Students and instructors may be frustrated with students' lack of understanding of sociological concepts. We suggest that the difficulty of teaching and learning sociology is that sociological concepts and relationships require the use of abstract reasoning patterns. Many students are unaccustomed to using these abstract reasoning patterns. We use…

Standardized intelligence quotient tests should be supplemented and/or replaced by new tests that (1) emphasize the consequentiality of test material and speed selection rather than speed, (2) minimize demands on prior knowledge and test anxiety, and (3) measure intelligence according to three general classes: problem-solving ability, verbal…

The importance of learning styles to student retention and career decision guidance is considered. Learning style is the way people process information and solve problems. Research on right and left brain processing, which indicates that the left hemisphere controls thoughts that are predominately rational and the right hemisphere controls…

Critical thinking comprises the mental processes, strategies, and representations people use to solve problems, make decisions, and learn new concepts. The study of critical thinking combines the educational, philosophical, and psychological traditions of thought. R. Ennis offers a philosophical taxonomy suggesting that critical thinking results…

Three developments over the past 15 years--our understanding of cognition, new techniques in technical psychometrics, and the computer explosion--form the basis for a proposal for new intelligence tests. These developments are reviewed, and both leaps and steps in intellectual assessment are proposed. (Author/RD)

Discusses the evolution of current decision support systems (DSS) computer software and their potential for use in assessing cognitive ability. Current applications of computer software for structured and unstructured problem solving are examined together with the feasibility of computerized adaptive testing. Characteristics of computer-based…

Research has revealed distinct differences in the problem-solving approaches of high- and low-aptitude students. As a consequence, content area teachers can focus on thinking skills by having students describe their mental processes and giving them feedback on erroneous or incomplete reasoning. (TE)