Examined was the effect of modeling and observational learning techniques on the number conservation skills of 40 educable mentally retarded persons (6-18 years old). (CL)

The conservation task is analyzed into three essential components, a theoretical framework for interpreting cross-cultural studies is presented, and its applicability to existing empirical results is demonstrated. (JM)

Four groups of kindergarten children were involved in a pretest-posttest experiment comparing verbal cued, visual cued, verbal rule sulpplemented instruction on conservation tasks. Both language level and analytic sorting behavior were reliable predictions of number conservation performance in individual children. (Author/WY)

Demonstrated is a covariance principle that causes the observer to assume that if one aspect of a two-dimensional figure (its perimeter or its area) is conserved, the other aspect must also be conserved (pseudo-conservation). Mentally retarded individuals, assuming no such fixed relationship, correctly judged the changed state of the nonconserved…

The effects of three modes of story reconstruction training on the development of children's story comprehension are examined. One hundred and eight children in grades K-2 were assigned randomly to one of three training conditions: thematic-fantasy play, adult-lead discussion, or drawing. (Author/PN)

Surveys 30 studies involving 104 separate tests of the "similar structure hypothesis" which holds that, when nonorganically impaired retarded and nonretarded persons are similar in developmental level, they are also similar in the processes and concepts by which they reason. (Researchers distinguished between studies that excluded…

Describes and discusses the rule-assessment approach, a new research strategy for studying developmental sequences in children's acquisition of knowledge. Four experiments were conducted to illustrate the utility of this approach across a variety of concepts and a wide range of ages (three-year-olds to college students). (Author/CM)

Describes a cross-cultural comparative study of recall memory among children from two Guatemalan towns and one American city. (CM)

Presented in both English and French, Science 10 is an integrated academic course that helps students in Alberta, Canada better understand and apply fundamental concepts and skills common to biology, chemistry, physics, and the Earth sciences. The major goals of the program are: (1) to develop in students an understanding of the interconnecting…

Reported are the results of an experiment in which twelve different conservation of length tasks, indicative of passage from Piaget's pre-operational to concrete operations stages of cognitive development, were administered to a sample of individuals from Imbonggu-speaking people, a remote and traditional society in Papua New Guinea. Individuals…

This guide offers a nutrition education program for students in Kindergarten through Grade 6. Activities span all grades as well as activities for the specific level. Nutrition education objectives are stated for each grade level: (1) grade four--students will explore how to balance food intake and energy output for overall health and physical…

A study was made to assess the extent to which social interaction is beneficial to cognitive development. A total of 154 boys and girls, 5 through 9 years of age, initially participated individually in a conservation-like pretest requiring prediction of the way a beam would tip when different numbers of weights were placed at differing distances…

This study investigated the ability of preschool children in Singapore to conserve number, length, and quantity. Participants were more than 200 children of 3 to 6 years who attended one of six different types of preschool centers. Findings indicated that more than half of the 5.5-year-old children were able to conserve number, but less than 15…

The pamphlet examines the kinds of play that are useful in developing the basis for later abstract thinking--specifically the development of mathematical concepts. The mathematical concepts included are numbers, conservation, one-to-one correspondence, counting and sequencing, ordering, sorting and classification, sorting and sets, and equivalence…

Described is the development and validation of a test designed to assess the cognitive levels of Jamaican sixth graders. Instead of the usual clinical procedure, a 30-minute videotaped test was designed in order to standardize variables associated with the test's administration. The film presented situations involving seven conservation concepts…