The difficulties that younger students experience in understanding concepts related to the use of variables in computer programming are examined through descriptions of two studies: (1) detailed case studies of six highly intelligent children--three fourth graders and three sixth graders--who learned to program in BASIC during 60 hours of…

Three experiments using university students explored what constitutes an event and what determines its boundaries. Results supported the hypothesis that sequences of stimuli repeating in different contexts are cut out to become cognitive entities ("things" with a beginning and an end) in their own right. Results suggest that the…

Reports a study of 913 Israeli students in grades 7-12 from randomly chosen heterogeneous homeroom classes to investigate students' Piagetian cognitive levels using a video-based test. Results indicate that less than 50 percent of high school students have mastered formal operational reasoning. (MDH)

This exploratory study had two goals: (1) to identify signs of abstraction and consolidation of abstractions of functional concepts in students in a situation-based curriculum; and (2) to use theoretical arguments as well as experimental evidence in order to shape notions of abstraction and consolidation of abstractions. The methodology was…

The purpose of this booklet is to explain examination registration procedures and to introduce the Psychometric Entrance Examination so that students will know what to expect, what types of questions they will be asked, and how they will be expected to answer. The aim of the examination is to evaluate a variety of cognitive abilities: verbal,…

This study investigated: (1) whether boys and girls master formal reasoning tasks to the same degree at the same age; (2) if the variance of boys' and girls' performance in formal tasks could be predicted by the same cognitive learning abilities; and (3) what are the main and interactional effects of age, sex, and school type on the variance of…

There have been few discoveries in geology more important than "deep time"--the understanding that the universe has existed for countless millennia, such that man's existence is confined to the last milliseconds of the metaphorical geological clock. The influence of deep time is felt in a variety of sciences including geology, cosmology,…