Asserts that whether students engage in creative and critical thinking depends on how teachers structure the learning situation. Contends that using "academic controversy" among students provides a basis for deliberate discourse and creative problem solving. Presents a five-step instructional model to guide students. (CFR)

To be effective educators, teachers need not only a degree but also an imagination that allows students to be creative and motivates them to learn. The article suggests that the teaching profession must establish guidelines whereby aspiring teachers can, to some degree, measure their personality endowments and fitness to be a teacher as well as an…

The Future Problem Solving Program develops students' problem-solving and thinking skills as student teams undertake a step-by-step process which involves assessing the teams' existing knowledge of the topic, determining the knowledge they need, gathering information, organizing their knowledge, and using the knowledge to solve specific problems.…

Describes a collaborative project in which art educators and architects worked together to design a space for educational programs in a museum. Discusses differing views about the space as a classroom or an active studio. Concludes that the collaborative experience heightened creativity among the participants and produced a design for a museum…

Through participation in school music programs, students gain a sense of discipline, self-esteem, pride of accomplishment and learn to excel in teamwork, problem solving, leadership, creative thinking. Education Secretary Richard W. Riley and President Bill Clinton are strong advocates for enriched arts education for every child. Newly developed…

Describes a dispositional conception of thinking, presenting a view of what good thinking dispositions look like and what they are made of. The article compares different models of teaching (teaching as transmission and as enculturation) and examines the extent to which they provide adequate guidelines for teaching thinking dispositions. (SM)

Indicates the importance for music teachers to develop their students' musical thinking skills through listening and composition. Explains that, by focusing on convergent and divergent thinking, students will have the skills to compose and analyze music. Gives listening and compositional activities for teachers to use in their classrooms. (CMK)

Explores the evolution of a photomontage assignment in a college-level course for academically unprepared students by summarizing the original assignment and then describing the latest version after a three-year period. Believes that the current assignment promotes aesthetically rich and meaningful artwork from students and a positive shift in…

Intelligence-friendly classrooms require a teaching/learning process governed by extant knowledge and theories about developing human beings' intellectual potential. Guidelines are based on setting a safe emotional climate, creating a rich learning environment, teaching the mind-tools and skills of life, developing learners' skillfulness,…

Believes that the key to teaching is viewing students as great learners, not as the teacher being a great teacher. Reflects on the experience of teaching and relates the teaching style and approaches used by the author in the classroom. (CMK)

Examines the benefits of art education that go beyond art production to encompass an expansive view of art. Describes a kindergarten project called "Painting with Scissors" that implements this approach to art education. Through it, art became a way of knowing, understanding, and viewing the world; of constructing and expressing ideas;…

A qualitative study of 5 highly creative kindergartners and 5 low creative kindergartners in Korea, found that the mothers and fathers of highly creative children had consistent child rearing styles. The mothers of highly creative cases provided rich home environments to foster creativity and encouragement compared to low creative cases. (Contains…

This article describes an activity in measurement and geometry in which sixth-grade students explore the volume and surface area of a donut. Through calculation, creative thinking, and discovery, the students enhanced their geometric vocabulary and reasoning. (Contains 9 figures.)

This case study focuses on one student as she engaged in a general education art course that integrated visual art, writing, and expressive movement. In the beginning of the semester, this elementary education major had little interest or experience in the arts. Over the semester, however, she moved from being resistant and fearful of art to being…

Computer technology can be integrated into science inquiry activities to increase student motivation and enhance and expand scientific thinking. Fifth-grade students used the visual thinking tools in the Kidspiration[R] software program to generate and represent a web of hypotheses around the question, "What affects the distance a marble rolls?"…