College instruction aims not only to expand students' content knowledge, but also to help students develop practical skills, such as the ability to think critically. This study was conducted in a chemistry course for non science majors offered as part of a liberal education core curriculum at a large public university in the Midwest. Students…

Engaging students in authentic scientific research has become an important component of undergraduate science education at many institutions. The purpose of this paper is to explore authentic research experiences as contexts for learning. The authors review empirical studies of undergraduate research experiences in order to critically evaluate the…

Performing inquiry should enhance the intellectual development of students on numerous levels. We evaluate whether inquiry-based activities elicit inquiry behaviors by comparing these activities with traditional review sessions. We find that both inquiry-learning and teaching behaviors increase during inquiry-based activities, but that teachers…

Describes the importance of research activities for undergraduates at colleges and universities. Benefits to the student of direct or indirect research include increased knowledge, understanding, enthusiasm, interest, and curiosity about the material. (SAH)

Describes an investigation undertaken to evaluate whether or not the Purdue experimental program, through its concrete curricular materials and inquiry-oriented procedures, had been successful in promoting formal reasoning abilities in its students. Results indicated that concrete curricular materials and problems can promote the development of…

Reports on a study conducted to obtain indications of changes in mental level from high school through college and to investigate the relationship of cognitive level to SAT scores, college grades, and attrition. (PEB)

Outlines various misconceptions about problem-solving (PS) and several strategies to improve intellectual skills and strategies. Also describes the Covington Productive Thinking Program (designed to help develop PS skills) and several lesson problem sets from this series of 15 books. (JN)

Describes William Perry's scheme of intellectual development, focusing on the first five stages or positions collectively termed "ways of knowing." Suggests applications of this scheme for science teaching. (DS)

The author discusses Professor Henry A. Bent's presentation regarding the nature of the difficulty that many college and university students have with arithmetic reasoning involving division. (HM)

Briefly reports on a study involving 419 randomly selected secondary school students who were given five Piagetian tasks to identify their level of cognitive development. (PEB)

Argues that much of current science curricula and instructional strategies do not accommodate the thinking and reasoning capabilities of students. Level of capacity for abstract logical reasoning, whether the capacity can be cultivated/enhanced, consequences of mismatched intellectual levels and instructional modes, and what thinking/reasoning…

Describes the contents of a book entitled The Care and Feeding of Ideas: A Guide to Encouraging Creativity which considers the thinking process, why skills need to be developed, and how students use or should use these thinking skills. (RT)