Psychosis encompasses a constellation of symptoms that have far-reaching social, physical and functional consequences for sufferers. One of the key clinical concerns in the management of psychotic illnesses is the risk of suicide, which is greatest in the early stages of psychosis. Hopelessness is consistently associated with risk for suicide but as a concept it is not well defined and is not specific enough to be of use in prediction of suicide. Future-directed thinking, particularly regarding positive future events, constitutes an aspect of hopelessness that is closely associated with risk for suicide. This study employed the Future Thinking Task to investigate whether future-directed thinking in first episode psychosis is significantly different from that of matched controls in performance or content, and to clarify the nature of its association with suicide risk in this patient group. In addition, the association of future-directed thinking with the negative symptoms of psychosis was investigated. The results showed that individuals with psychosis were impaired in future-directed thinking globally, particularly with respect to the coming year. Specific deficits were shown in the domains of relations with other people and personal development and understanding. Associations were shown between future-directed thinking and suicide, and reduced positive future-directed thinking was shown to be strongly associated with increased severity of negative symptoms. The results suggest avenues for novel interventions to improve hopelessness, suicide risk and the severity of negative symptoms in psychotic illness, and thereby improve functional outcomes.

The problem of this study was an investigation of the relationships among the attitudes, critical thinking ability,and personality attributes of students in a teacher education program.

The purpose of this study was to determine the accuracy of advertised reports by computer software companies claiming to improve critical thinking skills.

The purpose of this study was to determine if students who participated in language arts remediation which was infused with critical thinking activities and metacognition would make greater gains in skills and achievement than those students who were remediated with a regular language arts curriculum. The population for this study was a group of at risk students who were fourteen to sixteen years old and who were participants in the 1987 summer Youth Opportunities Unlimited project at the University of North Texas. Their progress was measured with California Achievement Test and Iowa Test of Basic Skills pretests and posttests. The organization of the study includes a statement of the problem, a review of the literature, the methods and procedures used to collect the data, the analysis of data, and a summary of the findings, conclusions, educational implications, and recommendations tor additional research. Data from the eight hypotheses were treated with an analysis of covariance. The analysis of data revealed the following: 1. The infusion of critical thinking activities and metacognition did not improve students' skills or achievement in the following areas: spelling, capitalization, and punctuation. 2. The infusion of critical thinking activities and metacognition did not improve students' skills in usage and expression as tested with items focusing on subject/verb agreement, verb tense, pronoun case, and pronoun degree. 3. The critical thinking activities and metacognition made a significant difference in students' achievement in language expression. The education implications are that lessons designed with mechanics objectives such as capitalization and punctuation should include independent practice. However, lessons designed with objectives focusing on usage, subject/verb agreement, double negatives, verb tense, and pronoun case and degree should include critical thinking activities and metacognition.

The purpose of this study was to assess content and concurrent validity of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT). The subjects were thirty-four art majors at North Texas State University between the ages of nineteen and thirty-nine. Content validity for the TTCT, as assessed by seven judges (art professors), was very high; concurrent validity was very low. Only one judge's ranking of the criterion was significantly intercorrelated with that of the other judges (p<.05). There were no significant rho correlations between the TTCT and the criterion (p<.05). The t-ratio differences between the males and females, for all tasks of the TTCT, were non-significant (p<.05). It was concluded that the TTCT were not appropriate for use with adult art majors.

This exploratory research focused on a problem stated years ago by Vannevar Bush: "The problem is how creative men think, and what can be done to help them think." The study explored the scholarly work process and the use of computer tools to augment thinking. Based on a review of several related literatures, a framework of 7 major categories and 28 subcategories of scholarly thinking was proposed. The literature was used to predict problems scholars have in organizing their information, potential solutions, and specific computer tool features to augment scholarly thinking. Info Select, a personal information manager with most of these features (text and outline processing, sophisticated searching and organizing), was chosen as a potential tool for thinking. The study looked at how six scholars (faculty and doctoral students in social science fields at three universities) organized information using Info Select as a personal documentation system for scholarly work. These multiple case studies involved four in-depth, focused interviews, written evaluations, direct observation, and analysis of computer logs and files collected over a 3- to 6-month period. A content analysis of interviews and journals supported the proposed AfFORD-W taxonomy: Scholarly work activities consisted of Adding, Filing, Finding, Organizing, Reminding, and Displaying information to produce a Written product. Very few activities fell outside this framework, and activities were distributed evenly across all categories. Problems, needs, and likes mentioned by scholars, however, clustered mainly in the filing, finding, and organizing categories. All problems were related to human memory. Both predictions and research findings imply a need for tools that support information storage and retrieval in personal documentation systems, for references and notes, with fast and easy input of source material. A computer tool for thinking should support categorizing and organizing, reorganizing and transporting information. It should provide a simple search engine and support rapid scanning. The research implies the need for tools that provide better affordances for scholarly thinking activities.

M.Ed. (Curriculum Studies) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Flexible Learning is a personal investigation of the relationship between the design-thinking process and standardized primary education. The problem-solving methods used in graphic design, are studied as a means of enhancing skills among students—skills that are not generally being developed, some of which are creativity, engagement, collaboration, evaluation, refinement, and presentation techniques. While I access and synthesize information from my clients, a child also access and synthesize information from his or her teacher. When a client comes to me with a design request, I research, create, and then present the most appropriate solution. In the classroom, this kind of thinking process is also possible when the teacher offers students the opportunity to solve a problem, usually in the form of a project. I will explain how more intensive and creative application of design thinking process could expand the horizons for whole brain learning and creative thinking among students.

