The probe method (PM) is a learning model that equips students with essential learning strategies and skills so they can be successful and competitive in a highly diverse technological global workforce. Although research indicates this learning model was successful at the elementary school level with improving students' motivation to learn, their critical thinking skills, and their ability to solve complex problems, little research has examined the impact of this method at the high school level for students who participated in a career and technical education (CTE) program. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to fill a gap in knowledge about the role and function of the PM on high school students' motivation to learn and their critical thinking skills in a CTE program. Guided by the conceptual framework of constructivism, data were collected through surveys, reflective journals, interviews with 17 students, and a teacher interview. Data were analyzed through descriptive and content analysis using open coding to determine what active learning was taking place, whether authentic project-based and problem-based learning strategies were implemented, and what 21st century workforce skills were being taught. Findings indicated that the PM had a positive impact on high school students' motivation to learn and their ability to think critically in a CTE program. This study supports positive social change by providing high school CTE teachers with a valuable learning model that infuses reflective thought, collaboration, communication, problem solving, and critical thinking into the learning process while at the same time motivating students to learn.

U.S. educational leaders struggle with declining mathematics achievement among students as compared to other countries. The problem for this study was low standardized mathematics scores in one district in a major city in the Southwestern United States. The purpose of this sequential explanatory mixed method project study was to analyze the effectiveness of professional learning communities (PLCs) on the mathematics critical thinking pedagogy among teachers in 2 elementary schools. The conceptual framework focused on work by Olivier, Hipp, Huffman, and Hord on the efficacy of PLCs for improving teacher pedagogy. Research questions addressed in this study were designed to explore teachers' perceptions of PLCs according to Olivier, Hipp, and Huffman's 6 professional learning characteristics for improving math critical thinking pedagogy, as well as the efficacy of the structure of the PLCs. Data were obtained via open-ended interviews and focus groups, and employed descriptive analysis using grounded theory where conceptual categories emerged from the survey data. Likert scale data were also gathered via a survey, which was triangulated to form conclusions regarding the research questions. Key findings indicate that teachers perceive PLCs positively; however, they indicated the need for more time and administrative support for mathematics PLCs. The project that resulted from this research is a PLC professional development session that guides schools' mathematics PLCs and addresses critical thinking pedagogy and the need for school and district support for mathematics PLCs. Social change may result by improving teachers' mathematics critical thinking pedagogy and giving students mathematics instruction needed to compete in a global economy.

Seventh-grade and eighth-grade special education students struggle to learn higher-order thinking skills in pre-algebra and algebra that can be addressed by using technology. However, little is known about science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) teachers' attitudes toward use of and their actual use of calculators and technology to access students' development of higher-order thinking skills. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the perceptions of rural middle school Grade 7 and 8 STEM teachers in one Western state. This study used Gardner's multiple intelligences and Armstrong's neurodiversity theories as a framework. Participants were 10 Grade 7 and 8 STEM teachers in a Western state. Data sources included interviews, surveys, and teacher journals. Open coding allowed the identification of similar threads, common words, or expressions that were then examined for themes and patterns. The emergent themes included a need for training, teachers' technological expectations, and whether teachers could meet grade level standards and students have success. This study assists social change by informing school administrators and teachers how technology is and is not being used in the classroom and how its use can be facilitated in the future.

Thesis (MEd)--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2019. / The mathematics results in South Africa are alarmingly low, with a number of high school learners unable to compute basic operations. International test results show South Africa consistently ranks low in comparison to other countries whilst Singapore continues to perform well. Some schools in South Africa have decided to adopt the Singaporean method of teaching mathematics, known as Singapore Maths, in the hope of improving learner results. This study seeks to understand how two different curricula, South African and Singapore, provide opportunity for the development of algebraic thinking in the Foundation Phase. There is ongoing research which suggests a link between algebraic thinking (Early Algebra) and a deeper conceptual understanding of mathematics (Blanton & Kaput, 2003). This study comprises a qualitative case study of two schools using different curricula and textbooks to teach algebraic thinking with a special focus on patterns and functional thinking. Data were gathered using document analysis of curriculum and textbooks; learner tests; semi structured interviews with class teachers and focus group interviews with Grade 3 learners from each curriculum group. The analysis process involved pattern matching and building explanations related to each data collection instrument using Blanton, Brizuela, Gardiner, Sawrey and Newman-Owen’s (2015) levels of sophistication in learner’s thinking about functional relationships. The results of the study suggest that although South African learners have the potential to think algebraically, they are not, however, always offered the opportunities to do so. The importance of suitable mathematical activities and scaffolding is highlighted and the critical need for professional development for teachers in which the importance of Early Algebra is defined and explained. It is imperative that the curriculum and textbooks activities are relooked at to address the development of algebraic thinking in the early grades and shift the focus from an emphasis on arithmetic relationships to thinking in generalised ways about functional relationships.

