To succeed in college, career and life in the 21st century, students must be supported in mastering both content and skills. This Implementation Guide presents state leaders, policymakers and/or district and school leaders with assessment tactics and examples to assist in statewide 21st century skills initiatives. The Partnership for 21st Century…

The study investigated the impact of participation in a creativity instructional program on measures of creative thinking and problem solving with 49 learning disabled intermediate level students and a control group of 24 nondisabled students. The Purdue Creative Training Program was used as the independent variable. Analysis of verbal fluency,…

Examines the shift in schools toward using software that teaches critical thinking skills. A list of 14 packages is also provided, with each entry including name, recommended age level(s), current cost, source, and a brief description. (JN)

Chronic psychiatric patients (N=7) who were enrolled in a partial-hospitalization program and had difficulty solving interpersonal problems received group skills training. Multiple-baseline design demonstrated training effectiveness through improved problem solving on trained situations and through skill generalization to novel, untrained…

Discusses current research (including that involving amnesiacs and snails) into the nature of the memory process, differentiating between and providing examples of "fact" memory and "skill" memory. Suggests that three brain parts (thalamus, fornix, mammilary body) are involved in the memory process. (JN)

A structural arithmetic curriculum is designed to help students develop their own powers of thought. (Author/MLF)

Considers well-structured problems versus ill-structured problems and presents models for how learners solve them, as well as models for designing instruction to support problem-solving skill development. Information processing theories of learning, an emerging theory of ill-structured problem solving, constructivist learning, and situated…

Evaluated effects of problem-solving skills training (PSST) and parent management training (PMT) on 97 children referred for severe antisocial behavior. Found that, compared to PSST condition or PMT condition, combination PSST and PMT condition led to more marked changes in child and parent functioning and placed greater proportion of youth within…

Discussion of learning how to solve problems focuses on instructional design models and how students construct their knowledge and learn skills. Topics discussed include conceptual knowledge; procedural knowledge and skills; knowledge representation; causal knowledge; types of knowledge and relevant skills; knowledge acquisition; prediction and…

Discusses how to use general semantics formulations to improve problem solving at home or at work--methods come from the areas of artificial intelligence/computer science, engineering, operations research, and psychology. (PA)

Given the reciprocal influences of emotion dysregulation and relationship functioning, it is important to target such emotional difficulties within an interpersonal context. Treating emotion dysregulation within intimate relationships can offer valuable opportunities for both emotional and relationship difficulties to be addressed. This paper…

Based on data from eleven thousand faculty members, this study shows that general education courses place greater emphasis on developing intellectual skills, personal and social responsibility, deep approaches to learning, and diverse interactions. In contrast, other courses emphasize practical skills and are linked with greater levels of…

This study explored the use of case-based pedagogy to promote preservice teachers' problem-solving proficiency. Students in a web-supported course called CaseNEX learned to use a problem-solving approach when analyzing multimedia case studies. Their performance was compared with students in two groups who had no exposure to case methods--other…

Problem Based Learning (PBL) has proven to be a highly successful pedagogical model in many educational fields, although it is comparatively uncommon in technical education. It goes beyond the typical teaching methodology by promoting student interaction. This paper presents a PBL trial applied to an undergraduate Digital Electronics course in the…

Studies of over 100 chess players at varying skill levels and ages show the ways in which experts and nonexperts differ in problem-solving strategies. Important differences are found at all stages of problem solving. The most significant differences appear to be before and after the evaluation of alternatives ("sizing up" the problem,…