Cognitive acceleration: Review and prospects

Abstract

This paper takes as a working hypothesis the idea based in Piagetian notions that there is a cognitive mismatch between demands made by many science curricula and the abilities of average secondary school pupils. Possibilities of reducing curriculum demands are briefly considered, followed by a review of studies into the possibilities of accelerating the rate of cognitive development ‐ including a discussion of what might be accepted as general cognitive acceleration. A project is described which, on the basis of experiences described in the literature and of Piagetian hypotheses about the mechanism of cognitive development, is devising and trialling ‘intervention’ lessons intended to accelerate the development of formal operational thinking in experimental groups of pupils. Preliminary results from one laboratory school are given which give some encouragement that the possibility of general cognitive development is worth pursuing. Finally, consideration is given to the implications for science education of two possible outcomes of the project: evidence of a general permanent effect on the development of pupils' thinking, or lack of evidence of any significant effect after two years of intervention lessons in nine project schools.