Suggests that, when real issues and problems are used as themes, student motivation and interest are significantly enhanced. Recommends using issue orientation to empower students to become problem solvers. Provides examples of projects used successfully in middle schools on the issue of smokers' versus nonsmokers' rights. (NL)

New York's Futuring Project is responding to key social and economic changes in two ways: (1) requiring all seventh- and eighth-grade students to take Introduction to Technology and Home and Career Skills courses and (2) creating five Adult Centers for Comprehensive Education and Support Services that offer adults education and training,…

When planning and developing an ambulatory clerkship, careful attention must be paid to the desired outcomes from the experience, the appropriate site, and instructional model to use to best meet the objectives. The major differences between ambulatory and inpatient educational settings are explored. (Author/MLW)

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)

The Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation sponsored a conference to consider designs for evaluation studies and the potential distinctive outcomes of the innovative medical curricula that might be foci of these studies. Differences between graduates of innovative and traditional curricula which might be expected were identified. (Author/MLW)

Describes four research studies that deal with students and computers. Three are programing studies that examine the effects of computer programing on problem solving and other cognitive skills of students in grades four through eight; the fourth study analyzes characteristics of students who entered a programing competition. (LRW)

This article presents a vector-analysis approach to the classical three-point problem in hydrogeology. Problem sets involving strike and dip, and ground water flow including computer programs (in BASIC) for their solution are given. (CW)

Library research skills instruction aids the development of critical, evaluative faculties in teacher trainees. This article describes a problem-solving simulation method (guided design simulation method) for teaching library skills, and discusses gains accruing to teachers and pupils from such instruction. (IAH)

Describes case study that examined the processes and outcomes related to the development of knowledge bases by groups of seventh grade science students in Toronto who were studying classification of living organisms. Expert system shells are discussed, and cognitive and metacognitive skills used in the activity are examined. (23 references)…

Uses a graphing calculator to predict the record for running a mile, throwing a shot put, and high jumping for any year in the future and the probable record for any year before statistics were kept, based on the statistical analysis of prior records. Data tables and a computer program are provided. (MDH)

Describes a problem-solving exercise used to develop transferable skills through student exploration of university library materials. Maintains that the study was part of a research design course in human geography. Includes six tables and two figures illustrating and analyzing the approach. (CFR)

Describes a study that was conducted to determine how high school students would solve an information problem: specifically, what prior learning students had about information seeking and use, and how they would use that prior learning. Highlights include group work; topic selection; and reasons for unsuccessful use of libraries, including…

Creativity measures and samples of private speech were collected from 42 preschool and kindergarten children. Statistical analysis revealed significant positive relationships among creativity measures, solving speech, and coping/reinforcing speech. Coping and reinforcing private speech were linked with high creativity measures. (DB)

Discusses strategies for enhancing vocabulary acquisition in first- and second-year Italian courses. The first part reviews the research on vocabulary acquisition; the second incorporates the implications of Danesi's model of neurological bimodality; the third part focuses on techniques for vocabulary elicitation; and the fourth presents examples…

Presents four sets of activities to develop the concepts of data analysis and graphing. Students estimate sample populations using beans, examine graphs from newspapers and magazines, predict the most popular color of cars, and simulate quality control in a manufacturing process. (MDH)