This paper presents a historical overview of visualization as a human problem-solving tool. Visualization strategies, such as mental imagery, pervade historical accounts of scientific discovery and invention. A selected number of historical examples are presented and discussed on a wide range of topics such as physics, aviation, and the science of…

This paper reports the results of a study involving over 2,000 college faculty members concerning the course goals they hope their students will achieve as a result of the material taught, the teaching technique, and the general intellectual environment in the classroom. The common interest of most instructors is the desire to develop the…

Technical communications courses, which frequently present the research proposal as part of the report writing segment, rarely teach the grant proposal, even though it can provide the instructor with a vehicle for presenting such rhetorical strategies as audience analysis and persuasive writing. In addition to its problem solving structure, the…

The importance of specific academic skills for entering college students was assessed based on the views of 80 Indiana University faculty members who were teaching 100-level courses during the fall semester 1982-1983. Findings include the following: reading, reasoning, speaking/listening, and studying are academic skills judged necessary for…

One of a series dealing with current issues affecting language arts instruction, this paper focuses on thinking skills. The paper begins by raising two issues: whether thinking skills should be taught as part of each subject area, as a separate skill, or both, and whether English and language arts teachers have a special role in the teaching of…

A study examined cognitive disorders and syntactical deficiencies in the inmate populations of federal penitentiaries in Canada. The focus of the study was on the relationship between language development and cognitive ability. During the study, a total of 240 inmates from prisons throughout Canada were given hour-long interviews in which they…

The formal development of critical thinking is discussed, and guidance is provided to help faculty insure that critical thinking becomes an integral part of learning. Theory, research, teaching practice, and college programs pertinent to the development and role of critical thinking are presented in order to show how educators have shaped…

Intended for teachers across grade levels and disciplines, this monograph reviews research on the development of critical thinking skills and introduces a series of these skills that can be incorporated into classroom teaching. Beginning with a definition of critical thinking, the monograph contains two main sections. The first section reviews…

A planned sequence of general studies at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College, entitled "The Link," is described. The Link addresses problems that were identified in three recent major studies of the college curriculum. Quotations from these national studies are included under seven categories of problems. Approaches to solving these problems…

Does new vocabulary help students to express existing ideas for which they do not yet have words or does it actually give them new ideas which they did not previously hold? James Woodcock asks whether offering students new vocabulary can give them new ideas, and whether this can enhance their historical analyses of causation problems. This is an…

This book provides secondary reading teachers with a practical guide for establishing a reading laboratory program. Written in conversational style, it contains diary-like comments and includes student responses to the activities described. The first section deals with the following topics: determining the physical aspects of a reading laboratory,…

Research supported by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation.

Reported are results of a study designed to replicate a study at North Carolina State University which investigated the effectiveness of a diagnostic/prescriptive system for increasing the science achievement of university students and examined the relationship between selected student characteristics and participation in voluntary diagnosis.…

It was hypothesized that the cognitive structures which underlie performance on class-inclusion tasks also underlie reading comprehension of the stated or inferred main idea of a paragraph, and that performance on three-dimensional class-inclusion tasks developmentally precedes performance on two-dimensional class-inclusion tasks. Ten kindergarten…

STUDENTS ARE ASKED TO CONSIDER THE IDEA OF THE HERO IN THIS 10TH-GRADE RHETORIC UNIT. EMPHASIS IS ON (1) THE INDUCTIVE PROCESS OF ARRIVING AT A GENERALIZATION, (2) THE PROBLEMS OF DEFINITION, INCLUDING QUALIFICATION AND COMPARISON, AND (3) THE PROCESSES OF SELECTIVITY AND REVISION. LITERARY SELECTIONS USED ARE "BEOWULF,""THE DIARY…