The Transferability of Higher Order Cognitive Skills

An assumption of this paper is that successful adaptation to the complex and rapidly changing world of the future requires an education that places great emphasis on the development of higher order cognitive skills, especially critical and creative thinking skills. This approach to education makes sense only if such skills are transferable, both from one discipline to another, and to work and life situations. This paper claims that such skills will be transferable if certain conditions about curriculum design and reinforcement are met, and goes on to outline the nature of these conditions.