Reports on a study into first grade student's interpretations of the equals sign in different contexts. Argues that varying situations affect students' understanding of such arithmetic concepts, including the social interaction patterns in the classroom during arithmetic instruction. (TW)

Use of the term "acceleration" to describe interventions to enhance children's intellectual potential is inappropriate, as the term cannot by justified from the standpoint of mental measurement, mental growth, genetics, or education. Maximizing a child's potential through creation of stimulating environments is recommended rather than…

Borkowski and Krause (1983) concluded that the locus of black-white intelligence differences lies in metaprocesses not elementary cognitive processes. However, some variables were difference scores with unacceptably low reliability. Magnitude comparisons of racial differences give a different picture of results; comparable differences in measures…

Whether "psychometric" and "Piagetian" kinds of intelligence are similar is a question of whether they have similar courses of development with age. When using factor analysis to address this issue, age effects must be eliminated in order to assess relations among measured constructs. Reanalyses of previous results were…

Discusses student teacher communication in the classroom and the development of new teaching methods. (RK)

Compared two approaches to assessing the development of persuasive skills in children: asking them to generate messages versus having them select from preformulated messages or strategies. Also investigated the approach of asking children to indicate their rationale for choosing a particular message. Found more success with message generation than…

Jean Piaget's belief that children's developmental levels largely determine what they can learn is challenged. Research concerning the existence of cognitive structures in children is critiqued, and problems with administering Piagetian tasks are pointed out. Educators should not restrict children's exposure to learning because, according to…

Evaluated is the Longeot test, a paper and pencil test designed to measure various aspects of formal and concrete operational thought. Information from over 500 subjects (ages 17 to 20) indicated the test to be reliable and classifications from it correlated with classifications mode using Piagetian tasks. (DS)

Three selection phases were found in a study investigating the selection process of students into the teaching profession: (1) self selection by the potential teacher; (2) admission to the teacher-training program; and (3) election to undergo the course of instruction. Results suggest that personality traits are more important than cognitive…

Results from the Colorado Adoption Project, a longitudinal study initiated in 1975, are reported. The cognitive ability of parents and measures of one-year olds' mental development were significantly correlated for all three parent/child comparisons. Caldwell's HOME Responsibility measure was correlated with infant intelligence in adoptive and…

Reviews studies (N=35) relating to matching environments to learners. Grouped studies according to their outcome measures into affective, behavioral, and achievement outcomes. Empirical support for the matching principle was found for all three outcomes, but varied from strong support for affective and behavioral criteria to moderate support for…

The importance of theory and experimental findings in giving direction, structure, and comprehensibility to research about self-concept is discussed. Analysis of the necessary affective variables to be included in the systematic experimentally-based development of effective educational programs in the affective domain is emphasized. (Author/AL)

Effects of a 52-lesson, class-taught, social-problem-solving training program for third-grade children were assessed. Program children improved more than controls on several cognitive skills, including problem identification, alternative-solution thinking, and consequential thinking as well as on behavioral problem-solving performance.…

Slosson Intelligence Test scores are the best predictor of Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (Revised) (WISC-R) IQ scores. But they are often higher than WISC-R scores and increasingly verbally weighted. A skilled teacher's classroom observation is as valid an indicator of need for in-depth assessment as screening tests. (JAC)

To determine whether objective test items could measure cognitive processes more complex than recall of isolated facts, the committee of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons preparing the Orthopaedic In-Training Examination classified test items into three taxonomic levels according to the cognitive process required to answer the item.…