A differentiated curriculum can provide the basis for discovering, serving, and nurturing academic talent across California's diverse student population. Differentiation provides tools to vary the curriculum or instruction so that students who have already mastered given material continue to progress and students who have a particular interest in…

Instruction that engages students and gets them to use their minds well is referred to in this document as "authentic instruction." To assist in the articulation of a vision, the Center on Organization and Restructuring of Schools has proposed criteria for authentic instruction, which consists of the following five dimensions: higher order…

This response to a review committee reporting on young people's participation in post-compulsory education and training redefines the collection, analysis, and organization of ideas and information as a constituent part of the broader concept of information literacy. It is further suggested that information literacy should be identified as a…

Educators in Missouri must take offensive action promoting public education to counteract the negative press received nationwide in recent years. Communities should organize committees to address the needs of its students and address these needs with specific goals. Regional and state goals should also be made, keeping local goals in mind. St.…

Emphasizing real-life communication skills, this book offers cooperative activities to help teachers supplement their writing programs with easy-to-use critical thinking activities. The activities in the book are suitable for grades 4 through 8, for gifted younger students, or as a remediation tool for older students. The activities in the book…

A study examined the language and interactions that occurred in classes where teachers felt they were providing an environment that fostered reasoning about their coursework. The discourse within the diverse classrooms of eight high school teachers (two each in American literature, American history, biology, and physics) was examined. In each…

This law review article provides useful guidance on learning strategies for law students drawing heavily on the literature of educational psychology and learning theory. An introductory section describes the traditional law school approach which has been for professors to inundate students with substantive and procedural rules of law but rarely if…

This paper, in both English and Spanish, offers a meta-model of the learning process which focuses on the importance of the reflective learning process in enhancing the quality of learning in higher education. This form of innovative learning is offered as a means of helping learners to realize the relevance of what they are learning to their life…

This study is an investigation of how modeling aids learners in developing problem solving skills within a computer learning environment. The task given to the 45 undergraduate and continuing education students serving as subjects, was to solve a crime in the computer game, "Where in Time is Carmen San Diego." Three subject groups…

In 1991, a study was conducted using the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (CTA) to determine how well students at Rancho Santiago College (RSC), a large, multicultural community institution in Santa Ana, California, demonstrated critical thinking abilities. Written at the ninth grade reading level, the CTA attempts to assess an…

Achievement in science depends among other factors on hypothetico-deductive reasoning ability; that is, on the developmental level of the students. Recent research indicates that developmental level of the students should be studied along with individual difference variables such as Pascual-Leone's M-capacity (information processing) and Witkin's…

This volume provides an informed and accessible overview of the whole area of children's thinking. The book reviews children's thinking in detail by discussing the ways children remember and organize information in general; the acquisition of skills such as reading, writing, and arithmetic; and the development of more complex reasoning as children…

Based on literature and student input, six major concerns have been noted for student programming progress for the academic class and work environment. The areas of concern are module driver programming, program documentation, output design, data design, data validation; and reusable code. Each area has been analyzed and examined in the teaching…

This book contains a classroom-tested approach to the teaching of problem solving to all students in Grades 6-8, regardless of ability. Information on problem solving in general is provided, then mathematical problems on logic, exponents, fractions, pre-algebra, algebra, geometry, number theory, set theory, ratio, proportion, percent, probability,…

This report describes a program for improving students' depth of understanding through the use of alternative assessment. The targeted population consisted of students at one elementary, one junior high, and two high schools in two growing middle class communities in northern Illinois. Lack of student understanding was documented through teacher…