Sharpen history students' critical-thinking skills with brain-teasing activities. Parents, students, and teachers will love these fun challenges, puzzles, and logical thinking pages. They're a great way to practice higher-order thinking skills.

Exercises cover each decade of the 20th century.

Help children of all learning styles and strengths improve their critical thinking skills with these creative, cross-curricular activities. Each engaging activity focuses on skills such as recognizing and recalling, evaluating, and analyzing.

What does research tell us about the effects of school leadership on student achievement? What specific leadership practices make a real difference in school effectiveness? How should school leaders use these practices in their day-to-day management of schools and during the stressful times that accompany major change initiatives? Robert J. Marzano, Timothy Waters, and Brian A. McNulty provide answers to these and other questions in School Leadership That Works. Based on their analysis of 69 studies conducted since 1970 that met their selection criteria and a recent survey of more than 650 building principals, the authors have developed a list of 21 leadership responsibilities that have a significant effect on student achievement. Readers will learn the specific behaviors associated with the 21 leadership responsibilities; the difference between first-order change and second-order change and the leadership responsibilities that are most important for each; how to work smart by choosing the right work to focus on to improve student achievement; the advantages and disadvantages of comprehensive school reform models for improving student achievement; how to develop a site-specific approach to improving student achievement, using a framework of 11 factors and 39 action steps; and a five-step plan for effective school leadership. Combining rigorous research with practical advice, School Leadership That Works gives school administrators the guidance they need to provide strong leadership for better schools.

Martin Gardner's Mathematical Games columns in Scientific American inspired and entertained several generations of mathematicians and scientists. Gardner in his crystal-clear prose illuminated corners of mathematics, especially recreational mathematics, that most people had no idea existed. His playful spirit and inquisitive nature invite the reader into an exploration of beautiful mathematical ideas along with him. These columns were both a revelation and a gift when he wrote them; no one--before Gardner--had written about mathematics like this. They continue to be a marvel. This volume, originally published in 1959, contains the first sixteen columns published in the magazine from 1956-1958. They were reviewed and briefly updated by Gardner for this 1988 edition.

This is not really a book. This is a building in the shape of a book...a maze. Each numbered page depicts a room in the maze. Tempted? Test your wits against mine. I guarantee that my maze will challenge you to think in ways you've never thought before. But beware. One wrong turn and you may never escape!

Provocative, challenging, and fun, The Ideal Problem Solver offers a sound, methodical approach for resolving problems based on the IDEAL (Identify, Define, Explore, Act, Look) model. The authors suggest new strategies for enhancing creativity, improving memory, criticizing ideas and generating alternatives, and communicating more effectively with a wider range of people. Using the results of laboratory research previously available only in a piece-meal fashion or in scientific journals, Bransford and Stein discuss such issues as Teaming new information, overcoming blocks to creativity, and viewing problems from a variety of perspectives.