ABSTRACT
This chapter concentrates on one aspect of thinking that Nelson ignores, one sensitive to developmental stage within his culture, and degree of formal schooling in other cultures, in order to put Nelson's contribution into developmental perspective. It considers the effects of formal schooling on different kinds of knowing and then focuses on Nelson's concern with the fundamental continuity of thought throughout development. The chapter also focuses on the issue of conscious control, for, whereas it may be true that the basic equilibration processes of assimilation and accommodation remain constant across the life span, as Nelson suggests, voluntary exploitation and control of the knowledge people have is an extremely sensitive index of developmental maturity. While Nelson focused on the development of the "structure" of the knowledge base, the chapter considers the problem of the executive "processes", for not only does the knowledge base undergo qualitative transformations with ontogenesis, but so does the strategic systems employed in the service of acquiring.
