To investigate the role expectation based rules governing formal reasoning performance, a battery of group and individual aptitude measures and formal reasoning tests were administered to 17-year-olds. Individual differences in usage of these rules were clarified by establishing an overlap between an aptitude model and formal reasoning.…

Results showed that the performance of the suburban and urban 10-year-olds on a Piaget-based map drawing task did not differ significantly, while the Appalachian children performed significantly better than one or both of the other groups on three out of the four spatial concepts. (JMB)

Four experiments compared three alternative models of linear syllogistic reasoning: (1) linguistic; (2) spatial; and (3) mixed linguistic-spatial. The mixed model, indicating the importance of both verbal and spatial ability, was supported by all four experiments, and for about three-fourths of the undergraduate students studied. (Author/GDC)

In its own fashion, philosophy encompasses everything and reflects the whole. Thus it has a special role in the liberal arts curriculum whose purpose is generality and breadth. Philosophy translates the generality of the liberal arts into reason and theory in an attempt to make the whole conceptually articulate. (JMD)

Justifications are given for the development of philosophy courses for inclusion in the high school curriculum. Various subjects such as mathematics, science, and language can be given more unity and meaning through the teaching of philosophy. (JN)

Suggests that effective thinking (cognitive skills) should be taught--not just fostered--in English classes, and explores the specific skills of generalizing and abstracting, analyzing, reasoning, and classifying. (JM)

Explores the concept and uses of analogy from the rhetorical perspective, determining rhetorical functions which the analogy may serve and the adequacy with which those functions are performed. (JMF)

Ratings of concreteness and picturability and production data for meaningfulness of 310 words were gathered from sixth-grade children and college students. (JMB)

Derives two models for conceptualizing figure similarities from Piaget's developmental theory of spatial reference systems. An experiment on a two alternative forced-choice similarity matching task revealed age differences in observer dependence among children and young adults. Concludes that some Euclidian space concepts are achieved as formal…

Comparison of elementary grade students with (N=42) or without (N=42) learning disabilities (LD) on their logical-mathematical structures of thought found that, though both groups generated grouping relationships, children with LD tendered to generate solutions showing less coordinated structures of thought. For both groups, scores on the…

A new paradigm is presented for investigating how intervening concepts are learned. Results of four experiments involving 85 college students provide converging evidence for the acquisition of intervening concepts. A simple associative learning mechanism is proposed to account for the results. The new paradigm uses a stimulus-response-feedback…

Compares science and art as modes of reflective activity in order to remedy confusion concerning the notion of disciplined-based art education. Referring to the work of John Macmurray, the author suggests that there is a discipline unique to the arts that differs from the disciplines proper to intellectual modes of reflection. (KO)

This study delineates modes of thinking that differentiate exceptionally gifted children from more moderately gifted peers. Cognitive differences include viewing the simple as complex, a need for precision, viewing the complex as simple, abstract reasoning ability, early grasp of essential elements of an issue, high capacity for empathy,…

Reports results of 14 studies on children's knowledge about thinking. Suggests that preschoolers appear to know that thinking is an internal mental activity that can refer to real or imaginary objects or events. However, preschoolers are poor at determining when a person is and is not thinking. This shortcoming is considerably less evident in…

Two experiments examined the development of recall organization by observing use of categorical and spatial clustering strategies and how encoding experiences and recall task influence degree of organization. Children and adults recalled furniture from their home. Older subjects organized items spatially; when recalling objects and their…