Describes grade-appropriate weekly activities designed to appeal directly to students by giving them open-ended questions. Activities may be worked on individually, in pairs, or in small groups. This particular set of activities focuses on stories from literature involving measurement, earning money, marketing a product, and setting up a…

Normally achieving students (n=119) and students with mild handicaps (n=83) in grades 3-6 were instructed to create and answer computation items similar to samples given. Students with mild handicaps understood item characteristics enough to create like items, though averaging three years behind normal achievers. A sample instructional activity is…

Presents examples that recognize young children's technological prowess and support the case for including two significant curriculum perspectives: an intellectual-processes perspective and a social-expression perspective. Contains 34 references. (Author/PVD)

This report addresses the issue of "academic productivity," and the critical views of academia held by the public. The section titled "Quality Academics, Quality Productivity," posits that using new notions of productivity, with their emphasis on quality rather than quantity, will allow academia to increase its own…

This trainer's guide is designed to assist Head Start administrators in implementing the Bringing Out Head Start Talents (BOHST) project designed to identify and develop programs for potentially gifted/talented Head Start children. The trainer's guide is divided into three sections. Section 1, the Administrator's Guide, consists of the following…

Compiled to illustrate that teachers in New York state--in all curricular areas and at all grade levels--are working to improve students' ability to think logically and creatively, this document outlines programs on thinking skills across the curriculum, from kindergarten through grade 12. The document begins with a chart listing program titles,…

The document discusses miscalculations by public officials, arms control experts, journalists, and the general public regarding the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks; assesses the Salt II treaty; and suggests criteria for appraising Salt II. The objective is to stimulate research, education, dialogue, and political action which will contribute to a…

THE PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY WAS TO DETERMINE THE LEVELS OF THINKING THAT CHARACTERIZED TRACK I AND TRACK IV CLASSES IN ENGLISH, MATHEMATICS, AND SOCIAL STUDIES AT THE EIGHTH GRADE LEVEL. THE DATA WERE GATHERED AT CENTRAL JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL, ALAMOGORDO, NEW MEXICO, BY OBSERVERS RECORDING THE VERBAL INTERCHANGES AND TEACHER-PUPIL TALK OR PUPIL-PUPIL…

IDENTIFICATION OF PRODUCTIVE THOUGHT PROCESSES IN INTELLECTUALLY GIFTED CHILDREN WAS BROUGHT WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF CLASSROOM VERBAL ACTIVITY AT THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL. RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THESE THOUGHT PROCESSES AND CERTAIN VARIABLES THAT MAY AFFECT THEIR OPERATION IN THE CLASSROOM WERE ASSESSED. AREAS EXPLORED WERE COGNITIVE STRUCTURE AND…

THIS COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF PRODUCTIVE THINKING IN RETARDED AND NONRETARDED CHILDREN USED DATA FROM A SAMPLE OF 78 PUBLIC SCHOOL CHILDREN DIVIDED INTO THREE GROUPS--(1) MENTALLY RETARDED CHILDREN IN SPECIAL CLASSES, (2) RETARDED CHILDREN IN REGULAR CLASSES, AND (3) NONRETARDED CHILDREN IN REGULAR CLASSES. THE GROUPS WERE SELECTED SO THAT THERE…

THE BEGINNING WRITER NEEDS BOTH ENCOURAGEMENT AND DIRECTION. ONCE A STUDENT, NONVERBAL OR FLUENT, HAS EXPRESSED AN OPINION, SIGNIFICANT OR TRIVIAL, THE PUMP CAN BE PRIMED BY ASKING HIM "WHY," AND HIS FLOW OF "BECAUSES" CAN BE CONTROLLED BY CHANNELING THEM INTO A SIMPLE PATTERN. THE NONVERBAL STUDENT IS ENCOURAGED TO WRITE WHEN HE LEARNS THAT A…

"Harry Stottlemeier's Discovery" is the student book for the project in philosophical thinking described in SO 008 123-126. It offers a model of dialogue -- both of children with one another and of children with adults. The story is set among a classroom of children who begin to understand the basics of logical reasoning when Harry, who…

The Productive Thinking Program (PTP), consisting of 16 programmed lessons designed to develop productive thinking skills, was used as the basis of a program conducted with 546 fifth graders in 21 classes in four upstate New York school districts. One hundred and twenty students from one of these districts were involved in a modified Solomon Four…

This paper proposes that curriculum theorists replace abstract language with more descriptive terms in order to achieve productive criticism, and it examines issues inherent in such a change. American educational discourse, traditionally focused on technical rationales, encourages theorizing, but a descriptive, aesthetic rationale might facilitate…

Both on-line and face-to-face courses rely on textbooks as an important source of information for students. A challenge for instructors in an on-line setting is to insure that students are learning from their textbooks. One way to address this challenge is to use productivity software tools to develop assignments that promote student thinking and…