Explores curriculum developers' differing opinions before they design a specific curriculum; the amount of convergence of opinion caused by curriculum deliberations; and the retention of that convergence. Finds that, despite frequent discrepancies of opinion before curriculum conferences on design issues, subsequent deliberations produced a high…

Information is a commodity; those who are most successful can efficiently access it, critically evaluate and interpret it, and effectively and ethically apply it. Through collaboration, teachers and media specialists show students the connections between learning processes and how to apply them to problem solving or decision making. (MLH)

Gaming is discussed against a background of rationalist and historicist traditions of reality; trivial and nontrivial machine models of problem solving; and rigid-rule and free-form games. (JKP)

Five new realities affect community problem solving: (1) fewer public dollars; (2) increased local/regional responsibility; (3) renewed focus on local government integrity; (4) wider distribution of community power; and (5) increasingly diverse population. Communities that prosper practice collaborative problem solving and consensus-based decision…

Describes how Bowdoin College (Maine) lessened the volume of typical new building occupancy problems by commissioning its new facility prior to use. The school's decision to commission is discussed, the commissioning process is examined, the types of problems commissioning can find and the process used to correct them are described. (GR)

Presents a schema for expert decisionmaking that can be used as a performance support tool. The ringshaped schema can be used in two ways: (1) beginning at the center with problemsetting and working outward to other supporting factors, or (2) skimming over the factors located in the outer ring to find a topic related to information about the…

This study was an exploratory investigation of the development of a multirater instrument to measure employee problem-solving skill. The instrument consisted of two parallel forms: an employee self-assessment and a supervisory assessment. For the self-assessment, twenty employees rated the degree to which they engage in activities commonly…

The generation of new ideas is a complex demanding activity involving multiple processing operations. As is the case in other forms of complex cognition, biases in process execution can induce errors that limit peoples' ability to generate viable new ideas. In the present effort, the nature of these biases, and their impact on creative thought,…

Explicit information-seeking actions are needed to evaluate alternative actions in problem-solving tasks. Information-seeking costs are often traded off against the utility of information. We present three experiments that show how subjects adapt to the cost and information structures of environments in a map-navigation task. We found that…

This article takes a critical look at administrative decision making in schools and the extent to which complex decisions conform to normative models and common expectations of rationality. An alternative framework for administrative decision making is presented that is informed, but not driven, by theories of rationality. The framework assumes…

Critical thinking has long been a goal of social studies education, and its importance has been reiterated in documents delineating standards for the social studies. Yet, teaching critical thinking is problematic because there are competing definitions and practices and many barriers to its implementation (Wright 1995; Onosko 1989). In this…

Several approaches to response to intervention (RTI) described in the literature could be blended into an RTI model that would be effective in the schools. An effective RTI model should employ three fundamental variables: (a) systematic data collection to identify students in need, (b) effective implementation of interventions for adequate…

The purpose of this study was to examine the pre-college leadership skills of first-year students and examine differences by gender on eight distinct scales. The Student Leadership Outcomes Inventory defined these eight scales. A total of 296 participants were chosen to participate in the study from a population of all first-year students at a…

This issue of "Early Developments" examines a relatively new phenomenon in the early childhood field called "evidence-based practice," defined herein as "a decision-making process that integrates the best available research evidence with family and professional wisdom and values." This issue of "Early Developments" includes the following articles:…

Background: Games centred approaches (GCA) such as TGfU, Game Sense, and Tactical Games are widely promoted as alternatives to traditional forms of teaching games within physical education. These approaches are promoted on the basis of their capacity to engage students in meaningful and enjoyable physical activity and to promote problem-solving…