C. Stephen White

Young Children's Private Speech as a Precursor to Metacognitive Strategy Use during Task Engagement.

The overall purpose of these three investigations was to test the usefulness of private speech utterances as a means for understanding childrens verbal self‐guidance during school task performance. A private speech coding system was derived from synthesizing the literature on private speech (e.g., Berk, 1986a), self‐regulated learning (e.g., Rohrkemper, 1989), and metacognition (Brown, 1987; Meichenbaum, 1977). Also, Vygotskys theory of verbal self‐regulation (1934/1962, 1934/1987) served as the guiding theoretical perspective. To analyze verbal self‐guidance and to gather information about the importance of student characteristics (namely, autonomy, n = 118; academically advanced, n = 34; and creativity, n = 16), three separate studies using a different data source for each study, were conceptualized. Similar patterns of findings emerged; groups designated as more autonomous and more academically advanced used significantly less task‐irrelevant private speech; all groups used less nonfacilitative task‐...

Training in Analogical Reasoning

Two experiments involving a componential approach to analogy training were conducted. The analogy training was organized in two phases: a short-term intensive phase, and an extended period of intermittent instruction. In Experiment 1, direct effects of analogy training and the far transfer to inferential comprehension were assessed for fourth graders of average reading ability. Results demonstrated a significant, positive effect for training on students’ performance of verbal analogy problems of the form A:B::C:?, but no significant effect on students’ inferential comprehension. In Experiment 2, direct effects and near transfer of training were examined. Subjects in Experiment 2 were gifted eighth graders and average-ability tenth graders. Results demonstrated both significant direct effects on students’ performance of verbal analogies of the form A:B::C:? and near transfer to verbal analogies of the form A:B::?:?. Implications for in-class training and for reading/language arts instruction are discussed.

Development of analogical reasoning in 4- and 5-year-old children

Abstract This study assessed the development of analogical reasoning of 4- and 5-year-olds. Subjects were 60 preschoolers, ages 48 months to 71 months. Performance of geometric analogy problems was measured at monthly intervals with the Test of Analogical Reasoning in Children. Results indicated that the children were generally stable in their reasoning performance. There was a significant linear upward trend in performance for less proficient, nontrained reasoners, but post hoc analysis indicated a significant difference only between the first testing and all other testings. Generally, less proficient reasoners used a naive, nonanalogical strategy in completing the geometric analogy problems. Explicit training of the less proficient reasoners had a significant, positive effect on performance that was maintained for several months. Finally, it was determined that the nontrained children who became more proficient in analogical reasoning were significantly older than those who did not.

Relationships among Private Speech and Creativity Measurements of Young Children.

The purpose of this study was to examine relationships among thought processes represented in young childrens private speech and creativity assessments of the same children. A secondary purpose was to study the role of affective private speech and its association with creativity measures. The sample was 42 preschool and kindergarten children on whom creativity measures were obtained using the Torrance Thinking Creatively in Action and Movement (TCAM) assessment instrument. Private speech was collected from the same children. Each private speech utterance was coded into one of five levels: (a) task irrelevant speech (T-1); (b) nonfacilitative, task relevant speech (T-2); (c) task relevant speech (T-3); (d) coping/reinforcing speech (T-4); and (e) solving speech (T-5). Statistical analysis revealed significant positive relationships among creativity measures, solving speech, and coping/reinforcing speech. Furthermore, coping and reinforcing private speech were consistently linked with high creativity measures, demonstrating that the affective domain may play a critical role in creative thinking.

Educational renewal in an alternative teacher education program: Evolution of a school-university partnership

Abstract Can the discontinuities inherent in school university partnerships become generative sources of educational change? The purpose of this study was to analyze how participants viewed an evolving collaboration and the ways in which discontinuities between school and university agendas were negotiated. Findings over the 3-year period from interview, questionnaire, and journal data indicate patterns of changing roles and relationships between and among university faculty, cooperating teachers, and student interns. The findings indicate that as participants negotiated a common agenda for teaching and curricular improvement, a spiralling process of educational renewal in schools and university emerged.

