Argues that much of current science curricula and instructional strategies do not accommodate the thinking and reasoning capabilities of students. Level of capacity for abstract logical reasoning, whether the capacity can be cultivated/enhanced, consequences of mismatched intellectual levels and instructional modes, and what thinking/reasoning…

Short and long term strategies for implementing critical thinking skills into school programs are discussed. The short term strategy is to teach analytic skills within established subject areas, while the long term strategy involves recognizing and overcoming the unconscious obstacles to development of sound critical and dialectical thinking. (TE)

Study of 24 second and third grade teachers to determine what characteristics and behaviors result in effective teaching. Results indicate that successful classroom performance is related to a highly autonomous attitude, preference for pragmatic activities, lecturing half the class time, having an abstract conceptual structure and the teacher…

In a previous study, we posited a link between Chinese sixth grade students' problem solving and problem posing based on a pattern-formation strategy (Cai & Hwang, 2002). A similar parallel structure between problem solving and problem posing did not obtain for the U.S. sixth graders in the study. The present study attempts to locate this type of…

Reports on a survey of college students regarding what professors made them think and how the instructors initiated this response. (HS)

A significant relationship was found between modes of teacher influence and use of cognitive levels, as well as between levels of teacher cognition and that of pupils in pupil response categories but not in pupil initiation categories. (Author)

Briefly reviews psycholinguistic research, describes six categories of utterance, and reports on research into the relationship between level of thought and length of speech. Results indicate that both teachers and students take successively longer to express higher-cognitive types of utterances. (EAO)

Describes the development of a curriculum to improve problem- solving ability when faced with uncertainty by (1) encouraging students to examine their thought processes, (2) presenting fallacious arguments, and (3) providing better tools for decision making. Relevant psychological research, some problems of teacher training, and a small-scale…

The content of 228 college student's writing samples appears to be a main determiner of how many and what types of preposition errors will appear. These results indicate that preposition errors point to cognitive lags and complex, abstract writing tasks may be the appropriate treatment. (Author/PN)

Holds that as people get older they can employ certain techniques to offset some of the physiological limitations on their intellectual abilities. Provides tips for overcoming some sensory deficiencies, memory loss, motivational changes, mental fatigue, and changes in social environment of the old. (Author/AOS)

Replicating previous findings that the inability to "shift" conceptual attitude on the Weigl is consistent with indices associated with cortical dysfunction, the Weigl is shown to possibly serve as a nonverbal instrument to assess cortical dysfunction where inability to "shift" appears to tap a dysfunction in symbolic rather…

The developmental principles as they apply to teachers focus on variations among teachers according to developmental criteria. Orientations to teacher supervision are viewed, and clusters of supervisory behaviors are matched with stages of teacher development. (JN)

Sex differences in spatial visualization ability accounted for sex differences in mathematical ability for a group of college students. With spatial visualization statistically controlled, no significant sex differences in Quantitative Scholastic Aptitude Test scores were found. Males were more predictable than females due to higher spatial…