Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-30T20:02:15.951Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Information Processing and Scholastic Achievement in Aboriginal Australian Children in South-East Queensland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 July 2015

G.M. Boulton-Lewis ,
H. Neill  and
G.S. Halford
G.M. Boulton-Lewis
Affiliation:
School of Early Childhood Studies, Brisbane College of Advanced Education
H. Neill
Affiliation:
School of Early Childhood Studies, Brisbane College of Advanced Education
G.S. Halford
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Queensland
Get access

Extract

Twenty high contact Queensland Aboriginal children of mean age six years were tested on two measures of capaciy to process information (cf. Case, et al., 1982 and Halford, 1984) and on two newly devised tasks to measure levels of thinking based on cultural knowledge. The results indicated that these children possess capacity to process information that is the same as Caucasian children of the same age. Because these children have underlying capacity to learn tasks to the same level as any other child the results have implications for schooling. It is intended that this initial trial testing will be followed up in a larger study.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education , Volume 14 , Issue 5 , November 1986 , pp. 42 - 56
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1986

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Berndt, R.M. 1977: Aborigines and Change: Australia in the ’70s, New Jersey: Humanities Press.Google Scholar
Berndt, R.M. and Berndt, C.H. 1947: Card games amongst Aborigines in the Northern Territory. Oceania, 17, 248–269.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boulton-Lewis, G.M. 1984: Length Measuring Knowledge, Information Processing Capacity in Young Children and Implications for Curriculum Planning. Doctoral Thesis, Uni. of Qld.Google Scholar
Boulton-Lewis, G. and Reuille Irons, R. 1984: Recent cognitive theories and early childhood curriculum. Selected oral presentation at Fifth International Congress on Mathematical Education,AdelaideAugust.Google Scholar
Bourke, S.F. and Parkin, B. 1977 The performance of Aboriginal students In Bourke, S.F.… Keeves, J.P. (Eds): The Mastery of Literacy and Numeracy. Melbourne: Australian Council of Educational Research.Google Scholar
Bryer, F.K. 1976 Interpretation of test scores: performance on multiple classification matrix tasks in an Aboriginal culture. In Kearney, G.E. and McElwain, D.W. (Eds) below.Google Scholar
Case, R. 1974: Structures and strictures: some functional limitations on the course of cognitive growth. Cognitive Psychology, 45 (1, 59–87.Google Scholar
Case, R. 1977: The Process of Stage Transition in Cognitive Development. Final report, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, September.Google Scholar
Case, R. 1978: Intellectual development from birth to adulthood: A neo-Piagetian interpretation. In Siegler, R.S. (ed.), Children's Thinking: What Develops? Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Case, R., Kurland, M. and Daneman, M. 1979: Operational efficiency and the growth of M-space. Paper presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development California: San FranciscoMarchGoogle Scholar
Case, R., Kurland, M. and Goldberg, J. 1982: Operational efficiency and the growth of short-term memory span. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 33, 386–404.Google Scholar
Case, R. 1985: Intellectual Development: Birth to Adulthood. New York: Academic Press .Google Scholar
Ciberowski, T. 1976: Cultural and cognitive discontinuities of school and home: remedialism revisited. In Kearney, G.E. and McElwain, D.W., (Eds) below Google Scholar
Dasen, P.R. (Ed.), 1977: Piagetian Psychology: Cross-Cultural Contributions. Gardner: New York.Google Scholar
Davidson, G.R. 1979: An ethnographic psychology of Aboriginal cognitive ability. Oceania. XLIX No.4, 270–293.Google Scholar
