Children's thinking is highly variable at every level of analysis, from neural and associative
levels to the level of strategies, theories, and other aspects of high‐level cognition. This …

Utilization deficiencies occur when children experience little or no benefit in task
performance from the use of a strategy. Miller and Seier (1994) found evidence for utilization …

Conceptual change research investigates the processes through which learners
substantially revise prior knowledge and acquire new concepts. Tracing its heritage to …

Human activity is both organized and variable, dynamically changing in principled ways.
Children and adults are flexible and inventive in their action and thought, adapting old ideas …

This chapter is based on three propositions: 1) Learning is central to child development; 2)
microgenetic analyses yield unique information about learning; 3) the information yielded by …

Preschoolers show surprising competence in choosing adaptively among alternative
strategies and in discovering new approaches. The SCADS computer simulation illustrates …

Microgenetic methods are useful for many purposes. They can yield more precise
descriptions of cognitive change than would otherwise be possible, can reveal both …

Learning is a central part of children's lives, but the study of learning is a rather peripheral
part of the field of cognitive development. Fortunately, this situation is starting to change; …

Research on very young children's cognitive development differs greatly from research on
cognitive development in older children. The differences include the questions that are …

Many preschoolers know that plants and animals share basic biological properties, but this
knowledge does not usually lead them to conclude that plants, like animals, are living things …