Thesis (Ed. D.)-- Boise State University, 2009. / Title from t.p. of PDF file (viewed June 22, 2010). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 77-84).

The intent of this explanatory sequential mixed-method study is to examine Islamic teachers thoughts on improving critical thinking skills in elementary schools in the Southwestern province of Saudi Arabia. This study involves the collection of quantitative data and an explanation of the quantitative results with qualitative data. In the first phase, a survey is administered to Islamic teachers in Saudi elementary schools to assess their opinions on improving students' critical thinking skills and to investigate the factors that influence or hinder their implementation of critical thinking instruction. In the second phase, qualitative data is collected using semi-structured interviews with a number of Islamic teachers in order to explore more fully their perceptions toward improving students' critical thinking skills in Saudi elementary schools. The reason for collecting both quantitative and qualitative data is to obtain a better understanding of the gathered information than would be possible using only one of these methods. In regard to the barriers for improving the critical thinking ability in elementary education students, the study participants reported seven major obstacles, which are student ability, teaching methods, classroom structure, Saudi society and the school community, pre-service teachers preparation programs and in-service teacher professional developmental programs, and the Islamic studies curriculum. The highest ranked obstacle was student ability, with an overall mean of 4.31. Teaching methods, with a total mean of 4.29, was the second most cited barrier. The third was classroom structure, with a total mean of 3.72. The study participants ranked society and school community as the fourth obstacle, with a total mean of 3.70, and pre-service teachers preparation programs and in-service teacher professional developmental programs with a total mean of 2.69. The Islamic studies curriculum was ranked sixth in obstacles to improving critical thinking for elementary education students, with a total mean of 2.57. These findings suggests there is a need to examine female Islamic teachers' perceptions toward critical thinking in the Southwestern region of Saudi Arabia in order to identify the similarities and differences between the perceptions of male and female teachers. It is vital to investigate perceptions of teacher of other disciplines, such as language art, social science, English, and math, in an effort to provide policy makers in the Ministry of Education with a holistic picture of the Saudi educational system. Qualitative studies, interviews with students, and classroom observation can be carried out to investigate students' perceptions as to how critical thinking is taught in the classroom and whether teaching style is a primary obstacle to it being taught. There is an urgent need to examine in depth the influence society and the school community has on teaching students' thinking in general and critical thinking in particular. Finally, more research is needed on the pre-service education programs and in-service professional training programs in terms of building teaching programs on critical thinking skills.

To determine the relationship between computer intensive classwork and change in critical thinking skills exhibited by college students, the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal, which generates Inference, Assumptions, Deduction, Interpretation, Arguments, and Total scores, was administered as pretest and post-test to students enrolled in four sections of a freshman level writing class at a community college, where two sections each were taught by computer intensive (computer) and traditional (non-computer) methods. Students completed a Demographic Questionnaire regarding previous computer experience, gender, and ethnicity. Where available, reading skills information was obtained from college records.

The major purpose of this study was to determine if pre-clinical medical school course examinations reflect critical thinking skills. The entire second year class from a medical school in the southwest made up the population. Student examination results from the first two years as well as scores on the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal were used in this study.

The purpose of this study was to investigate and describe how technology teachers foster a positive disposition towards Critical Thinking (CT) in their learners. One of the general aims listed in the South African National Curriculum Statement (NCS) specifically calls for the use of CT to enhance learners’ ability to identify and solve problems. In the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) for technology, CT is required to successfully solve problems during the design process. The design process, which is central to technology, thus offers many opportunities to nurture CT should teachers be willing to exploit them. CT consists of two components, namely, CT skills and CT dispositions. CT skills refer to the cognitive abilities of a person, while CT dispositions are concerned with an individual’s internal motivation to think critically. A fair amount of research regarding CT focuses on CT skills. The limited research available on CT dispositions reports mostly on its definition, classification, and assessment. The paucity of literature on CT dispositions suggest that teachers cannot draw from existing literature to inform their practice regarding the ways in which one could foster a willingness to think critically. This study, therefore, aimed to improve our understanding of the strategies used by technology teachers to promote CT disposition. The conceptual framework for this study was based on Facione’s (2011) seven dispositions towards CT, and was augmented by a description of the design process in technology education. The premise for using this framework is based on the assumption that if an individual is positively disposed towards CT, they will be inclined to critically solve the problems encountered during the design process in technology. The design process further presents the opportunity to nurture CT dispositions. This study engaged in a qualitative research approach and a multiple case study design to investigate how technology teachers foster CT dispositions in their learners. To this end, 10 senior phase technology teachers were purposefully selected and interviewed. The interviews comprised open-ended questions about each disposition to gain an in-depth understanding of the strategies that teachers use in their classroom. Five of these teachers were then observed for one design-based lesson to explore how these strategies are actualised in the technology classroom. The analysis of the interview data indicated that the participants used a variety of strategies to foster all the CT dispositions. These strategies were also noted during the observations, with no new strategies being revealed. The strategies included the use of assessments, discussions, the classroom environment, examples, feedback, modelling, questioning and resources. It was found that the participants used four main strategies as initial actions that acted as a platform for, or led to the use of supporting strategies to foster all of the CT dispositions. Through this study, some strategies that were identified in the literature regarding the nurturing of CT, its skills and dispositions were confirmed. Other strategies were identified as relating to the principles for teaching CT dispositions, while two strategies were recognised that were not mentioned in the literature. It is recommended that further research be conducted on the effectiveness of these strategies, learners’ experience of the strategies, and that longer periods of observation be done to include the facilitation of the entire design process. The research on CT dispositions up until this point has not suggested or described explicit strategies to specifically foster the dispositional component of CT. The findings and conclusions of this study are also not considered as the final answer to this paucity of literature, it does, however, pose as a departure point for further investigation and development. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria 2020. / pt2021 / Science, Mathematics and Technology Education / MEd / Unrestricted

