Concurrent correlates of Chinese word recognition in deaf and hard-of-hearing children.

The aim of this study was to explore the relative contributions of phonological, semantic radical, and morphological awareness to Chinese word recognition in deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children. Measures of word recognition, general intelligence, phonological, semantic radical, and morphological awareness were administered to 32 DHH and 35 hearing children in Hong Kong. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that tone, semantic radical, and morphological awareness made independent contributions to word recognition in DHH children after the effects of age and intelligence were statistically controlled for. Semantic radical and morphological awareness was found to explain significantly more variance than tone awareness in predicting word recognition in DHH children. This study has replicated previous evidence regarding the importance of semantic radical and morphological awareness in Chinese word recognition in hearing children and extended its significance to DHH children.

The connection between children's knowledge and use of grapho-phonic and morphemic units in written text and their learning at school.

BACKGROUND: Most psychologists who study children's reading assume that their hypotheses are relevant to children's success at school. This assumption is rarely tested. AIMS: The study's aims were to see whether two successful measures of the processes underlying children's learning to read and write are related to their success in English, science, and mathematics as measured by school assessments. SAMPLE: Data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children were available for between 2,500 and 5,900 children (in different analyses) on their use of graphophonic and morphemic units in reading and writing and on their achievement in Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3 assessments. METHOD: Hierarchical multiple regressions assessed the relationship between children's use of grapho-phonic and morphemic units at 8- and 9-years and their performance in the Key Stage 2 (11-years) and Key Stage 3 (14-years) assessments in English, mathematics, and science. RESULTS: The children's grapho-phonic and morphemic skills predicted their achievement in all three subjects at Key Stage 2, 3 years later, and at Key Stage 3, 5 years later, even after stringent controls for differences in age and IQ. The connection between the two types of orthographic skills and the children's educational success was largely mediated by their reading ability as measured by standardised tests. CONCLUSIONS: Children's knowledge and use of grapho-phonic and morphemic rules has a lasting effect on the progress that they make at school. This knowledge has an impact on their reading ability which in turn affects their success in learning about English, mathematics and science.

Individual differences in conceptual and procedural fraction understanding: the role of abilities and school experience.

Recent research on children's conceptual and procedural knowledge has suggested that there are individual differences in the ways that children combine these two types of knowledge across a number of mathematical topics. Cluster analyses have demonstrated that some children have more conceptual knowledge, some children have more procedural knowledge, and some children have an equal level of both. The current study investigated whether similar individual differences exist in children's understanding of fractions and searches for explanations for these differences. Grade 6 students (n=119) and Grade 8 students (n=114) were given measures of conceptual and procedural knowledge of fractions as well as measures of general fraction knowledge, general conceptual ability, and general procedural ability. Grade 6 children demonstrated a four-cluster solution reflecting those who do poorly on procedural and conceptual fraction knowledge, those who do well on both, those whose strength is procedural knowledge, and those whose strength is conceptual knowledge. Grade 8 children demonstrated a two-cluster solution reflecting those whose strength is procedural knowledge and those whose strength is conceptual knowledge. Cluster in either grade, however, did not vary in distribution across schools and was not related to general conceptual ability or general procedural ability. Overall, these results provide a more detailed picture of individual differences in conceptual and procedural knowledge in mathematical cognition.

The relative importance of two different mathematical abilities to mathematical achievement.

BACKGROUND: Two distinct abilities, mathematical reasoning and arithmetic skill, might make separate and specific contributions to mathematical achievement. However, there is little evidence to inform theory and educational practice on this matter. AIMS: The aims of this study were (1) to assess whether mathematical reasoning and arithmetic make independent contributions to the longitudinal prediction of mathematical achievement over 5 years and (2) to test the specificity of this prediction. SAMPLE: Data from Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) were available on 2,579 participants for analyses of KS2 achievement and on 1,680 for the analyses of KS3 achievement. METHOD: Hierarchical regression analyses were used to assess the independence and specificity of the contribution of mathematical reasoning and arithmetic skill to the prediction of achievement in KS2 and KS3 mathematics, science, and English. Age, intelligence, and working memory (WM) were controls in these analyses. RESULTS: Mathematical reasoning and arithmetic did make independent contributions to the prediction of mathematical achievement; mathematical reasoning was by far the stronger predictor of the two. These predictions were specific in so far as these measures were more strongly related to mathematics than to science or English. Intelligence and WM were non-specific predictors; intelligence contributed more to the prediction of science than of maths, and WM predicted maths and English equally well. CONCLUSIONS: There is clear justification for making a distinction between mathematical reasoning and arithmetic skills. The implication is that schools must plan explicitly to improve mathematical reasoning as well as arithmetic skills.

