A required freshman English course at Berkeley was designed on the assumption that: (1) students have already developed a set of sophisticated skills for reading popular culture texts--movies, television, and commercial literary genres--against and in terms of one another; and (2) these skills are not categorically different from those inculcated…

The California Critical Thinking Skills Test--College Level (CCTST) was examined in terms of the possible impact on critical thinking (CT) skill performance of: (1) student gender; (2) ethnicity; (3) academic major; and (4) CT self-esteem. The CCTST was administered to 1,196 students at California State University (Fullerton) in the 1989-90 school…

Methods classes in teacher education are under attack. If teacher education programs are to survive with a methods component, teacher educators need to begin living and demonstrating the models of pedagogy they advocate. Methods courses must go beyond the lecture mode to democratic practice in which students and instructors build social learning…

Three dimensions of education--development of knowledge, training of mental abilities, and development of character--and their implications for social and individual good are discussed in this paper. Education is described as the process that prepares young people for their social inheritance through the transmission of societal values. A…

This bibliography identifies reports of inferential research on problem solving in mathematics. The listing was developed for use in a synthesis of the research performed by meta-analysis. Guidelines for including studies were applied as follows: (1) the report provided product-moment correlation coefficients and their sample sizes or, in the case…

This document reports on two 3-day workshops designed to train three vocational education instructors or curriculum developers from every Wisconsin school district in specific critical thinking skills strategies that they could implement in their districts. The document includes a three-page narrative description of the workshops that includes…

Relating school learning to work can make adolescents take school more seriously. One mission of schools is to prepare the young to assume work roles. Schools were used to teach basic academic material and a work ethic that were equally applicable to a wide range of occupations. John Dewey argued that preparation cannot be effective unless it…

Group norms are provided for the California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST)--College Level, a standardized 34-item multiple-choice test designed to assess the core critical thinking skills associated with baccalaureate general education. The CCTST offers three subtests conceptualized in terms of a national Delphi study on critical thinking.…

Anxiety and tension are two affective factors which seem to interfere with measurement of instructional effects. Test anxiety respresents a possibly confounding effect in the measurement of any given knowledge. A study was conducted to examine the effect that relaxation training administered immediately prior to testing would have on academic…

To illustrate the incorporation of liberal arts values into the speech communication curriculum, this paper presents a rationale for creating a public speaking course that emphasizes the analysis of current critical issues. The paper argues that by requiring students to speak on important issues, rather than on personal topics, they will need to…

Thinking skills and ethical judgment are needed in all areas of business, and instruction in these areas should be included in business communication courses. Authorities on the teaching of thinking generally agree that instructional objectives should cover creative and critical thinking skills, as well as the dispositions that enhance the use of…

A study explored whether teaching the comprehension skills of inference, drawing conclusions, sequencing, and cause and effect would increase student achievement in reading and language while at the same time imparting social science content. Subjects, 197 eighth grade students in the experimental group and 192 eighth grade students in the control…

A keynote address, seven papers, and a panel discussion are presented in these conference proceedings. The keynote address, "Friends and Critics: The Feminist Academy" (Elizabeth Kamarck Minnich), focuses on the interrelationship between critique and friendship and the importance of both to feminist scholarship. The first of seven…

The concept of instructional leadership is constrained by social conventions that derive from a technical notion devoted to managerial rather than educational ends. This paper analyzes (1) assumptions held about leadership and instruction, (2) these notions in other contexts and practices, and (3) effects of such practices on the lives of…

One of a series dealing with current issues affecting language arts instruction, this paper focuses on writing across the curriculum. The paper begins by observing that schools and colleges across the country are developing school-wide writing programs, the purposes of which are to improve writing, to enhance learning of content, and to develop…