Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine evidence for formal operational thought among Canadian and African college students, drawn from Edmonton, Canada and Umtata, Transkei, South African, who were tested on propositional and proportional reasoning. Both Canadian and African students surpassed the 75% criterion for propositional reasoning, whereas only Canadians attained the 50% success criterion on proportional reasoning. There was a cultural difference in favour of Canadians on performance of both tasks.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Dasen

P. R.

(Ed.) Piagetian psychology: cross-cultural contributions. New York: Gardner, 1977.

Klausmeier

H. J.

Educational psychology. (5th ed.) New York: Harper & Row. 1985.

Lawson

A. E.

A review of research on formal reasoning and science teaching

Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 1985, 22, 569–617.

Lindgren

H. C.

Suter

W. N.

Educational psychology in the classroom. (7th ed.) Monterey, CA: Brooks Cole, 1985.

Mwamwenda

T. S.

Das

J. P.

Performance of African children on Piaget's cognitive tests: a review of literature. Psychological Bulletin, in press.

Mwamwenda

T. S.

Mwamwenda

B. B.

Intellectual development of Batswana children. Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs, 1986, 112, 345–359.

Ohuche

R. O.

Otaala

(Eds.) The African child and his environment. New York: Pergamon, 1981.

Piaget

Intellectual evolution from adolescence to adulthood. Human Development, 1972, 15, 1–12.

Reilly

R. R.

Lewis

E. L.

Educational psychology: applications for classroom learning and instruction. New York: Macmillan, 1983.

10.

Schau

C. G.

Phye

G. D.

Hudgins

B. B.

Theisen

G. L.

Ames

Educational psychology. Itasca, IL: Peacock, 1983.

11.

Travers

R. M. W.

Essentials of learning: the new cognitive learning for students of education. (5th ed.) New York: Macmillan, 1982.

Formal Operational Thought among African and Canadian College Students

Abstract

Get full access to this article

References