ABSTRACT
Current cognitive research offers promise in providing such theories, for it is showing that some of the features of thinking traditionally associated with the high literacy tradition. Which are in fact characteristic even of the most basic skills in the school curriculum when they are learned successfully. Consider the following: People need not look far to find evidence of this kind of higher-order thinking in current cognitive research. It is worth examining the various programmes that have shown some promising results to detect points of similarity that may suggest important basic mechanisms of instruction. Most relevant to the present argument, incremental conceptions of ability and associated learning goals lead children to analyse tasks and formulate strategies for overcoming difficulties. This work highlights the possibilities for an important convergence between efforts aimed at teaching particular kinds of higher-order cognitive skills and those aimed at cultivating dispositions to apply those skills.
