To prepare students for a tech-intensive future, educators cannot hold on to 20th-century learning practices. They must reimagine education and cultivate an updated skill set. Lessons led by caring educators will continue to help students be strong learners and critical thinkers; but "human" skills will equip them to handle an uncertain…

How important is it that every student in a school is excited about learning? Should a student be allowed to use all his/her strengths in learning? Do you know someone who wasn't a particularly good student but has been very successful in life? What these seemingly unrelated questions have in common is an appreciation for the range of talents that…

Successful in Japan and in American industry, quality circles are a specific way to involve staff members in solving organization problems. A growing number of school administrators are examining this technique to see if it can reduce the costs of education and improve morale. (Author/JM)

During the last few decades, the author and his colleagues have developed an instructional framework for infusing thinking into content instruction in every subject and at every grade level. In thinking-based learning, teachers explicitly teach students thinking strategies and important habits of mind and then give students opportunities to apply…

A modified Delphi Technique can be used to reach consensus in decision making and conflict resolution. Such an approach was used in the Paramus (New Jersey) Public Schools to resolve a conflict between principals and a committee of parents, students, and specialists concerning a program for gifted and talented students. (Author/MLF)

Data collected by Rokeach indicate that the goal of scientific problem-solving is not valued as highly by Americans as is often thought. Recognizing this, the author suggests steps that educators can take to increase their success in teaching students the process of scientific problem-solving and decision-making. (JG)

Although it is often useful to accept students' value statements nonjudgmentally, values clarification theory recommends that teachers go beyond moral leadership and help students learn to think through their personal values and understand what it takes to live a value-directed life. Methods to promote and clarify our "heritage of moral values"…

The strategies that expose learners to the large volume of knowledge, enables them for creative thinking, self-management and deep reading. The different ways of creating knowledge with the help of creativity, communication, organization, problem solving and decision-making are discussed.

Educators commonly compare their restructuring efforts to rebuilding a 747 while in flight. Working smarter means monitoring the efficiency of faculty work from two standpoints: productivity in reaching desired student outcomes and depletion of important resources, including human energy. This article presents a five-stage model of the progress…

The effective ways of representing knowledge given the students and its use by teachers in departing the meaningful tasks are emphasized. An approach embodying five key principles like understanding big ideas, allotting tough assignments, thinking at high levels, problem solving and decision making ability are discussed.

Because children are subjected to undesirable and confusing socialization messages from peer networks and the media, schools are now paying more attention to students' social development needs. To counter schools' hidden curriculum and help students cope with stress and avoid serious interpersonal difficulties, an eight-step Improving Social…

Teachers at a central California high school operate the school according to a strict, progressive set of principles. The Anzar communication guidelines specify teachers' commitment to communicating well, collective ownership of problems and problem solving, tolerance of differing ideas, individual accountability, dedication to helping and…

Defines education's new paradigm as schooling based on decision making, the critical thinking skills serving it, and the knowledge base supporting it. Outlines a model decision-making process using a hypothetical breakfast problem; a late riser chooses goals, generates ideas, develops an action plan, and implements and evaluates it. (4 references)…

Although democratic decision making offers the best hope for public support of schools, simple majority rule is not enough. Deliberation is needed for long-term community engagement. A Washington State elementary school's broad-based site leadership team sets school direction and handles issues influencing student learning. This team successfully…

Thirty-nine principals, classified according to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, filled out quesionnaires based on Vroom's leadership behavior model and Mintzberg's 10 manageral subroles. Because the findings correlate effectiveness with time allotted to disturbance handling and entrepreneurial roles, three recent decision-science techniques are…