Findings of two recent investigations of the development of students' deductive reasoning abilities during early adolescence are examined, and implications for classroom instruction are discussed. Participants were students enrolled in two middle schools in a suburban public school district in Delaware, with equal numbers randomly chosen from four…

Significant correlations between measures of cognitive structure and performance were found using a procedure distinguishing between episodic and semantic memory as an heuristic with achievement test items. The design increased the likelihood of indications of semantic memory. Higher-order and lower-order cognitive processes are discussed.…

Tested a sample of college students to determine the validity of Ellis' contention that irrational beliefs: (1) are held dogmatically and (2) interfere with logical inference making. Found greater endorsement of irrational beliefs on the Irrational Belief Scale associated with (1) greater dogmatism and (2) less critical inference making.…

Contrasts two theories about the use of semantic context information and reports data that support the theory that readers can use certain semantic strategies in dealing with context. (AEA)

Presents results of a study of fifth-grade students' ability to interpret novel metaphors and similes when provided with a subschemata of semantic attributes. (AEA)

Discusses Jean Piaget's notion of equilibrium--the propensity to reduce conceptual conflict--in relation to early childhood education. Presents an instructional model that has the teacher raising children's conceptual conflict through a series of open-ended questions. (FL)

Ss were administered Thinking Creatively in Action and Movement (TCAM), traditional Piagetian measures of conservation of number and mass, modification Piagetian tasks, and the Sequential Assessment Mathematics Inventory. Among findings was that creative thinking ability, as assessed by the TCAM, significantly predicts cognitive performances that…

Neuropsychologically based intervention approaches for learning disabled students are reviewed. The approaches, which are in the areas of neurological organization, psycholinguistics, and perceptual motor skills, are also evaluated for their effectiveness in terms of theory and practice. (CJ)

A view of cognitive development emphasizing the formal properties of cognitive structures and processes that remain invariant throughout development is described. Cognitive development is guided by complex sets of constraints, specific sets are tailored for particular cognitive domains, and constraints limit the class of naturally learnable…

Details a study showing that for young children, proactive semantic cues were the most helpful in reading. Reveals also that the children made miscues displaying semantic associations across cue types. (FL)

Results indicated that children judged "imitative" and "contingent" tended to use primarily new information in resolving contradictory motive information in two stories (i.e., the stories' constructs), while children judged "noncontingent" tended to resolve anomalous information by interpreting the stories in terms of old information (i.e., their…

Provides clarification of the Piagetian theory of the development of conservation and reviews the state of knowledge regarding the theory. It is concluded that reasonable evidence exists suggesting that conservation by identity precedes and induces the emergence of conservation by inversion and compensation. (Author/DB)

This study, written in French, presents the hierarchy of strategies used by children in solving multiplication and division problems, as they acquire the linear function concept. It is based on analysis of the different classes of problems, of specific tasks, and of strategies actually used in solutions. (MP)

Portions of interviews with children who are engaged in a problem solving activity are presented. The problem used is an "eel question" taken from the work of Piaget. The verbal responses of children are seen as a part of effective teaching, and this method of assessment is encouraged. (MP)

Three studies of college students found a sex difference in the correlation of memory scanning rate, short- and long-term components of free recall, and word recognition with memory span. Findings are discussed in terms of prior work and a theory presented to account for the obtained sex differences. (Author/RD)