On knowing

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Louis L. Norbeck

Written to aid parents, teachers, and caregivers of newborns to eight-year-olds in broadening their children's learning experiences and better preparing them for formal education, Louis L. Norbeck Jr.'s "Building a Quality Learner through Multiple Intelligences" breaks down Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences into practical exercises that kids can do to enhance their early education. As you read about the different intelligences, you will begin to discover which intelligences your children may already excel in and which ones are less utilized. That's where this book becomes a treasure trove of resources. Offering sections on "What Parents Can Do" and lists of interactive activities children can do to develop and strengthen each intelligence, this book teaches children the two most important lessons they can master: learning is fun, and anyone can learn. Education doesn't have to be daunting or grueling. Use this guide to discover and develop your children's multiple intelligences so they can begin their educational journey with a smile.

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Mark A. Runco

"Creativity is typically defined such that the underlying processes reflect some divergent or lateral thinking, but in actuality it must also involve certain critical processes. These are critical in two ways: First, they reflect some kind of criticism or convergent thinking, and second, they are vital for creative thinking. This volume reviews research and theorizing about these critical processes. A wide range of processes is covered, including those which are entirely personal, and those which are interpersonal. In addition to addressing the notion that creativity requires both divergent and critical processes, this volume describes the roles played by traditional intelligence, language, and attributions in creative work."--BOOK JACKET.

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David Perkins

The past twenty years have seen breakthroughs from cognitive scientists investigating thinking and learning as well as school anthropologists probing the culture of classrooms, schools, and their community contexts; but these insights have yet to be applied to public education on a broad scale. Smart Schools shows how these findings can be effectively used within the classroom. Although there has been much debate over the state of American education today, and a variety of solutions have been offered ranging from school choice to national testing, little attention has been paid to how children actually learn to think. As Perking demonstrates, we cannot solve our education problems by simply redistributing power or by asking children to regurgitate facts on a multiple choice exam; rather we must look at the kinds of knowledge students typically acquire in school. As his own and others' research indicates, students from first grade on through college often have only the most fragile and superficial kind of knowledge even after considerable instruction in a subject. He shows where students typically make mistakes by examining the kinds of misguided strategies they use in trying to understand a topic. He also shows why traditional teaching approaches often result in the students' limited grasp of a subject. Perking then introduces an impressive array of methods that have been shown to dramatically increase a student's understanding.

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W.K. Estes

Based on Estes' important Fitts Lectures, this volume details a set of psychological concepts and principles that offers a unified interpretation of a wide variety of memory, categorization, and decision-making phenomena. These phenomena are explained via two families of models established by the author: a storage-retrieval model and an adaptive network model. Estes considers whether the models are competing or complementary, offering cogent and instructive arguments for both perspectives. Estes' theory is then applied to two large-scale series of studies on category learning and recognition, providing an integrated understanding of seemingly disparate phenomena. This book is the culmination of the author's more than ten years of research in the field, and stands as a great achievement by one of this century's eminent psychologists. It will be indispensable to a wide variety of behavioral scientists, including mathematical and cognitive psychologists.