Do children use logic to spell logician? Implicit versus explicit teaching of morphological spelling rules.

BACKGROUND: Intervention studies have reported the advantage of teaching children about morphemes for spelling, but direct comparisons between explicit and implicit teaching have been examined systematically in relation to only a few morphological rules. AIMS: This study compared explicit versus implicit teaching of the functional rule for the conservation of stem morphemes in derived words in English (e.g., logic is conserved in the derivative logician in spite of changes in pronunciation). SAMPLE: Participants (n = 90; 7- to 9-year-olds) were drawn from three schools with a diverse intake. METHODS: The design included a pre-test and two post-intervention tests. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups: an explicit group, taught about stems and their conservation in derived words; an implicit group, exposed to the same stems and derivatives without explicit teaching; and an unseen control group. At pre- and post-test, the children's spelling of stems in derivatives was assessed. The interventions involved practice games in which the children spelled derived words after seeing the base forms; the explicit group discussed the connection between the spellings, whereas the implicit group did not. RESULTS: Analyses of variance revealed that explicit teaching led to more significant spelling improvements than implicit or no teaching, and this effect held at both post-tests. CONCLUSIONS: It was concluded that explicit teaching of the stem conservation rule in derived forms combined with appropriate practice games shows a sustained effect on spelling. The evidence supports explicit teaching of this morphological rule in classroom practice.

Intensive quantities: why they matter to developmental research.

A distinction can be drawn between extensive and intensive quantities. Extensive quantities (e.g., volume, distance), which have been the focus of developmental research, depend upon additive combination. Intensive quantities (e.g., density, speed), which have been relatively neglected, derive from proportional relations between variables. Thus, while proportional relations can be expressed with extensive quantities, these relations are constitutive with intensive quantities. One consequence is that factors, which are theorized as marginal with extensive quantities, are conceptually central in intensive contexts, and may need to be recognized in developmental models. Two such factors, termed variable salience and relational focus, are examined here, via a study where 963 Scottish children aged 7-12 years were asked to solve 42 intensive quantity problems in comparison and missing value format. Reasoning improved with age, but at all ages it was strongly influenced by variable salience and relational focus. Moreover, the manner in which these two factors interacted with other factors differed from what might be expected from models of proportional reasoning with extensive quantities. Based upon these results, it is argued that the distinction between extensive and intensive quantities is theoretically significant, and intensive quantities need to be granted more attention in the future.

Deaf children's informal knowledge of multiplicative reasoning.

Multiplicative reasoning is required in different contexts in mathematics: it is necessary to understand the concept of multipart units, involved in learning place value and measurement, and also to solve multiplication and division problems. Measures of hearing children's multiplicative reasoning at school entry are reliable and specific predictors of their mathematics achievement in school. An analysis of deaf children's informal multiplicative reasoning showed that deaf children under-perform in comparison to the hearing cohorts in their first two years of school. However, a brief training study, which significantly improved their success on these problems, suggested that this may be a performance, rather than a competence difference. Thus, it is possible and desirable to promote deaf children's multiplicative reasoning when they start school so that they are provided with a more solid basis for learning mathematics.

Maternal Prenatal External Locus of Control and Reduced Mathematical and Science Abilities in Their Offspring: A Longitudinal Birth Cohort Study.

A personality scale that identifies individuals' general attitude to what happens to them as largely a matter of luck or fate or of powerful others (externality) or whether they feel they can influence the consequences (internality) is known as locus of control (LOC). A continuous scale can distinguish those who are more external from those who are more internal. Lower scholastic achievement is associated with externality and higher achievement with internality, but little is known about the association of parental LOC on children's academic performance. Data collected within the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) are analyzed to assess associations between mothers' LOC orientation, measured during pregnancy, and their children's abilities in mathematics and science reasoning. We found that maternal external LOC is associated with lower scores for her child assessed by tests measuring mental arithmetic as well as understanding of mathematical and scientific concepts. Additionally, we determined the extent to which three separate sets of factors previously found to positively influence the developing child's ability mediate these findings: (a) perinatal and infant exposures, such as prenatal smoking, binge drinking, consumption of oily fish, and postnatal breast feeding; (b) parenting attitudes and strategies; and (c) the interface of the parents with their child's school. The three factors identify at least 50% of the mechanism by which maternal externality is associated with poor academic outcomes in her child and may be candidates for further investigation as possible intervention targets.

