Abstract: The Road to Teaching Thinking: A Rest Stop

Schlesinger, Mark A. (1984). "The Road to Teaching Thinking: A Rest Stop." Vol. 36, No. 3, 182-273.

The theoretical base for curricular goals and pedagogical techniques in general education focuses on thinking and problem-solving skills, apart from content, that should be promoted in the classroom. However, there are a variety of cognition models used in discussions of teaching students to think. Those most represented are 1) approaches that involve global constructs of thinking (e.g., "analysis") in a progression (e.g., from "knowledge" to "synthesis"); 2) approaches that address strategies for learning or problem solving; 3) approaches that employ a psychological or epistemological model of human development; and 4) approaches that address thinking skills that are regarded as generic, functional in all higher-order thinking. The boundaries are fluid, none is complete, and each raises questions. Summed up, the models carry common principles—students may function adequately without higher order thinking and grades generally should not be equated with quality of thinking. Also, active and social learning are preferred.