Tools For Thought

In a highly engaging style, Rheingold tells the story of what he calls the patriarchs, pioneers, and infonauts of the computer, focusing in particular on such pioneers as J. C. R. Licklider, Doug Engelbart, Bob Taylor, and Alan Kay. The digital revolution did not begin with the teenage millionaires of Silicon Valley, claims Howard Rheingold, but with such early intellectual giants as Charles Babbage, George Boole, and John von Neumann. In a highly engaging style, Rheingold tells the story of what he calls the patriarchs, pioneers, and infonauts of the computer, focusing in particular on such pioneers as J. C. R. Licklider, Doug Engelbart, Bob Taylor, and Alan Kay. Taking the reader step by step from nineteenth-century mathematics to contemporary computing, he introduces a fascinating collection of eccentrics, mavericks, geniuses, and visionaries. The book was originally published in 1985, and Rheingold's attempt to envision computing in the 1990s turns out to have been remarkably prescient. This edition contains an afterword, in which Rheingold interviews some of the pioneers discussed in the book. As an exercise in what he calls "retrospective futurism," Rheingold also looks back at how he looked forward.

The philosophy professor behind Breaking the Spell and Consciousness Explained offers exercises and tools to stretch the mind, offering new ways to consider, discuss and argue positions on dangerous subject matter including evolution, the meaning of life and free will.

Now in its third edition, this classic text remains the seminal resource for in-depth information about major concepts and principles of the cultural-historical theory developed by Lev Vygotsky, his students, and colleagues, as well as three generations of neo-Vygotskian scholars in Russia and the West. Featuring two new chapters on brain development and scaffolding in the zone of proximal development, as well as additional content on technology, dual language learners, and students with disabilities, this new edition provides the latest research evidence supporting the basics of the cultural-historical approach alongside Vygotskian-based practical implications. With concrete explanations and strategies on how to scaffold young children’s learning and development, this book is essential reading for students of early childhood theory and development.

Provides graphic organizers that range from annotations and literature circle notes to Venn diagrams and vocabulary squares. Each graphic organizer comes with: Background information and theoretical foundations, different ways to use each tool to help students read, write, speak, and think better, a range of note-taking strategies to help students succeed in all academic classes, student samples, including many from Jim's ACCESS (Academic Success) program for struggling students who want to succeed.

Schools for Thought provides a straightforward, general introduction to cognitive research and illustrates its importance for educational change. If we want to improve educational opportunities and outcomes for all children, we must start applying what we know about mental functioning--how children think, learn, and remember in our schools. We must apply cognitive science in the classroom. Schools for Thought provides a straightforward, general introduction to cognitive research and illustrates its importance for educational change. Using classroom examples, Bruer shows how applying cognitive research can dramatically improve students' transitions from lower-level rote skills to advanced proficiency in reading, writing, mathematics, and science. Cognitive research, he points out, is also beginning to suggest how we might better motivate students, design more effective tools for assessing them, and improve the training of teachers. He concludes with a chapter on how effective school reform demands that we expand our understanding of teaching and learning and that we think about education in new ways. Debates and discussions about the reform of American education suffer from a lack of appreciation of the complexity of learning and from a lack of understanding about the knowledge base that is available for the improvement of educational practice. Politicians, business leaders, and even many school superintendents, principals, and teachers think that educational problems can be solved by changing school management structures or by creating a market in educational services. Bruer argues that improvement depends instead on changing student-teacher interactions. It is these changes, guided by cognitive research, that will create more effective classroom environments. A Bradford Book

A media guru shows us how to use social media intelligently, humanely, and, above all, mindfully. Like it or not, knowing how to make use of online tools without being overloaded with too much information is an essential ingredient to personal success in the twenty-first century. But how can we use digital media so that they make us empowered participants rather than passive receivers, grounded, well-rounded people rather than multitasking basket cases? In Net Smart, cyberculture expert Howard Rheingold shows us how to use social media intelligently, humanely, and, above all, mindfully. Mindful use of digital media means thinking about what we are doing, cultivating an ongoing inner inquiry into how we want to spend our time. Rheingold outlines five fundamental digital literacies, online skills that will help us do this: attention, participation, collaboration, critical consumption of information (or "crap detection"), and network smarts. He explains how attention works, and how we can use our attention to focus on the tiny relevant portion of the incoming tsunami of information. He describes the quality of participation that empowers the best of the bloggers, netizens, tweeters, and other online community participants; he examines how successful online collaborative enterprises contribute new knowledge to the world in new ways; and he teaches us a lesson on networks and network building. Rheingold points out that there is a bigger social issue at work in digital literacy, one that goes beyond personal empowerment. If we combine our individual efforts wisely, it could produce a more thoughtful society: countless small acts like publishing a Web page or sharing a link could add up to a public good that enriches everybody.

This innovative text is designed to improve thinking skills through the application of 30 critical thinking principles—Metathoughts. These specialized tools and techniques are useful for approaching all forms of study, inquiry, and problem solving. Levy applies Metathoughts to a diverse array of issues in contemporary clinical, social, and cross-cultural psychology: identifying strengths and weaknesses in various schools of thought, defining and explaining psychological phenomena, evaluating the accuracy and usefulness of research studies, reducing logical flaws and personal biases, and improving the search for creative solutions. The Metathoughts are brought to life with practical examples, clinical vignettes, illustrations, anecdotes, thought-provoking exercises, useful antidotes, and contemporary social problems and issues. Tools of Critical Thinking, 2/E is primarily suited as a core textbook for courses in critical thinking/problem solving, or makes an ideal supplement in a wide variety of undergraduate and graduate psychology courses, including introductory psychology, abnormal psychology (psychopathology), cross-cultural psychology, theories and methods of psychotherapy, research methods and design, theories of personality, clinical practicum, and contemporary problems and issues in psychology. Second Edition features: The application of critical thinking skills to cross-cultural psychology and issues of cultural diversity More than 60 new and updated reference citations related to a wide range of contemporary topics 140 multiple-choice test bank items and 20 short-answer/essay questions Comprehensive PowerPoint CD package as a pedagogical aid to augment lecture presentations Improved glossary of key terms, containing over 300 fully cross-referenced definitions The expanded use of humor, including parodies, cartoon illustrations, and clever satires