Consider that colorful photographs, eye-catching illustrations, and captivating images intended to make textbooks more appealing may actually distract students from the lesson at hand. Or that asking students to simply solve math problems might not be as effective as having them explain the steps of solutions that are already worked out--even some…

The professional expertise of educational leaders has been defined through the lens of problem-solving processes. Problem-based learning has therefore become an increasingly popular instructional approach in principal preparatory programs. As such, this study represents an initial attempt to explore learning from success (i.e., success-based…

To overcome learner dependence when modeling cognitive processes, one teacher used direct teaching of specific thinking skills with her middle school language arts students. The teacher introduced the skill of analyzing for personification to her students. The class experimented with the skill, completed the task, and applied the skill to…

Research identifies two interrelated memories--one that retains facts and symbols and one that retains motor and problem-solving skills. These and other findings challenge educators to determine what students should memorize, to help them move from random memorization to creating useful concepts, and to teach students to use memory in problem…

Describes the contents of a book entitled The Care and Feeding of Ideas: A Guide to Encouraging Creativity which considers the thinking process, why skills need to be developed, and how students use or should use these thinking skills. (RT)

Maintains that educational reform is related directly to issues of creativity and critical thinking. Contends that the creative dimension of thinking is fostered best by joining it with the critical dimension. Includes a figure and eight basic conditions implicit in creative, critical acts of the mind. (CFR)

Designed for teachers of preschool to enable children to learn how to solve the problems they have with others, the underlying goal of the program is to help children develop problem-solving skills so that they learn how to think, not what to think. Originally developed for four-year-old children in a preschool setting, most three-year-old…

Designed for teachers of kindergarten and the primary grades to enable children to learn how to solve the problems they have with others, the underlying goal of the program is to help children develop problem-solving skills so that they learn how to think, not what to think. The 89 lessons are adaptable for various levels of ability throughout the…

Designed for teachers of intermediate elementary grades to enable children to learn how to solve the problems they have with others, the underlying goal of the program is to help children develop problem-solving skills so that they learn how to think, not what to think. The interpersonal cognitive problem-solving (ICPS) program includes both…

Qualitive data from interviews with individuals and observations of group meetings were gathered from 16 school districts that participated in a study of school district uses of evaluation and test data. The findings are organized around a series of discrete topics presented in a set of independent papers. The title essay, "Working Knowledge,"…

This publication contains reference materials and activities for teachers in a staff development program in New York City, teaching grades 3 and 6. The program combines content and methodology. Sections in the publication include: (1) Student Verbalization Resources; (2) Manipulative Resources; (3) Probability, Statistics, and Graph Resources; (4)…