Five suggestions help parents teach their children to make decisions: give children tasks and choices that encourage a feeling of competence; allow children to share their opinions; give children weekly allowances and let them decide how to spend it; have children plan specific activities; and involve children in family councils. (SM)

Twenty-two secondary students with learning disabilities were successfully taught the principles of scientific reasoning. Using student-teacher dialogs, students analyzed information presented in magazine articles and advertisements. Students improved their ability to identify the principal claim made in an article or advertisement, graph the…

This article describes "Thinking Actively in a Social Context," a multiphase model to assist in the development of problem-solving courses based on student needs and experiences. An example of such an interdisciplinary course (simulating a new settlement on another planet) for high ability children in grades five, six, and seven is detailed. (DB)

A group of nine Filipino children (ages five to nine) from disadvantaged backgrounds received training in higher level cognitive thinking skills and was compared to a control group that received no training. The training program was based on Benjamin Bloom's cognitive levels of thinking. Students receiving the training showed better performance on…

Presents a model that uses online searching to teach critical thinking skills in elementary and secondary education based on Bloom's taxonomy. Three levels of activity are described: analyzing a search statement; defining and clarifying a problem; and focusing an information need. (Contains 13 references.) (LRW)

Study sought to determine whether separate short-term auditory and visual memory factors would emerge given a sufficient number of markers in a factor matrix. A principal component factor analysis with varimax rotation was performed. Short-term visual and short-term auditory memory factors emerged as expected. (RJM)

Two experiments investigated the relationship between family size and "theory of mind." Results from an experiment with three- and four-year olds showed that children from larger families were better able than children from smaller families to predict a story character's mistaken (false-belief based) action. (MDM)

Presents examples and reflections hinting at the role of formal thought in the process of knowledge growth. Discusses proof, language, and mathematics; knowledge as form versus development; the difference between concept and object; how mathematical texts can be improved; and geometry and the idea of diagrammatic reasoning. (Contains 36…

Reports on a study of 198 Canadian children, ages 4-8, on their understanding of the role of evidence on the formation of beliefs. Finds that younger children evaluate opinions based on their own beliefs about the situation; older children tend to ascribe knowledge to others on the basis of evidence available to those others. (CFR)

Provides background on constructivist theory and describes practical applications. The article explains a children's thinking project that was part of a master's level early childhood education course, reporting what was learned about gaining access to children's ideas and insights into their thought processes. Implications for teacher education…

The results of an investigation concerned with sequential reasoning in interpreting the current flow in d.c. electric circuits are presented. Analysis of the results of a questionnaire completed by 236 college sophomores shows the presence of a common misunderstanding based on a "local" interpretation of the current flow. A copy of the…

Discusses thinking skills for college students and describes strategies that can be used by faculty to teach thinking skills in distance education courses. Criteria for teaching thinking skills to distance learners are suggested, and methods are presented for teaching problem solving, how to evaluate information, and decision making. (10…

A total of 87 children, 3- to 7-years old, were examined in a study of children's play and reasoning in games of mathematical logic and social logic. Children's sophistication in reasoning was positively related for two games, suggesting a common three-level progression from mastery of procedures to a competitive attitude to advanced strategy. (SH)

Describes a study that was designed to investigate the relationship between certain features of interactive video design and the deployment and development of cognitive problem-solving skills. Middle school mathematics students used for the study are described, the use of videotapes and interviews is discussed, and group dynamics are examined. (26…

The geometry problems of finding rectangles that have numerically equal areas and perimeters knowing when the plane can be tessellated by congruent regular polygons are connected by the equation: m = 2n/(n-2). Three graphic approaches to the solution of the problem when m and n are integers are discussed. (MDH)