Human beings enter the world highly motivated to learn. It is how we invent ourselves--a survival mechanism. So when educators talk about students who are not motivated to learn, something is amiss. Either they cannot see what motivates the student in question, or the student's life is dangerously off course. In either case,…

Critical thinking is the sort of mental activity that uses facts to plan, order, and work toward an end; seeks meaning or an explanation; is self-reflective; and uses reason to question claims and make judgments. Any subject--be it physics, algebra, or auto repair--can promote critical thinking as long as teachers teach the subject matter in…

If the basics are used as vehicles for teaching students to think, for developing their intellectual powers, and hence for preparing them effectively for their futures, they merit their central position in the schools. (Author)

A structural arithmetic curriculum is designed to help students develop their own powers of thought. (Author/MLF)

Sifts through confusing intelligence theories, arguing that intelligence is a combination of influences involving power, tactics, and content. Good thinking is an unnatural act demanding evenhanded reasoning, problem finding (versus solving), and knowledge as invention. Discusses thinking frames guiding thought processes and the implications for…

The author describes four capacities--interpretation, instrumentation, interaction, and inner direction--that are as important as traditional academic subjects in preparing young adults for college and career success. He suggests how high schools should address each of these capacities. For example, to develop students' capacity for inner…

Educational research is said to influence classroom teaching by affecting the design of curricular materials, providing a model of human learning, and furnishing data applicable to solutions of particular problems. (GW)

The Cognitive Levels Matching Project trains teachers to guide students' skill acquisition and problem-solving processes by assessing students' cognitive levels and adapting their teaching materials accordingly. (MLF)

A program to improve student ability to perform intellectually demanding tasks might reasonably focus on four types of objectives: abilities, methods, knowledge, and attitudes. (Author/MLF)

In a Virginia school grounded in Gardner's multiple-intelligences theory, K-12 students flock to the think tank, a hands-on discovery room, to explore their varied abilities. This well-equipped room synthesizes many ideas and theories, such as Socratic questioning and John Dewey's discovery-learning ideas. Because multiple ways of smartness are…

Despite its failings, Herrnstein and Murray's "The Bell Curve" is valuable for emphasizing cognition as significantly affecting human performance and social achievement; acknowledging human differences; and offering a frightening depiction of contemporary American society. The authors err in reducing intelligence to a stable, immutable…

Mortimer Adler discusses his "Paideia Proposal" for school reform, which recommends eliminating most elective courses while developing students' intellectual skills, improving their understanding of ideas and values, and introducing them to the world of work in the last two years of high school. (RW)

Research in cognitive science is providing an increasingly detailed understanding of human cognition. Teachers can help students become conscious of their own reasoning processes and then learn to compare, contrast, interrelate, or coordinate various ways in which they think in order to refine their problem-solving methods. (Author/MLF)

A question-answer format on how specific teacher behaviors influence students' acquisition of information, ability to make information meaningful, and application of meaning to new situations. (Author/MLF)

Much that schools have attempted to perform could be better accomplished by community-based education that would link older adults and youth. Intellectual development and citizenship are uniquely the responsibility of the schools. (Author/MLF)