John Dewey is well-known for claiming that school education is all about developing the ability to think. There is nothing else for schools to do so far as students' minds are concerned. Thinking is not only the aim of education for Dewey, however, but the means of achieving it. This is not because it is the method to be preferred. Rather, as…

Chronology, widely used for teaching arts and humanities, marginalizes students' abilities to connect new knowledge to existing constructs. Building on the foundation provided by Etienne Wenger-Trayner and Beverly Wenger-Trayner (2020), we argue that using social learning in arts and humanities is more productive than chronology, with attention to…

Students often look to the standard algorithm, which requires rewriting the task, regrouping tens to create enough ones to subtract, and other opportunities to make errors. However, when the authors apply structural thinking, the resultant strategy is an efficient and elegant shortcut and even brings a positive connotation to the word…

Spatial thinking permeates much of our lives and is an asset when solving problems involving well-structured visual information or imagining solutions in physical or digital space. However, an estimated three million US school children have spatial talents that go unrecognized because of the tools commonly used for identification of academic…

Spatial thinking permeates much of our lives and is an asset when solving problems involving well-structured visual information or imagining solutions in physical or digital space. However, an estimated three million US school children have spatial talents that go unrecognized because of the tools commonly used for identification of academic…

In his seminal book, "Toward Excellence with Equity: An Emerging Vision for Closing the Achievement Gap," Ferguson (2008) persuasively argued that the achievement gap between students from different racial groups is not the result of a difference in ability, attitudes or work ethic between groups, but rather a difference in the academic…

This paper explored the following: (1) teachers' ways of attending to students' written responses in pattern generalization tasks and (2) differences in the ways of attending to students' responses associated with different factors. A questionnaire was developed to classify teachers' ways of attending to students' written responses. The…

Recent educational initiatives have emphasised the importance of fostering critical thinking skills in today's students in order to provide strategies for becoming successful problem solvers throughout life. Other scholars advocate the use of critical thinking skills on the grounds that such tools can be used effectively when considering social…

This article discusses how cooperative learning as a socioinstructional approach, relates to both socially-based emerging technologies (i.e. Web 2.0) and to critical thinking with respect to co-cognition. It begins with a discussion of the importance of connecting cooperative learning, Web 2.0, and critical thinking. This is followed by the need…

The paper argues that mathematical modeling is the essence of computational thinking. Learning a computer language is a valuable assistance in learning logical thinking but of less assistance when learning problem-solving skills. The paper is third in a series and presents some examples of mathematical modeling using spreadsheets at an advanced…

In discussions about how to best foster principle-based cognitive skills, there are typically two points of dissent among researchers in the field of learning and instruction: First, should information be provided, as typical of direct instruction, or should this information be generated by the students, as typical of guided discovery or inquiry…

Research suggests that the world is no longer predictable and linear but rather is increasingly characterized by unrelenting volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. The convergence of these disruptive currents threatens the sustainability of contemporary classroom teaching and learning strategies. When an envisioned future and the…

Do our students actually read and use the feedback we provide? If so, what purpose does it serve them? Although these should be concerns, if we provide the adequate tools and guidance on how to use our feedback, this question should not be a pedagogical burden. Ultimately, learning, thinking, and understanding are the products of good feedback to…

The economic, financial, and political trends such as stagnating standards of living, fiscal pressure, and an escalating mistrust of government were set in motion during the 1960s and 1970s. Due to the duration of the trends, the magnitude, but not the nature, of the challenges confronting the health care, nonprofit and public sectors has changed.…

Quality learning in higher education is an impetus and major objective for educators and researchers. The student approaches to learning (SAL) framework, arising from the seminal work of Marton and Säljö (1976), has been researched extensively and used to predict and explain students' positive (e.g., critical reflection) and maladaptive…