The South African Department of Basic Education (2011) has articulated the need for learners to think critically. The development of critical thinking skills has therefore been explicitly included in various education policies, such as the National Curriculum Statement Grades R-12. Technology, a relatively new subject in South African schools, provides many opportunities to foster critical thinking skills through, for example, problem solving. Technology offers a wide spectrum of problems – ranging from well-structured to illstructured problems. Well-structured problems are constrained problems with convergent solutions and are the most commonly found problems in schools and universities, but ill-structured problems have multiple possible solutions and solutions paths, which often lead to uncertainty about, for example, the concepts, rules, and principles required to solve the problem. This is particularly true with regard to teaching technology, where there is the added complexity resultant from the designing of solutions (artefacts) to ill-structured problems. This calls for teachers with certain habits of mind, who will be able to nurture a positive disposition toward critical thinking in learners. Facione (2000) points out that engendering the desire to use critical thinking as a means of problem solving prepares the ground for teaching and learning critical thinking skills. Teachers, however, must be willing to use these opportunities to cultivate critical thinking skills in the classroom. While much research has been done on Critical Thinking skills, there is a paucity of literature about teachers’ disposition toward Critical Thinking. This study sought to investigate technology teachers’ disposition toward critical thinking with reference to their habits of mind. Profiling technology teachers’ disposition toward critical thinking can enhance our understanding of the extent to which they are positively or negatively disposed toward critical thinking (CT) in terms of their habits of mind. Such understanding can inform, inter alia, teacher training and curricula in order to reciprocally enhance critical thinking skills and the required habits of mind needed to teach technology The study used a survey design to investigate South African Technology teachers’ disposition toward CT. Grades 8, and 9 technology teachers were targeted; they were invited via an email to participate in the study in which standard ethical protocols were followed. A link in the email directed the participants to an online survey collecting data with 42 statements. Participants were asked to rate their level of agreement with each statement on a six-point scale. The statements were derived from the seven habits of mind as identified by Facione. These are: Self-confidence, Inquisitiveness, Systematicity, Analyticity, Truth-seeking, Open-mindedness and Maturity of Judgment. Half of the statements were formulated to express a clearly favourable disposition toward CT, while the other half were framed to be clearly unfavourable. The frequency of responses in terms of each scale for each statement was counted in order to reveal trends regarding their habits of mind. The research findings reveal that this sample seems to be positively disposed toward CT. The habits of mind that recorded the highest scores were Self-confidence, Inquisitiveness, and Systematicity. The habits of mind that recorded the lowest scores were Open-mindedness and Maturity of Judgment. Females outperformed males in four of the seven habits of mind. Male and female participants scored an equal balance percentage toward Self-confidence and male participants outperformed females in Truth-seeking and Analyticity. Further research is needed to investigate how the disposition and practice of technology teachers encourage critical thinking skills in the classroom. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria 2019. / pt2021 / Science, Mathematics and Technology Education / MEd / Unrestricted

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / For nursing students to be successful in current and future practice they must be proficient critical thinkers and be able to use reflective judgment skills to manage the daily dilemmas of healthcare practice. Critical thinking and reflective judgment are not elements of nursing curricula unless faculty explicitly design learning activities to develop these skills. This study examined the relationship between reflective judgment and critical thinking by comparing a measure of reflective judgment, the Reasoning about Current Issues (RCI) test, with a measure of critical thinking in nursing (the HESI Exit Exam) in a sample population of senior associate degree nursing (ADN) students (N = 108). The descriptive variables of individual ADN student’s age, grade point average (GPA) in nursing courses and the number of completed college/university credit hours were also examined. A modest correlation (r = .370, p < .01) was found between critical thinking and reflective judgment indicating a positive relationship between these two variables. However, the results supported the hypothesis that these are separate concepts; while the students achieved an acceptable level on the measure of critical thinking, they did not exhibit the skill level of an effective reflective thinker. Positive correlations were found between reflective judgment and individual student age and nursing program GPA (p < .01). Critical thinking was also positively correlated with age (r = .351) and GPA (r = .426). There were no statistically significant correlations noted between the number of credits or previously earned baccalaureate degrees with either reflective judgment or critical thinking. An appreciation of the unique commonalities and differences between reflective judgment and critical thinking is essential for the development of innovative strategies and pedagogies meant to advance teaching/learning within schools of nursing with an explicit focus on both concepts and an ultimate goal of improving competence in newly graduated nurses. The implication for nurse educators is in changes and innovations that can lead to more effective thinkers. Careful pedagogical planning and a mindful inclusion of learning activities to develop both reflective judgment and critical thinking skills may lead to increased competence as nursing students and as new graduate nurses.

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