This paper proposes that given today's "wicked" problems (Malhotra, 1997), where there are complex issues with no clear answers, where boundaries are fuzzy and the outcome is usually never known and unexpected, creativity can be enhanced, at appropriate moments, by making modes of thinking explicit. Using a particular heuristic approach…

This publication was designed to help teachers learn about promising materials, methods, and techniques for teaching creative thinking and problem solving to disadvantaged elementary school children. Two kinds of reviews of published teaching materials for specific grade levels and subject areas are included: (1) reviews of commercially published…

Too often college composition students see language as an end in itself, rather than as a means to realization of self and world, and teachers need to establish a classroom environment that stimulates and demands that students use their language to find out about themselves. Techniques helpful in shaping composition classes toward this end…

The purpose of this book is to help teachers learn about promising materials, methods and techniques for teaching creative thinking and problem solving in their classrooms. Information about teaching methods or techniques which can be readily adapted by the teacher to fit any grade level and subject area are presented. Specific directions on how…

A classroom activity is described which encourages students to determine the use of an artifact from the pre-Columbian Iraquois. Primary emphasis is on creative and productive thinking. (JB)

Much difficulty in teaching composition stems from the erroneous assumption that thought precedes writing. (JH)

Pullout pages provide suggestions for teaching elementary students at all levels about the wonders of human ingenuity. The suggestions help students see that great ideas come from the need to solve real-life problems and that one great idea leads to another, so current inventions help predict future inventions. (SM)

This paper describes how secondary teachers can use the Purdue Three-Stage Model as a framework for instruction that facilitates talent development in both heterogenous and homogenous classrooms. In the first two stages, students master the core content of a discipline and practice thinking creatively and critically about the content. In the third…

The author summarizes the results of 133 studies designed to test approaches to teaching children to think creatively. While acknowledging criticisms that most of the studies use performances on tests of creative thinking and other creative school performances as criteria, he contends that the evidence which they provide can be extremely useful to…

Six experiments were conducted to determine whether idea checklists increased idea quantity and quality. College students were allowed 10 or 20 minutes or unlimited time to find ideas for product improvement problems. Results indicated that the only checklist which significantly stimulated productivity was composed of just seven general categories…

Any consideration of basic skills must at some point achieve the realization that a fundamental skill is the ability of the mind to create, produce, and utilize meaning. The purpose of productive and creative thinking is to know and understand, to produce and utilize meaning that serves to guide and direct mental and physical behavior. The overall…

E. Paul Torrance's Instructional Model uses an integrated approach to teach thinking skills and creative productivity along with subject content for gifted students. Thinking skill objectives include such skills as developing originality, keeping open, imagining the future, using movement, etc. Two sample lessons apply the model to creative…

Current syllabi and textbooks, in trying to cover every important idea, trivialize them all. The Coalition of Essential Schools believes that students will learn more if teachers are allowed to cover less. The advantages of a slower, thought-provoking curriculum, and recommendations for designing one, are provided. (BJV)

This article discusses empowering thinking skills such as brainstorming, problem solving, analysis; comparison/contrast and how to cultivate these abilities in gifted children. Examples are given of ways for teachers to model thinking skills for students. The response of a student to the ideas of the article is included. (PB)