Original thinking was examined in 142 middle- and lower-class children across a wide range of age (7-13 years) and intellectual ability (low average to gifted). The instruments were lenient and stringent solution-standard measures of original problem solving and two subtests of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children. (Author/PN)

Children who had been removed from deleterious family environments were exposed to 10 sessions of imaginative play training. When compared with matched controls, experimental subjects showed significant post training increments in imagination, positive emotionality, prosocial behaviors, and storytelling skills and decreases in overt aggression.…

A Berkeley course's student project is the design and construction of a small-scale city, structured on a given plan, with the students themselves as clients. The focus is on balancing communal amenity against personal whim and gain. The project's purposes, process, and eventual discontinuance are discussed. (MSE)

When children choose their learning experiences, they learn the emotional states that accompany decisions. They also learn to choose according to their potentials, to identify strengths and interests, and, ultimately, to determine their lifestyles. Such a program in Montclair, New Jersey is described. (CJ)

Five problem-based learning activities tested by fourth-grade gifted students are suggested. Each open-ended problem is intended to be worked on by a small group for 30 minutes. Student reactions are quoted and analyzed, noting that students became more willing to take risks, test the properties and limits of their materials, and learn from their…

Describes research on brain development and its relationship to music education. Discusses how music helps some people organize the way they think and work and how music helps them develop in other areas, including mathematics, language, and spatial reasoning. (10 references) (LMI)

Investigates factors affecting students' ability to consistently apply the concept of adaptations. Individual interviews were conducted with 74 Year 10 students in Australia, of whom only 47% showed an understanding of the concept. It was found that the students were more likely to apply the concept to vertebrates. (AIM)

Presents an art activity for fifth- and sixth-grade students in which they create "netsuke," a small sculptural art used in Japan to convey social ideals. Includes background information about netsuke, the categories of netsuke, and the use of creative and critical thinking. (CMK)

An English-as-second-language teacher feels that everyone has creativity and imagination, and the teacher's role is to nurture those qualities. Drawing on the Foxfire core practices, she acknowledges and reinforces those moments when learners reveal their own unique insights into learning, and she facilitates exploratory and innovative thinking…

One method of making magic squares using a prolongated square is illustrated. Discussed are third-order magic squares, fractional magic squares, fifth-order magic squares, decimal magic squares, and even magic squares. (CW)

Attempts to provide an intuitive understanding of steady state kinetics. Discusses the meaning of steady state and uses free energy profiles to illustrate and follow complex kinetic and thermodynamic relationships. Provides examples with explanations. (MVL)

Current school restructuring challenges passivity and rigidity and provides new openings in experience, which creates good contexts for art education and aesthetic education. The paper discusses how such education opens people to visions of the possible rather than the predictable, thus creating a community of distinctive individuals. (SM)

Describes activities of kindergarten through grade-four students in an art classroom that emphasizes expression of creative process along with the product. Explores interconnections between art, thinking, and writing as expressed by a former language arts teacher who transfers her knowledge of language, words, and creative expression to art. (BAC)

A model of transformational change in education is presented and implications for guiding students to higher levels of communication, critical thinking, problem solving, interpersonal relationships, and creativity are explored. (AEF)

Describes the Chita Institute for the Improvement of Qualifications which employs 120 specialist trainers for Sourthern Siberia. The institute uses a block-circle system for improving teacher qualifications (referring to the combined subject matter specialties and cyclic nature of the process). The system helps teachers realize creative…