Examines 17 national standards documents from 12 key subject areas, to identify six critical thinking and reasoning skill areas that cut across core subject areas. Discusses to what extent different subject areas place different emphasis on the various thinking and reasoning skills. Discusses how thinking and reasoning should be taught. (SR)

Notes factors in traditional schooling that discourage constructive thinking (including both critical and creative intellectual processes). Describes a number of stand-alone creative-thinking activities for classrooms, and presents four steps to integrate constructive thinking into the standard school curriculum. (SR)

Comparison of the comprehension of proverbs of 200 students (50 each in Grades 6, 8, 10, and 12) found growth in proverb comprehension was most pronounced at two transitional points in development: when students move from late childhood into early adolescence, and again when they move from late adolescence into adulthood. Implications for…

Two studies of adolescents in England and Russia examined the effects of prolonged instruction on students' development of abstract deductive reasoning and understanding of logical necessity in algebraic and verbal reasoning. Results indicated that prolonged instruction emphasizing the metalevel of algebraic deduction contributed to enhanced…

Presents a theoretical framework for evaluating inquiry tasks and how similar they are to authentic science. Suggests that inquiry tasks commonly used in schools evoke reasoning processes that are qualitatively different from the processes employed in real scientific inquiry, and school reasoning tasks appear to be based on epistemology that…

Describes implementation of the National Urban Alliance for Effective Education's (NUA's) Professional Development Model in several locations, which is designed to help improve students' comprehension, content performance, thinking skills, and literacy by improving teaching and educational quality. Discusses NUA activities and approaches in the…

Four experiments with 4th, 5th, and 6th graders addressed conceptual change in response to anomalous data about empirical regularities in science. Impedance to conceptual change in response to anomalous data could potentially occur at any of four cognitive processes: observation, interpretation, generalization, or retention. In the four…

Looks back over a number of exploratory studies that have researched young children's construction of meaning for graphs produced from data entered into spreadsheets. Discusses children's use of normalizing, an activity in which children 'correct' data towards some perceived norm. (Author/MM)

Applies Benson's think-pair-share and Mazur's peer instruction techniques to enhance student involvement during the respiratory component of the medical physiology class. Investigates changes in students' level of understanding and ability to synthesize and integrate material. Includes 15 references. (Author/YDS)

Describes the development of a test of scientific creativity for use with secondary school students which was constructed on the basis of an analysis of meaning and aspects of scientific creativity. Reports that the scientific creativity of secondary school students increases with age and science ability is a necessary but not sufficient condition…

Reports on a teacher's changing perceptions during a collaborative, two-year interpretive research project involving two researchers, herself, and her students. Uses the collaborative approach between teacher and researchers to promote students' theory-evidence coordination and use of word explanations with an emphasis on developing and critiquing…

Argues that by adopting what Bertrand Russell calls the liberal or scientific outlook that people are able to understand both the world around them and their place in it; and it is by being sensitive to those habits of mind and educational practices that inculcate this same critical attitude or outlook that educators practice the difference…

Analyzes the Conference Board of Canada's "Employability Skills Profile" to understand how education is being undermined and reduced to skills training. Suggests Bertrand Russell's notion of idleness, when combined with a contemporary critique of the global market made by John McMurtry, affords an inclusive understanding of education as…

Relates Bertrand Russell's picture of science, as he actually practiced it, to his picture of liberal education, as he exemplified it, and compares these to what he said about the nature of science and of liberal education. Suggests Russell's practice of scientific thought was much more original and interesting than is "rather…

Describes some pedagogical challenges of teaching critical thinking. Proposes one way of partly meeting them: the application of critical thinking skills to beliefs responsible for emotions. Suggests ways of introducing the topic of emotions in critical thinking courses, describes a project assigned to students, and provides a model of the…