ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the issue of how existing knowledge in semantic memory affects children's use of cognitive strategies. Briefly, I propose that strategy usage is not a simple matter of whether a given cognitive strategy is or is not available to and usable by the child depending on his stage of maturation. Instead, the use of a given cognitive strategy, it appears, has a complex interaction with the amount and structure of the content knowledge to which the strategy is to be applied. Such a view brings up questions concerning the role of maturation per se in the acquisition of strategies. It suggests the possibility that maturation is correlated, but not causally related, to the rate at which more knowledge is acquired and also implies that the acquisition of this knowledge facilitates the acquisition and use of strategies. Empirical data that begin to demonstrate such an interaction is presented.