This dissertation was the first study to estimate the direct and indirect effects of living-learning community (LLC) participation on a standardized measure of critical thinking using a multi-institution longitudinal research design. It is possible that despite being lauded nationally as an effective institutional intervention, LLCs may simply cluster students predisposed to be more engaged with their environment, more academically prepared, and more open to growth compared with traditional residence hall peers. Recent studies have demonstrated a positive relationship between LLC participation and self-reported growth in critical thinking. The findings of this study demonstrate markedly different conclusions from previous LLC studies exploring the outcome of critical thinking. The results of this study suggest that net of academic ability and background and institutional characteristics, students who participated in LLCs did not demonstrate greater gains on a standardized measure of critical thinking than their peers in traditional residence hall environments. To investigate the relationship between LLC participation and growth in critical thinking, I performed secondary data analysis from the 2006, 2007, and 2008 cohorts of the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education - a longitudinal study of teaching practices, programs, and institutional structures that support liberal arts education. From the initial 53 colleges and universities in the WNSLAE study, I selected a sub-sample of 19 institutions with formal LLC programs to make a more conservative estimate of the reliability of participation in an LLC. The final sub-sample included 435 (25%) students in the experimental group (students participating in LLCs) and 1,282 (75%) students in the control group (students living in traditional residence halls). This study makes four important contributions to the literature on LLC. First, the longitudinal nature of the WNSLAE data allowed for an estimate of growth during the first-year of college and controls for students' self-selection into the experimental or control groups. Second, the critical thinking module of the Collegiate Assessment of Academic Proficiency allowed for an objective measure compared to previous studies that use students' self-reports. Third, this was the first multi-institution LLC study to include liberal arts colleges in the sample. LLCs at liberal arts colleges did not demonstrate a differential impact compared with LLCs at regional and research universities on students' growth in critical thinking. Finally, post hoc analysis did not demonstrate conditional differences of LLC impact between students background, institutional characteristics, or the degree of faculty and peer interaction.

The relationship between mean team Agreeableness and team performance has not been shown definitively. The present study was performed looking at archival data from a study that assessed team performance from 62 two person teams using the DDD and involving two types of training and two types of information probes during the computer task. In addition, each of the participants took a personality test based on the IPIP with an emphasis on Agreeableness and its 6 facets. Using HLM analysis, it was determined that Agreeableness does not have a significant effect on team performance for a problem solving tasks (delta chi square 2.04, p=n.s.), however it did significantly effect how an individual performed (delta chi square=18.06, p=.001) on the problem solving task. Intelligence had a significant effect on team performance (delta chi square=569.08, p=.001) and this may have washed out any personality effects. In addition, a linear regression indicated than none of the six facets of Agreeableness had a significant effect on team performance on a problem solving task.

