Carolyn Hildebrandt

First Graders' Interpersonal Understanding During Cooperative and Competitive Games

Differences in childrens social interactions during cooperative and competitive games were investigated. Thirty-seven children from two first grade classes with cooperative classroom climates were videotaped while playing a cooperative and a competitive board game. Childrens social interactions were coded using Selmans Levels of Enacted Interpersonal Understanding. Small but significant differences were found between game conditions, with more higher-level negotiation strategies and shared experiences occurring during the cooperative games. No differences were found in lower-level strategies. The benefits of using both competitive and cooperative games in early childhood classrooms are discussed.

Structural-Developmental Research in Music: Conservation and Representation

Research in the development of musical intelligence is concerned with questions of the following type. What is the nature of musical understanding? What is its source and how does it develop? Are there aspects of musical development that are universal? If so, to what extent are they learned and to what extent are they due to general or even domain-specific capacities of the human mind?

The Mind as Black Box: A Simulation of Theory Building in Psychology

This activity gives students a collaborative, hands-on experience in theory building. Using the metaphor “the mind is a black box,” students work together in small groups to discover what is inside a sealed, black, plastic box. In all, 63 undergraduate and 11 graduate students evaluated the activity. Students reported that they enjoyed the activity and that it helped them learn more about the development of scientific theories; the existence of conflicting theories; and the value of logical thinking, imagination, and social collaboration in the process of scientific investigation.