As the educational system extends its resources and efforts to help make schools and classrooms more accessible to handicapped and special education students, teachers are finding themselves overwhelmed with increased demands, overcrowding, and lack of adequate training in managing all the necessary demands of an inclusion classroom.…

This paper examines similarities between the goals of Aikido, a martial art, and critical thinking and argues that Aikido promotes the development of thinking in its training and practice. It applies these ideas to the gifted education curriculum. First the paper introduces characteristics of Aikido, Aikido movement and techniques. It equates…

Scientific language is not simply for recording facts but it is also an instrument of thought. It has a central role in not only developing a sense of social identity for members of the scientific community and students in the classroom but also in inculcating views on the nature of science and reality itself. Physicists have created a language in…

This paper demonstrates a variety of activities designed to enrich the learning environment for all children through the use of divergent thinking activities. The first activity involves structural indexing, whereby students brainstorm words found in a reading selection and construct sentences using a bingo formation, with the concentration on…

This paper examines how pedagogical approaches in writing classrooms can better draw upon the whole of students' abilities--intellectual, affective, and creative. Many teachers know too well that students rarely respond well to writing prompts which monopolize their cognitive, linear capacities while ignoring creative strategies and affective…

This science activity book, for grades 8-12, can be used to teach students the thinking skills they will need to undertake scientific exploration on their own. The skills they develop will improve their science abilities and enhance their overall academic performance. This book is divided into two sections: (1) "Dynamo Demos", teacher-led…

In this journal issue, articles examine various aspects of testing intelligence, creativity, and psychopathology. Featured articles include: (1) "Monglottosis: What's Wrong with the Idea of IQ Meritocracy and Its Racy Cousins?" (Johan W. Oller, Jr.), which shows empirically and theoretically that even nonverbal IQ tests mainly measure powers of…

This book-and-CD package provide a lively, hands-on introduction for teachers and scholars in the humanities and social sciences. New technology is changing the nature of research and teaching in the humanities and social sciences. From specialized online forums to Web-based teaching and distance learning, computers are being used to expand…

This theory-into-practice book presents Writing and Sharing Connections, an instructional methodology for grades 3-5 which provides a way to hear students' voices, view students as individuals, assess and learn from students, promote content area learning, and encourage creative thinking. The book provides a theoretical background, a process…

This yearbook sharpens the views of mathematical reasoning and its development at all grade levels. Various perspectives about the nature of reasoning and addresses the many issues and concerns involving mathematical reasoning such as how learners reason in mathematics, how communication promotes reasoning, how teachers gather evidence of student…

Describes a science activity designed to stimulate creative thinking in children. The project, entitled Egg Loft,'' encourages students to devise methods for lifting an egg above 20 feet and returning it safely to ground. A number of the successful devices created and built by children are described. (JR)

Impressions of Robert M. Hutchins and his Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions in Santa Barbara. The Center houses a catalytic group of scholars who generate ideas rather than actions. Describes some of their thinking on education, science, retrospective futurology, the use of oceans as a world resource, a new constitution, and the…

Study compared the relative advantages of three training procedures (production, judgment and combined) to a no-training control for three levels of initial ability. (Authors)

Discusses the process of problem solving, stressing the iterative nature of the process and the importance of communication (explaining problems to others). Provides examples of physics/physical sciences problems useful in problem-solving competitions. Also provides examples of problems to be solved in school over several weeks. Lists of materials…