Describes a program that is teaching reading and communication arts in English to students in the Philippines. The program is based on the premise that thinking is the only genuine foundation for learning and that rote memorization is not learning. Emphasizes the need to foster conceptual development. (CR)

Explains why free-choice time, also called child-initiated time, is an essential daily part of all Head Start programs. Children have the freedom to initiate their own activities among the learning centers in the classroom, allowing them to develop their intellectual abilities, find solutions to problems, explore, inquire, and become adept at…

Describes seven different written response formats (which all use reading response strategies) used with seventh graders. Discusses how the formats improve the quality of thinking put forth in students' responses to their self-selected adolescent novels. Discusses which response formats illicit more higher-level thinking. (SR)

This article compares research findings on heightened cognitive flexibility in academically gifted children and similar flexibility in social intelligence. It proposes that social-cognitive flexibility (the ability to adapt prior social knowledge to formulate solutions to new interpersonal situations) is an important component of social…

Comparison of the effects of pretest anxiety on the social and nonsocial problem solving of 45 boys (ages 9 to 11) with learning disabilities (LD) and 45 nondisabled boys found the LD group reported significantly higher pretest anxiety which escalated over the course of the problem-solving session. However, boys with or without LD were equally…

Presents a conceptual framework for analyzing students' mathematical understanding, reasoning, problem solving, and communication. Analyses of student responses indicated that the tasks appear to measure the complex thinking and reasoning processes that they were designed to assess. Concludes that the QUASAR assessment tasks can capture changes in…

Discusses the use of games in the science classroom as a productive, motivating tool. Presents games that require abstract thinking and that change potentially boring exercises into challenging competitions. (JRH)

The paper outlines how the principles of the "Thinking Actively in a Social Context" (TASC) model have been adopted to provide an extension program through Telematics, which delivers lessons to remote sites using teleconferencing equipment, fax machines, and computers linked by modems. Describes use of the TASC model for remote…

Gifted high school students (N=199) were evaluated using the Sternberg Triarchic Abilities Test; their academic performance was judged by independent raters; and their thinking styles were measured by two converging self-report questionnaires. After controlling for ability level, styles of thinking significantly contributed to prediction of…

Children ages 3 to 5 years old are observed in a series of 3 experiments assessing their use of counterfactual thinking in causal reasoning. Results suggest that young children readily interpret the cause of an outcome in terms of a contrast between the observed sequence of events, and a counterfactual alternative in which the outcome did not…

Describes a series of activities in which students collect data on personal information and interests and use them to create a database file. Constructing a database gives students the opportunity to satisfy their natural curiosity and use numbers as they make predictions, develop number and operation sense, and explore data, fractions, and…

The incidence of cheating and lying on an experimental measure was examined from a sample of high school students who attended either a religious (Catholic) or a secular (public) school. Student surveys indicated that the groups were similar in moral reasoning level and in lying and cheating behavior. Level of moral reasoning was not correlated…

This study examined cognitive ability, short-term verbal memory, and speech perception in relation to phonological awareness in 42 gifted and 49 regular 3rd and 4th graders and in 61 prereading kindergartners. Those with higher cognitive reasoning skills scored higher on tasks of phonological awareness than those with lower reasoning skills.…

Examines existing research literature which suggests that introducing computing tools can help students focus on the relevant aspects of a problem, function at higher levels of geometric understanding, distinguish between drawings and constructions, and develop and reason about conjectures on the basis of generalization of patterns. (KHR)

Investigates the use of mathematical modeling tasks in 11- and 12-year-old students and the development of mathematical thinking skills using practical modeling activities. Analyzes the development of students' mathematical thinking with interviews of a form of dynamic assessment. Reports that some students proved to be naturally mindful and…