Short and long term strategies for implementing critical thinking skills into school programs are discussed. The short term strategy is to teach analytic skills within established subject areas, while the long term strategy involves recognizing and overcoming the unconscious obstacles to development of sound critical and dialectical thinking. (TE)

The moral criticism approach employs elements of criticism and moral reasoning to reach reasoned decisions regarding the rightness or wrongness of actions in applications of scientific knowledge. (JN)

According to the literature on cognitive style, of utmost importance to critical thinking is the organization of segments of information into a comprehensive whole. Creative thinking is a process in which a person becomes aware of a problem or difficulty, searches for possible solutions from past experience, and evaluates, modifies, and tests…

The paper suggests ways to coordinate basic social studies skills to achieve the goal of developing reasoning ability in elementary and secondary students. The first three sections present a rationale for teaching the reasoning process in the social studies curriculum. The author stresses that in order to be an effective thinker, one should be…

This report presents the results of a study, based on 500 responses to a survey mailed to a structured sample of school administrators, on the problems and solutions of developing thinking and reasoning skills in the schools. Provided are analyses of the issue, examples of successful practices, and advice from school administrators and…

One of a series dealing with current issues affecting language arts instruction, this paper focuses on thinking skills. The paper begins by raising two issues: whether thinking skills should be taught as part of each subject area, as a separate skill, or both, and whether English and language arts teachers have a special role in the teaching of…

A study was conducted to examine whether improved and more intensive teaching of conceptualization and abstract reasoning skills could be a factor in the improvement of reading comprehension. Subjects were 48 high school sophomores reading at or below grade level, evenly divided in experimental and control groups, from four intact classes. A…

An experiment in teaching logic to fifth graders using a children's story is reported. Part one of the report develops the experiment's rationale. A lack of reasoning ability among children is perceived and several causes are suggested -- among them a reliance on reading, math, and science as vehicles for reasoning, emphasis on problem solving…

This teaching guide provides an integrated framework for teaching thinking skills which involves both teaching thinking in a separate program or course and infusing the teaching of thinking into standard subject area instruction across the curriculum. Individual chapters deal with the following topics: (1) the nature of thinking skills and…

This document describes curriculum and resources designed to foster and expand the philosophical thinking of elementary and middle school students. The booklet begins with excerpts from and a discussion of Matthew Lipman's novel "Harry Stottlemeier's Discovery," written to help elementary and middle school students discover both formal…