The effects of different models of exploration questioning on young children's associative fluency were examined in two experiments with kindergarteners. It is concluded that asking descriptive and difference exploration questions are most facilitative of children's associative fluency. (Author/SEW)

Eleven specific thinking skills are discussed, along with activities to help teachers develop each skill in their students. The skills are: (1) observing; (2) comparing; (3) classifying; (4) imagining; (5) hypothesizing; (6) looking for assumptions; (7) collecting and organizing data; (8) summarizing; (9) interpreting; (10) problem solving; and…

Outlines a method to help students through the beginning phases of writing that will also show them the vital relationship between observation and creation. (RL)

The author outlines thinking skills he feels are critical for students to learn for the present and the future. He includes a rating scale to help teachers evaluate how well they are promoting these thinking skills in their classrooms. (Part of a theme issue on the future in education.) (SJL)

In order for graduate programs to be considered genuine, four conditions need to be met: academic quality, time to fiddle, a baggy idea of truth, and a sense of community. (JN)

Project development activities centered on the components of teacher in-service, classroom activities, curriculum materials, parent/community involvement, and student evaluation. After three years of operation, test scores showed increasingly superior performance in creative thinking on the part of the students. (DLS)

Current methods of introducing creativity techniques in industrial training courses can be modified to increase the amount of personalized learning, according to the authors. They offer a framework for a new approach to creativity training in short courses and workshops, with both in-house and business school examples. (MF)

This study examined two neglected dispositional contributions to creativity, needs for uniqueness and cognition, in 150 undergraduates. Results indicated individuals high in the needs of uniqueness and cognition evidenced more creative past accomplishments and produced richer visual and verbal products, more individualistic photo essays, and more…

Reports on a pilot study that investigated the creative impact of information and communication technology (ICT) in a grade 6 class in England. Presents a model of creativity that includes problem solving, creative cognition, and social interaction; and discusses the creation of personal Web pages. (Author/LRW)

The paper presents activities for improving students' literacy, oral communication, and thinking skills. Students brainstorm ideas for improving consumer products, think of ideas for starting a business, design an advertisement, estimate costs involved, create a demand for the product or service, and write a research paper on relieving stress.…

Elementary school-aged children (N=569) from 11 countries were administered the Test for Creative Thinking-Drawing Production. The 11 countries had distinctly different political, economic, and educational systems. The test was discovered to be culture-fair, culture-sensitive, gender-fair, and gender-sensitive. (Author/JDD)

This review of 20 studies examines 3 predictions concerning the effects of conceptual models on students' understanding of scientific prose: (1) that models improve recall of conceptual information; (2) that they decrease verbatim retention; and (3) that they increase creative solutions on transfer problems. (SLD)

Teachers' actions are thought to produce certain types of student thinking. To devise effective inservice programs, educators must understand four learning principles and five thinking dimensions enabling students to develop positive learning attitudes and acquire, integrate, and extend their knowledge. A new "curriculum" of preservice…

This study examined scientific problem finding behavior in 40 gifted rising sixth graders participating in a 1-week summer residential program. Some correlations were found between ability to form hypotheses and creativity. Comparison with a previous study done with ninth graders found significant differences between groups. No differences were…

A graduate class on creativity at the University of Massachusetts was based on a European preschool program which fosters young children's learning, representation, and expression through exploration and mastery of many symbolic media. The class documented nature explorations, repeated experiences to delve deeper into them, and integrated the…