Use of the System of Multicultural Pluralistic Assessment (SOMPA) with minority disadvantaged children in an urban school district resulted in increased numbers of African-American students (grades two through five) being eligible for gifted programing. Comparison with African-American students selected by traditional means found similar levels of…

Traditional methods of teaching addition include algorithms that involve right-to-left procedures. This article describes efficient procedures for left-to-right addition and subtraction involving computation and computational estimation that reflect children's natural behaviors observed during activities with unifix cubes. (MDH)

Describes three activities that the teacher can employ to help students develop thinking skills through mathematics instruction: (1) memorization using the technique of chunking; (2) higher order thinking with magic squares; and (3) predicting games. Identifies eight facets of the teacher's role in promoting thinking skills. (MDH)

Describes one teacher's reflection concerning the quest to develop an understanding of school mathematics that promotes and sustains students' opportunities for exploration and conjecture. Recounts that a particular student's exploration of the features of parabolas eventually led to an understanding of the quadratic formula precisely because of…

Discusses area models that can be used in grades three through nine, showing how the model generalizes from discrete situations involving the arithmetic of whole numbers to continuous situations involving decimals, fractions, percents, probability, algebra, and more advanced mathematics. (14 references) (MDH)

More than 1,600 middle school students, including an experimental group exposed to the Biological Science Curriculum Study (BSCS), were administered the Modified Nature of Scientific Knowledge Scale. Results indicate that the students utilizing the traditional science curriculum possessed a significantly better understanding of the testable nature…

Examined over 200 perinatal variables relating to mothers and to children's neurological, cognitive, and motor functions at 15 months and 4 and 7 years. Factor analysis identified latent variables that characterized covariations among perinatal variables. There were many correlations to children's outcomes, particularly for variables relating to…

Reviews and critiques past research that investigated the effects of various types of day-care provisions on the development of preschool children. Argues that, in view of the diversity of provisions offered in different countries, simple global generalizations about the effects of out-of-home preschool experiences on later development cannot be…

Compared the performance of two groups of subjects on psychoeducational tests taken during adolescence and early adulthood. Adolescents who had received a protein supplement when they were infants scored higher on tests of knowledge, numeracy, reading, and vocabulary and showed faster reaction times in information-processing tasks than adolescents…

TORUS, a prototype technology-based educational diagnostic program, is described. The usefulness of TORUS to identify and remediate the mathematics misconceptions of students with learning disabilities is reported. Results suggest the need for greater emphasis on conceptual understanding in mathematics instruction. (Author/DB)

Drawing from experiences in teaching kindergarten teachers in Saudi Arabia to conduct "sharing time" or "show and tell" sessions, discusses the activity's affective and cognitive value, indicating that teacher and peer feedback promotes language development and the growth of curiosity and inquisitiveness. Makes practical…

Examines the impact of Jean Piaget's cognitive-developmental theories on educators' views of child socialization, which argued that moral development occurred late in childhood. Notes that recent research indicates that moral and emotional development occur much earlier and that teachers and parents can have a significant influence on young…

Three learning activities--story generation, reasoning from historical information, and computer modeling--that are designed to help students move toward a more coherent understanding of biological mechanisms are described. A method used to measure a student's level of understanding and their progress during instruction is also described. Ways to…

Using National Longitudinal Study of Youth and school enrollment data, this study examines effects of early childbearing and mothers' school progress on cognitive test scores of young children (626 Whites, 376 African Americans, and 240 Hispanic Americans). Cognitive achievement of mothers was a good predictor of children's cognitive achievement.…

Studied the impact of life experience on women's cognitive and ethical development. Considered the structure and historical and social factors of such development, and the importance of higher education in attaining high positions on W.G. Perry's developmental scale. Factors found to affect women's positions on the scale were attitudes toward…