This study examines the effects of controllability by the victim over his plight, the suggestion of future reciprocity, moral reasoning and social comprehension on the donating behavior of children of differential age groups. Forty-six children of kindergarten age and 32 fifth grade children were divided into four control groups (controllability, controllability/reciprocity, uncontrollability, or uncontrollability/reciprocity), read the condition-appropriate vignette, and then given the opportunity to donate 0-5 items. Additionally, each subject was administered the Prosocial Moral Judgement Inventory (Eisenberg-Berg & Hand, 1979) and the Social Comprehension subtest of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children—Revised (Wechsler, 1974). Nonsignificant results were found for the contollability and reciprocity variables. A <u>T</u>-test revealed near significance, <u>t</u>(75)= 1.87, <u>p</u>< .0657, when effects of age on moral reasoning are assessed. However, a correlational analysis revealed a nonsignificant correlation between moral reasoning and donating. Significant results were obtained, <u>r</u>=.34, between social comprehension and donating. The practical implications of these findings suggest that children's socialization plays an important role in prosocial behavior. Moreover, socialization through experiential versus purely cognitive approaches may be most beneficial. / Master of Science

The hypothesis testing behaviors of 50 boys with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) were compared to those of 50 boys without ADHD. The two groups were randomly assigned to one of two feedback conditions: a) boys in the "instruction and rule" condition learned additional strategies to aid their performance on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST); b) children in the "verbal only" condition learned no additional strategies. There were no significant group or condition differences between the boys on the primary dependent measures used. The results from the WCST were also evaluated according to five aspects of problem solving: (a) selective attention, (b) stimulus differentiation, (c) response generation, (d) response execution, and (e) responding appropriately to feedback. The study showed a tendency for the children with ADHD to respond according to a position or hypothesis set. Similarly, children in the "verbal only" condition tended to respond to feedback less appropriately than did children in the instruction and rule condition. These tendencies however, did not differentiate between the boys with ADHD and boys without ADHD.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

Deontic reasoning is a domain of reasoning concerning permissions, obligations, and prohibitions often utilizing conditional logic (Wason, 1968). Correct identification of rule violations is bolstered by the addition of a social valence to the rule for both adults (Tooby & Cosmides, 1992) and children (Harris & Nunez, 1996). This “deontic advantage” for violation-detection is taken as evidence for evolved social-cognitive mechanisms for reasoning about cheaters in the context of social contracts (Fiddick, 2004), and the early development of this advantage supports an evolutionary account of such abilities (Cummins, 2013). The current research hypothesized that differential attention to rule elements underlies the early emergence of the deontic advantage. Accuracy to a change-detection paradigm was used to assess implicit attention to various rule elements after children were told 4 different rules (2 social contracts, 2 epistemic statements). Thirteen 3-year-olds, twenty 4-year-olds, and sixteen 5-year-olds completed the experiment. Each participant completed 64 change-detection trials embedded within a scene depicting adherence to or violation of the rule. Results indicate that 4 and 5 year-olds consistently attend to the most relevant rule information for making decisions regarding violation (F(6, 124)=3.86, p<.01, ηp 2 = .144) and that they use observed compliance/non-compliance with the rule to further direct attention (F(6, 138)=3.27, p<.01, ηp 2 = .125). Furthermore, accuracy of change-detection to scenes of rule violation increases from ages 4 to 5, but not 3 to 4. However, a novel finding emerged suggesting that children use the absence of benefit to direct attention, suggesting possible “being-cheated” detection, rather than cheater-detection (F(9, 345) = 21.855, p<.001, ηp 2 = .322). This work is the first to investigate a deontic effect on attentional processes and opens a new avenue of inquiry to understanding the internal and external variables contributing to the development of deontic reasoning. Follow up studies are currently underway to clarify how children use these environmental cues and in/out group membership to direct attention to rule violations. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2014. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Thesis (J.C.L.)--Catholic University of America, 1988. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 54-55).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Arizona, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 187-190).

