Intended for teachers of grades 5 and up, this unit on Florida history aims to help teachers satisfy two educational goals of the Florida State Standards for Social Studies. The first goal is to incorporate Florida history into the curricula. The second goal is to prepare students for assessment of their ability to interpret primary sources. The…

This paper discusses argumentation and how instruction may facilitate an individual's skill in argumentation. The paper contends that argumentation, defined as the generation and evaluation of arguments is a fundamental tool of reasoning and that skill in argumentation is therefore basic to a person's ability to reason. The paper is divided into…

This paper introduces successive and coordinate intellectual thinking skills, using concepts as a best case example. The attributes and optimal presentation requirements of successive and coordinate concepts are reviewed, and types of errors commonly associated with successive and coordinate skills are delineated. The effects of both of these…

Subcellular processes like meiosis are frequently problematic for learners because they are complex and, except for the extent that they can be observed under a light microscope, occur outside of our direct experience. More detailed characterization of what underlies various degrees of student understanding of a process is required to more fully…

This book presents a course whose aim is to strengthen students' ability to understand and recall what was read and to introduce the student to and give the student practice in some of the elements of clear and logical thinking. The course presented in the book can be done with or without the assistance of an instructor and in a long or a short…

An inservice consultation program between teachers and a school psychologist was designed to establish classroom conditions to improve 7th- and 8th-grade students' (N=233) thinking skills. Inservice training conducted by the psychologist emphasized encouragement of ideas, modeling thinking skills, opportunities for practice, and support of diverse…

Two teachers (a seventh-grade Language Arts teacher and a university researcher/reading instructor) participated in a collaborative effort to understand the ways in which literature could be used to develop critical thinking in secondary school English classes. The two were part of a group of teachers and researchers working together to develop…

This article discusses the Cognitive Enrichment Network Model (COGNET) of elementary school instruction developed at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. This model is largely based on the theory of mediated learning experience (MLE) developed by Israeli psychologist Reuven Feuerstein, which posits that learning is closely connected to…

This study presents a quantitative method for scoring concept maps generated by students learning introductory college chemistry. Concept maps measure the amount of chemical information the student possesses, reasoning ability in chemistry, and specific misconceptions about introductory and physical chemistry concepts. They provide a visualization…

Alternative conceptions of classroom learning are explored in this paper, with a focus on challenging current assumptions about learning, teaching, and creating conditions to improve schools. The constructivist view is offered as a different approach to the behaviorist concept of learning and the metaphor of the classroom as a workplace. From a…

This paper addresses issues in integrating higher order thinking into the general curriculum. Data are based on a series of telephone interviews conducted in April and May 1992 with six leading thinkers in educational reform. They included: (1) Michael Apple, John Bascom Professor of Curriculum, Instruction, and Educational Policy Studies at the…

Two studies compared the visual preferences, cognitive abilities, and occupational interests of artists and nonartists. Study One compared scores on an experimental battery of artistic judgment tests for three groups: professional artists, Johnson O'Connor Research Foundation examinees in art-related professions, and Foundation examinees not in…

Educators who neglect to adapt teaching strategies to different cognitive styles may be placing some students at risk. A literature review suggests that elements of African American culture heavily influence African American students' communicative and cognitive styles. Research indicates that African American cultural values are organized around…

This study examined the achievement of elementary school students when their strong preferences for learning alone or learning with peers were identified and they were allowed to choose whether to learn alone or with peers in each of five lessons. The 114 subjects, of whom 34 were later selected for this study, were the students of five social…

This paper examines how levels of cognitive development affect participants'"adequateness" or ability to function in adventure groups. Twenty-three women who were newly elected or appointed officers of a university campus sorority participated in the study. Prior to the group experience, participants completed a paragraph-completion exercise to…