Western and East Asian people hold fundamentally different beliefs about learning that influence how they approach child rearing and education. Reviewing decades of research, Dr. Jin Li presents an important conceptual distinction between the Western mind model and the East Asian virtue model of learning. The former aims to cultivate the mind to…

This collection of 58 articles from the recently-published third edition of the International Encyclopedia of Education focuses on learning, memory, attention, problem solving, concept formation, and language. Learning and cognition is the foundation of cognitive psychology and encompasses many topics including attention, memory, categorization,…

The impulse to investigate the natural world is deeply rooted in our earliest childhood experiences. This notion has long guided researchers to uncover the cognitive mechanisms underlying the development of scientific reasoning in children. Until recently, however, research in cognitive development and education followed largely independent…

The study of conceptual change traces its heritage to the notions of paradigm (networks of shared beliefs, concepts, practices) and paradigm shift made famous by Thomas Kuhn in his book, "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions". Kuhn's work was quickly linked to developmental psychology (how knowledge develops) and to science education (teaching…

The question of whether or not art can be distinguished from all that is called visual culture has become central to art theoretical discussion over recent decades. This collection of essays and responses addresses this question with the specific aim of making sense of an epistemology of art, with the assumption that nothing less than a persuasive…

In this paper, Piaget's theory is analyzed using Locke's philosophy. The first part, "Mental Experiences," describes the author's view (with a tentative interpretation of Piaget's position) of reflection, abstraction, re-presentation, and the use of symbols. The second part, "Piaget's Theory of Abstraction," has four sections:…

This book contains 15 essays written between 1969 through 1983. The essays included are: (1) "Semantic Analysis of Verbs in Terms of Conceptual Situations"; (2) "'Because' and the Concepts of Causation"; (3) "The Development of Language as Purposive Behavior"; (4) "Adaptation and Viability"; (5) "On the…

This book discusses the act of understanding in mathematics. The first chapter, "Understanding and Meaning," inquires into the various senses and uses of the word "understanding" in ordinary language and discusses the notion of meaning and relations between understanding and meaning. The second chapter, "Components and…

This book articulates and defends the "theory theory" of cognitive and semantic development: the idea that very young children just beginning to talk are engaged in profound restructurings of several domains of their knowledge. These restructurings are analogous to theory changes. The children's early semantic development is closely tied…

Invaluable for anyone looking to understand young children's thinking, this essential textbook helpfully combines introductions to theories about thinking with observations from real-life practice. The book explores underlying theories behind topics such as: (1) the relationship between nature and nurture; (2) models of cognitive development, with…

The 13 essays in this book examine the theory of constructivism in relation to teaching and learning. The first section provides an account of the epistemological, psychological, and sociocultural research that serves as the theoretical basis of constructivism, and includes the following chapters: "Introduction: Aspects of Constructivism" (Ernst…

Current concepts of critical thinking need to be reconstrued into the much broader concept of "critical being" and applied to higher education. Under this construct, critical persons (students) become more than just critical thinkers; they engage critically with the world and with themselves; they not only reflect critically on…