The diversified skills gained from various industrial arts classes are a significant asset to anyone operating a small business or seeking fulfillment as a human being. Sometime soon an "educational think tank" will rediscover the value of three-dimensional problem-solving skills for students desiring a sense of accomplishment or improved…

Maintains that good thinking skills do not just happen; but rather they must be taught and practiced. Provides a lesson on creative problem solving in which students identify a problem, find facts, develop ideas, and create solutions. Discusses the application of the lesson to other areas of the social studies curriculum. (RW)

A four-year study of urban high school renewal found that the leadership and management of change meant dealing with uncertainty, complexity, turbulence, and the cussedness of many different people. This article discusses four study topics (context, vision building, resources, and problem coping), explores will and skill issues, and provides…

Discusses anchored instruction, a teaching technique using videodisc-based problem-solving environments, and describes two research projects involving anchored instruction. Argues that anchored instruction provides a way to recreate and improve upon some of the advantages of situated cognition. (FMW)

Describes a freshman composition course which employs problem-solving exercises as a writing improvement technique. Notes that sharing ideas while solving problems builds new writers' openness and trust, whereas thinking aloud prepares students to benefit from other writers' thinking protocol methods. Suggests that brainstorming can help students…

Applications of physics concepts related to the activities of dinosaurs are presented. Problems of mass, speed and motion, and sound are discussed. Solutions to the problems are shown. (CW)

Investigated was the level of cognitive development of Afro-American students enrolled in general chemistry courses to determine the strategies used by both successful and unsuccessful problem solvers in solving stoichiometry problems. Results indicated that a higher level of cognitive development may be crucial in solving more sophisticated…

Operation Adventure is a course in leadership skills for gifted/talented sixth-graders in central Wisconsin. The enrichment program uses officers and senior cadets of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps as instructors and focuses on problem-solving ability and courage. (JDD)

Investigated effects of a collaborative planning task on problem solving and attention to reading comprehension on the part of six student teachers. The group planning task caused student teachers to think about reading and reading instruction and involved them in problem-solving activities associated with the cyclic planning process and teacher…

Presents a method for abstracting scientific documents based on a psychological model of a problem solving process. Each component of problem structured abstracts--document problem, problem solution, testing method, related problems, and content elements--is described. When compared with INSPEC abstracts, problem structured abstracts were shown to…

Discussion of how to teach students to use different environments for learning focuses on visual awareness and visual problem solving skills in a visual literacy walk. Highlights include observation techniques, multiple perspectives, categorizing and analyzing visual information, and generating multiple solutions for problem solving tasks. (six…

Discusses the use of the recursive method to permutations of n objects and a problem making c cents in change using pennies and nickels when order is important. Presents a LOGO program for the examples. (YP)

Eight articles in this this theme issue explore aspects of supervised occupational experience (SOE) in agriculture: definitions, new directions, the value of SOE, experiential learning, the science of agriculture, production agriculture, hydroponic technology, and Future Farmers of America proficiency awards. (SK)

Medical peer review offers health law teachers an area rich in scope and diversity and illustrative of several legal issues in the health field, developing analysis and problem-solving skills, requiring integration of disparate substantive areas, and providing insight into health delivery and policy issues. (MSE)

Reviews evidence that children use diverse cognitive strategies; discusses the adaptive value of using diverse strategies; describes models of strategy choice based on rational calculations; and presents an overview of the distributions of associations model of children's strategy choice. (RH)