Presents suggestions for teaching chess to young children as part of the problem-solving component of a kindergarten mathematics curriculum. Discusses the introduction of pairs of chess characters, playing challenge games with teachers to enhance skill development, and writing down the rules of the game. Notes that children's problem-solving and…

Comparison of 107 kindergarten children who either were or were not in a gifted program and received or did not receive special training in synectics (a strategy to facilitate creative thinking) found significant improvement in creativity scores for experimental but not control groups but not more for gifted than for nongifted children. (Author/DB)

The effects of a visual motor training program that attempts to teach 5-year-olds the underlying cognitive structures used in copying geometric designs are assessed. The Design Board Program teaches the child a systematic method for analyzing complex two-dimensional graphic patterns. It is based on the theory that accurate replication of geometric…

Evaluation results are reported for the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory's Thinking and Reasoning Program, designed to develop analytic thinking and problem-solving skills in young children in multicultural classroom settings. Results are based on a pilot test of the program conducted during the 1974-75 school year. Mastery activities,…

This manual contains materials for seven workshops on developing thinking skills in young children for teachers and teacher assistants in kindergarten through third grade. Contents of workshop (W) material focus, respectively, on (W1) convergent and divergent thinking; (W2) Bloom's levels of thinking; (W3) decision making, concept development, and…