Examined 5- to 12-year-olds' judgment regarding the behavior of balance scales and other levers whose arms varied in a causal or a noncausal variable. Results indicated age-related increases in correct judgments about the influence of physical features of objects at an earlier age than about spatial relations between objects. (MOK)

Past research indicates poor agreement about strategies people use to assess covariation between events. This research investigates method of assessment as one possible source of this low consensus. A set of problems was developed in such a way that different judgment rules would produce different decisions about the relationships between events.…

Four strategies used in judgment patterns were explored. Problem sets in which each solution strategy produces a unique solution pattern are depicted. Several experiments had been conducted using rules in this way with subjects from grade 4 through college. Problems were set in the context of concrete events which could be related, and subjects…

Explored the relationship between adolescents' level of cognitive reasoning and their contextual judgments of the factors affecting quality of life. Showed that those 10th grade students who achieved higher levels of cognitive reasoning were more likely to identify social and interpersonal aspects of life as factors related to quality of life and…

Examines how women administrators make decisions in a higher education setting. Studies female administrators' ways of knowing and how these affect their decisions and leadership. The following four bases of knowledge are discussed: (1) received; (2) subjective; (3) procedural; and (4) constructed. Examines the need for reflective practice. (JS)

Contains six firsthand reports from a group of professionals who have attempted to combine research and practice by promoting reflection as a way for teachers to direct their own professional development. Discussions include information on the processes of reflection that were engaged in, and the impact of that reflection. (JS)

Outdoor leaders with sound judgment can gather many specific experiences, induce them into a collection of general concepts, store these as memory maps in the mind, later recall the general concepts as needed, and deduce a specific prediction from them. Proposes that evaluative reflection after a judgment is made is the component missing from most…

Previous research has cast doubt on children's ability to use specified evidence when making causal inferences, or, indeed, to differentiate between the specified evidence and their own preconceptions, or "prior theories." The present study continues previous work by distinguishing between children's reasoning in conditions where…

A review of literature reveals a need to explicitly incorporate critical thinking skills in the college curriculum. Recent research and theories of reading provide some insight into cognitive processes that would provide a basis for study about how to foster critical thinking. Schema theory, in particular, provides a view of cognition that relies…

Gender, race, and socioeconomic status are important factors in the experience students have with computers before they reach college classrooms, and these experiences establish the foundation for student and faculty attitudes toward computers. English teachers' attitudes toward computers can be considered in the context of the thinking process…

An advanced public speaking class at the Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, was specifically designed not only to improve the overall quality of a speech communication program but also to increase the number of majors that an excellent program would attract. Only students who have demonstrated superior speaking skills in basic public speaking…

In a recent controversial article, "Feeling and Thinking: Preferences Need No Inferences" (l980), R. B. Zajonc argues in support of the independence of affect and cognition. Examination of the structure and assumptions of Zajonc's arguments suggests that they do not support the view that affect is non-cognitive. Zajonc appears to leap…

Systematic cognitive development, through planned experiences in the context of course work, should be a component of teacher education programs, together with opportunities to apply that learning in practicum settings. Training in cognitive skills (analysis of error, comparison and contrast, categorization, identifying relationships among…

Stimulated recall from videotapes of the lessons of six teachers in two elementary schools was used to obtain data on teachers' interactive thoughts and cognitive processes. A content analysis system was developed and used to examine the transcribed recall interviews. The information processing of all six teachers conformed to a broad pattern.…

This teaching guide is designed to develop thinking skills of intermediate elementary school children by using the concept of a shopping center. Thinking skills defined in the guide are observing, recalling, noticing differences and similarities, ordering, grouping, concept labeling, classifying, concept testing, inferring causes and effects,…