Oxidative stress in alcohol-induced rat parotid sialadenosis.

This study evaluated the effect of chronic ethanol consumption on the oxidative status of rat parotid and submandibular glands. To identify the endogenous response to ethanol ingestion, the activities of the antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) were determined. In addition, the antioxidant alpha-tocopherol was supplied to the animals in order to estimate its action in ethanol-associated glandular damage. The thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), and the protein carbonyl (PC) content, both markers of cellular oxidative stress on lipid and protein structures, respectively, were recorded. Animals subjected to alcohol ingestion showed a low body growth rate with concomitant enlargement of absolute and relative parotid wet weight, compared with pair-fed calorie-controlled rats. Parotid glands of ethanol-treated animals showed increased SOD and GPx activity, and alpha-tocopherol was able to reduce their activities to the control levels. TBARS and PC were enhanced after chronic ethanol treatment in rat parotids. Supplemental alpha-tocopherol suppressed the oxidative ethanol-induced damage in lipid without affecting induced protein oxidation. Submandibular glands revealed no alterations in the weight, enzymatic and oxidative parameters tested due to ethanol and/or alpha-tocopherol ingestion. These findings indicate the involvement of oxidative stress in parotid gland sialadenosis due to ethanol consumption and the capability of alpha-tocopherol to halt lipid damage, although this low-molecular antioxidant compound leads to neither increased glandular weight nor protein oxidation in ethanol-induced parotid alterations.

An intervention program for promoting deaf pupils' achievement in mathematics.

Our past research identified two aspects of deaf children's functioning that places them at risk for underachievement in mathematics. The first is their reduced opportunities for incidental learning, and the second is their difficulty in making inferences involving time sequences. This article examines the effectiveness of an intervention program to promote deaf children's numeracy that was designed to deal with these two factors. The design involved a comparison of 23 deaf pupils participating in the project with a baseline group formed by 65 deaf pupils attending the same schools in the previous year. The project pupils were tested before and after the intervention on the NFER-Nelson Age Appropriate Mathematics Achievement Test. The intervention was delivered by the teachers during the time normally scheduled for mathematics lessons. The project pupils did not differ from the baseline group at pretest but performed significantly better at posttest. They also performed at posttest better than expected on the basis of their pretest scores, according to norms provided by the NFER-Nelson Age Appropriate Mathematics Test for assessing the progress of hearing pupils. We conclude that the program was effective in promoting deaf pupils' achievement in numeracy.

Japanese parents' perception of disclosing the diagnosis of cancer to their children.

In Japan, the practice of disclosing the diagnosis of cancer to young people varies between hospitals. Some hospitals respect parent's wishes and do not to tell young people about their diagnoses whereas others encourage parents to adopt their policy of informing patients. Unfortunately, there is no research about parents' adjustment to either course of action. This study examines parents' perspectives regarding this decision. Parents (55) and grand-parents (3) were interviewed about their experience of sharing or not sharing the diagnosis with their children. Analysis of the interviews reveals a complex picture in which parents struggle to balance their emotions, their representation of 'cancer as death', their views of their children's level of understanding as well as the positive and negative effects of disclosure on their children. We suggest that knowledge of parents' perspectives can be useful to health professionals who support parents living with this dilemma.

Validation of a parent outcome questionnaire from pediatric cochlear implantation.

This paper analyzes the reliability and validity of a questionnaire designed by Archbold, Lutman, Gregory, O'Neil, and Nikolpoulos (2002) for the assessment of pediatric cochlear implantation. Parents of 61 youngsters (age range 5 to 16 years), who had the implant for at least 3 years, responded to the questionnaire and to an interview. The alpha reliability of the 11 questionnaire scales varied between .41 and .74. Content validity was assessed by comparison with parents' responses to an interview. In general, there was agreement between parents' concerns and views expressed in the interview and as assessed by the questionnaire. However, extra issues were identified in the interview, which suggest the need for increasing the breadth of the questionnaire. Criterion validity was assessed by identifying contrasting cases, with very low or very high scores in each scale, and analyzing the descriptions obtained in the interviews. For nine scales this analysis provided support for the validity of the questionnaire; two scales did not produce positive results. Correlations with interview scores were calculated for only four scales: two were positive and significant whereas two were not significant. A factor analysis of the questionnaire scales identified four components, interpreted as the child's functioning in social situations, attitudes to the process of implantation, support required in the long term, and effective use of the implant. Suggestions for further research and descriptive comments provided by parents are included.

