The amount and type of decision-making activities available to and used by adolescents are examined. Adolescents' effectiveness in making decisions, methods they employ while doing so, and various decision-making models that may help adolescents perfect decision-making skills are discussed. (CJ)

Although the concept of learning readiness has been recognized for over a century, the term readiness did not appear until the 1920s. Readiness efforts must be considered in terms of their effect on the quality of life for young children, and continued evaluation of activities must take place in these terms. (JN)

Curriculum theory must attend to three problem areas: educational practice, ethical criteria, and content. Educational practice includes questions about predictions, explanations, and descriptions. Ethical criteria are used to clarify improvements in values. Substantive content ranges across areas of human inquiry from the humanities to natural…

This article reviews literature on higher order thinking focusing on three issues: perspectives of philosophers and psychologists, attempts to differentiate between lower and higher order thinking, and the relationship between critical thinking and problem solving and what that means to higher order thinking. (SM)

Classroom teachers frequently use various programs, strategies, and techniques to enhance student thinking, including questioning, writing, and general information processing (meaning construction, encoding, matching, analyzing, representing, and abstracting). The paper notes other strategies not used or underutilized by teachers. (SM)

A research review suggests that educational practice which nurtures the development of thinking skills in a free mind is effective for all. The paper describes the nature of thinking and the knowledge generation process. Success depends upon students having an opportunity to explore, question, and generate and test answers. (SM)

To understand the processes of learning and to make educational decisions for the future, three levels of environmental and historical context need to be considered. The microsystem represents the most immediate environment, the family; the exosystem includes environment experienced directly, the neighborhood; and the macrosystem represents the…

The article suggests a method for organizing the research on teaching thinking and provides examples of indicators of teacher performance within various domains (hypothesis testing, argument assessment, problem solving, probabilistic thinking, and flexibility). Examples of empirical evidence supporting each indicator are included. (SM)