Students can imitate scientists at work by conducting inquiry investigations in the classroom, thereby exhibiting a multitude of skills and competencies. As stated by Bransford and Donovan (2005), learning science as a process of inquiry involves students in observation, imagination, and reasoning about the phenomena under investigation. Rather…

Discusses the value of reflective thought in classroom drama. Examines three levels of reflection in drama, discussing how integration of reflection and drama can become a medium for learning. (HTH)

The relationship between knowledge and effective and autonomous thoughts and actions is explored with special regard to implications for educational curriculums and teaching. An educational program that concentrates on rationality without reference to creative autonomy, it is stressed, will impoverish the thinking process. (DS)

Explores the idea that play is one of the fundamental processes by which children develop their understanding of the world by looking at play as an intrinsically motivated activity. (WRM)

The main thrust of American education has been cognitively oriented. Recent research on the human brain suggests that such orientation is a general function of only one hemisphere of the brain, the left. Because of the close relationships among speech, language, thinking, reasoning, and the higher mental functions, the left brain hemisphere…

This report documents events and activities that took place in the course of meetings and seminars investigating the cognitive processes and learning styles of elementary school teachers. The report includes an overview and six separate documents, each presenting one facet of the project. The overview is followed in section two by a proposed…

William Glasser demonstrates the principle of conducting a classroom meeting with a third-grade class in an affluent, suburban elementary school. Class meetings stimulate creative and critical thought. They are a tool to help students to begin to think for themselves. (Author)

Presents the idea that self-questioning is an important resource for learning, and that creative drama should provide a unique support for "wondering" in the classroom because drama teachers model open-ended questioning and elicit the same from students. (JC)

A teacher program is described which seeks to increase the user's ability to identify, measure, and stimulate the creative potential of children. The product involves techniques for stimulating the growth of eight particular thinking/feeling processes in children. Information is provided here on the content and purposes of the product as well as…

Recent brain research demonstrates that the left hemisphere of the brain processes information in a linear, organized way. The right hemisphere processes the same information as a whole, with a focus on nonverbal, spatial components. Current educational practice is inordinately skewed to develop only the left hemisphere of the brain. Data from…

Presents the reactions of a mathematics educator and a mathematician to a seven-year-old student's response for finding square numbers. Reflects on the mathematician's focus on the mathematics of the problem and the mathematics educator's focus on the student's systematic way of working, and discusses the common focus of student creativity. (MDH)

Architectural solutions to some educational problems are explored and a systematic method is presented for designing schools as learning environments for children. Classroom environments and outdoor play areas are considered as functional art forms and seen as three-dimensional textbooks. The book demonstrates a way of using curriculum as a design…