Neuropsychology professor Steven Petersen describes what scientists are finding out about brain development, synaptic growth and wiring, intentional and incidental learning, the role of emotion in learning, and declarative and implicit memory systems. Neuroscience has only the broadest outline of principles to offer today's educators. (MLH)

Summarizes the work of "information processing" psychologists who study cognition and contends that intelligence consists of a set of developed thinking and learning skills that can, to some degree, be taught. Nine such skills are listed including problem identification and strategy selection. (Author/MLF)

Interviews with five neuroscientists--Martin Diamond, Pat Wolfe, Robert Sylwester, Geoffrey Caine, and Eric Jensen--disclose brain-research findings of practical interest to educators. Topics include brain physiology, environmental enrichment, memorization, windows of learning opportunity, brain learning capacity, attention span, student interest,…

Programs to teach students critical thinking must empower them to be self-directed, but they must also stress respect and empathy for the viewpoints of others. (Author/TE)

Thinking tools bring sound instructional theory into the classroom in a practical form that students and teachers both enjoy using. Six such tools are described that have the general characteristics of psychological validity, concreteness, relevance to teachers, and differentiation by type of learning. (TE)

Suggests basic principles to guide the construction of an integrated sequential guide for thinking skills instruction throughout the K-12 curriculum. Strategies emphasize introducing and reinforcing cognitive operations such as information processing, problem solving, critical thinking, and decision making. (TE)

Describes the use of Edward de Bono's CoRT (Cognitive Research Trust) program in English classes during the past five years at Memorial Junior High School in Valley Stream, New York. CoRT tools were used to analyze literary characters and plot development and to generate and organize ideas for writing assignments. (TE)

With Matthew Lipman's Philosophy for Children program, middle school students and their teachers in the Bethlehem (Pennsylvania) Area School District use dialectical reasoning strategies as they contemplate perennial questions. (Author/TE)

At Westover (Connecticut) Elementary Magnet School, a teacher training program called "Talents Unlimited" focuses on critical and creative thinking, invites children to become active learners, and enables teachers to function as facilitators of learning. (TE)

"Talents Unlimited," a research-based model for teaching thinking at the elementary level, has proven to be an effective model for the secondary level as well at schools in New Mexico, Arkansas, and Alabama. The program emphasizes strategies that help teachers integrate practice in thinking skills with academic content. (TE)

"Talents Unlimited," a program developed in Mobile (Alabama) County Public Schools in 1971, nurtures students' abilities in five talent areas as the foundation for academic proficiency: productive thinking, communication, forecasting, decision making, and planning. (TE)

Teachers in Howard County, Maryland, are finding that project IMPACT, a critical thinking skills curriculum originally designed for remedial junior high school students, can be successfully adapted for elementary students also. (TE)

Tactics for Thinking is a comprehensive staff development program that can be adapted to specific curriculum needs in local districts. San Diego County (California) is training teachers in three categories of cognitive strategies: learning to learn, content thinking skills, and reasoning skills. (TE)

Teachers in Cherry Creek, Colorado, have selected a variety of programs for teaching thinking, according to the needs of their students and their own interests. A thinking skills framework modeled after ASCD's Dimensions of Thinking (Marzano et al., 1988) is now being proposed. (TE)

Buncombe County (North Carolina) has launched a "Wednesday Revolution" that uses Socratic seminars based on Mortimer Adler's "Paideia Proposal" to develop students' critical thinking skills. (TE)