Learning to Think

"Learning to Think: Thinking to Learn" has grown out of a conference organized by the OECD Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) in July 1989. Its purpose is to discuss and advance the state of knowledge about how young people think and reason. Thinking is a normal activity for every normal human being, ordinary life depends on our ability to think. Thus the prime objectives of formal education in all disciplines have always been the refining and shaping of the powers of thought. This book explores three broad ways of thinking in the context of education, looking firstly at the 'skills' approach, secondly at the 'infusion model' and thirdly at the belief that the traditional disciplines and pedagogy of education already provide for the development of thinking.

The editors have worked hard to make the material accessible; Stuart Maclure's overview is complemented by a lucid general account by John Nisbet of methods and approaches and a useful background report from OECD's Research Centre, and the sequence of papers has been carefully thought out...key problems permeate the book...provides useful insights...
Times Education Supplement