A comparison of the analogy-solving ability of 12 deaf and 12 hearing adolescents supported the predication that hearing Ss would demonstrate better analogical reasoning. The prediction was based on the premise that the oral-aural communication mode provides sensory experience that facilitates the perception of the contrast necessary to cognition…

Relationships between word knowledge and proverb comprehension was examined in 150 typically achieving adolescents (ages 12, 15, and 18). Word knowledge was associated with proverb comprehension in all groups, particularly in the case of abstract proverbs. Results support a model of proverb comprehension in adolescents that includes bottom-up in…

Used a pretest/post-test control group design involving 44 female adolescent subjects to determine whether Moral Stage 3 subjects who have attained early basic formal operations are more susceptible to attempts to stimulate moral development than Stage 3 subjects who have attained only beginning formal operations and lack the cognitive…

Based on a set of theoretical assumptions relating to the cognitive modificability of low functioning adolescents, a program of Instrumental Enrichment was developed and implemented with 41 hearing impaired secondary students. The primary goals of Instrumental Enrichment included: (1) improving performance in spatial relations, (2) improving…

Cognitive development as it progresses from concrete to abstract thinking is discussed as it relates to adolescent youth and the early secondary curriculum. Piagetian tests administered to a group of freshman and sophomore high school students revealed that many had difficulty with those scholastic activities requiring formal reasoning. Three…

This study investigated the moral reasoning of 17 Finnish adolescents (ages 14,15) gifted in science. Students completed tests of their scientific and moral reasoning and wrote essays on moral dilemmas in science and everyday life. On the test of moral reasoning, the students' average score was that of the average 18-year-old. On the test of…

Students (N=178) judged the adequacy of reasons presented in stage prototypic responses to moral dilemmas to provide a profile of the frequency and strength with which students rejected early stage reasons. Data indicated definite age trends in rejecting lower-stage reasoning. Higher-stage items produced no significant age differences. (RC)

Studied 100 adolescents' approaches to problem-solving proofs and reasoning competence tasks. Found that a formal level of reasoning competence is associated with a deductive approach. Results support the notion of a cognitive development progression from an inductive approach to a deductive approach. (ETB)

This study explored the moral reasoning and scientific argumentation skills of 31 gifted Finnish adolescents participating in a science program at the University of Helsinki. Students were given the Defining Issues Test (DIT) to determine their level of moral reasoning and the Raven test to evaluate their scientific reasoning. The argumentation…

This study explored the moral reasoning and scientific argumentation of 31 Finnish adolescents gifted in science. In qualitative essays and interviews, the pupils were asked to identify moral dilemmas in science and provide solutions to them. Two illustrative cases of students' argumentation who had either average or high scores on the Defining…

Investigated proportional reasoning of a select group of older, college-bound adolescents on a task set in a geometric/spatial context with a multiple-proportion, multiplicative structure. Sex-related differences and the influence of course experience in mathematics and science were also investigated. (JN)

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)

A study of the effects of the Instrumental Enrichment cognitive intervention program with 41 severely hearing impaired secondary school students was conducted. Experimental and control groups were compared in regard to general cognitive functioning, problem-solving strategies, reading comprehension, and mathematics. Experimental subjects were…

This document discusses the relation between adolescents' expertise (their informational background, which can be accurate or inaccurate, about a particular task or subject) and their formal operational reasoning, and reports the results of three studies of the effects of children's expertise on reasoning. In Study I, adolescents from a rural…

The National Instititute of Education sponsored a conference on the future of research in adolescent reasoning. This report reflects this conference discussion, which focused on: (1) the theoretical basis for research programs in the area of adolescent reasoning; (2) research programs likely to be effective in gathering information relevant to…