Part of "Students and Drug Abuse, prepared by the Public Information Branch and Center for Studies of Narcotic and Drug Abuse, National Institute of Mental Health, in cooperation with the staff of Today's Education.

Man's long period of cerebral growth has important implications for education. The brain goes through major developmental changes after birth, and researchers have suggested that this growth process presents an opportunity for fostering the plasticity of genetically determined connections. Animal studies show that postnatal growth of the brain is…

The guide gives procedures for helping gifted upper elementary school students in Major Work classes utilize their imagination. Appropriate literary quotes introduce a discussion on creativity, which involves the imaginative recombination of known ideas into something new. Considered are obstacles that work against creativity such as mental…

This study evaluated an attempt to increase the divergent thinking of eighth grade students with a five week experimental treatment utilizing student inquiry. In this treatment, students were shown a demonstration consisting of a discrepant event; students then suggested hypotheses and checked their hypotheses by asking questions, as in Suchman's…

This study was designed to explore the relationship of lateral dominance to divergent cognitive thought. According to the screening results of the Harris Tests of Lateral Dominance, 36 subjects ranging from 9-12 years were divided equally into three groups of left, right, and mixed lateral dominance. In order to measure divergent cognitive…

Described are the development and field testing of measures of creativity, thinking skills are research for academically talented elementary school students. (CL)

A mixed-ability sample of 280 11- and 12-year-olds was used to investigate mathematical creativity and identify characteristics typical of pupils with mathematical creativity. Hypotheses concerned with overcoming fixations and divergent production were clearly supported only for the highest attaining group. Mathematically creative students…

Individual differences among students pose a major challenge to American schools. In this article the literature in the following four categories of learning diversity is reviewed: (1) cognitive abilities; (2) achievement motivation; (3) interests; and (4) creativity. Knowledge about these categories should be used to develop educational programs.…

Despite evidence that researchers seek information by intuitive, illogical means, librarians approach research in a static, product-oriented way. In performing searches for scholars, librarians need to understand the organic nature of research and facilitate online searching's capability to enhance that process. (CDD)

The knowledge era demands that students and faculty analyze and organize information, which requires intellectual skills rooted in critical thinking, problem solving, formal operations, creative, and more recent metacognitive and cognitive concepts. These skills seem to have operations in common, including description, selection, representation,…

Using Raven Progressive Matrices Test items, this study developed an empirical measure of subjects' ability to create new problems. The relationship between this ability and problem solving skills was examined. A very low correlation was found between inventing and solving problems. Problem creation was more difficult than problem solving. (BS)

This study of creative genius argues that creativity can best be understood as a Darwinian process of variation and selection. The artist or scientist generates a wealth of ideas, and then subjects these ideas to aesthetic or scientific judgment, selecting only those that have the best chance to survive and reproduce. The book draws on the latest…