Spontaneity has been linked to high quality learning experiences in mathematics (Csikszentmihalyi & Csikszentmihalyi, 1992; Williams, 2002).This paper shows how spontaneity can be identified by attending to the nature of social elements in the process of abstracting (Dreyfus, Hershkowitz, & Schwarz, 2001). This process is elaborated…

Nearly 20 years ago, the first national assessment of student achievement in U.S. history yielded disappointing results. Although policy-makers and researchers expressed great concern about the low scores, the federal government did not undertake large-scale efforts to address poor student performance, and few research dollars were dedicated to…

Both on-line and face-to-face courses rely on textbooks as an important source of information for students. A challenge for instructors in an on-line setting is to insure that students are learning from their textbooks. One way to address this challenge is to use productivity software tools to develop assignments that promote student thinking and…

This publication offers teachers and principals a program for customizing schooling to individual students' learning needs and motivating them to take increased responsibility for deciding what and how to learn. It presents a comprehensive framework for introducing self-directed learning (SDL) approaches in the classroom. Nine chapters include:…

Idea development is a concrete skill that can be taught in a systematic way. This step-by-step guidebook provides educators in all content areas with the tools they need to help students think more critically and write with more fully developed ideas. The guide (authored by instructors with the Kentucky Writing Program) offers the…

This paper describes a unit of instruction about media images--how they work, ways they affect people, and means to use them--in which young adolescents learn the consequences of becoming a media-literate consumer. The paper explains that in the unit, divided into 2 "clusters," 110 Boston-area eighth graders share 5 core academic…

This study investigated how inservice teacher education on teaching thinking skills affected teachers' self-reported thinking behaviors and teaching style, focusing on similarities and differences among teachers in the U.S. and Costa Rica. A group of 28 experienced U.S. public school teachers completed 2 different 5-day training sessions in…

This volume presents a curriculum developed specifically to develop the social, emotional, and organizational skills of individuals with Asperger's Syndrome or high functioning autism. The book offers ideas and techniques drawn from various disciplines including cognitive behavioral therapy, applied behavioral therapy, education, and occupational…

In 1877, Standing Bear and his people, the Ponca (Indians), were forcibly removed from their land in northern Nebraska and sent to Indian Territory. Since no provision for food or shelter had been made for them, a number of the tribe, including Standing Bear's son, did not survive the harsh winter. In defiance of the relocation order, Standing…

"The Expert Mathematician" is designed to help middle school students develop the thinking processes for mathematical applications and communication. A three-year program of instruction, "The Expert Mathematician" uses a software and consumable print materials package with 196 lessons that teach the "Logo" programming…

The purpose of this paper was to analyze and critique the proposals made in "The Engaged Classroom" by Sam Intrator to increase student engagement in the classroom. The methodology used was to analyze, compare, and critique the proposals based on educational research on apathy and boredom in the instruction of history. The results were that the…

This document provides an introduction to the relationship between the current knowledge of focused and creative thinking and artificial intelligence. A model for stages of focused and creative thinking gives: problem encounter/setting, preparation, concentration/incubation, clarification/generation and evaluation/judgment. While a computer can…

Research into children's measurement conceptions is discussed, presenting a review of the literature in the field that includes studies conducted by J. Piaget and his colleagues and training programs that have been designed to support the development of measurement skills. This literature is used as a background to argue that new investigations…

This unit is designed as a planning guide for a literature-based approach to teaching reading, writing, vocabulary, and reasoning. It serves as a model to reinforce the important aspects of literacy through a literature-based approach in which children read authentic literature and engage in authentic tasks relative to that literature. The unit…

A study examined the effectiveness of research strategy instruction that is integrated with the demands of inquiry-based content-area projects, rather than the typical teaching of research-related skills out of context. The study was conducted at two elementary schools, one a Title I school with a high percentage of poor readers, the other a…