Investigates the effectiveness of two conflict-producing procedures: (1) Peer interaction and conflict training; and (2) Teacher conflict training in promoting the development of logical thinking of fifth-graders as measured by the acquisition of conservation of area. (HM)

An extension of discrimination-learning theory based on the inhibition of stimulus intensity was proposed and supported as a mechanism of cognitive development. Among 48 normal and 37 educable mentally retarded children the predominant category of transistional children conserved at a low level of stimulus intensity but failed to conserve at a…

Two studies of 7-, 8- and 9-year-olds assessed the effect on cognitive development produced by varying degrees of physical isolation of family dwellings and the consequent variation in the amount of verbal communication children had with peers and adults. (JMB)

Children in grades 1, 3, and 5 and college students were given a variety of judgment tasks contrasting the comparison of quantity with the comparison of proportions to determine whether the understanding of proportions develops before formal operations. Results indicated that the comprehension of abstract relations requires formal operations.…

A Piagetian framework is provided for understanding patterns of cognitive growth and their relation to early reading achievement among kindergarten children. Reference is made to relevant research, including recent Piagetian interpretations of prereading, language, and logical thinking. Instructional strategies are offered to guide kindergarten…

These forty conference papers deal with a wide variety of new approaches to the application of developmental theory. The papers represent a cross-section of current research methodology and techniques used to evaluate such traditional Piagetian topics as concrete and formal operations, conservation, classification skills, language development,…

The author examines Novak's position that science and mathematics educators should discard Piaget's theory of intellectual development in favor of Ausubel's theory of meaningful learning as a guide for teaching practice and research. (PB)

The general purposes of this study were to analyze responses on five Piagetian formal operational tasks in a test-retest situation to determine the extent to which taking a pretest effected scores on posttests and to determine task and examiner reliabilities. Significant test score gains on Piagetian tasks appeared to result from test-retest…

University students were administered three Piagetian tasks and a spatial relations test, the Revised Minnesota Paper Form Board. Students' American College Test (ACT) mathematics scores were also recorded. A measure of conservation of weight, administered individually, was the first Piagetian task. Two paper and pencil tests of progressively…

Expanded abstracts and critical analyses are given for each of 14 research articles. Four articles involve variables affecting student achievement and attitudes; two each on teaching abstract concepts to young children, problem solving, conservation in young children, and children's understanding of logic and mathematical relations; one on…

Cultural, ecological, and educational variables in relation to magical thinking, perceptual flexibility, and logical reasoning seem to be crucial in development of children's judgments and explanations in conservation tasks. (Author)

Results indicate that within the limitations of this study there is evidence that children with superior" intelligence showed more mature response patterns on Piaget-type tasks than children of the same age with average" intelligence test scores. (Author)

Two experiments tested whether children fail to make transitive inferences because they forget the premises. Children did not justify incorrect inferences by incorrect premises. Results between nontransitive and transitive inferers parallelled similar studies with nonconserver- conserver dyads and were viewed as reinforcing the commonality between…