Details the work of Claudia Vangstad who expanded the range of the MRI approach to transform a school culture. Vangstad significantly increased her effectiveness not by limiting applications of the MRI problem-solving approach to individuals, but rather by expanding the range of approach to include larger units: psychoeducational groups,…

Fifth graders completed multiple choice exams and measures of cognitive style to determine whether changing answers was more frequent and productive for field independent or field dependent, reflective or impulsive, students. Impulsive students changed more answers and gained more points. Field dependence/field independence did not relate to…

A questionnaire of out-of-school activities was developed to assess mathematical creative ability at four levels using a three-stage circular technique. Israeli high school students (n=139) reported whether they had performed the activities. Resulting data provided evidence of the construct validity of a 12-item scale for assessing creative…

Evaluated whether participation in HIPPY (Home Instruction Program for Preschool Youngsters) has a positive impact on young children's performance in school. Assessed 182 children at baseline, the program's end, and one year later. Interpreted findings as mixed support for the effectiveness of the HIPPY program. (JS)

"Opposing Viewpoints" and "Opposing Viewpoints Juniors" have long been standard titles in upper elementary, middle level, and high school collections. "Opposing Viewpoints Juniors" should be required as information literacy/critical thinking curriculum tools as early as fifth grade as they use current controversies to teach students how to…

One of the skills that can be taught in an English proficiency class that adopts literary texts for teaching the language is critical thinking. The background, characters and their motives are among those that invite critical inquiry and interpretation. Although it has been claimed that discussing literary texts in the traditional way can help…

Teaching in a manner consistent with reform recommendations is a challenging and often overwhelming task. Part of this challenge involves using students' thinking and understanding as a basis for the development of mathematical ideas (cf. NCTM, 2000). The purpose of this article is to address this challenge by developing the notion of "pedagogical…

A multiple case study is reported aiming at identifying the degree of taking part and of being engaged in classroom activities for children with and without reading and writing difficulties/dyslexia. The aim was also to investigate the accordance between "effective literacy teaching" and children's expressed interest and observed taking…

Mothers whose infants varied in early biological characteristics (born at term, n = 120; born at very low birth weight [VLBW], n = 144) were randomized to a target group (n = 133) or developmental feedback comparison group (n = 131) to determine whether learning responsive behaviors would facilitate infant development. The target condition…

Extensive studies have been conducted on programming knowledge, instructional environments and effective pedagogies in order to improve the teaching and learning of computer programming. However, there have been few studies on the usefulness and effectiveness of using simulation. The aim of this paper is two-fold: to describe the design and…

Systematic inventive problem-solving is an approach for finding original and useful ideas by systematically examining alterations in existing components within a system, their attributes, functions or internal relationships. This method, which aims at complementing divergent thinking in problem-solving and design, is gaining increased attention in…

A six-month longitudinal study (N = 33) proved the influence of a diversified sport enrichment program on the development of creative thinking in team ball sports among gifted children. A contrast between a gifted control group and a non-gifted treatment group showed that the creative performance of the gifted children significantly improved…

In the past, the quantitative evidences of portfolio assessment have been explored under online instruction. Liu, Lin, and Yuan provide a long-term measure of peer-self, peer-instructor and self-instructor correlation coefficients under networked innovative assessment procedures. Analytical results indicated that undergraduate students could…

Today there are important types of analytical thinking, communication, quantitative reasoning, and information skills that cannot be used, or learned, without technology. Let?s look at just two:(1) information literacy; and (2) the ability to create Web sites as a medium of academic expression. Information literacy is the set of skills needed to…

In this study, the explanations of two classes of 10-year old children about what happens to the food that they eat were explored, particularly in the context of theories about the development of children's concepts of the human body. These ideas were investigated in a number of ways: obtaining children's own writing and drawings; semi-structured…