Some potential difficulties involved in using "real-life situations" in teaching problem solving are illustrated with a racing car problem. The importance of developing mental images and the ability to abstract in the solution process is indicated. (MP)

The use of the term "problem solving" as a goal for the organization of mathematics instruction is criticized as an ambiguous slogan that is building a false bandwagon of supporters. Some possible routes for more carefully defining this goal are suggested. (MP)

Student needs are often overlooked in textbooks and packaged health curricula in which topics have been assigned by curriculum developers rather than by students. The Nominal Group Technique is a group exercise which can be used to clarify health problems by actively involving students. (JN)

Histories of alcohol use and of alcohol education indicate that the teaching of responsible drinking for those who choose to drink is a more relevant model of alcohol education. (JN)

The use of management information systems (MIS) in higher education is discussed. It is suggested that the value of MIS in higher education is its potential utility in effective political position-building rather than conventional problem-solving. (BH)

Graduates and their employers rated a master- or diploma-level program in business administration along nine skill development dimensions: initiative, judgment, contact, expression, control, decision making, leadership, problem solving, and problem diagnosis. Cognitive skills were perceived as more successfully developed than instrumental skills.…

Delineates four uses of schooling: replicative (rote), applied, associative, and interpretive learning. Argues that on the first two uses, by which schooling is ordinarily judged, the curriculum fails. Calls on curriculum researchers to demonstrate the school's role in developing the associative and interpretive uses of knowledge necessary to…

While society rushes into the twenty-first century, educators are pleading to go back--back to the basics and the good old days. Saying we can't afford to go backward, the author urges educators to emphasize thinking and problem solving skills that children will need in the future. (Editor/SJL)

Using information contained in nine photographs, young children constructed a wooden pyramid. Control children were given the same task but no pictorial information. Children's performances were significantly better when pictorial information was available. Sex and age differences were noted regarding strategies used to complete the task.…

Students were encouraged to explore the concept of one million. A short pretest revealed many pupils could not easily comprehend a million. Research and practical investigations began to find "a million things." All students were reported to come through these experiences with a much better understanding. (MP)

Reports that a congenitally blind child, as well as sighted but blindfolded children and adults, can determine the appropriate path between two objects after traveling to each of those objects from a third object. Explores relationships of finding to geometric principles underlyinq innate spatial knowledge and inferential ability. (Author/CS)

Presents a set of writing assignments and class activities for helping students to define their own writing problems, set their own goals, and evaluate their own progress. (RL)

Stresses the virtues of one technique and the limitations of another technique for focusing on a writing topic. (RL)

Individual and organizational stress management strategies that have been used by many administrators and managers in academic organizations are described. The need to be a diagnostician as well as an effective decision maker and implementor is discussed. (MLW)

Reports on a study involving eighth grade earth science students (N=287) which indicates that a problem solving approach is useful in improving overall achievement, particularly in facilitating application of earth science subject matter. (CS)