Investigates whether the formal schemata and propositional logic are acquired gradually across age during adolescence, in agreement with Piaget's logical analysis of the structure of formal thought, or acquired in wholesale spurts, thus disagreeing with Piaget's theory. (GA)

Presentation of a "natural experiment" problem situation to fourth, sixth, and eighth graders and college students revealed that not until adolescence could subjects isolate alternative or additive causes in a multivariable situation. (JMB)

Two studies examined the relation between current developmental levels, as estimated by IQ, and proximal levels of development, as estimated by the efficiency of learning and transfer in assisted contexts. Subjects were 8- to ll-year-old children. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed. (HOD)

Provides guidelines for conducting and interpreting interviews aimed at assessing the cognitive concepts of young children. Discusses the content, task, questions, and format of the interview, listing 16 points of advice for interviewers. Also elaborates on the value and use of structured interviews. (JM)

Short and long term strategies for implementing critical thinking skills into school programs are discussed. The short term strategy is to teach analytic skills within established subject areas, while the long term strategy involves recognizing and overcoming the unconscious obstacles to development of sound critical and dialectical thinking. (TE)

The content of 228 college student's writing samples appears to be a main determiner of how many and what types of preposition errors will appear. These results indicate that preposition errors point to cognitive lags and complex, abstract writing tasks may be the appropriate treatment. (Author/PN)

Reports results of a study investigating the ability of college students to solve problems using proportional reasoning. Also discusses implications for consideration of Piagetian cognitive level of students in planning college courses. (CS)

Presents data on reasoning abilities of science and non-science majors at one private, liberal arts university. Indicates that most students taking physics are formal operational or into transition to formal reasoning and that six concrete operational students dropped the course. (JN)

This study considers two problems related to cognitive development: "Is development hierarchical?" and "If so, what are the mechanisms involved in the process of development?" Analysis of the results of an experiment lead to differentiation of stages of development, and problem-solving strategies at each level are discussed.…

Third- and seventh-grade and college students were tested to assess developmental differences in improvement following contradiction training and to investigate whether improved performance transfers to other conditional reasoning tasks. Results showed age differences: college students improved and transferred performance, seventh graders…

Reports results of two experiments to test recognition decisions of increasing difficulty among preschool children. Increasing levels of difficulty were perceptual identity, common object-class, and either taxonomic category or complementary pair formation. (Author/DB)

Observation of practices in V. V. Davydov's laboratory school suggests that students proceed from concrete example to abstract generalization--rather than from abstract to concrete, as Davydov has claimed. (GDC)

Describes and critiques a study conducted with boys eight- to fourteen-years-old to test whether intensionality (defined as supraordination) and maladjustment are related. Concludes that the boys tested may have been too young to have fully developed their supraordination abilities and that boys' ability or preference to make supraordinate…

Children ages 3 to 5 years old are observed in a series of 3 experiments assessing their use of counterfactual thinking in causal reasoning. Results suggest that young children readily interpret the cause of an outcome in terms of a contrast between the observed sequence of events, and a counterfactual alternative in which the outcome did not…

Twenty-four 12- to 19-month-old children were studied to examine the cognitive basis for the emergence of verbs. Substantial increases in verb comprehension across contexts, abstract cognition, and the ability to engage in symbolic action were observed, suggesting a relationship between underlying cognitive development and increased verb…