In an age when decision making is becoming more and more significant for us human beings as we face dilemmas about whether or not to clone, to engineer behavior on mass scale, to expand or to decrease nuclear power, we educators must assist students to increase their decision-making skills. Many of our students will soon be decision makers for…

Describes an agency's implementation of problem-solving consultation. Case examples are used to illustrate various components and efforts made to evaluate perceptions of problem solving consultation. Strategies to guide further implementation of consultation at the systems level are summarized. Discusses areas in which additional resources would…

Human behavior is governed by assumptions and beliefs ("theory-in-use"), yet individuals commonly explain their behavior in terms of a (different) "espoused" theory. Suggests reflective practice in counseling can only be achieved by counselors identifying their own theories-in-use through critical thinking. This task also…

This report describes a program for advancing critical thinking skills in an integrated earth science geography course. The targeted population consists of high school freshmen from a growing, upper middle class, suburban community 40 miles west of Chicago. The information on these students comes from teacher observation, colleague surveys, and…

College debaters who go to law school are often surprised by the differences between the processes that take place in the court of reason and the process that takes place in the court of law. The court of reason relies mainly on authoritative testimony, while the court of law relies on direct evidence. Evidence in the court of reason is either…

This discussion of how to design a training program to teach professional judgment and performance focuses on a model for training police officers. Open job skills are explained, appropriate choices and actions are described, and the components and objectives of open job skill instruction are presented. (LRW)

Examines relations among early social and familial experience, social problem-solving skills, and social competence in the classroom, in sample of 46 children, aged four and five years, from economically distressed backgrounds. Finds family experience predictive of both social competence and problem solving. (Author/RWB)

Posits that schools must help students evaluate their culture and seek social change where warranted. Analyzes features of rationality in the mandate that schools provide students with tools for reasoned, logical, and unpartisan social criticism. Suggests that radical theorists have not clearly proposed to schools rational structures for…

Teaching critical thinking, a relatively new area and concept in physical education, can take the form of problem solving--the development and presentation of physical and mental problems that challenge students to reach a solution. Providing students with conceptually well-defined and designed problems can give physical education teachers an…

This paper reports the case study of a classroom teacher who made systematic and conscious preactive and interactive decisions. Four questions guided the research. The primary question was "Does a teacher use a systematic decision model?" The three secondary questions were: (1) Does this teacher make preactive and interactive decisions?…

This study examines, from an organizational perspective, decision rules guiding program discontinuance, testing the framework of decision rule rationality versus action rationality. A multi-site case study method was used; interviews were conducted with 11-16 individuals at each of four research I or II universities that had discontinued at least…

This article discusses empowering thinking skills such as brainstorming, problem solving, analysis; comparison/contrast and how to cultivate these abilities in gifted children. Examples are given of ways for teachers to model thinking skills for students. The response of a student to the ideas of the article is included. (PB)

Ways that school administrators can develop or improve their strategic thinking and learning skills are presented in this guidebook, which forces the planner to change his or her actual thinking about planning before taking action. Chapter 1 deals with overcoming single-issue thinking and becoming proactive. Basic concepts and tools are provided,…

This teacher's manual is one volume of a six volume curriculum for the secondary level, designed to provide a systematic, group-oriented approach to decision-making in areas crucial to adolescent development: work, drug (substance) use and abuse, sexuality and social relationships, juvenile law, and people and government. The manual is divided…

Describes the function of values and participatory decision making within the student affairs profession. Introduces a process model as a means of operationalizing values in the decision-making process and uses case studies to illustrate how the model can be used to improve student affairs professionals' decision making. (RJM)