This book is a compilation of papers presented at a seminar on cognitive development in South Africa and one additional paper. The papers were intended to stimulate research and stress the need for program evaluations. Papers concerned: (1) an initiative to improve black primary school teachers' English language, thinking, and teaching skills, and primary school students' English language and thinking skills; (2) the evaluation of a program to improve students' English language skills; (3) a model for improving the thinking skills of economically disadvantaged students and enhancing their accessibility to various academic disciplines; (4) efforts to assist black university students who are considered underprepared for university studies; (5) a study that examined the effects of ethnicity, degree of urbanization, and geographic location on children's social interaction and language usage in the year before they enter school; (6) a project to improve teachers' ability to teach thinking skills; (7) projects that apply Feuerstein's instrumental enrichment program to the needs of teachers in training and of disadvantaged students in enrichment programs; and (8) a teacher orientation and training program that emphasizes the teachers' awareness of students' active involvement in the learning process. Reference lists are provided with individual papers. (BC)