abstract materials increase accuracy in solving categorical syllogisms. In an attempt to encourage subjects to reason their way through the problems rather than to make judgments about the truth or desirability of the proffered conclusions, the premises were composed of familiar words in…

The Philosophy for Children Program was introduced to a class of deaf fifth graders as an instructional approach for reasoning skills. The program is intended to develop analytic skills required for intellectual functioning (including concept development, generalization, inference making, question formulation, and analogies). The program's major…

This research addresses the actual goals and intentions from which students plan and organize their work in a course of study. Representations can either facilitate or hinder learning and problem solutions. Several salient aspects of adult students' representational systems and how they influenced university study were examined in two studies. The…

The complex and multi-faceted nature of the cognitive process of reasoning is discussed. The factor-analytic history of the isolation and definition of the three most important currently recognized reasoning factors (general reasoning, induction, and logical or deductive reasoning) is traced through the psychometric literature, and the…

This study develops an information model based on the processes involved in reading and listening as a step toward constructing a single framework for understanding both these skills. Assuming that analogous structures and processes occur in reading and listening, similar experimental questions are asked in both areas. The model incorporates data…

The purpose was to test the assumption that nonspecific facilitated learning of a second prose passage occurs in the situation in which an initial passage read by the subjects contained concrete referents designed to increase the comprehension of a difficult to understand second passage. Results supported the assumption. (Author/BJG)

This study examined the effects of certain contextual linguistic variables on the logical performance of subjects in grades 4, 6, and 12 of selected British Columbia schools as well as some theoretical problems underlying assessment of the development of logical abilities. The task consisted of 27 syllogistic problems based upon the information…

This paper reports two experimental studies of the development of time, speed and distance concepts in children. In Experiment I subjects (12 in each of four age groups: 5-, 8-, 11-year-olds, and adults) were asked to judge which of two electric trains on parallel tracks went faster, for the longer distance, or for more time. Subject's knowledge…

An information-processing assessment of the construct validity of aptitude tests is presented. It is stated that aptitude tests have been rather successful because they possess high construct validity, although the constructs in terms of which the tests may be most profitably understood are information-processing rather than psychometric ones. It…

Fluid intelligence (Gf) is a general relation-perceiving capacity determined by each person's cortical, neurological connection count development. Its processes are involved in reasoning, concept formation and problem-solving, where acculturation has little effect. Crystallized intelligence (Gc) manifests knowledge and general comprehension,…

Three distinct theories can be set forth for viewing intelligence: a "super-intellect theory" associated with the belief in innate ideas; a sensualistic theory that posits no intellectual role beyond synthesizing of sense-data; and a concept of intelligence as a power to abstract, judge, and reason. Many chronic and current educational…

University students were administered three Piagetian tasks and a spatial relations test, the Revised Minnesota Paper Form Board. Students' American College Test (ACT) mathematics scores were also recorded. A measure of conservation of weight, administered individually, was the first Piagetian task. Two paper and pencil tests of progressively…