Call for reforming mathematics teaching has been sounded loudly and strongly. Change from teaching standard algorithms to having children invent their own methods requires major pedagogical shift. Teachers must trust students' inventiveness and ability to make sense of numerical situations, be committed to thinking and reasoning as cornerstone of…

This review of the literature examines three aspects of creative thinking and production: (1) metacognitive processing; (2) the knowledge base; and (3) personality variables. It is concluded that all three are essential elements, they operate interactively, and the results of creative thinking and problem solving are best assessed through…

Examines the differences between imagination, creativity, and fantasy, and presents the relationship of imagination to creativity. Suggests that the basic distinction between imagination and fantasy is that while imagination is related to reality, fantasy is related to unreality. The link between imagination and creativity lies in the opportunity…

Discusses and illustrates the difference between traditional and creative problem solving. (MKR)

Training, not education, is a common outcome of Japanese education--even at the university level. Individual initiative and independent thought are savagely repressed, and students are harshly punished or bullied for nonconformist behavior. Children of executives transferred to foreign countries face great discrimination when reentering Japanese…

Introduces design, integrated with systems thinking, as a necessary if not sufficient means for meeting the challenge of how to create or recreate organizations and institutions. The limits of problem-solving strategies when applied to complex organizational change, the designer's role, and the creative process of design are discussed. (Contains…

Recounts a sequence of activities that occurred in a senior high school geometry class and helped students to engage in creative reasoning. All student suggestions were discussed by the class, and pursuing alternative solutions was not only encouraged but required. (MKR)

Orange Grove Middle School in Tucson, Arizona, is part of a movement to transform schools into learning organizations. Systems thinking, combined with the related disciplines of building a shared vision, working with mental models, team learning, and personal mastery, is the essential component. The key to effective leadership is harnessing the…

For 30 years, the "theory movement" in educational administration pursued a logical positivistic paradigm and a goal of developing a "science" of administration. Since Kuhn (1962), that model has been challenged but not widely recognized until Weick's 1977 study on loosely coupled systems. This article suggests possible…

Presents literature-based elementary mathematics activities for the primary and intermediate grades. The activites are adapted from "Math and Literature, K-3," by the author of this article. (SM)

This article reviews recent research on assessment techniques for divergent thinking and examines their predictive validity. Techniques include those using either lenient or stringent solution standards, those assessing total idea output, and those involving qualitative aspects of ideation. Special considerations for the creativity of gifted…

A model of critical thinking is developed, encompassing problem solving and creative thinking. The central role of critical thinking in adult education is explored, concluding that development of the concept and how to teach it need attention. (SK)

Researchers received 256 ideas from 141 Long Island, New York, school districts that had resulted in cost savings. From these, 75 were classified into 10 areas and printed in booklet form. Cites examples in financial management, transportation, risk management, personnel practices, facilities management, purchasing, support services, and food…

Explains how quality concepts such as customer satisfaction, continuous improvement, and defining the customer apply to education. Describes how creative problem solving can overcome such conceptual blocks as constancy, commitment to the past, compression of ideas, and complacency. (SK)

Reviews the perspective of Donald Campbell on creative thought and argues that the role of blind variation and selective retention in Darwinian evaluation and human invention is different. Proposes that a contrast can be drawn between "smart" and "not so smart" blind variation. (CR)