We present a framework designed to help categorize various sense making moves, allowing for greater specificity in describing and understanding student reasoning and also in the development of curriculum to support this reasoning. The framework disaggregates between the mechanisms of student reasoning (the cognitive "tool" that they are…

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) education has been actively implemented around the world recently. ICT curriculum in schools is intended to improve students' programming-oriented thinking rather than to train them as programmers. The core of ICT education is 'computational thinking'. Computational thinking is taking an approach to…

With the emergence of a wealth of research-based information in the field of educational neuroscience, educators are now able to make more evidence-based decisions in the important area of curriculum design and construction. By viewing from the perspective of educational neuroscience, we can give a more meaningful and lasting purpose of leading to…

Describes characteristics of successful problem solvers and reports programs at all educational levels designed to help students improve their skills. (Author/MLF)

Describes a course module designed to instruct beginning engineering students at the University of New Mexico in problem-solving methodology as suggested by Polya (understand, plan, carry out, look back). (SK)

Short and long term strategies for implementing critical thinking skills into school programs are discussed. The short term strategy is to teach analytic skills within established subject areas, while the long term strategy involves recognizing and overcoming the unconscious obstacles to development of sound critical and dialectical thinking. (TE)

Describes the development of a curriculum to improve problem- solving ability when faced with uncertainty by (1) encouraging students to examine their thought processes, (2) presenting fallacious arguments, and (3) providing better tools for decision making. Relevant psychological research, some problems of teacher training, and a small-scale…

This paper discusses ways that students can better be taught to think. It argues that poor/low-achieving students served by Chapter 1 of the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act of 1981 could genuinely profit from instruction on thinking and that, for maximum impact, such instruction should be introduced as a course in itself, separate from…

Of all the uncertain problems which curriculum theorists encounter, teaching curriculum to graduate students is among the most problematic. On the one hand is the mass of knowledge and concepts about curriculum. On the other hand is the student who, more often than not, has limited experience in putting abstract ideas to practical use. If the…

Through the Problem Solving and Reasoning Skills Cognitive Development Model for Severely Disadvantaged Puerto Rican College Students, the Ana G. Mendez Educational Foundation developed a model for cognitive skills development for disadvantaged, low-achieving Hispanics. The program incorporates cognitive skills into existing remedial courses in…

This teaching guide provides an integrated framework for teaching thinking skills which involves both teaching thinking in a separate program or course and infusing the teaching of thinking into standard subject area instruction across the curriculum. Individual chapters deal with the following topics: (1) the nature of thinking skills and…

Provides a rationale and overview of the content of the working draft of the Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics, developed by the National Council of Teachers of Matematics. (PK)

The disciplines, the means by which knowledge is generated and organized, provide a logical framework for the selection and organization of curriculum content. Curriculum development based on the disciplines facilitates content selection and cooperation with scientists and is compatible with the training of teachers and public expectancies. A…

Law-related education programs for elementary school should be based on children's perceptions of reality. Psychologist Jean Piaget's studies of cognitive development indicate that children constantly reconstruct reality as they undergo new experiences. Children at early developmental stages may not be capable of understanding the origin and…

Curricular development in undergraduate programs in the biological, physical, and mathematical sciences at a number of colleges and universities are described. One common theme is the continuing interest in computers in higher education. As the student bodies of many campuses become more heterogeneous with increasing enrollments of minorities and…