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This bulletin offers guidelines to help parents and teachers improve the thinking skills of gifted children. It stresses the importance of encouraging thinking through the use of evocative questions, distinguishes between and defines critical thinking and creative thinking, and offers suggested questions to prompt either creative/divergent thinking or critical/analytical thinking. The need to foster such traits as persistence, open-mindedness, rationality, flexibility, and intellectual honesty is also stressed. A home which fosters thinking skills is described as one in which the family works together to solve problems. Suggestions are also offered for fostering children's metacognitive skills by prompts and questions that help them to monitor and evaluate their own thinking. General guidelines for nurturing thinking as well as criteria for classroom thoughtfulness are listed. (DB)

The unit on nonverbal communication is designed for presentation to elementary, middle, and junior high school gifted students. An introductory section lists four unit objectives leading to awareness of the nonverbal communication transmitted by students themselves and by others; expression and understanding of the nonverbal messages of gestures, postures, facial expressions, etc.; involvement in communication activities which develop self confidence and self expression; and development of creativity in and sensitivity to aesthetic movement. Following another section which lists suggested audiovisual and printed materials are nine lessons which cover such topics as critical analysis of nonverbal communication, creative movement, movement as interpretation of poetry, movement as interpretation of music, and aesthetics of movement. Information on each lesson includes the objectives, suggested materials, and presentation procedures. (SB)

The unit, designed for presentation to middle, junior high, and senior high school gifted students, contains a series of lessons which introduce the study of futures, teach several forecasting and problem solving techniques, provide students with the opportunity to examine and discuss problematic issues, and encourage students to take control and shape their futures and the future of society as a whole. Five objectives of the Alpha Unit are listed, such as encouraging students to work productively and efficiently, both independently and in groups. Following a list of suggested materials, lessons are arranged in a suggested sequence for a unit of approximately 22 hours. Provided for each lesson is information on its objectives, suggested materials, and procedures for presentation. Among the lesson topics are the following: scenario writing, problems of the future, and simulation games and independent projects. (SB)