A study investigated whether direct instruction in story constituents and their interrelationships could enhance children's organization in story writing. It was hypothesized that the special instruction could provide children with an internalized prototype story structure that could serve as a heuristic or planning device for organizing…

A systematic understanding of how various behavioral components (vision, articulation skills, empowerment, unconventionality, and risk-taking) work together to set apart certain individuals as charismatic leaders is presented. Using illustrations from the careers of charismatic leaders, including Steve Jobs, Lee Iacocca, Mary Kay, John DeLorean,…

Architects need to understand sociology, psychology, philosophy, education, and many other fields in order to plan professional buildings. To illustrate this point, a distinction is drawn between teaching (imparting factual knowledge) and educating (imparting general understanding or basic appreciation of the subjects studied and applying this…

Strategies and techniques for teaching history and stimulating secondary school students' awareness of and interest in the past is the focus of this document. Using drama as a tool enhances learning and maintains interest and attention by designing and acting out appropriate settings, historical circumstances, dramatic action, and historical…

This document--intended to help technology education teachers plan their classroom curriculum for secondary school and college students--contains units on creativity, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, polymeric materials, manufacturing in space, metallic materials, intermodal transportation, and food production. The sociocultural impact of…

This digest describes academic creativity and offers suggestions for its development in gifted students. Creative learning and learning by authority are contrasted and examples of each are given. The naturally creative behavior of young children is noted. Among suggestions offered to teachers are: respect the unusual questions of children; show…

Arguing that listening is a skill that should be taught systematically in the schools, this paper presents a rationale and strategies for implementing listening instruction in the classroom. The paper first contrasts convergent and divergent thinking, noting that creativity and problem solving are in this latter mode. Next, it examines definitions…

A study compared written texts produced by hand, by typewriter, and by word processor for differences in improvement in creativity and writing skills. Subjects included six college students--two with high creative ability, two with average creative ability, and two with low or weak ability. During a training period, the subjects were required to…

Perspectives regarding education for the gifted and talented and excellence in education are addressed in this second volume of a 1982 public hearing. In addition to reports from Rhode Island, Maine, Connecticut, and New York, education of the gifted at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is discussed, along with a study about programs for…

The development of critical thinking skills in students is seen in this presentation as a significant and worthy objective of education, though the realization of this objective will be dependent upon many important factors. Among the factors cited here are, first, that recent major reform efforts have created no barriers to including critical…

The Structure of Intellect Learning Abilities (SOI-LA) Test was administered to 244 Navajo students (second through eighth grades) at Leupp Boarding School in northern Arizona to determine behavioral characteristics in regard to intellectual and creative ability. Comparison of SOI-LA test scores of Leupp students with norm scores revealed 54 of…

The goal of this study is to broaden the scope of a conceptual model for child behavior by analyzing constructs relevant to cognition, conation, and affect. Two samples were drawn from school populations. For the first sample, 28 teachers from 8 rural, suburban, and urban schools rated 193 kindergarten children. Each teacher rated up to eight…

Background information to help K-12 teachers use objects found in the Smithsonian Institution or in other museums to stimulate students' creative thinking is provided. To encourage creative thinking, teachers must provide students with divergent problems, i.e., problems that are expansive, allow for a variety of responses, and have no fixed…

In addition to reviewing the literature on the pros and cons of computer use in the schools, this document reports the results of a research project in which 13 pairs of first graders learned to use the LOGO computer language over a 10-week period as part of their classroom activities. The first two chapters discuss the overall question of…

Historically, technology educators have chosen the creation of products or projects as a means to teach technological concepts. Although it is true that technology is most commonly known by its products, in most educational situations technology is best described as a process. This paper describes a technology education course that promotes…