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This book is to be used with a multimedia presentation that is available on compact disc. The book and multimedia presentation are designed to help parents and childcare providers understand the concept of early exposure and exploration that is followed by increased development of synaptic connections and ultimately prepares children to handle preschool and kindergarten school work. Topics discussed in the book are: the developing brain; the enriched environment; programs specializing in early intervention; and kindergarten readiness. A checklist for parents concerning quality care and preschool, a glossary of relevant terms, and a list of recommendations for implementing ideas presented within the book are included. Appendix A provides information on Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Positron Emission Tomography. Appendix B provides guidelines for utilizing the multimedia disc presentation. Appendix C provides a brief synopsis of information provided earlier in the book. (Contains 69 references.) (MKA)

A study investigated whether formal instruction in logic and syllogism construction helps English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL)/English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) students in crafting argumentative essays. Subjects were 24 ESL students of varied linguistic backgrounds at the Mercer University (Georgia) English Language Institute. Half were given formal instruction in logic and syllogism construction. A multi-trait scoring procedure was used, testing formation of arguments and ideas, control of rhetorical features, and grammar control. Results indicate that instruction in logic and syllogism construction had a statistically significant positive effect on the writing scores given to those students who received instruction, as contrasted with those who did not receive the same instruction. (Contains 32 references.) (MSE)

This paper introduces a multimedia-based educational system on logistics developed at the University of Magdeburg (Germany), reports on development and implementation of the prototype, and discusses ideas for redesign. The system was tested, used, and evaluated at the university and within a European network of 24 universities, colleges, and training centers from 13 countries. Students were interviewed and completed questionnaires regarding opinions, criticisms, and wishes in relation to the system. The development process, including guidelines, story board, navigation, calculation exercises, layout, integrated notepads, language-independent components, and language-specific components, is discussed. Ideas for expansion and modification of the educational system include: increasing user-friendliness by reorganizing and reworking the interface; supporting more flexible teaching and learning processes by providing learner-specific interaction and feedback; and expanding use by integrating the module into distance courses, adapting to student needs, and facilitating alternate forms of communication. Possibilities for more effective authors' support focus on: expanding and explaining conventions for structuring and designing the system and its elements; putting further knowledge of facts and methods into modular form according to content and formal aspects and documenting them in a way that is easily searchable; and supporting the collection, management, and finding of resources by a resource pool with a comfortable management system. (DLS)

This essay examines the ways in which philosophy, as a discipline, has been influenced by feminist scholarship in the field. It explains that in the 1970s feminist philosophers introduced questions regarding personal life and sexuality as matters for philosophical analysis, and that scholars began to challenge the notions of the Western canon. Feminists argued that understanding philosophical texts required reading symbolic and metaphorical language to discover subtexts that held philosophical reasoning in place. The essay goes on to discuss the radical interpretive techniques, such as deconstruction, used by feminist philosophers, and explains that scholars have begun to question the very identity and root impulse of the discipline of philosophy. The essay concludes that the use of feminist materials in philosophy courses can lead to deep change in the way that philosophy is conceived of and taught, because women's work in philosophy has tended to be grounded in existential issues, critically self-reflective of its methodology, and open to interdisciplinary enrichment. The document includes a list of related electronic resources. (Contains 48 references.) (MDM)

A study investigated the relationship between formal and conversational logic. Thirty-two male and 32 female college students evaluated the conclusions of conditional syllogism and participated in an interview adapted from Deanna Kuhn's (1991) monograph, "The Skills of Argument." Students were asked to provide explanations for several problems of interest to them, such as drinking problems, pregnancy, and college tuition. After providing a theory, students were asked to imagine the proof that would support it, and to specify the kinds of evidence that would refute their theory. Then they were offered an alternative theory, which they were to try to refute and then do the opposite--describe the evidence that would support it. Results supported the premise that reasoning in discourse is the same type of reasoning people employ in logical tasks if given the opportunity. But while the data show a relation between two contexts in mature reasoners, they do not illuminate the nature of the relation nor its developmental course. There three possibilities: (1) that both conversational reasoning and formal logic reflect the development of logical skills that are present prior to the advent of language and which will continue to develop; (2) that language plays a constitutive role with the emergence of conditional reasoning; and (3) that language and formal logic are mutually constitutive. The meanings language conveys enable representation of the premises, and the syntax enables coordination. Contains 13 references. (AA)

This paper reviews the existing empirical research on autism in the context of the semiotic theories of Charles S. Peirce. His ideas of the generalized logic of relations are seen as explaining the unusual associations (or lack thereof) in autism. Concepts of "indices" or signs singling out distinct objects, and "adinity" or the number of distinct logical objects that must be kept track of, are first explained. These concepts are then applied to three kinds of disorders: (1) severe autism, which is also called Kanner-type autism (recognizable in early infancy); (2) Asperger syndrome, a milder and sometimes undetected variety of autism; and (3) Williams syndrome (not generally associated with autism at all). Analysis shows certain commonalities and also marked differences in each of the three disorder types. Peirce's semiotic theory (concerning linguistic, gestural, and sensory systems) is coupled with a review of relevant medical research and both observational and experimental approaches to the discourse analysis of affected individuals. Whereas Williams syndrome is thought to be due to a metabolic dysfunction which disrupts coordination of sensory-motor information with abstract reasoning, infantile autism and Asperger syndrome are seen as being due to damage to the limbic system affecting the ability to link deictic markers of various sorts with their logical objects in representational systems. (Contains 51 references.) (Author/DB)

