Approaches to teaching thinking such as direct teaching of thinking skills and metacognitive approaches, if applied thoughtlessly, can backfire and inhibit thinking, especially with students who are already able, but unconventional, thinkers. We do not know enough about the nature of thinking processes to warrant a mandated thinking skills…

A response to the opinion by John Baer that teaching thinking puts able thinkers at risk. The chances are greater that educators may retreat from teaching thinking if they are uncertain about the importance and possibility thereof than that able students will be harmed by efforts to help them. (Author/TE)

Evidence from the Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) program suggests that at-risk students show little understanding of content without first receiving concentrated instruction in understanding itself. Teaching thinking skills to at-risk students requires a thinking environment, consisting of exploratory conversations, stimulation of curiosity,…

Responding to McQueen (this issue), Epstein notes that the Cognitive Levels Matching project in Shoreham, New York, is entirely independent of his brain studies, which merely provide corroborating physiological evidence for a theory grounded in educational psychology. (TE)

Twenty-eight learning disabled children, 6 1/2 years of age, who lacked skills and maturity for first grade placement, were tested randomly, assigned to groups, and trained either in a sequence of activities to improve grouping and memory strategies (experimentals) or in a specialized program of art experiences (controls). (MC)

A look at how behavioral objectives are related to learning curves. Definitions and major uses are noted. Havighurst's development tasks are presented as a model for providing better retention of learning. Also includes a brief look at the infant science'' of Psychometrics. (Author)

Mass media affects children's aggressiveness, morality, anxiety, social knowledge, cognitive functioning, and positive interpersonal behavior. (Author/MB)

Education involves the learner with his own potential, with the values of ideas, with people and human affairs and these involvements are basic to the individual's growth and effectiveness. (IR)

Task performance experiments concerning properties of mathematical groups with 10 and 11 year-old children are discussed including transfer effects, effects of structural relations, individual differences, and memory (both short and long term). (JG)

The effect of educational television background music on selective exposure and information acquisition was studied. Background music of slow tempo, regardless of its appeal, had negligible effects on attention and information acquisition. Rhythmic, fast-tempo background music, especially when appealing, significantly reduced visual attention to…

Curriculum methods and materials need to address the values, individual traits, and learning styles of the handicapped child with racial or ethnic differences. (SBH)

In order to ensure the effectiveness of instruction on a new topic, teachers must help students recall prior "prerequisite" learning. The type of learning to be recalled varies with the type of learning outcome expected. (RJG)

Examines various kinds of linguistic and psychological information for their pertinence to the arrangement of grammatical information in teaching beginners in English as a Second Language. It is claimed that the psychological information on learning processes is as important as linguistic analysis of the target language. (Author/AMH)

A learning cycle approach to undergraduate instruction implemented in a variety of subjects at Metropolitan State College in Denver is described. An experimental group demonstrated significant gains in critical thinking and cognitive skill development as well as improved retention using a framework based on Piaget's stages of cognitive…