The document is designed to assist teachers in modifying instruction to meet the special needs of high ability students, to help educators in effective organization of their plans for individualizing instruction, and to provide information on individualizing an educational program for gifted students. The format is set up so that it describes a…

This booklet contains a series of supplementary art projects, for kindergarten through fifth grade, designed to improve reading and art skills through positive psychomotor experiences. Because both reading ability and artistic potential depend on the development of visual perception skills, sensitivity, intuition, imagination, curiosity, and a…

This discussion of the need for learning activities which promote critical thinking skills, creativity, and affective growth in children uses Bloom's Taxonomy as a guide for designing such activities based on children's literature. Several examples of projects based on specific children's books are provided. (CLB)

Examines biological and environmental determinants of creative/divergent thinking in light of two studies--one showing an inverse relationship between serum uric acid and divergent thinking and one showing a positive correlation between family size and creativity in upper socioeconomic status groups. Outlines classroom practices that promote…

Teachers help children to experience art by challenging their fifth graders with the responsibility of an art project. (Author/RK)

Art education should be concerned with five categories of behavior: starting, orienting, assimilating, symbolizing and completing. Through these behaviors man develops his intuitive structures of comprehension, awareness, openness, and emotion. The author develops a more comprehensive model in rationale than the six models he examines. (VW)

Writing researchers suggest that children should write stories in order to (1) entertain, (2) foster artistic expression, (3) explore the functions and values of writing, (4) stimulate imagination, (5) clarify thinking, (6) search for identity, and (7) learn to read and write. (HTH)

The author offers these suggestions for increasing the creative component of elementary fine arts education: In art, encourage drawing, not just crafts; in music, use classical and folk music, as well as popular songs; for physical development, deemphasize team sports in favor of fitness and creative movement. (SJL)

Discusses the connections between Montessori pedagogy and Brian Swimme's ideas of a human authorship of a connection with the evolution of the universe and a need to reestablish a connection with the natural world. Describes the ways the art of 11- and 12-year-old students demonstrates an awareness of these issues and a connection with the natural…

This article describes implementation of a creativity curriculum, Ten Lessons in Creativity, with gifted and typical students in elementary and middle school settings. It discusses creativity instruction as a bridge between gifted and regular education, ways that creativity workshops affirm the highly creative child, creativity and self-esteem,…

Characterizes the telling and learning of political jokes as a powerful socializing tool for children to learn about the world. Maintains that this activity serves as a means of storing and transmitting social knowledge as well as information about the world of public affairs. Includes some representative examples. (MJP)

Nonlinear imagination-based thinking draws on intuition to allow insight into the unseen realms that govern everyday life. Largely abandoned by Western education in favor of materialist rationalism, this faculty is being promoted by a sustainability center in Montpelier (Vermont) that demonstrates methods of harmonizing thinking, learning, and…

Describes the development and growth of a program at a new York City public elementary school called Growing a Story: A Theatrical Exploration of Imagination for Literacy Enrichment. This arts educational program fosters students' pride of ownership, self-esteem, and interdependence through improvised creation and performance of original…

Literary gaps were identified by Wolfgang Iser in 1974 as "vacant pages" that invite the reader to reflect and enter into the text thereby motivating students to experience the text as reality. Arthur Applebee, in 1979, identified three categories to distinguish children's types of interaction with stories: (1) the complexity of literary…

The internationally accepted definition of gifted children includes a range of factors that contribute to giftedness, but makes no mention of the child's motivation, capacity for self-initiation, or ability to work independently. Using the current definition, schools and teachers remain bound to gifted identification based on academic achievement…