As reading is vital to success in life and opens the door to nearly all other learning opportunities, it is essential that educators understand why students with learning how to read. Therefore, it is key for both professionals and researchers to establish their own approaches to assist those with reading difficulties. "Developing Effective…

While researchers and teachers are still sorting out which programs work best in which circumstances, some basic ideas about thinking can be used by teachers. Suggestions for encouraging thinking in the classroom are offered. (MT)

Fourteen steps are suggested: perceive problem, decode written symbols, formulate general meaning, translate the general message into the mathematical message, determine question(s), gather data, analyze relationships, decide on processes, estimate answers, encode data into mathematical sentences, perform operations, answer questions, and check…

A teacher offers six suggestions for giving students opportunities to exercise their commonsense thinking skills. This allows the teacher to ask rather than tell, listen rather than talk, and allows the children to provide for themselves. (MT)

The article offers examples from two publications (supported by the U.S. Office of Education) with more than 200 problems suitable for use in elementary methematics curriculums for gifted students. Three activities are outlined in terms of the problem, a hint for solving the problem, and the solution. (SW)

Suggests using games to teach students how to ask effective questions. Games include "I've Got a Secret,""What's My Career,""To Tell the Truth,""Jeopardy,""Stump the Teacher,""Ten Q," and "Question Circle." (KC)

This book contains "math mind benders," puzzles that are worked like crossword puzzles except that each square is filled with a digit rather than a letter. Clues to the puzzles are interrelated with each other and a given story. Clear thinking and deductive reasoning must be used to find potential answers and eliminate those that fail to meet all…

Graphing skills are growing in importance in our information society, presenting facts and concepts in newspapers, magazines, and on television. Graphs incorporated into teaching develop children's problem-solving skills. Ways to use graphs in the classroom are discussed, and examples are given. (MT)

Researchers suggest that teachers should place greater emphasis on the qualitative understanding of the procedures involved in mathematical problem-solving. Administrators can advise teachers to encourage students and show them how to be more thorough in analyzing problems. (MLF)

This book helps general and special education teachers empower students in grades K-4 to independently solve problems by teaching them how characters in children's literature books solved similar problems. Students are also taught a problem solving strategy that they can apply to solve problems in any situation. The book contains ready-to-use…

Presents many problems involving scheduling after-school activities and tournaments that bring the topic of Euler paths to a level of understanding for elementary students. (MKR)

Differences between arguing "ad hominem" and "ad rem" are explored in two case studies of fifth-grade gifted boys, demonstrating the need for gifted children to be helped to approach problems by considering issues rather than personalities. (Author/DB)

The focus is on the problem-solving strategy "write an equation." Other topics to develop problem-solving skills are included. (MNS)

Solving a problem using the work-backward strategy is discussed, with tips on other facets of problem solving. (MNS)

This book is a year-long program of daily exercises in problem solving for 2nd and 3rd grade students that presents 144 lessons, each with seven problems. The problems cover number sense, computation, measurements, geometry, problem solving, and patterns. The material is presented in a sequential fashion with concepts repeated and expanded, and…