The teaching of critical thinking requires an understanding of the term, defined in this document as the processes of judgement or evaluation. Informal logic teaches students to understand and analyze arguments which are fallacious, to determine what is valid and invalid, and to evaluate non-deductive arguments. John McPeck and Richard Paul…

This technical report has two purposes. One purpose is to present an end product of a multi-year research investigation into the cognitive skills involved in performing intelligence analysis. The product is a "Handbook for Strategic Intelligence Analysis" developed for the United States Army Intelligence and Threat Analysis Center…

The spontaneous use of analogies in problem-solving occurs when a subject first spontaneously shifts his attention to a situation (B) which differs in some significant way from an original problem situation (A), and then tries to apply findings from B to A. This paper describes research on the process with 10 scientifically trained subjects…

This paper describes the development and characteristics of structural interview procedures designed to aid researchers in investigating children's understanding of their logical arguments. The procedures comprise a system which assesses verbal expression, understanding of implication, and ability to reason logically; it also assesses…

This study looked at preschool and first-grade children's ability to draw script-based and text inferences in comprehension of stories they heard. In two experiments, children were asked to recall brief stories and answer two inference questions: one script inference question requiring them to fill in information about the event that was not…

Article considered the CoRT approach toward education, an approach in which thinking is treated as a broad practical skill that is to be used rather than just learned. (Author/RK)

Rhetorical theorists since Socrates have advocated a rhetoric that reveals truth and avoids concealment. This tradition rests, however on the questionable epistemological assumptions that data exist prior to the linguistic formualtion of them and that such data can be articulated in objectively verifiable discourse. In opposition to this point of…

In order to investigate the relationship between the development of justice (moral) conceptions and the development of mathematical and physical (logical) conceptions, 50 children(ages 4-8) were administered a "positive justice" interview and five of Piaget's concrete-operational mathematical and physical tasks. (Author/CS)

This study investigated the development of the concept of a critical search area by means of an action sequence in which a cartoon character loses his toy while walking through his house. The results showed that it is not until ages 7 or 8 that children readily make the inference that the critical area is the only plausible place to search for the…

This study investigated the use of covariation as a principle of causal analysis in children 3-4, 6-7, and 9-11 years of age. The results indicated that children as young as 3 years were capable of using covariation information in their attributions of simple physical effects. (Author/CS)

Nine tasks were designed to test the developmental sequence of three types of "because" (affective, physical, concrete logical) in 100 children aged 3 to 7 years. The tasks tested whether comprehension of "because" preceded its usage and at what point children understood that sentences with reversed clauses were incorrect.…

In four experiments concerning the use of statements to deduce information about markings on cards, the researcher found persistent use of deformations of the propositional calculus. (SD)

This paper argues that if conclusions about children's grasp of logical concepts are to be reached and acceptable lines of research followed, then more precise definitions of the concept "logical necessity" must be formulated. The paper defines logical necessity as "the unconditional guarantee of truth that accompanies valid…