Interactions between metaphor comprehension and level of operational thought were examined to determine what advantages individuals at the formal operational level had in natural language tasks such as the understanding of figurative language. After 30 undergraduate students were classified as either late concrete, early formal, or late formal…

In reviewing the ancient, well-worn debate on the relationship between literature and values, it may be seen that the current pedagogical theory of developing response to literature is parallel to the argument for helping students articulate their own values. Two approaches to clarifying values are the values clarification approach (Louis Raths,…

In Piaget's dynamic conception of the child's cognitive growth, the transition from sensory-motor intelligence to the developmental stage of representational intelligence occurs during 5 to 7 years of age. The development proceeds from undifferentiation to differentiation, from unintentional to intentional, from unintelligent to intelligent, and…

This study examined the transition from concrete to formal operations in very bright children in an effort to determine whether high ability in concrete operations would carry over into formal operational ability, and also to investigate precocity in regard to formal operations. Subjects were 38 white middle-class children ranging in age from…

Investigates the attainment of abstract and concrete concepts and the use of pseudoexamples to move concrete thinkers to abstract levels in secondary school chemistry classes. Findings reveal abstract students achieve significantly higher means on both concrete and abstract concept attainment and that pseudo examples have no effect on the ability…

Defines five levels between concrete and formal operation in the development of the concept of controlling variables. The sample, methodology and research on which the work is based is described in SE 519 500. (CP)

Describes a study of fifth grade students' ability to process information from a play, and compares the results to related information from television research. (JC)

Examines the early learning experiences of great men and women mathematicians to determine whether their lives were stimulated in symbol modes that generated semiautonomous cognitive systems of acquiring, processing, and originating vast complexities of abstract mathematical concepts. (HOD)

Discusses the "Philosophy for Children" program developed by Matthew Lipman and Ann Margaret Sharp of the Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children at Montclair State College in New Jersey. Explains how the teaching of philosophy can also be incorporated into the teacher education curriculum. (FL)

The ReQuest procedure, designed to teach students to raise questions independently, has many components that lend themselves to solving some of the problems faced by the teacher of juvenile delinquents. (HOD)

Reports a study aimed at determining the relative capacity of selected Latino student's Spanish and English to transmit an abstract and conceptual communication; 53 students from a junior high school in the southwest were asked to define 13 words taken from the revised Stanford Binet-vocabulary list in either English or Spanish. (Author/JM)

Compared laboratory and naturalistic content influences on formal reasoning tasks of 90 13-, 15-, and 17-year-olds, focusing on tasks requiring ability to control variables. Results indicate that 8 to 20 percent of performance variance was associated with task content. Content effects were also shown to reflect expectations about task variables.…

This investigation focused on the stage of formal operational reasoning in the acquisition of astronomy concepts, and on efficacy of different instructional experiences for facilitating cognitive change in college students. Included are selected results and directions for future research. (SK)

Presents the background, methods, and findings of a study contrasting the levels of cognitive development of community college and university students. Reveals that 48% of both student groups tested were incapable of performing at the formal-operational level (as described in Piaget's Cognitive Development Model). Discusses implications for…