The performance of young deaf children in spatial and temporal number tasks.

Deaf children tend to fall behind in mathematics at school. This problem may be a direct result of particular experiences in the classroom; for example, deaf children may find it hard to follow teachers' presentations of basic, but nevertheless quite abstract, mathematical ideas. Another possibility is that the problem starts before school: They may either be worse than hearing children at early, nonlinguistic number representations, they may be behind in learning the culturally transmitted number string, or both. This may result in deaf children failing to develop informal problem-solving strategies, which prepare most children for the more formal learning of number and arithmetic that they will have to do at school. We compared 3- and 4-year-old deaf and hearing children's ability to remember and to reproduce the number of items in a set of objects. In one condition, we presented all the items together in a spatial array; in another, we presented them one at a time in a temporal sequence. Deaf children performed as well as the hearing children in the temporal tasks, but outperformed their hearing counterparts in the spatial task. These results suggest that preschool deaf children's number representation is at least as advanced as that of hearing children, and that they are actually better than hearing children at representing the number of objects in spatial arrays. We conclude that deaf children's difficulties with mathematical learning are not a consequence of a delay in number representation. We also conclude that deaf children should benefit from mathematical instruction that emphasizes spatial representation.

Rational numbers and intensive quantities: challenges and insights to pupils’ implicit knowledge

Este trabajo analiza las dificultades que tienen los alumnos para aprender a usar los números racionales al referirse a cantidades, así como las implicadas en la comprensión de la equivalencia y el orden en los números racionales. Se demuestra que el rendimiento de los alumnos en todas estas tareas no es una cuestión de un conocimiento todo o nada. Los números racionales se utilizan en diferentes situaciones, que pueden ayudar u obstaculizar la comprensión de los alumnos sobre la lógica de los números racionales. En la última sección se sugiere que hay menos conciencia de la lógica de los números racionales debido a que la cultura a menudo se organiza para facilitar nuestro funcionamiento, aun cuando no entendamos bien los números racionales. Creemos que es importante desarrollar esta comprensión en la escuela para que los jóvenes no sean incapaces cuando se les requiera este conocimiento

This paper analyzes the difficulties that pupils have in learning to use rational numbers to refer to quantities as well as those involved in understanding equivalence and order in rational numbers. It is shown that pupils’ performance in all these tasks is not a matter of an all-or-nothing knowledge. Rational numbers are used in different situations, which can help or hinder pupils’ insights into the logic of rational numbers. The concluding section suggests that there is less awareness of the logic of rational numbers because culture often is organised to facilitate our functioning even if we don’t understand rational numbers well. We argue that it is important to develop this understanding in school so that young people are not at a loss when this knowledge is required

Avaliação do perfil lipídico, glicêmico, conteúdo de glicogênio hepático ecardíaco em ratos diabéticos suplementados com farinha de casca de maracujá (Passiflora edulis) / Assessment of the profile of lipids, glucose, liver and heart glucogen, in diabetic mice supplemented withpassion-fruit rind flour (Passiflora edulis) / Evaluación del perfil de lípidos, glucosa, contenido de glicógeno hepático y cardíaco, en ratones diabéticoscomplementados con harina de cáscara de maracuyá (Pasiflora edulis)