Deontic reasoning is a domain of reasoning concerning permissions, obligations, and prohibitions founded on conditional logic (Wason,1968). The inclusion of a social valence to deontic rules leads to increased rule violation identification in both adults (Cosmides & Tooby, 1992) and children (Harris & Nunez, 1996), suggesting an evolutionary advantage for a specific class of reasoning known as “cheater-detection” (Fiddick, 2004). The current investigation is the first attempt to understand the cognitive and social variables that account for children’s logical reasoning advantage in social violation situations. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2015 / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Acompanha: Caderno Pedagógico: O uso da programação Scratch no desenvolvimento de habilidades em crianças do ensino fundamental / O ensino de programação na escola é uma tendência mundial. A linguagem de programação Scratch foi desenvolvida especialmente para crianças, pois usa uma interface gráfica fácil sem códigos, apenas blocos parecidos com lego. Pensando nisso, este trabalho tratou da inserção de programação para crianças dos anos iniciais do ensino fundamental de uma escola municipal da cidade de Ponta Grossa. Esta pesquisa usou a abordagem do Construtivismo de Jean Piaget em busca de compreender o desenvolvimento da criança e também a perspectiva construcionista de Seymour Papert, pela relação com computadores e aprendizado. Desenvolveu-se uma pesquisa aplicada com enfoque qualitativo de cunho interpretativo. Foi utilizada como referência para observação as nove habilidades de aprendizagem para o século XXI elencadas por Mitchel Resnick, divididas em três áreas: habilidades ligadas à informação e comunicação; pensamento crítico e resolução de problemas; e autodirecionamento. Durante um no de projeto, as crianças tiveram a oportunidade de aprender conceitos básicos da programação Scratch e realizar atividades que envolveram criatividade, lógica e solução de problemas. Observou-se que a programação Scratch proporcionou às crianças um ambiente motivador, e resultados positivos no sentido de que elas puderam efetivamente desenvolver habilidades ao interagir por conta própria entre si e com o computador. / Teaching programming at school is a worldwide trend. The Scratch programming language was crafted for children, providing a simple graphic interface using Lego-like blocks instead of codes. This work introduced computer programming using Scratch for children in the initial years of elementary education, in a municipal school at Ponta Grossa. Jean Piaget's Constructivism approach was employed with regard to child's development, as well as the constructivist perspective of Seymour Papert given the relationship with computers and learning. The research has applied nature, with a qualitative approach and interpretive character. In order to form an observation baseline it was taken the nine learning skills for the twenty-first century listed by Mitchel Resnick, which are divided into three areas: information and communication skills; critical thinking and problem solving; and self-direction. During one year of project, children had the opportunity to learn the basics of Scratch programming and to engage in activities that involved creativity, logic, and problem solving. It was observed that the use of Scratch created a motivating environment. Positive results were found, in the sense that children could develop skills by interacting with each other and with the computer.

Acompanha: Caderno Pedagógico: O uso da programação Scratch no desenvolvimento de habilidades em crianças do ensino fundamental / O ensino de programação na escola é uma tendência mundial. A linguagem de programação Scratch foi desenvolvida especialmente para crianças, pois usa uma interface gráfica fácil sem códigos, apenas blocos parecidos com lego. Pensando nisso, este trabalho tratou da inserção de programação para crianças dos anos iniciais do ensino fundamental de uma escola municipal da cidade de Ponta Grossa. Esta pesquisa usou a abordagem do Construtivismo de Jean Piaget em busca de compreender o desenvolvimento da criança e também a perspectiva construcionista de Seymour Papert, pela relação com computadores e aprendizado. Desenvolveu-se uma pesquisa aplicada com enfoque qualitativo de cunho interpretativo. Foi utilizada como referência para observação as nove habilidades de aprendizagem para o século XXI elencadas por Mitchel Resnick, divididas em três áreas: habilidades ligadas à informação e comunicação; pensamento crítico e resolução de problemas; e autodirecionamento. Durante um no de projeto, as crianças tiveram a oportunidade de aprender conceitos básicos da programação Scratch e realizar atividades que envolveram criatividade, lógica e solução de problemas. Observou-se que a programação Scratch proporcionou às crianças um ambiente motivador, e resultados positivos no sentido de que elas puderam efetivamente desenvolver habilidades ao interagir por conta própria entre si e com o computador. / Teaching programming at school is a worldwide trend. The Scratch programming language was crafted for children, providing a simple graphic interface using Lego-like blocks instead of codes. This work introduced computer programming using Scratch for children in the initial years of elementary education, in a municipal school at Ponta Grossa. Jean Piaget's Constructivism approach was employed with regard to child's development, as well as the constructivist perspective of Seymour Papert given the relationship with computers and learning. The research has applied nature, with a qualitative approach and interpretive character. In order to form an observation baseline it was taken the nine learning skills for the twenty-first century listed by Mitchel Resnick, which are divided into three areas: information and communication skills; critical thinking and problem solving; and self-direction. During one year of project, children had the opportunity to learn the basics of Scratch programming and to engage in activities that involved creativity, logic, and problem solving. It was observed that the use of Scratch created a motivating environment. Positive results were found, in the sense that children could develop skills by interacting with each other and with the computer.