Fischer, K.W. 1980: A theory of cognitive development. Psychological Review. 87 (6, 477–531.Google Scholar
Goodnow, J.J. 1976: Some sources of cultural differences in performance. In Kearney, G.E. and McElwain, D.W. (Eds) below. Google Scholar
Halford, G.S. 1980: A learning set approach to matrix multiple classification: evidence for a theory of cognitive levels. International Journal of Behavioural development, 3, 406–422.Google Scholar
Halford, G.S. 1982: The Development of Thought. Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Halford, G.S. (paper submitted). Children’s utilisation of information: a basic factor in cognitive development. Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Halford, G.S. 1984: Can young children integrate premises in transitivity and serial order tasks?. Cognitive Psychology, 16, 65–93.Google Scholar
Halford, G.S., Maybery, M.T and Boyle, F.M. (paper submitted). How does cognitive processing affect information stored in short term memory?. Google Scholar
Halford, G.S. and Boulton-Lewis, G.M. 1985: On tailoring mathematical instruction to children's ability to process information. Research in Mathematics Education in Australia, Nov. 35–40.Google Scholar
Harris, J.W. 1979: Ethnoscience and Education in Traditional Aboriginal Communities. M.Ed.Thesis, Uni. of Qld.Google Scholar
Harris, S. 1980: Culture and Learning: Tradition and Education in North-East Arnhem Land. Darwin: N.T.. Dept of Education.Google Scholar
Holm, N. and Japanangka, L. 1976: The mathematics of card playing in an Aboriginal community The Aboriginal Child at School, 4:(5), 19–22.Google Scholar
Kearins, J. 1976: Skills of desert Aboriginal children. In Kearney, G.E. and McElwain, D.W. (Eds), below. Google Scholar
Kearins, J. 1983: A quotient of awareness. The Aboriginal Child at School, 11 (3), 24–34.Google Scholar
Kearney, G.E. and McElwain, D.W. (Eds), 1976: Aboriginal Cognition: Retrospect and Prospect. New Jersey USA. Humanities Press.Google Scholar
Klich, L.Z. and Davidson, G.R. 1984: Toward a recognition of Australian Aboriginal competence in cognitive functions. In Kirby, J.R. (Ed.): Cognitive Strategies and Educational Performance. London. Academic Press.Google Scholar
Koepping, K.: Cultural patterns on an Aboriginal settlement in Queensland. In Berndt, R.M., 1977, above.Google Scholar
Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition, 1979: What’s cultural about cross-cultural cognitive psychology?. Annual Review of Psychology. 30, 145–172.Google Scholar
McElwain, D.W. and Kearney, G.E. 1973: Intellectual development. InKearney, G.E., deLacey, P.R. and Davidson, G.R. (Eds): The Psychology of Aboriginal Australians. Sydney. Wiley.Google Scholar
Mclntyre, L.A. 1976: An investigation of the effect of culture and urbanisation on three cognitive styles and their relation to school performance. In Kearney, G.E., deLacey, P.R. and McElwain, D.W. (Eds), above.Google Scholar
Neill, H, 1985: Personal communication.Google Scholar
Peterson, N.: Aboriginal involvement in the Australian economy in the Central Reserve during the winter of 1970. In Berndt, R.M. 1977, above.Google Scholar
Piaget, J, 1928: Judgement and Reasoning in the Child. London. Routledge and Kegan PaulGoogle Scholar
Robinson, M.W. and Yu, P. 1975: A note on Kuns: an Aboriginal card game from the north-west of Western Australia. Newsletter, Department of Aboriginal Affairs. 11, 41–49Google Scholar
Seagrim, G. and Lendon, R. 1976: The Settlement child and school: intellectual assimilation and accommodation. In Kearney, G.E. and McElwain, D.W. (Eds) 1976, above. Google Scholar
Seagrim, G. and Lendon, R. 1980: A note on Kuns: an Aboriginal card game from the north-west of Western Australia. Sydney. Academic PressGoogle Scholar
Watts, B.H., 1976: Access to Education: an Evaluationof the Aboriginal Secondary Grants Scheme. Canberra. AGPSGoogle Scholar
Williams, D, 1981: Exploring Aboriginal Kinship. Canberra, Aust. Curriculum Development CentreGoogle Scholar