The document describes a practicum which developed a unit on critical thinking that applied Jerome Bruner's discovery-learning method and also incorporated the unit within the curricular requirements of elementary education majors at Castleton State College in Vermont. It is presented in five sections and an appendix. Section I provides…

This three-volume report deals with the hypothesis that males are more successful at solving mathematical and spatial problems than females. The general relationship between visual spatial abilities and mathematical problem-solving ability is also investigated. The research sample consisted of seventh graders. Each pupil took five spatial tests…

This paper describes seven interrelated studies concerned with children's understanding of sequential actions and with the effects of observing a model on this understanding. A total of 546 elementary and secondary school students served as subjects for the studies. The tasks for all of the studies involved deriving the pattern for a sequence from…

IN PHASE I (OF THREE) OF A RESEARCH PROJECT, 475 SOUTHERN DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN (RANGING IN AGE FROM 3 TO 6) WERE TESTED IN AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE DESCRIPTION, DEVELOPMENT, AND SEQUENCING OF COGNITIVE ABILITIES DESIGNED TO YIELD INFORMATION ON CHILDREN'S LEARNING WITH IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHING AND CURRICULUMS. COGNITIVE TASKS WERE SELECTED…

The relationship between creativity and intelligence is discussed; and the position that intellect is not synonymous with the ability to respond in the usual logical way to a standard test item is developed. This logical (convergent) way of thinking, measured by IQ tests, is contrasted with the creative (divergent) way of thinking, measured by…

The purpose of this first phase of a continuing research program was the development of a test of creative problem solving in general design. A design class of 186 members was divided into an experimental and control group; a non-design control group (an educational psychology class) of 45 was also tested. Multivariate interpretation of creative…

This teacher's resource book is a guide to three intermediate texts about Eurasia entitled Population Pressure in Indonesia, Problems of Industrialization in Eurasia, and Power Blocs in Eurasia. The texts are part of the series, Man on the Earth, which probes broad-based issues confronting mankind. The resource book distinguishes 18 major concepts…

Discusses a unit to teach reasoning and problem solving skills by helping students develop a systematic approach to problem identification, gather and analyze data, arrive at inferences and keep from jumping to conclusions. Describes the development of an activity investigating liquids designed to foster the needed problem-solving skills. (JM)

This book provides a research background for adults helping three to five year olds learn mathematics, including social and emotional processes as well as key mathematical ideas and common difficulties. It includes implications for practice and proposes presented with a playful and sensitive approach. It is illustrated with examples from the…

This conference proceedings contains 135 research reports, 73 short oral reports, 30 poster session reports, 4 plenary addresses, 3 research forums, 6 project groups, and 5 discussion group reports. Only the research reports, research forums, and plenary addresses are full reports; the others are generally one-page abstracts. The first volume…

Comparison of the thinking styles of 21 corporate chief executive officers (CEO's) and 23 school superintendents from across the United States reveals CEO's as right-brain oriented (innovative, intuitive), and superintendents as left-brain oriented (logical, rational). Author suggests both groups strive for "whole-brained thinking," balancing both…

Describes the research rationale for the developmental course offered to entering students at Upsala College (NJ) called "Precise Thinking." This skills-development program integrates reading, writing, and mathematical skills with underlying metacognitive processes to teach students perseverance and strategies for problem-solving and self-directed…

A taxonomy for assessing development of speech-language clinicians based upon cognitive learning theory was applied in the analysis of videotaped clinical sessions involving three student clinicians. Developmental profiles in three areas of clinical problem solving (perspective taking, variables considered, and solutions generated) were derived.…

Summarizes 14 mathematics word-problem-solving intervention studies for elementary and secondary students with disabilities or who were at-risk for math failure. Interventions included representational techniques (diagramming), strategy-training procedures (cognitive and metacognitive), task variations (sequencing and word-problem context), and…

Describes responses of fifth to eighth grade students to different types of test items requiring estimation. Reports that performance differed by item format, types of numbers and operations in the items, and grade level of students. (Author/YP)