Investigates whether first-grade students' performance on an 18-word spelling test administered in the first month of school is a good predictor of reading achievement at the end of first grade. A total of 75 students from four classrooms were tested three times during the school year. (RH)

The author recommends nonrestrictive questioning as one technique of provoking thought. (Author/JB)

Explores use of historical fiction in elementary social studies curriculum. Examines the value of historical fiction for children and social studies goals it supports. Offers suggestions for using historical fiction in primary and intermediate grades and recommends specific books. (RWB)

Summarizes research on how children think about economic ideas and values and the development of such thinking. Explores the influence of instruction on children's thinking about economics and points out implications for curriculum and instruction. (RH)

Summarizes results of studies indicating that play training led to significant increases in young children's problem-solving ability, use of language, creative thinking ability, verbal ability, and conservation. (Author/MP)

Examined the influence of analogy instruction on nine students' spelling behavior in a second-grade reading-language program. Found that all students increased their use of an analogy spelling strategy over the course of the school year, suggesting that analogy instruction can be integrated successfully into a rich, reading-language arts…

Examined students' opportunities to use thinking skills in physical education programs. Results indicated that teachers used deductive and inductive strategies to encourage student metacognition. Teachers encouraged students to focus attention, compare, and analyze. (BC)

Provides evidence that benefits occur when friends, compared with nonfriends, are coworkers on cognitive tasks. Notes meta-analysis which found superior performance was demonstrated in the areas of seeking scarce resources, problem solving, creative activity, and reaching consensus. Argues teachers should consider giving students the opportunity…

Presents a case study of a middle school mathematics teacher using a discourse-oriented teaching method for a three-year period. Demonstrates how the teacher provided both analytic scaffolding (help in structuring mathematical ideas) and social scaffolding (help in establishing norms for social behavior). Finally, highlights parallels between…

Suggests that children enter school with a great deal of informal intuitive knowledge of mathematics that can serve as the basis for developing much of the formal mathematics of the primary school curriculum. Describes a research-based model of children's thinking that teachers can use to interpret, transform, and reframe their informal or…