Domain-specific knowledge can be processed so that analytical/critical thinking in verbal and written discourse is encouraged in the classroom by using a guided design strategy intended to solve open-ended problems. Each of the four operations in the strategy (state the goal, generate ideas, prepare a plan, and take action) make use of the…

Designed to help students observe and learn about how they individually represent experience and assign meaning, the exercises in this paper are intended for use in courses on intrapersonal communication or in course units on cognitive aspects of communication. The journal exercise is described in terms of its goals, approaches to it, and includes…

The refinement of the cognitive knowledge base was studied through exploration of the transition from novice to expert and the use of an instructional strategy called novice knowledge engineering. Six college freshmen, who were enrolled in an honors physics course, used an expert system to create questions, decisions, rules, and explanations…

The "Future Problem Solving" exercises (originated by E. Paul Torrance at the University of Georgia) can be used as a method to teach literature. The process used in future problem solving entails all the higher level processes, involves both critical and creative thinking, as well as cooperative learning, and lends itself to the…

The study evaluated the communicative abilities of 30 learning disabled and 30 nondisabled children (ages 9-13 years) in two communication tasks. The study also attempted to investigate the relationships among factors believed to influence such abilities and to identify subgroups of disabled children based on profiles derived from the following…

A review of research on the subject of how students learn identifies various techniques that have been used successfully in facilitating learning; e.g., memorization, repetition, review. In discussing the differences between active and passive learning, it is pointed out that tactics used by good students include organizational strategies,…

The curriculum was developed to help hearing impaired high school students understand hearing loss and its effects on communication skills as well as to develop strategies and find resources for building communication skills. Course materials are divided into six sections: (1) sound and hearing (concepts of sound, the anatomy and physiology of the…

The major objective of this study was to observe the learning behaviors of teachers selected by their school districts to attend a training institute to learn some new ways of teaching. The teachers expected to use these new ways of teaching themselves and also to conduct training for other teachers in their own districts. This presentation…

This guide provides a summary of the information and suggestions covered on an audiotape designed to help students prepare for and take tests. First, introductory material presents a rationale for the development of the testing skills materials and a discussion of their use at Lane Community College. Next, the objectives of the tape are specified…

This investigation tested in a university setting a laboratory teaching approach found to be productive in high school settings. The extended discretion approach (ED) gives the student a task, from two to five brief procedural steps, and a list of resources from which to choose. The student must exercise discretion in the use of available…

This book is a collection of essays on thinking skills instruction and includes the following chapters and their authors: "Encounter with Thinking" (H. Anderson); "Thinking Skills: Neither an Add-on nor a Quick Fix" (A. Costa); "Teaching for Thinking, of Thinking, and about Thinking" (J. McTighe); "Thinking and…

This book presents a framework for teaching skills that reflects new research on thinking, teaching for understanding, and instruction in the language arts and content areas at all levels. The book is organized into two parts. Part 1 presents the framework for teaching the language arts as thinking--topics covered are learning, organizational…

The possibility of developing a learning theory that is designed to insure its relevance to educational problems is discussed. It is suggested that the constitutive problem for an educational psychology of learning is how one learns things that are difficult to learn. Behaviorist learning theories fail almost entirely to explain why anything is…

Previous research has shown that seeking help is an important and ubiquitous behavior in higher education. However, relatively little is known about the person and situation determinants of academic help-seeking. This study was designed to differentiate types of help-seeking and examine sources of help and goals. Students (N=386) in biology,…

This paper introduces the contemporary research on information behaviors and applies it to educational research activities. Information behaviors are defined as the processes by which information users formulate their information needs, seek and observe sources, evaluate the sources, and then act upon the information. It is suggested that because…