This paper addresses how teacher educators can prepare teachers and credential candidates to deal with the issues of pluralism and overarching democratic ideals. It examines the tenets of a multicultural education course in teacher education and discusses how teacher education programs should be shaping multicultural education. In classes at San…

Issues in the development of assessments of higher order thinking skills for college graduates are discussed in the order in which they were presented when this series of papers was commissioned. With regard to Issue 1, it is generally agreed that the development of these skills is a desirable goal, but there is little consensus on how they should…

At the center of the critical thinking movement is a far-reaching attempt at educational reform which sees critical thinking as a compelling educational ideal supported by moral concerns and practical considerations. This paper examines the theoretical basis for critical thinking and explores its component parts. The context of the discussion is a…

This study considers the effects of course types on reading, mathematics, and critical thinking skill gains for college freshmen. Course groups, arranged hierarchically in three tiers from large groupings down to individual courses, are used as units for analysis. Both Hard Applied and Hard Pure Biglan-paradigm course groups contributed to…

College faculty and administrators can seek a multicultural campus and create a multicultural context by creating new meanings out of the varieties of exposures involved in liberal education. In order to do this the key challenge is to develop in students an understanding of and thirst for constant learning through an emphasis on pedagogy in…

This book, a sequel to "Quick Hits," offers simple but successful strategies that award-winning teachers from Indiana University (IU) have found, through experience, to help promote learning in college classes. The original book grew out of the annual retreats of the Faculty Colloquium on Excellence in Teaching (FACET), an organization…

Although Allan Bloom in "The Closing of the American Mind" and Mike Rose in "Lives on the Boundary" reveal an almost endless list of obvious differences of perspective on literacy and higher education in America, both take divergent yet similar routes to create a permanent place for liberal education. Both Bloom and Rose use…

Education reformers have been concerned that U.S. schools are not helping to develop in their students critical thinking or reasonable, reflective thinking about what to do or believe. Because of the significant role standardized tests play in measuring student progress, and the way in which they may influence the content and dissemination of what…

This unit, designed for use with students in grades 6-12, has two purposes: (1) to inform teachers and students about social and economic conditions in rural El Salvador; and (2) to teach students how to analyze the indicators of such social and economic conditions. The six included lessons incorporate reading, graphing, and critical thinking…

The goal of this practicum, which was achieved through staff development instructional programs and follow up experiences over a three month period, was to improve the knowledge of elementary school teachers in how to use curriculum related video. TV/video systems and educational programs were utilized to stimulate the critical thinking process of…

A teacher used classics of children's literature to teach critical reading skills. Although scoring above the national average on the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS), the teacher's fourth-grade gifted students exhibited problems with critical reading skills. A literature unit involving whole language strategies and using Beverly Cleary's…

A survey, completed by 15 professors of English, indicated a fundamental lack of student critical thinking skills within their department, and a 90 percent discrepancy in teacher training with only 10 percent of teachers having received formal training. This paper describes a workshop designed to educate and motivate the English professors in a…

This report presents the primary papers given at a 1992 workshop to identify specific higher order thinking and communication skills and to develop appropriate indicators of collegiate outcomes as suggested by Goal 5.5 of the National Education Goals formulated in 1990. This goal addressed improvement in college graduates' ability to "think…

This issue of "Teachergram" addresses media-related issues such as the kind of world picture Canadians receive from mainstream media, the ability of television to describe the complexity of world events, and the claim of distorted and simplistic portrayal of developing nations. Students are encouraged critical perspective--to help them…

The Perkins Act requires states to adopt systems of outcome-based standards and measures of performance for judging the success of local vocational programs and guiding program improvement. Criteria for the design of states' systems of performance measures and standards include the following: the measures should be defined clearly and precisely;…