A ingestão de fibras alimentares está associada a redução do risco das complicações do diabetes mellitus, caracterizado pelos níveis elevados de glicose sangüínea. Com base nisto, o presente estudo propôs verificar o efeito da suplementação com farinha de casca de maracujá (Passiflora edulis) sobre os níveis plasmáticos de glicose, triglicérides, colesterol total e frações, e conteúdo de glicogênio hepático e cardíaco de ratos diabéticos. Utilizou-se 25 ratos, divididos em 5 grupos (n=5): grupo controle (GI) e grupo diabético (GII) que receberam ração comercial, dois grupos diabéticos tratados com ração suplementada com farinha de maracujá nas concentrações de 50 (GIII) e 100% (GIV) da dose correspondente à ingestão diária recomendada (IDR) de fibras, e grupo GV com ração suplementadacom 150% da IDR. Após o tratamento, coletou-se o plasma sangüíneo para análise dos parâmetros bioquímicos. No fígado e no coração, dosou-se o conteúdo de glicogênio. Em relação aos níveis lipídicos, não houve diferença significativa entre os grupos. A glicemia do GIII (137,60 ± 10,24 mg/dL)e GIV (153,60 ± 14,99 mg/dL) foi reduzida quando comparada ao GII (399,20 ± 37,21 mg/dL). O teor de glicogênio hepático e cardíaco, respectivamente, em GIII (22,91 ± 7,78 mg/g e 0,65 ± 0,09 mg/g)e GIV (28,29 ± 7,99 mg/g e 2,1 ± 0,19 mg/g) aumentou significativamente em relação ao GI (7,0 ± 4,71mg/g e 0,12 ± 0,01 mg/g), p<0,05. Conclui-se que a utilização da farinha de casca de maracujá nas concentrações de 50 e 100% da IDR foi efetiva para controle glicêmico e aumento do glicogênio hepático e cardíaco, não sendo efetiva na diminuição de lipídios plasmáticos no período de estudo.

The intake of alimentary fibers is associated to the reduction of the risk of complications with diabetes mellitus, which is characterized by high glucose levels in the blood. Based upon this,the present study aimed to check the effect of supplementation with passion fruit rind flour (Pasiflora edulis) on the glucose plasmatic levels, triglycerides, cholesterol total and fractions, and the hepatic and heart glucogen in diabetic mice. Twenty five mice were used, divided into 5 groups (n=5): control group (GI) and diabetic group (GII) which received commercial ration,two diabetic groups which received ration supplemented with passion fruit flour, 50% (GIII) and100% (GIV) concentrations of the recommended dose of daily fiber intake (RDI), and group(GV) having ration supplemented with 150% of the RDI. After the treatment, blood plasma was collected for the analysis of the biochemical parameters. The content of glucogen in the liver and the heart was quantified. In relation to the lipidic levels no significant difference was found among groups. The glucose level in GIII (137.60 + 10.24 mg/dL) and in GIV (153.60 + 14.99 mg/dL) was reduced when compared to GII (399.20 + 37.21 mg/dL). The level of hepatic and heart glucogen was significantly increased in GIII (22.91 + 7.71 mg/g and 0.65 + 0.09 mg/g) and GVI (28.29 + 7.99 mg/g) when compared to GI (7.0 + 4.71 mg/g and 0.12 + 0.01 mg/g), p<0.05. It was concluded that the use of flour from passion fruit rind in the concentrations of 50% and 100% was effective on the control of blood glucose and the increase of hepatic and heart glucogen, not being effective on the reduction of plasmatic lipids during the period of study.

La ingestión de fibras alimentares está asociada a la reducción del riesgo de complicaciones de la diabetes mellitus, caracterizada por elevados niveles de glucosa en la sangre. Con base en esto, el presente estudio se propuso verificar el efecto de la complementación con harina de cáscara de maracuyá (Pasiflora edulis) sobre los niveles plasmáticos de glucosa, triglicéridos, colesterol total y fracciones, y contenido de glicógeno hepático y cardíaco en ratones diabéticos. Se utilizaron 25 ratones, divididos en 5 grupos (n=5): grupo de controle (GI) y grupo diabético (GII) que recibieron ración comercial, dos grupos diabéticos tratados con ración complementada con harina de maracuyá, en las concentraciones de 50% (GIII) y 100% (IV) de la dosis correspondiente a la ingestión diaria recomendada (IDR) de fibras, y grupo (GV) con ración complementada con 150% de la IDR. Tras el tratamiento se colectó el plasma de la sangre para el análisis de los parámetros bioquímicos. En el hígado y en el corazón se ha dosificado el contenido de glicógeno. Con relación a los niveles lípidos no hubo diferencia significativa entre los grupos. La glicemia del GIII (137,60 + 10,24 mg/dL) y GIV (153,60 + 14,99 mg/dL)se ha reducido cuando comparada con GII (399,20 + 37,21 mg/dL). El contenido de glicógenohepático y cardíaco, respectivamente, en GIII (22,91 + 7,78 mg/g y 0,65 + 0,09 mg/g) y GIV(28,29 + 7,99 mg/g y 2,1 + 0,19 mg/g) ha aumentado significativamente con relación al GI (7,0+ 4,71 mg/g), p<0,05. Se ha concluido que la utilización de la harina de cáscara de maracuyá,en las concentraciones de 50% y 100% de la IDR, fue efectiva para el control de la glucosa y del aumento del glicógeno hepático y cardíaco, no resultando efectivo en la reducción de lípidos plasmáticos durante el periodo del estudio.

