Stepping Stones is a new series of workbooks designed to introduce students to critical thinking skills that they will use throughout their academic careers. All too often, critical thinking skills are not presented to young students in a systematic way. The books in the Stepping Stones series strive to present critical thinking in a way that is clear and not threatening to young children. Puzzles cover language arts, math, science, and social studies subjects. The exercises in Stepping Stones are visually appealing and task-oriented, and an important feature is that many of the puzzles are open-ended. There is a strong emphasis on students' ability to justify and explain their answers. This pushes students to think carefully and rationally about their answers rather than just choosing an answer randomly. Book 3 has a task-oriented focus. Students first work through closed Warm-up Exercises that focus on comprehension of major curriculum areas. They then move on to open-ended, task-based puzzles. They are presented with a set of information that they must use to creatively solve a problem. The puzzles are grouped thematically within each section to facilitate doing work by subject area. Grades K-2.
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