To become productive, responsible citizens and to achieve a sense of personal fulfillment, employees  must develop their ability to think and reason. It is no longer adequate for employees to simply memorize information for recall. To function effectively now and in the 21st century, they must be able to acquire and integrate new information, make judgments, apply information, and reflect on learning.

Research during the 1960's in cognitive psychology has led to the study of the processes that underlie learning. All employees can become better thinkers.

• Thinking is content dependent and influenced by the learner's prior knowledge of that content

• The teaching of thinking should be deliberate and explicit with an emphasis on the transfer and application of thinking processes and skills

• Thinking is improved when the learner takes control of his/her thinking processes and skills

• Improving employee thinking will require fundamental changes in the work culture, including work design, employee assessment, work organization, and work governance

• Over-emphasis on factual recall inhibits the development of thinking

• Employers must model thoughtful behavior-decision making, problem solving and other thinking processes

• Efforts to improve thinking within an employer should be guided by a conceptual framework and comprehensive plan

• There is no single best program for the teaching of thinking