Summary And Conclusions

The economic and social challenges confronting the nation today demand that all citizens acquire and learn to use complex reasoning and thinking skills. Education and Learning to Think confronts the issues facing our schools as they take on this mission. This volume reviews previous research, highlights successful learning strategies, and makes specific recommendations about problems and directions requiring further study. Among the topics covered are the nature of thinking and learning, the possibilities of teaching general reasoning, the attempts to improve intelligence, thinking skills in academic disciplines, methods of cultivating the disposition toward higher order thinking and learning, and the integral role motivation plays in these activities.

Declines in the abundance of salmon in the Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim (AYK) region of western Alaska in the late 1990s and early 2000s created hardships for the people and communities who depend on this resource. Based on recommendations from a 2004 National Academies report, the AYK Sustainable Salmon Initiative (SSI) developed a research and restoration plan to help understand the reasons for this decline and to help support sustainable management in the region. This report reviews the draft plan, recommending some clarification, shortening, and other improvements, with a better focus on the relationship between the underlying intellectual model and the research questions, and a clearer discussion of local and traditional knowledge and capacity building.

An interactive, multimedia text that introduces students to reading and writing at the college level.

Plasma processing of materials is a critical technology to several of the largest manufacturing industries in the worldâ€"electronics, aerospace, automotive, steel, biomedical, and toxic waste management. This book describes the relationship between plasma processes and the many industrial applications, examines in detail plasma processing in the electronics industry, highlights the scientific foundation underlying this technology, and discusses education issues in this multidisciplinary field. The committee recommends a coordinated, focused, and well-funded research program in this area that involves the university, federal laboratory, and industrial sectors of the community. It also points out that because plasma processing is an integral part of the infrastructure of so many American industries, it is important for both the economy and the national security that America maintain a strong leadership role in this technology.

Do government-sponsored youth employment programs actually help? Between 1978 and 1981, the Youth Employment and Demonstration Projects Act (YEDPA) funded extensive programs designed to aid disadvantaged youth. The Committee on Youth Employment Programs examined the voluminous research performed by YEDPA and produced a comprehensive report and evaluation of the YEDPA efforts to assist the underprivileged. Beginning with YEDPA's inception and effective lifespan, this report goes on to analyze the data it generated, evaluate its accuracy, and draw conclusions about which YEDPA programs were effective, which were not, and why. A discussion of YEDPA strategies and their perceived value concludes the volume.

High performance synthetic fibers are key components of composite materialsâ€"a class of materials vital for U.S. military technology and for the civilian economy. This book addresses the major research and development opportunities for present and future structural composite applications and identifies steps that could be taken to accelerate the commercialization of this critical fiber technology in the United States. The book stresses the need for redesigning university curricula to reflect the interdisciplinary nature of fiber science and technology. It also urges much greater government and industry cooperation in support of academic instruction and research and development in fiber-related disciplines.

This book identifies challenges and opportunities in the development and implementation of software that contain significant statistical content. While emphasizing the relevance of using rigorous statistical and probabilistic techniques in software engineering contexts, it presents opportunities for further research in the statistical sciences and their applications to software engineering. It is intended to motivate and attract new researchers from statistics and the mathematical sciences to attack relevant and pressing problems in the software engineering setting. It describes the "big picture," as this approach provides the context in which statistical methods must be developed. The book's survey nature is directed at the mathematical sciences audience, but software engineers should also find the statistical emphasis refreshing and stimulating. It is hoped that the book will have the effect of seeding the field of statistical software engineering by its indication of opportunities where statistical thinking can help to increase understanding, productivity, and quality of software and software production.