O ambiente da crianca

O objetivo deste artigo e analisar a utilidade de determinados modelos para a descricao dos ambientes socioculturais das criancas, bem como o delineamento e a avaliacao de programas que visem a melhora do seu bem-estar. Na primeira parte discute-se o quanto e complexa a definicao de padroes adequados de desenvolvimento infantil para programas de intervencao. Constata-se que o conceito de infancia varia entre diferentes classes e culturas, o que gera expectativas e demandas diversas quanto ao processo de desenvolvimento das criancas. Coerentemente com essas demandas, as trajetorias do desenvolvimento infantil tambem variam, criando distanciamento entre as criancas, quando sao feitas comparacoes cruzadas entre grupos. Assim, na escolha de padroes de desenvolvimento para programas de intervencao, e necessario que sejam considerados os pontos fortes e fracos do grupo que, se espera, sera seu beneficiario. Na segunda parte, foram escolhidas como exemplo duas situacoes ambientais que colocam em risco o desenvolvimento infantil, quais sejam: a pobreza e o preconceito. Crescer em ambiente de probreza e preconceito e considerado uma cirscunstancia desfavoravel, a qual, no entanto, isoladamente, pode nao colocar em risco o desenvolvimento infantil. Contudo, ambas as caracteristicas ambientais envolvem fatores tao adversos que sao cronicas e interagem de maneira multiplicadora com relacao aos efeitos negativos para o desenvolvimento da crianca. Sao discutidos varios aspectos de cada um desses ambientes desfavoraveis. Finalmente, a terceira parte resume as caracteristicas de um modelo geral para o planejamento e a analise dos resultados de intervencoes no bem-estar das criancas.

Correspondência: um esquema quantitativo básico / Correspondence: a basic quantitative strategy

Os problemas de comparaçäo em aritmética säo difíceis para crianças de 5 a 7 anos. Uma estratégia eficaz usada por algumas crianças nessa idade consiste em aplicar a correspondência termo-a-termo aos conjuntos comparados. Analisamos a eficácia do treinamento no uso da correspondência espacial ou temporal sobre a resoluçäo de problemas comparativos. 180 crianças em dois níveis de instruçäo (pré-escolar e primeira série) e de idade (5/6 e 6/7 anos) de três escolas particulares de Recife foram randomicamente distribuidas entre um grupo de controle e dois experimentais, os quais recebiam instruçäo no uso da correspondência espacial ou temporal, respectivamente. Oobservaram-se ganhos significativos apenas no grupo instruído em correspondência espacial, näo havendo interaçäo entre idade e treinamento. As crianças desse grupo mostraram desempenho superior áquele tipicamente observado nessa faixa etária, o que indica a possibilidade de instruçäo em resoluçäo de problemas desde o pré-escolar

Correspondencia: Um esquema quantitativo basico

Os problemas de comparacao em aritmetica sao dificeis para criancas de 5 a 7 anos. Uma estrategia eficaz usada por algumas criancas nessa idade consiste em aplicar a correspondencia termo-a-termo aos conjuntos comparados. Analisamos a eficacia do treinamento no uso da correspondencia espacial ou temporal sobre a resolucao de problemas comparativos. 180 criancas em dois niveis de instrucao (pre-escolar e primeira serie) e de idade (5/6 e 6/7 anos) de tres escolas particulares de Recife foram randomicamente distribuidas entre um grupo de controle e dois experimentais, os quais recebiam instrucao no uso da correspondencia espacial ou temporal, respectivamente. Observaram-se ganhos significativos apenas no grupo instruido em correspondencia espacial, nao havendo interacao entre idade e treinamento. As criancas desse grupo mostraram desempenho superior aquele tipicamente observado nessa faixa etaria, o que indica a possibilidade de instrucao em resolucao de problemas desde o pre-escolar.