The Adaptive Thinking Training Methodology was developed in a cooperative effort between the U.S. Army Research Institute (ARI) and the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) as part of the Army Experiment 6 program. It was successfully tested in 1999 in an experimental program of instruction as part of the Advanced Tactics Elective at the Command and General Staff College (CGSC) at Fort Leavenworth. The following year the methodology was applied in the Medium Brigade Course at CGSC under the auspices of the Training and Doctrine Command s (TRADOC) Army Transformation program. The methodology was also used in the Staff Leader Course provided by TRADOC to key personnel in the Initial Brigade Combat Team. The term Adaptive Thinking is used in both courses to describe the cognitive behavior of an officer who is confronted by unanticipated circumstances during the execution of a planned military operation. The training methodology involves performance-oriented, case-based training designed to promote the development of expert habits of thought, i.e., teaching the students how to think like experts. Repetitive performance under varying conditions is used along with carefully designed probes, which are inserted to set the conditions for student performance and to facilitate observation and measurement. A key element of the training program employs theme-based coaching, in which the coaches, alert for evidence of the student s adherence to the course themes, provide just enough guidance to facilitate student development while still leaving the performance requirement to the students. This aspect of coaching is termed scaffolding. ARI and ARL scientists combined to present training sessions for the military experts who served as coaches. Their approach to coaching presented a challenge to several traditions of Army training, especially for those who had served as observer/controllers (O/Cs) at a combat training center (CTC). The scaffolding process was in distinct contrast to hands-off observation style characteristic of CTC O/Cs. The Army maxim Tell them what you re going to tell them, tell them, tell them what you ve told them is contrary to the constructivist spirit of the coaching in which students must learn to guide their own activities with the least possible prompting. Train as you fight is another Army philosophy that is not strictly adhered to as the methodology is based on deliberate practice concepts with focus on normally unconscious elements of performance and frequent repetition. The culmination of the effort to identify coaching techniques is documented in the Army Transformation product, Leader's Guide for Mentoring Adaptive Thinking that was disseminated 2000 Convention of the Association of United States Army.