Based on extensive reasoning acquisition research, this volume provides theoretical and empirical considerations of the reasoning that occurs during the course of everyday personal and professional activities. Of particular interest is the text's focus on the question of how such reasoning takes place during school activities and how students acquire reasoning skills.

Judith W. Segal, James F. Voss, David N. Perkins

Contents: J. Voss, D. Perkins, J. Segal, Editors' Preface. Part I:Contexts for Informal Reasoning. R.D. Tweney, Informal Reasoning in Science. C. Christensen, A.S. Elstein, Informal Reasoning in the Medical Profession. J.F. Voss, Informal Reasoning in International Relations. J.A. Lawrence, Informal Reasoning in the Judicial System. D.N. Perkins, M. Farady, B. Bushey, Everyday Reasoning and the Roots of Intelligence. D. Miller-Jones, Informal Reasoning in Inner-City Children. R.H. Johnson, J.A. Blair, Contexts of Informal Reasoning: Commentary. Part II:Modes and Models of Informal Reasoning. M.H. Salmon, Informal Reasoning and Informal Logic. J. Baron, Beliefs About Thinking. E.L. Rissland, Example-Based Reasoning. J.W. Leland, Informal Reasoning in Decision Theory. J.M. Williams, Rhetoric and Informal Reasoning: Disentangling Some Confounded Effects in Good Reasoning and Good Writing. F.C. Keil, Intuitive Belief Systems and Informal Reasoning in Cognitive Development. N.L. Stein, C.A. Miller, I Win -- You Lose: The Development of Argumentative Thinking. R.S. Nickerson, Modes and Models of Informal Reasoning: Commentary. Part III:Informal Reasoning and Instruction. A.H. Schoenfeld, On Mathematics as Sense-Making: An Informal Attack on the Unfortunate Divorce of Formal and Informal Mathematics. J. Clement, Nonformal Reasoning in Experts and in Science Students: The Use of Analogies, Extreme Cases, and Physical Intuition. K. O'Reilly, Informal Reasoning in High School History: The Critical Thinking in American History Project. F.M. Newmann, Higher Order Thinking in the Teaching of Social Studies: Connections Between Theory and Practice. A.N. Applebee, Informal Reasoning and Writing Instruction. R.J. Swartz, Structured Teaching for Critical Thinking and Reasoning in Standard Subject Area Instruction. S.P. Norris, Informal Reasoning Assessment: Using Verbal Reports of Thinking to Improve Multiple-Choice Test Validity. L. Cuban, Informal Reasoning and Instruction: Commentary.