This manual contains materials that business teachers can use to teach their students decision-making and problem-solving skills. Each of the five sections can be used individually or in sequence. The following topics are covered: decision making; approaches to problem solving; everyday life problem solving; creative problem solving; and business…

Using small groups with a cooperative class structure is useful and effective for children's active learning. However in this study, with one exception, six children who had experienced peer group dialogue as the principal means of mathematics and physical science instruction for 2 years (third and fourth grades) from a single teacher demonstrated…

This study evaluated two social skills interventions designed to increase the peer acceptance of six students (ages 10-12) with learning disabilities in regular classrooms. The students were instructed in two social skills strategies as well as in skills for working in small groups and leading group activities. Two mnemonic devices were used to…

As drill and practice programs in computer assisted instruction (CAI) in English give students a chance to test their understanding and free the teacher from test grading, they seem a legitimate if unexciting use of the computer; but what seems less defensible is that, according to some estimates, 90% of available CAI software is of this drill and…

Findings from five related studies carried out in Tasmania, Australia in 1979-80 are summarized. The first study attempted to determine the memory capacity of a cross-sectional population of children aged 4-7, while the second study was designed to portray differences on a variety of mathematically related developmental tasks for the same…

Six tips for increasing student problem-solving skills are offered in this teacher fact sheet. Puzzles and simulations matched to student mental maturity and general knowledge are recommended as activities for helping students think more flexibly and practice higher order thinking skills. In addition, four suggestions are given for controlling…

An understanding-based approach to teaching arithmetic word problems is used in the Training Arithmetic Problem Solving Skills (TAPS) research project, for which four semantic schemas or problem representations have been revised and adopted: Combine, Compare, Change, and Vary. It is hypothesized that a good problem solver identifies the schema of…

This book is mainly about children whose behavior causes distress and difficulties for teachers in elementary and secondary schools. The authors provide some ideas about how to improve the ability of teachers and pupils to work together constructively, and point out some of the pitfalls on the way. A substantial part of the book is constructed…

This paper discusses "Guided Design," a method for teaching course content which engages students in group decision-making, where problems are solved or issues are resolved in a step-by-step process using instructions and feedbacks especially prepared to make students think for themselves about subject matter rather than depend on the…

A study of the effects of the Instrumental Enrichment cognitive intervention program with 41 severely hearing impaired secondary school students was conducted. Experimental and control groups were compared in regard to general cognitive functioning, problem-solving strategies, reading comprehension, and mathematics. Experimental subjects were…

Papers presented at this conference focus primarily on the development of critical thinking and problem solving skills. Topics related to critical thinking include metacognition, curriculum development, and teaching strategies in foreign languages; teaching critical reading of literature to develop critical thinking skills; use of guided design in…

Written in the form of a workshop transcript for participants to take with them, this booklet is designed to present new ideas, reinforce ideas covered in the workshop, suggest applications of workshop content, and encourage participants to use the applications. The concept of "problem" is defined; key ideas in problem solving are considered;…

Following some years of eclipse by the basics, imparting thinking ability to students is once again emerging as the primary goal of public education. How to teach thinking skills, is, however, subject to question. For example, not only is the domain of the higher order skills broad and imprecisely specified, there is also considerable naivete in…

Contradictory research findings on teachers and teaching are frequently the result of overlooking or neglecting a systematic approach to teaching, using principles of human learning to enhance pupils' learning and their enjoyment of learning. In discussing teacher preparation, it is pointed out that task analysis is a crucial operation, in which…

The purpose of this research was to determine the effectiveness of using an adapted version of Creative Problem Solving (CPS) to increase problem solving activities of kindergarten students, and to determine the practical significance of using CPS as a method for increasing problem solving skills of kindergarten students. Data were collected from…