Abstracts - Earli

was provided (generalization, discrimination, cross-classification, recognizing relations,discriminating relations and system formation). The most noticeable development (35%) wasfound in system formation. No gender differences were found nor on the pre-, or the posttest. Theeffect size of the training program is d=0.95. This study revealed evidence that inductive reasoningcan be developed at a young age very efficiently. It is the most important thinking skill inknowledge acquisition and knowledge application, in that these skills play a role in a broad rangeof learning activities.Analogical rasoning training in children with moderate mental retardationFredi Büchel, Geneva University, FPSE, SwitzerlandAnalogical reasoning is a central part of intelligence and a prerequisite for the transfer of learning.Many research studies have demonstrated the possibility of training mentally retarded studentssuccessfully in analogical reasoning. Most research in analogical training with mentally retardedpersons has been realized by a classical experimental design. Children are assigned to anexperimental group with analogical training or to a control group without training. The training isgiven by a researcher who is not the regular teacher of these children. This kind of experimentalintervention has some well-known disadvantages in children with moderate mental retardation.These students need often a rather long period to accept a new teacher. Further, the experimenter isnot familiar with all the individual differences concerning cognitive and emotional characteristicsof the children. We therefore decided to realize an interventional research study executed by theregular teacher. Her regular special education class (n = 5) participated as EG1. This groupprofited from an extended analogical training during the whole school year. Seven children of thesame MA but without mental retardation participated as MA-control. They got a short training.The CG without training consisted of nine mentally retarded children of the same analogicalreasoning level. In a first hypothesis we postulated that given extended training during the wholeschool year, students with moderate mental retardation would acquire analogical reasoning skills,and transfer them to new domains. The second hypothesis stated that the EG1 children wouldoutperform the MA-control group in the posttest because of their longer and more integratedtraining. Results confirm both hypotheses with respect to learning but not to transfer. Discussionwill focus on the learning-transfer-hypothesis formulated by the Campione-Brown laboratory.Learning scenarios for the use of educational technologies in primary school: an exploratorystudyMonica Macedo-Rouet, University of Poitiers, FranceCedric Couvrat, University of Poitiers, FranceEmilie Besneville, University of Poitiers, FranceJean-Michel Perron, Centre National de Documentation Pedagogique, FranceThe present study describes the characteristics of ICT-based learning scenarios from a Frenchnational database for primary schools. The goal is to understand how teachers communicate theirpractices and whether scenarios are useful to them. Dimensions of 364 learning scenarios wereidentified through content analysis, while teachers’ perceptions were collected via standardizedinterviews by telephone. Most scenarios targeted years 6-8 of French primary school and languagedisciplines. The activities most frequently cited involve: editing multimedia documents, using theinteractive whiteboard, editing text with software and using edutainment software. More than halfof the teachers interviewed find the scenarios useful to get ideas for the class. But the scenariodatabase is judged less useful than search engines to find documents on the Internet.– 118 –