Thinking at Every Desk

Cabrera, a specialist in thinking skills and learning, and Colosi (Cornell U. Family Life Development Center) explain the implications of Cabrera's research into thinking, metacognition, and teaching thinking skills. Drawing on an understanding of how knowledge is structured, they consider problems with traditional teaching practices and the need to move towards a constructivist approach (rather than instructionist) that develops higher-order thinking skills. They describe how to teach thinking to students in any grade or subject to get them to understand what they're required to know and how they know it. They outline four universal structures that underlie the process of creating knowledge--making distinctions between things, organizing things into systems, relating things to each other, and doing these actions from various perspectives--to create increased metacognition, deep understanding, and transfer of knowledge from one area to another. Examples from different classrooms are integrated. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)