This teaching guide provides an integrated framework for teaching thinking skills which involves both teaching thinking in a separate program or course and infusing the teaching of thinking into standard subject area instruction across the curriculum. Individual chapters deal with the following topics: (1) the nature of thinking skills and…

This study investigated the grouping effect on student achievement in a chemistry laboratory when homogeneous and heterogeneous formal reasoning ability, high and low levels of formal reasoning ability, group sizes of two and four, and homogeneous and heterogeneous gender were used for grouping factors. The sample consisted of all eight intact…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the achievement of some abstract concepts in "molecular genetics" and prior knowledge, formal reasoning ability, and sex. The major findings of the study were: (1) prior knowledge had a high significant correlation with the achievement of abstract concepts; (2) the…

The range of meanings of "big" and "little" that mothers and their three children under age two expressed in relatively natural communication situations was studied. Longitudinal data from transcripts of conversations of middle-class mothers and their children were analyzed along with diary records kept by parents of their children's use of size…

Recall lists were presented to 40 black lower class and 40 white middle class children in this experiment. The purpose of the study was to examine a possible explanation of the relatively poor performance of black and lower class children on tasks requiring abstract learning abilities. It was reasoned that the threshold for the production of…

A 3-year experiment evaluated the effectiveness of the Pyramid program, an educational program for young children from deprived situations and based on two concepts: psychological nearness (principles of attachment theory) and psychological distance (derived from developmental distancing, or the growing ability of a child to comprehend that an…

Studies 94 undergraduate students in introductory statistics and computer science courses. Applies Formal Operations Reasoning Test (FORT) and Kolb's Learning Style Inventory (LSI). Finds that substantial numbers of students have not achieved the formal operation level of cognitive maturity. Emphasizes need to examine students learning style and…

Cognitive science research offers hope for the development of innovative science teaching strategies that facilitate the development of optimally interconnected procedural and declarative knowledge networks. Improving students' neural networks should improve their abilities to think critically, reason logically, learn more efficiently, and solve…

Thirty-seven normal and 33 gifted children from kindergarten classes and 26 retarded children from special classes with mean mental ages of 76 months, 80 months, and 72 months respectively, were initially tested for their understanding of the terms more, same, and less. All who had failed conservation of substance pretests using juice, sand, clay,…

The effects of age and intelligence levels upon word associations were studied in 96 intellectually retarded, normal, and superior children with IQ's of 65 to 80, 91 to 110, and 117 to 158 respectively. A word association and a word usage task (reliability coefficients of .91 and .98) called for homogeneous responses to six form classes--count…

Theory and research regarding four levels of concept attainment and three uses of concepts as specified by the conceptual learning and development (CLD) model are described. Assessment batteries were developed to assess each child's level of concept attainment and also the related use of the concepts equilateral triangle, cutting tool, and noun.…

This study attempts to reinforce developmental theory concerning spatial Comprehension by building on the qualitative observations of art educators of the past, and by strengthening the empirical basis of contemporary investigations into the relationship between pictorial representations, intellectual maturity, and environmental stimulation.…

Compared formal reasoning responses of seventh-and eighth-grade students on three tests of formal reasoning. The three tests differ only in the mode of equipment presentation on identical test items and problems. Tests included three-dimension demonstration (Lawson), two-dimension showing drawings of materials used in three-dimensional test, and…

Discusses the use of writing to enhance learning in mathematics from a conceptual development perspective. Shuell's phases of learning are described as a general model for conceptual development and subsequently matched with Britton's categories for transactional-informative writing. Sample mathematics assignments for each writing category are…

The teaching of critical thinking is discussed, based on the view that methods of teaching critical thinking vary from discipline to discipline. After covering basic concepts related to teaching critical thinking, a framework to examine the process of critical thinking is presented, based on cognitive science and developmental theory, especially…