Space is a topic most learners find engaging. This article set out a short project investigating meteorite impacts, both practically and using simulations, and suggests resources that could be used. The formation of craters, such as those on the Moon caused by objects landing on its surface, is used to illustrate a study plan. The project is…

Like algebra at any level, early algebra is a way to explore, analyze, represent, and generalize mathematical ideas and relationships. This book shows that children can and do engage in generalizing about numbers and operations as their mathematical experiences expand. The authors identify and examine five big ideas and associated essential…

Can children reason the Bayesian way? We argue that the answer to this question depends on how numbers are represented, because a representation can do part of the computation. We test, for the first time, whether Bayesian reasoning can be elicited in children by means of natural frequencies. We show that when information was presented to fourth,…

According to one principal, an attention-getting fourth-grader's quick wit, creative excuses, and impish pranks demonstrated a high degree of thinking. Although the student's intellectual prowess defied testing and he was never viewed as a "smart" kid, he had a special kind of intelligence not often appreciated in school. (MLH)

Describes a successful program that used a step-by-step approach for teaching research and presentation skills to gifted sixth-grade students. Steps included developing a preliminary outline, exploring various sources, organizing information, using higher-level thinking skills, creating a rubric for evaluating presentations, providing handouts,…

HOTS (Higher Order Thinking Skills) is a creative program (combining the use of computers, drama, Socratic dialog, and a detailed curriculum) to build thinking skills of educationally disadvantaged students in grades four through seven. HOTS learning activities help students realize what thinking and persevering can accomplish. Principals can help…

Gifted intermediate-level students in Greenville, South Carolina, held a Future Fair in which students completed projects and developed critical and creative thinking skills as they investigated real problems. Projects such as models, inventions, photo essays, and creative writing focused on future schools, art, fashions, space travel, and other…

Describes activities designed to encourage students to analyze and interpret graphs. Activities include using software to draw clear bottles, fill them gradually, measure and record the water height, then graph the volume and height relationship; graphing cause and effect relationships between gender, height, and shoe size; and graphing…

This collection is the result of a program in self expression in which 30 fifth-grade students contemplated to music every other day throughout the school year--each child completed approximately 120 thinking or contemplation periods. The procedure used in the program operated in the following way: (1) 5 to 15 minutes of music played while the…

The COMET summer residential program at Purdue University (Indiana) offers gifted and talented youth in grades 4-6 a week of intensive study in a single content area. Courses stress specific problem-solving skills and development of a rich knowledge base. Extensive program evaluation by students, teachers, counselors, and parents was highly…

Designed with real teachers and real conditions in mind, this booklet presents a model for a writing-across-the-curriculum/writing-to-learn program that can be used in all classrooms in all subject areas from grades 4 to 12. The model presented in the booklet defines five types of writing assignments and the outcomes expected for each--using…

Discussion of the use of databases to improve students' thinking skills focuses on a database developed for teaching world geography to middle school and high school students. Research on developing information processing skills is discussed, a sample unit in the world geography project is presented, and results of field testing are described.…

Reviews studies designed to teach students to be more able thinkers in particular subject areas. The interventions reorganize thinking by teaching strategies, metacognition, thinking dispositions, distributed cognition, and transfer of learning. Students are provided with psychological resources to think better across a range of contexts. (MMU)

Describes the creation of an innovative problem-solving course for middle school teachers (based on the LEGO Mindstorms Robotic Invention System) intended to use a combination of logic, hands-on experience, and a modicum of trial and error to help middle school students identify the processes behind effectively solving problems. (SR)

A middle school science teacher describes the learning and thinking processes of his class as they worked and played with pendulums and learned to build a swing that could tell time. The article illustrates how students can learn the value of the scientific method for problem solving. (DB)