This paper describes a systematic method for teaching first year law students dialectical skills. An introductory section, Part I, critiques the traditional format for law education noting that at most schools, instruction in substantive courses impart knowledge but not the skills lawyers need in practicing their professions. Part II discusses, in…

All contemporary learning theorists agree on the advantages of involving students in authentic problem-solving activities in both in-school and out-of-school contexts. Approaches which use real-world problems as learning tools fit well with: (1) the strategy-based, performance model advanced by information processors; (2) the impasse or…

This paper examines whether an experimental treatment that encourages generativity and meaningful encoding can facilitate spontaneous analogical thinking, measuring the spontaneous generation of a relevant analog in solving a problem rather than the amount of factual material learned. Sixty-eight undergraduate students participated by reading the…

Content area teachers interested in using writing to learn activities need to be well informed about the learning promoted by certain writing tasks before assigning them. Writing assignments should not be thoughtlessly and arbitrarily assigned with the expectation that learning, somewhat miraculously or mysteriously, will occur. Although writing…

This paper offers a different perspective for teaching and learning--the "thoughtful" perspective--as an alternative to the current technocratic perspective. The technocratic frame of reference implicitly proposes that any problem is amenable to programmatic definition and solution. The following three propositions are presented: one's perspective…

Therapy provides a useful model for teaching critical thinking by placing thinking processes in the context of the whole person. Critical thinking is grounded in the language skills of the student as the student attempts to construct a structure of reality that is well-adapted to the student's relational contexts. The didactic model of teaching…

Noting that it is only within the last decade that schools have begun to identify ways to optimize language use to promote higher level thinking, this ERIC Digest focuses on developing thinking skills in reading. The digest discusses the impetus for critical reading, the use of children's literature as a tool for teaching thinking skills, a…

This paper discusses what metacognitive and cognitive actions elementary students make when they tackle mathematics problems. Findings are presented from the first 30 multimethod interviews conducted with Australian elementary mathematics students. Students used a set of specially designed metacognitive and cognitive action cards to stimulate…

This study analyzed 42 preservice teachers' reflection levels during their Master of Education program. Participants completed three types of reflective journal writing (reflections on selected readings, class discussions, and early field and student teaching experiences). The 21 control students received a 30-minute orientation that provided…

This Digest discusses approaches to group learning in the language classroom, presenting some principles that are common to any group learning approach, whether it be cooperative learning, student team learning, group investigation, or collaborative learning. The Digest also discusses the Collaborative Learning Model (Reid et al., 1989) which…

Published by the state of North Carolina, the purpose of this booklet is to assist teachers as they plan instruction to help students become proficient readers. The booklet contains matrices for comprehension, word identification, and instructional strategies to assist in planning and helping students be successful on the End-of-Grade (EOG) Tests…

This paper reviewed the research on critical thinking among college students. A total of 62 studies were identified and reviewed. About 62 percent of the studies were longitudinal in nature, and 13 of the 23 studies that attempted to measure student growth in critical thinking employed a cross-sectional design. While a large body of the findings…

This paper examines the value of using cross-cultural studies for teaching critical thinking skills to college students. Critical thinking has been narrowly defined as an ability to think logically, abstractly, and objectively. Recently, however, a new model of critical thinking suggests the importance of adding multiple perspectives as a crucial…

Car Builder is a scientific CD-ROM-based simulation program that lets students design, construct, modify, test, and compare their own cars. Students can design sedans, four-wheel-drive vehicles, vans, sport cars, and hot rods. They may select for aerodynamics, power, and racing ability, or economic and fuel efficiency. It is a program that teaches…

This paper presents a rubric developed as a continuum for assessing elementary students' science process knowledge. The continuum was designed to capture the growth of an individual student's knowledge of processes that are essential to learning science. The assessment tool is meant to document changes in science processes that are incremental and…