The CoRT (Cognitive Research Trust) is a five-step program in direct instruction of thinking skills which increase the number and diversity of ideas as well as help the individual establish goals, set priorities, improve interactions with others, and incorporate feeling into thinking. (DB)

The data pool is a teaching technique that can help students to bridge the gap between facts and higher levels of thinking. Teaching suggestions for use of data pools are offered in this article. (Author/JR)

Provides a set of guidelines that has been developed to aid students in meeting various reading, learning, and study needs while internalizing the fundamentals of problem solving. The code words for the steps in the suggested problem-solving process are: count, characterize, consider, collect, and create. (MKM)

Describes a new approach for increasing teaching effectiveness in the area of social studies by helping teachers recognize and nurture multiple talents in all children (Talents Unlimited). Objectives of the approach are to develop students' productive thinking, communication, forecasting, decision making, and planning skills. (DB)

Pullout pages provide suggestions for teaching elementary students at all levels about the wonders of human ingenuity. The suggestions help students see that great ideas come from the need to solve real-life problems and that one great idea leads to another, so current inventions help predict future inventions. (SM)

This paper describes how secondary teachers can use the Purdue Three-Stage Model as a framework for instruction that facilitates talent development in both heterogenous and homogenous classrooms. In the first two stages, students master the core content of a discipline and practice thinking creatively and critically about the content. In the third…

Today, because of the problem-solving skills necessary for successful 21st century living, students must be taught higher-order thinking skills. Principles intended to stimulate discussion about the appropriate means for teaching higher-order thinking are examined. (RM)

Any consideration of basic skills must at some point achieve the realization that a fundamental skill is the ability of the mind to create, produce, and utilize meaning. The purpose of productive and creative thinking is to know and understand, to produce and utilize meaning that serves to guide and direct mental and physical behavior. The overall…

E. Paul Torrance's Instructional Model uses an integrated approach to teach thinking skills and creative productivity along with subject content for gifted students. Thinking skill objectives include such skills as developing originality, keeping open, imagining the future, using movement, etc. Two sample lessons apply the model to creative…

Well-known questioning strategies, built on question classification systems, are examined. Types of question classification systems are identified as: "hierarchical," which are sequential and cumulative; "non-hierarchical," which are based on elements which should not be rank ordered; systems which are "context-bound" to specifics; and…

Normally achieving students (n=119) and students with mild handicaps (n=83) in grades 3-6 were instructed to create and answer computation items similar to samples given. Students with mild handicaps understood item characteristics enough to create like items, though averaging three years behind normal achievers. A sample instructional activity is…

The formal development of critical thinking is discussed, and guidance is provided to help faculty insure that critical thinking becomes an integral part of learning. Theory, research, teaching practice, and college programs pertinent to the development and role of critical thinking are presented in order to show how educators have shaped…

This article discusses empowering thinking skills such as brainstorming, problem solving, analysis; comparison/contrast and how to cultivate these abilities in gifted children. Examples are given of ways for teachers to model thinking skills for students. The response of a student to the ideas of the article is included. (PB)

This teaching guide provides an integrated framework for teaching thinking skills which involves both teaching thinking in a separate program or course and infusing the teaching of thinking into standard subject area instruction across the curriculum. Individual chapters deal with the following topics: (1) the nature of thinking skills and…

This monograph describes the development of a scope and sequence model for science education specifically intended for use with gifted students in grades K-8. Introductory material notes the rationale and purpose of the model as well as its functions such as providing a scaffolding linking educational concepts with the technology of school…