This booklet is intended to help teachers and prospective teachers of mentally retarded students to understand the ways in which intellect affects the understanding of reality. Its recommendations are based on G. Kylen's theory of the intellect and J. Piaget's theory of intellectual development. The initial section describes the function and…

Educators must provide conditions which encourage the practice and demonstration of intelligent behaviors. Twelve characteristics of intelligent behavior are discussed, such as persistence, decreasing impulsivity, listening to others, metacognition, questioning and problem posing, etc. A summary of the school conditions in which intelligent…

Sifts through confusing intelligence theories, arguing that intelligence is a combination of influences involving power, tactics, and content. Good thinking is an unnatural act demanding evenhanded reasoning, problem finding (versus solving), and knowledge as invention. Discusses thinking frames guiding thought processes and the implications for…

Recent alliances between communication providers and computer manufacturers will lead to new technological combinations that will deliver visually-based ideas and information to a worldwide audience. Urges that those in charge of future video programs to consider their effects on children's language skills, thinking patterns, and intellectual…

Some teachers believe that children will not learn unless they are entertained. However, in "Talented Teenagers: The Roots of Success and Failure," Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi reports that teens are most interested in school when the classes are demanding and they can stretch their brain power. Only entertaining students will prepare them…

Ideas for teaching children about creativity and its importance are offered in this article. Ingredients for developing creativity skills are presented and suggested projects are discussed. (DF)

A question-answer format on how specific teacher behaviors influence students' acquisition of information, ability to make information meaningful, and application of meaning to new situations. (Author/MLF)

Explores the similarities and differences among three thinking skills programs that help students analyze and evaluate their own problem-solving skills. (MLF)

Gifted students come from all socioeconomic backgrounds. A broader definition of giftedness and improved assessment methods will help remove barriers that keep poor and minority students out of programs for the gifted. (TE)

Middle-level teachers can avoid passive seatwork and encourage students to think using a "guided thinking" approach, designed to help adolescents develop more sophisticated thinking and reasoning skills. Essential elements of guided thinking are described, along with an implementation strategy and the principal's role in fostering…

Criticizing a conventional view on the subject, this essay distinguishes the concept of educating an individual--that is, transmitting knowledge of any kind--from that of developing an "educated person," and discusses the implications of this distinction for schools' purposes and curricula. (MCG)

Addresses the importance of integrating the intellectual and moral education of gifted students. A framework synthesized from the works of Dewey and Guilford explicates basic structural components of the intellectual and moral dimensions of development. Suggestions for facilitating complex learning through complex teaching and the complex…

Presents an environmental recreation program set up to initiate and improve upon the levels of personal and social functioning of the handicapped child. Programs are based in community centers or parks, in a neighborhood play area or near a woods. It is considered a nonthreatening approach. (EB)

This teacher's guide is to enable the teacher to promote thinking through the use of geography. The book lays out the rationale in learning theory for an issues-based, question-driven inquiry method and proceeds through a simple model of progression from identifying key questions to developing generalizations. Students study issues of geographic…

Presenting a look at how racism works to inhibit academic achievement by limiting academic opportunities, this personal narrative weaves stories from an individual's life with an examination of research and popular thought on language use, literacy, and intelligence among people of color. The narrative considers the personal experiences of an…