Generalization Effects from Instruction of Kindergartners on Classification and Seriation

Abstract

Kindergartners who were lagging behind their classmates in cognitive development were given either of two forms of instruction during the fall semester. One group was instructed in classification and seriation; the other was trained in letters, numbers, shapes, colors, arts, science, and arithmetic. Delayed posttest scores showed that the first group generalized significantly better than the second on classification problems but not necessarily on seriation problems when test problems were substantially different from training problems.