Educators are divided with regards to the value of computer technology as a learning tool. Some maintain that computers have had little impact on students’ learning; others suggest that computers have the potential to enhance learning. Within this second group there are those who believe that computers are having a significant impact, while others believe that their potential is yet to be realised. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between students working in a technology rich environment and their development of higher order, critical and creative, thinking skills. Staff and students from one school participated in this case study. Data were collected by teachers as part of the normal teaching-learning program, supplemented by classroom observations and teacher interviews. In addition, data pertaining to the technology infrastructure was collated from school databases. The data were used to determine the degree of correlation between factors of the learning environment and the extent to which higher order thinking skills (HOTS) were demonstrated by the students. Collations of the statistically significant, and statistically insignificant, correlations allowed relationships between environmental factors and HOTS to be established. / The results indicate that studying within a technology-rich learning environment improves students’ higher order thinking skills, determined by measuring their critical and creative thinking. Factors such as length of time spent in the environment have a positive, non-linear effect on the development of critical thinking skills. These factors have no significant correlation with the development of creative thinking skills. The interaction of students’ computer skills and the classroom environmental factors was shown to be complex. Three-dimensional correlations were performed to derive equations that explain these interactions. Students with better developed computing skills scored higher on critical and creative thinking activities. This was most significant for students with better computer programming skills and the ability to competently manipulate Boolean logic. The most significant factors in developing higher order thinking skills were the students’ levels of computer skills, tempered with their attitudes towards computers and computer classes, and the teacher-student relationships within the technology-rich learning environment. The research suggests that in order to develop students' higher order thinking skills schools should endeavour to integrate technology across all of the learning areas. This will allow students to apply technology to the attainment of higher levels of cognition within specific contexts. This will need to be paralleled by providing students the opportunity to develop appropriate computer skills.

In an age of substantial educational reform, the teaching and learning of 'thinking-skills' are considered to be an integral component of a child's education. Further, they are considered an important factor in developing skills which may contribute to increased learning outcomes for all learners. Current reform agenda nominate a range of 'thinking-skills' and processes that inform essential lifelong learnings and that are supported by characteristics that all learners should exhibit. At the heart of such prescription is a vision of a future in which 'process' rather than 'knowledge' will be the focus. A fundamental paradigm shift is pressing, and so too, the revised role of the teacher. Teacher practices that assist students to search for their own understandings rather than follow other people's logic are paramount and essential to the successful implementation of educational change. This case study presents one teacher's approach to the provision of 'thinking-skills' instruction in a primary school classroom for year-six children. The three objectives of the project were first, to trial a different pedagogical approach, second, to influence and change the 'thinking' habits of youngsters, and third, to encourage students to employ 'good thinking' in order to maximize learning outcomes. The model for implementation was underpinned by philosophical approaches gleaned from the literature, which were caring, humane, stimulating and creative. An eclectic mix of insights and strategies were employed to target full immersion of students and teacher into a 'Thinking-Skills Classroom'. Data were gathered from two groups of student participants who represented two discrete learning contexts. One context was that of the Trial Classroom, where the 'immersion' process sought to create a 'culture of thinking', in which 'thinking' was the focus of all teaching, learning, and operating activity. The context of the Control Classroom, was one in which 'thinking' was not the focus of all instruction and learning, but rather, was taught in an incidental and less formal manner. The aim of this study was to determine whether significant educational outcomes would become apparent in the Trial Classroom, that is in a context where children were immersed in, and learned to use, a range of strategies aimed at progressing them as independent, confident and 'accomplished thinkers'. The teaching experiment that was 'The Thinking-Skills Classroom', proved successful. The research has revealed effective 'transfer' after instruction for students in the Trial Classroom. Learners effectively applied new 'thinking understandings' into everyday thinking situations, in addressing real-life problem solving, and in producing evidence of new ways of operating. Across all strata of academic ability students from the Trial Classroom increased their thinking prowess. A category was established for 'excellent thinkers', where students demonstrated acquisition of a different set of skills from those normally associated with 'good thinking'. Students developed increased self-confidence, risk-taking initiatives and independence across the board as a result of increased thinking ability. A study of this kind may be helpful to other teacher/researchers who are considering instructional and curriculum change in light of wider paradigmatic change in education. Although this particular study would be difficult to replicate, this researcher's story can be usefully interpreted to allow insights and generalizations from the case-study to be made. These may serve as a catalyst for other innovative school-based pedagogies to emerge, and for new learning approaches to be considered and trialled, in order to prepare students for life and learning in the Twenty-First Century.

