Finds that 117 educators of exceptional children who were administered the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal were functioning overall at approximately the fiftieth percentile on national norms of critical thinking. (SR)

Problem-solving approaches to teaching pupils with autism in special schools are analyzed, discussing the structures needed by individual pupils to enable them to function as problem solvers, the value of reflection in enhancing the learning potential of pupils, and ways of increasing pupils' awareness of their own ways of handling learning…

Presents two journal exercises teachers can use to help their students develop and apply their cognitive skills. Asserts that the exercises help students to integrate what many consider to be dichotomous and frequently contradictory activities--feeling and thinking. Cites G. Lakoff and M. Johnson's "Metaphors We Live By" for the theoretical…

Discusses seven strategies teachers can implement without cost to help students consciously use techniques to aid comprehension and promote critical thinking. Illustrates the strategies with classroom observations and supporting documentation from leading reading specialists. (RS)

Twenty-two college students from each of three different epistemological groups--dualistic, multiplistic, and relativistic--completed both a syllogism and ink blot problem-solving task. Findings indicated that the three epistemological groups reliably differed in how they mentally organized the ink blot stimuli but not the syllogism problems.…

Presents a five-part strategy (useful for all forms of business communication) which helps students solve problems successfully and steer logically through the communication demands of any situation. (SR)

Describes the problem-solving behaviors of six novice subjects attempting to solve an electrostatics problem in calculus-based college physics. The level of qualitative thinking exhibited by these novices was determined. Sound procedural knowledge and problem representation were suggested as an integral part of skilled problem solving in physics.…

Presents suggestions on how to incorporate elementary student decision making into classroom routine. The article recommends teachers be models, provide food for thought, focus on student strengths, introduce decision-making processes, and provide practice. Seven steps to making good decisions and activities to develop decision-making skills are…

Presents a mathematical-categorization model using multiple-step chains of reasoning (CORs) and memory for examples. In 5 experiments, 144 undergraduates memorized descriptions of fictional people, then made predictions from incomplete descriptions using 1-, 2-, or 3-step CORs. The multiple-step context model with one- and two-step inference…

Demonstrates the continuity in thought and action between teaching and leading an informed life, noting that teaching is an interpretive activity motivated by concern for students as human beings. The article suggests teaching is interpretive because it is directed to the clarification of meaning. (SM)

A sample of 100 vocational students from 5 program areas completed a Student Self-Rating and 10 teachers completed a Teacher Rating, forms of the Generalizable Reasoning Skills instrument. Responses showed that students and teachers do not agree on students' level of reasoning skills. (SK)

Reviews models of learning style, cognitive style, and thinking style and makes recommendations: (1) style preferences are not unchangeable; (2) style refers to learner actions not ability; (3) learning should be considered broader than cognitive achievement; and (4) teachers should adopt a bilateral approach to influencing student actions. (SK)

Offers some proven design tips, tools, and criteria for fashioning assessment tasks that are more enticing, feasible, and defensible. Typical tests tend to overassess student "knowledge" and underassess student "know-how with knowledge." Test designers should create authentic simulations rich in contextual detail, devise meaningful tasks, and…

The emphasis on critical thinking in North American schools, colleges, and universities has led educators to develop programs to help students reason better. This article examines policy implications of four critical thinking conceptions advanced by Robert Ennis, Richard Paul, John McPeck, and the Philosophy for Children Programme. Each conception…

This article examines the relationship of cognitive processing and creativity and argues that educational interventions contribute to the development of creative thinking skills when they provide requisite knowledge structures and stress controlled application of these processes in solving progressively more complex problems. (DB)