The article presents a generalized program for improving critical judgment and facilitating intellectual progress in gifted students. It examines the development of a critical base of knowledge, generalizing past experience into a theoretical base, and applying a theory of knowledge in education. Examples from adult and elementary programs are…

Because university teachers tend to be intellectually lazy and avoid sound, rigorous thought, it is emphasized that they should weigh evidence, assess arguments fairly, and take a partial stand on values and philosophies they hold. (ND)

Reports on an experiment in which performance on abstract and concrete sentences was compared in a sentence meaning classification task and in a free recall task. Results show that concrete sentences were classified significantly faster than abstract ones. (CLK)

Concludes that the role of the teacher as researcher in children's development of thinking and socialization through play is multi-dimensional. The initial function is the internal analysis of children's thinking and interaction within a variety of settings. (Author)

American thought has contained a strong metaphysical bias favoring a realist interpretation of the world, and this has led to the assumption that facts possess ontological status, however, facts are segments of human experience and students must acquire conceptual tools for extracting factual data from experience. (JD)

Intellectual realism was investigated by using as a model a cup with the defining feature (the handle) not visible, and a nondefining feature (a painted flower) visible. (Authors/MB)

Presents selected position papers and research papers influenced by the work of Jean Piaget, intended to help science educators understand Piaget's work and how it applies to science education. Emphasis on formal reasoning stage of development. (SA)

Experimenters analyzed a prose passage into 350 idea units, then interspersed throughout the text pictures depicting main ideas, or both main ideas and nonessential details. For fourth- and sixth-grade subjects, pictures did facilitate both immediate and delayed recall, but only of main ideas. (Author/JEG)

Presents a descriptive analogy comparing Piaget's theory of intellectual development to the development of athletic abilities in order to provide insight into Piagetian theory. (SL)

Forty-three students (ages 16-17) gifted in physics/mathematics were compared with 34 typical students to investigate the cognitive experience of gifted individuals. Results found the gifted students had different representations of reality and the future, more complex and rich conceptual representations, and more developed intellectual control.…

The ideas and practices of two philosopher-educators and their implications for experiential education are surveyed. Earl Kelley holds that learning is not a matter of acquisition and acceptance, but a result of process and subject to continuous modification. He maintains that the educational system disregards and impedes the learner's purpose. He…

This paper helps to clarify the role of empirical evidence in psychological and epistemological theories. Following Galileo's idealization, epistemological theories do not describe the behavior of individuals in the real world. It is only when the "impediments" of the real subjects are gradually removed by experimental manipulation that…

Higher order thinking can be defined as interpreting, analyzing, and manipulating information to solve a challenging problem. This definition does not restrict higher order thinking to any level of cognitive ability or any class of people; it includes thinking involving both nonacademic and academic topics; and it is not limited to any particular…

A working definition of the humanities and characteristics of a liberally educated person are specified. The humanities embrace areas of human knowledge that possess these elements: central concern for human beings rather than for the processes of nature or the structures of society; primary focus on the individual rather than on the group;…

This annotated bibliography attempts to answer the following questions: (1) What is criticial thinking? (2) Can it be taught and to whom? (3) Which methods are most practical for teaching critical thinking to secondary students? and (4) Can its acquisition be tested? The first question researches the literature for a definition of the term. The…