One way to help ensure that students think of content is to view teaching in terms of a story structure.

Good teachers design lessons in which students unavoidably think about the meaning or central point.

People differ in their abilities and in their interests, but there is no evidence for differences in learning styles.

The secret to getting smarter is really not a big secret: Engage in intellectual activities. Read the newspaper, watch informative documentaries, find well-written books that make intellectual content engaging. Perhaps most important; Watch less television. It's rarely enriching, and it's an enormous time-sink.

Singapore also has a thorough system for grading and evaluating teacher performance, she told the audience, and it awards bonuses for effective instruction that can equal between one and three months’ pay.

elite: The government recruits from the top third of graduating classes,