The critical thinker is one who is, according to Harvey Siegel, "appropriately moved by reasons." This characterization of critical thinking combines a "reason assessment" component (the principled assessment of reasons and their ability to warrant beliefs, claims and actions) and a "critical attitude" component (the disposition to engage in principled reason assessment). However such critical thinking is least spontaneous when an individual confronts his or her most basic prejudices or deeply held convictions. In these situations, to paraphrase Siegel, the individual may possess the ability but not the disposition to assess certain of his or her beliefs or claims. CRITO (formed acronymically from the logical terms Conclusion, Reasons, Inference, Truth, and Objections) addresses both the principled reason assessment and critical attitude components of critical thinking by requiring students to assess critically the validity of their own inferences, the truth of reasons supplied in defense of conclusions, and finally the soundness of those inferences. Although the components of CRITO are described in the language of formal logic, the CRITO method requires only a general understanding of the nature of effective argumentation. (TB)

The philosophical notions introduced by Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914) are helpful for researchers in understanding the nature of knowledge and reality. In the Peircean logical system, the logic of abduction and deduction contribute to our conceptual understanding of a phenomenon, while the logic of induction adds quantitative details to the conceptual knowledge. Although Peirce justified the validity of induction as a self-corrective process, he asserted that neither induction nor deduction can help us to unveil the internal structure of meaning. As exploratory data analysis performs the function of a model builder for confirmatory data analysis, abduction plays the role of explorer of viable paths to further inquiry. Thus, the logic of abduction fits well into exploratory data analysis. At the stage of abduction, the goal is to explore the data, find out a pattern, and suggest a plausible hypothesis; deduction is to refine the hypothesis based upon other plausible premises; and induction is the empirical substantiation. (Contains 55 references.) (Author)

This study reviewed, over 2 years, all newspaper articles related to persons with disabilities in two major city newspapers with circulations of more than 500,000 (the Houston Post and the Los Angeles Times). The newspapers were reviewed to uncover trends and themes in the articles which reflected subtleties of views toward persons with disabilities. Content analysis of the 227 articles included both manifest content and latent content (the undertone or mood of the article). Results indicated that most articles revealed logical fallacies and did not portray persons with disabilities realistically but rather either as having superhuman characteristics or as deserving of pity. A few articles, however, portrayed persons with disabilities as competent members of society. People with disabilities and their advocates are urged to communicate their concerns to the media and to promote guidelines for the realistic portrayal of persons with disabilities in the media. A sample set of guidelines is attached. (Author/DB)

Standard setting on licensure and certification tests is difficult both to execute and to defend. There may, however, be certain minimum standards for standard setting on which most will be able to agree. One such standard is logical consistency. M. T. Kane (1984, 1986) has suggested an approach to evaluating the logical consistency of one widely used method to set passing scores--the Angoff procedure (W. H. Angoff, 1971). This approach is applied here to the standard setting data from a study of the NTE Specialty Area Test for School Psychology. In brief, the Angoff procedure involves obtaining judges estimates of the probability with which minimally competent examinees can be expected to answer correctly each item in a test. For this study, 130 items from the test were used with 19 panelists who were members of the National Association of School Psychologists. The study provided modest evidence that the Angoff procedure does yield results that display a relatively high degree of logical consistency, especially as judged from the mean estimates provided by a panel of judges. (Contains 3 tables and 15 references.) (Author/SLD)

This report describes the development over three trial semesters of a required course for sophomores at Baker University (Kansas) to develop reasoning and critical thinking skills that would prepare them for a required senior capstone course. The report describes the work of the faculty team that prepared two textbooks ("Reasoning and Writing: An Introduction to Critical Thinking, and "Reasoning and Thinking,") designed to integrate instruction in written composition and critical thinking with the study of primary texts, and which included readings from classic texts, discussion questions, and other course material. Evaluation of the process suggested the following: focused training is recommended for humanities faculty who are not comfortable teaching material where answers are either right or wrong; faculty who teach critical thinking must themselves understand logic and be able to pass the understanding on to students early in the semester; writing is best taught in a trial-and-error process with much student-faculty interaction; critical thinking courses should be student-centered, using discussion questions rather than lectures; evaluation of reasoning and writing skills is difficult and time-consuming; and faculty members should be drawn in equal numbers from humanities, sciences, social sciences, and other departments. Appended are course descriptions and reading assignment lists. (BF)

Discusses teachers' sensitivity in the context of young children's peer conflicts. Explains that young children need to experience their own actions as logical and sound and that they co-construct logic-in-action (procedural knowledge) long before they can verbalize their logic. Maintains that teachers who do not respect children's logic often aggravate children's conflicts. Suggests ways to strengthen children's tendency to de-escalate peer conflicts and protect joint play. (Author/KB)

Suggests an account of transitivity and transitive inferential reasoning differing from classic Piagetian and current information processing accounts. Postulates a three-component psychological system, with components relying on perceptual, linguistic, and conceptual subprocesses and sensitivity to simple cues. Maintains that the framework is testable and accommodates important aspects of classic and modern accounts as well as human and nonhuman research. (Author/KB)