Providing students with realistic problems will facilitate a better understanding of and reason for computation. Specific suggestions for introducing and for increasing problem-solving skills are described. (CJ)

For the staff person responsible for facility planning and management, membership in one or more of the professional organizations is an important part of professional responsibility. (Author)

This discussion of problem-based learning (PBL) first describes well-structured and ill-structured problems and then offers a systematic process for finding potential PBL topics. The process involves constructing brainstorming maps to explore potential PBL units and then designing the student's role, the situation the student meets at the unit's…

Offers suggestions for understanding and interpreting ethical behavior in administrative decision making. (LMI)

This article presents activities to help teachers explore the issue of tattling and help students learn when to tell and when to work it out themselves. Both activities require several 20-minute periods in which teachers explain the issue and involve students in discussions of appropriate behavior and responses. (SM)

Shares the results of some of the algebraic-thinking pattern problems presented in "Principles and Standards for School Mathematics." (KHR)

Discusses the Tiles and Sides problem from the December 2000 issue. Indicates that this problem is accessible to students at different grade levels. Presents samples of student responses and their teachers' analysis. (KHR)

Describes the budgetary realities faced by a day care center director who is interested in improving quality of care, compensation of staff, and affordability to parents--the child care trilemma. Concludes by suggesting several short-term measures that might begin to address these issues. (DR)

This article outlines both specific barriers to teaching and learning creative thinking as well as some possible directions for solutions. Sixteen common barriers such as confusion, powerlessness, and negativity are described along with strategies to dissolve them using such conceptual tools as awareness plans and proactive metathinking.…

Modernization or reconstruction programs can be coordinated by developing a relocation plan for each school site. A relocation plan is a detailed outline of the proposed work to be accomplished in a planned sequence to accommodate the educational needs of the school during the project. (MLF)

This article, third in a series, discusses the last three phases of the creative problem solving process: idea-finding, solution-finding, and acceptance-finding. These phases focus on brainstorming to generate possibilities and alternatives to the problem, evaluating each idea's strengths and limitations, prioritizing the solutions, and developing…

Site-based management cannot work without the school board's active involvement and determined support. Suggestions are offered from School District 12, Adams County, Colorado, which has been moving away from a centralized administrative system to shared decision-making. (MLF)

Sociodrama is presented as a structured, yet flexible, method of encouraging the use of creative thinking to examine a difficult problem. An example illustrates the steps involved in putting sociodrama into action. Production techniques useful in sociodrama include the soliloquy, double, role reversal, magic shop, unity of opposites, and audience…

A tour of centralized university advising centers revealed that the busiest centers had done an excellent job of marketing themselves to their campus clientele. Factors affecting successful marketing include image, location, service, advertising, and innovative problem-solving. (MSE)

The effects of differing attitudes toward money on family life are discussed using a sample case from family counseling services. (DB)