The effects of verbal scaffolding instruction on young children's private speech and problem-solving capabilities

This investigation examined the efficacy of a verbal scaffolding instructional program designed to teach young children how to use private speech while working on school tasks and problems. Two different contexts for solving problems were used; common school tasks and analogical reasoning problems. Thirty-four 5-year olds who attended public school kindergartens were assigned to either the comparison group or the treatment group. Comparison group subjects were presented with a series of 8 lessons which focused on a cognitive strategy to be used in the solutions of geometric analogy problems. Treatment group subjects were presented with a series of 8 lessons which employed cognitive self-instruction in a verbal scaffolding format. After initial instruction using self-verbalizations, treatment group subjects were shown how to apply the cognitive self-instruction to routine school tasks and geometric analogy problems. The data analysis revealed that there was an effect on the treatment groups use of 3 of the 4 levels of private speech. When the two groups were compared, the treatment group used significantly less task irrelevant private speech and significantly more task relevant private speech. There were no significant differences between the two groups on the post-assessment of geometric analogy reasoning. Additionally, when the two groups were compared there were positive effects of the instructional program on the treatment groups classroom behavior (near transfer) and locus of control scores (far transfer). The results of this study provide support for the use of cognitive self-instruction to improve young childrens problem-solving private speech in the context of a public school classroom.

Analogical Reasoning and Giftedness: A Comparison between Identified Gifted and Nonidentified Children.

Abstract The purpose of this investigation was to assess the analogical reasoning ability of gifted young children and to examine the influence of gender, socioeconomic status (SES), and ethnicity on that ability. The subjects for the first phase of this investigation were 108 4-, 5-, and 6-year-olds placed in three preschool and primary grade programs; for the second phase, only the subset of gifted children (n = 55) was considered. The analogical reasoning performance of the group identified as gifted was compared with the performance of a group of nonidentified children. The Test of Analogical Reasoning in Children (TARC; Alexander, Willson, White, & Fuqua, 1987), an individually administered instrument, measured childrens ability to solve geometric analogy problems. Gifted subjects outperformed nonidentified subjects on the geometric analogy task. Within the gifted group, the effects of gender and SES were nonsignificant, but a significant main effect of ethnicity was found. Post hoc analyses indicat...

Training in Analogical Reasoning Processes: Effects on Low Socioeconomic Status Preschool Children.

AbstractIn this investigation we examined the effects of a training program on low socioeconomic status 4- and 5-year-olds’ solutions of geometric analogy problems. Twenty-six 4- and 5-year-old children were assigned to training, play, or control groups. The trained subjects participated in three consecutive sessions, which were based on Sternberg’s (1977) component processes underlying analogical reasoning. Instructional procedures followed an explicit instruction model that emphasized teacher explanation, student participation in problem solution, continual teacher modeling and feedback, and independent student practice. Analyses revealed significant performance gains for the trained group (compared with the play and control groups). Additional analyses of group verbal responses reflected the trained group’s increased attention to the higher order relations in the analogy problems following training.

Alternatives for assessing the presence of advanced intellectual abilities in young children

Intellectually gifted young children may demonstrate the emergence of advanced intellectual abilities during the preschool years, yet present screening instruments do not readily identify such abilities in these children. Changing conceptions of cognitive growth and intelligence from the field of cognitive and developmental psychology present alternatives for assessing young childrens reasoning ability and strategy‐use when solving novel, unfamiliar problems. In this article, assessment procedures aimed at differentiating intellectually gifted young children from their nongifted peers are proposed as alternatives to traditional identification procedures.

Task-relevant private speech as a function of age and sociability

The intent of the study was to investigate the effects of age and sociability on school childrens private speech during independent school assignments. Subjects included 113 public school children in kindergarten through fourth grade. Twenty self-talk utterances were collected from each subject using an experience sampling method (Hormuth, 1986). The utterances were coded as either task relevant or task irrelevant. Data were analyzed using a two-way (Grade Sociability) ANOVA with self-talk utterances as the dependent measure. Results revealed a main effect for the grade level variable, F(4, 98) = 12.08; p <.0001. A linear trend, F(4, 108) = 61.50; p <.0001, was revealed, indicating that as children progressed from kindergarten to fourth grade their task-relevant private speech decreased correspondingly for each grade level.