This study of 52 learning-disabled children, aged 8-13, found that direct feedback and practice improved metaphor interpretation. The approach was highly successful in teaching students to generalize concrete concepts to abstract ones. Further descriptive analyses indicated that grade and reading levels of subjects correlated with metaphor…

The 16 units of this book are designed as textbook supplements to encourage students to think mathematically and as mathematicians. Each unit begins with an orientation session which raises general concerns that always occur within mathematical exploration. This is followed by a short, original text in which a mathematician creates a particular…

Intended for college instructors interested in promoting and developing intellectual abilities in their students, this publication details the Perry and Toulmin models of cognitive development. The first section explains the Perry model of dualistic students, who are comfortable in a framework of absolute knowledge and unquestionable right and…

Describes teaching students how to evaluate materials containing judgments based on a modification of a model by J. E. Sparks and C. Johnson called the pyramid of reading power. (EL)

This article offers specific strategies to diagnose and remediate difficulties students may have in learning multiplication facts. Analyzes strategies students use to go from a known fact to an unknown fact. The point is made that, for many students, the order of interpretation of a number fact may affect accuracy. (DB)

Panoramic scanning is the capacity to perceive, interpret, and appreciate complex problems from a big-picture vantage point. Barriers to panoramic scanning (sensory bombardment, superficial polarized thought, and tunnel vision) and facilitators (broad interests and knowledge, pattern finding, and connection-making skills) are identified. Educators…

Compares two approaches to the teaching of mathematics, rote versus reasoning. Discusses the way to teach mathematics as reasoning in elementary classroom as stated in the NCTM Standards. (YP)

A project to improve higher level thinking skills of elementary students in Hillsborough County, Florida is reported as a feature article (66p). An introductory overview chapter reviews the literature on teaching thinking skills. Chapter 1 provides background information on the community and the two schools selected for the practicum. The second…

Twenty-four gifted children with learning disabilities and a control group of nondisabled gifted children were administered the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised. The 8- to 12-year-old subjects were found to be more reliant on verbal conceptualization and reasoning than controls and demonstrated deficiencies in short-term auditory…

The theorems and proofs presented are designed to enhance student understanding of the theory of infinity as developed by Cantor and others. Three transfinite numbers are defined to express the cardinality of infinite algebraic sets, infinite sets of geometric points and infinite sets of functions. (DC)

As part of a study of ecology, students in a second and third grade classroom developed board games. The research, creation, rule making, naming, and testing of several games are described. The games' levels of abstraction, presentation of factual information, content, and potential for sustained interest are considered. (LB)

Assesses the ability of tenth grade students (n=364) to acquire meanings of graphs that are frequently used in their biology textbooks. Indicates that the main source of failure to process information equally well from tables and graphs was not a lack of basic analytical skills but rather a lack of understanding of the relationship between…

This paper reviews special considerations in teaching higher order thinking skills to students with mild disabilities, focusing on curriculum implications; principles of instruction (prior knowledge, connections between new and existing knowledge, self-regulated learning, and impact of social setting); the use of an anchored instructional…

Math historian Morris Kline suggests that math instruction should be made concrete and that teachers should not turn kids off by making intuitively understood concepts complex through the use of fancy language. He advocates using pictorial representations and examples of actual physical occurrences. The dyslexic student has special difficulties in…

This pamphlet reviews five reports that highlight an emerging consensus among researchers about the value of systematically incorporating cognitive instruction into the elementary school curriculum. First is a comprehensive framework by Robert J. Marzano and C. L. Hutchins for an integrated approach to thinking skills that has been developed and…