This study investigated the ability of preschool children in Singapore to conserve number, length, and quantity. Participants were more than 200 children of 3 to 6 years who attended one of six different types of preschool centers. Findings indicated that more than half of the 5.5-year-old children were able to conserve number, but less than 15…

Two aspects of a 9-year research study initiated in July 1983 by the Singapore Institute of Education are described. The first part describes the initial 3-year phase of a longitudinal study aimed at investigating some important cognitive and social developmental processes of preschool children at different ages and relating them to certain…

In 1983, the Institute of Education in Singapore started a nine-year longitudinal project funded by the Bernard van Leer Foundation in Holland to study the cognitive and social development of pre-school children in Singapore. Each phase of the project was to last 3 years. Phase One (July 1983 through June 1986) concentrated on the collection of…

A common concern raised by teachers from secondary schools and junior colleges in Singapore is the apparent inability or reluctance of adolescents to think critically and originally. Adolescent thought processes are probably shaped by the change in intellectual pace and quality between the primary and secondary school curriculum. This study of…