Current literature indicates a lack of exploration of factors relating to Taiwanese students’ critical thinking in the field of English as a Foreign Language (EFL). The research study was a case study based on the social constructivist framework. The aim of this study was to explore how teacher and students interactions online impacted critical thinking by addressing the social norm in Confucius Heritage Culture (CHC). The characteristics of the social norm of CHC do not readily support verbalizing thoughts and challenging others face-to-face in public, which are important to the practice of critical thinking. The research was conducted in an English-major reading class at a university in Taiwan. The data collection methods included focus groups, collaborative inquiry with the teacher, and the researcher’s participant observation in both face-to-face and online discussions. The findings suggested that students need teacher’s cognitive, affective, pedagogical and technical support and face-to-face small group support before engaging in online interactions. Modified debates in new face-to-face models of interaction helped maximise the social constructivist approach with the teacher’s shepherd facilitation. The online interaction patterns in a CHC context underwent a three-phase process, which described how CHC students externalised critical thinking within groups, inter-groups and inter-classes in online form. The study contributes to our understanding and the development of culturally suitable approaches to cognitive, affective, pedagogical and technical guidelines needed in facilitating EFL students’ critical thinking in face-to-face and online interactions in the context of Taiwan.

This thesis examines how mothers, as primary caretakers, might promote the development of critical thinking of their 4- and 5-year-olds. Interest in critical thinking in very young children can be traced back to the early years of the 20th century with views expressed by philosophers such as John Dewey and John Stuart Mill that were in favour of giving young children opportunities that might encourage their free expression and inquiring, critical nature in the school context. Educators like Frobel and Montessori who developed programs for kindergartens worked on similar assumptions. However, how the home environment especially maternal support might foster the development of critical thinking in young children has received only minimal attention. The rise of the critical thinking movement in the 1970s enhanced the conceptualization of critical thinking, and how to assess the critical thinking ability. But studies of the precursors of critical thinking in young children received only minimal attention. Two theoretical perspectives, the constructivist and the socio-cultural, represented by their most authoritative figures, Piaget and Vygotsky, respectively, have provided the conceptual basis for this research. While Piaget viewed children’s cognition as developing through active construction while dealing with concrete, practical problems, Vygotsky considered children’s cognitive development as evolving through the internalization of interactions with more able people in their immediate environment. In this thesis, Piaget’s approach to investigating children’s higher thinking processes was applied to the design of tasks that assessed critical thinking features in very young children whilst Vygotsky’s notion of the zone of proximal development was used to design the overall intervention program to develop very young children’s critical thinking through meaningful interactions with their mothers. How critical thinking in young children might develop through mothers’ interaction strategies was investigated in the context of Indonesian participants in their home settings. In that cultural context, critical thinking is not nurtured, and even children’s curiosity is often regarded as irritating by adults. The challenge for this study, therefore, was to design a program that would challenge the mothers’ personal and cultural assumptions and to empower them to support the development of critical thinking in their young children. The effectiveness of the intervention was evaluated against whether and, if so, how the children’s precursors of critical thinking improved across the intervention period. The main contributions this study was expected to make are: (1) advance the conceptualization of the nature of critical thinking in very young children (2) develop and test innovative methods to identify the features of critical thinking in very young children; and (3) identifying how mothers, having been empowered through the metacognitive program, may promote the development of critical thinking in very young children. The nature of critical thinking in very young children was operationalised through two different assessment methods specifically developed for this purpose. One was a dynamic qualitative assessment where each child interacted with his or her mother in a teaching-learning setting. The other consisted of a series of quantitative, Piagetian-like assessments, using play settings. The research used a pre- and post-intervention control group design in order to allow for comparisons both within-subjects, across the intervention period, and between-subjects as another group of mother-child pairs served as control receiving no intervention. The findings revealed that very young children are able to show precursors of critical thinking consisting of both cognitive and affective elements, such as questioning, authentication, moral reasoning, and appropriate emotion. Features indicating inhibitors of critical thinking (such as passivity and over-compliance) were also found. Through the intervention program, the experimental group mothers learned to notice, encourage and support children's attempts at inquiry as the children grappled with making sense of their environment. Although the precursors of critical thinking identified before the intervention continued to develop over time due to maturation (as shown by the performance of the control group children), the experimental group children performed even better over time. In addition, the mothers of children with better performance in critical thinking tasks were observed to emphasize informing and reasoning, and to enjoy interacting with their children, rather than pressuring or commanding them. This research has highlighted conceptual and methodological issues in identifying and assessing very young children’s critical thinking, as well as the educational implications for the promotion of children’s critical thinking at home and in schools through similar metacognitive programs for parents and teachers. More research into the assessment of very young children’s critical thinking in different settings and with persons other than mothers is indicated, as is a focus on other factors that may influence the development of critical thinking.