O objetivo central desta pesquisa foi investigar os impactos do curso de especialização em Ética, Valores e Cidadania (EVC3), oferecido na modalidade semipresencial pela Universidade Virtual do Estado de São Paulo (Univesp), nas concepções e na prática profissional dos professores. O referencial teórico apoiou-se nos trabalhos dos pesquisadores da Universidade de Stanford sobre a utilização da metodologia voltada para a Aprendizagem Baseada em Problemas e Projetos com a aplicação dos procedimentos do Design Thinking e os princípios pedagógicos para o uso de tecnologias informatizadas e interativas em todos os níveis de ensino. Também foram decisivos os estudos dos pesquisadores da Faculdade de Educação da Universidade de São Paulo sobre a transversalidade do tema Ética na educação escolar e sobre a possibilidade de aproximar metodologias de Pedagogia de Projetos e o Design Thinking para propor inovações aos temas da Educação em Valores. Este estudo descritivo exigiu a realização de pesquisa bibliográfica sobre os principais temas teóricos e fundamentos metodológicos do curso de especialização, foram coletados dados em um questionário (SurveyMonkey) enviado a todos os egressos para identificar concepções, percepções e práticas profissionais dos professores. Os resultados permitiram demonstrar que o EVC3 teve maior impacto nas concepções e percepções dos professores sobre Ética, Valores e Cidadania, do que na utilização das metodologias da Aprendizagem baseada em Problemas e Projetos e do Design Thinking em sua prática cotidiana de sala de aula / The main objective of this research was to investigate the impacts of the principles and methodology of a specialization course in Ethics, Values and Citizenship (EVC3) in the concepts and professional practice of teachers to develop and implement educational projects. The theoretical framework builds on the work of researchers at Stanford University on the use of a methodology for Based Learning Problems and Projects with the application of the Design Thinking procedures and technologies of information and comunication in all education levels. Also were decisive the studies of researchers from the Faculty of Education, University of São Paulo about the Ethics theme on school education, and the possibility of approaching methodologies of Pedagogy with Projects and the Design thinking to propose innovations to education on values. This case study required to carry out bibliographic research on the main theoretical and methodological fundamentals themes of the specialization course, data was collected in a questionnaire (SurveyMonkey) sent to all graduates to identify conceptions, perceptions and practices of professional teachers. The results show that the greatest impact on EVC3 conceptions and perceptions of teachers about ethics, values and citizenship, than in the use of problem-based learning methodologies and projects and Design Thinking into their daily classroom practice.

O Design Thinking tem sido aplicado na educação básica em diversos países do mundo. Práticas educativas do Design Thinking, teórico-metodologicamente investigadas nos projetos pedagógicos das escolas, tornam-se relevantes para a compreensão da multidimensionalidade do fenômeno educativo nas escolas. O objetivo desta investigação é pesquisar as contribuições do Design Thinking que possam inovar os estruturantes teóricos e metodológicos dos projetos pedagógicos da educação básica. Uma jornada científica exploratória na revisão de estudos existentes revelou a importância da perspectiva do Design Thinking. A investigação sob a perspectiva de pesquisa participante, de cunho qualitativo, com imersão longitudinal em escola pública estadual de tempo integral, permitiu avaliar e compreender seu contexto (entrevistas semiestruturadas, participação nas ATPC Aula de Trabalho Pedagógico Coletivo, questionários com sondagem diagnósticas, grupos focais, acompanhamento de projetos escolares). Como resultado foi verificado que o Design Thinking oferece oportunidades de formação permanente; de entendimento dos desafios contextuais e das oportunidades de implementação de projetos inovadores com avaliação realizada pela perspectiva do conhecimentona-ação/compreensão-na-reflexão para direcionamento de práticas mais transformadoras de seus estruturantes teórico-metodológicos (planejamento, formação permanente, avaliação/recuperação). A relevância desta investigação foi compreendida pela ação e na ação dos sujeitos envolvidos em projetos apoiados pelas Tecnologias de Informação e de Comunicação que se tornaram protagonistas do processo educativo. Estratégias e habilidades complexas de avaliar a aprendizagem dos alunos e desenvolvimento de competências previstas no currículo escolar inspiradas pela abordagem do Design Thinking tornaram-se terreno fértil para formação permanente do professor. Orientaram novos modos de planejar e de avaliar aprendizagens integradas aos conteúdos curriculares além de formar professores para aspectos importantes do planejamento político-pedagógico da escola. O Design Thinking mostrou-se promissor também como estratégia metodológica alternativa de pesquisa. / Design Thinking has been applied in basic education in several countries all over the world. Educational practices of Design Thinking, theoretical and methodologically investigated in educational projects of schools, become relevant for understanding the multidimensionality of the education phenomenon in schools. The purpose of this research is to investigate the contributions of Design Thinking that may innovate the theoretical and methodological structuring in pedagogical projects on basic education. An exploratory scientific journey into the review of existing studies has revealed the importance of the Design Thinking perspective. The inquiry from the perspective of participant research, of qualitative nature, with longitudinal immersion in a full-time state public school, allowed to evaluate and to understand its context (through semi-structured interviews, participation in ATPCs - Collective Pedagogical Work Class, questionnaires for diagnostic survey, focus groups, monitoring of school projects). As a result it has been found that Design Thinking provides opportunities for continuing education; for understanding the contextual challenges and the opportunities for implementing innovative projects with assessment from the perspective of knowledge-in-action / understanding-in-reflection for directing more transforming practices of its theoretical-methodological structuring (planning, continuing education, evaluation / recovery). The relevance of this research was understood through the action and in the action of participants involved in projects supported by Information and Communication Technologies, who have became protagonists in the educational process. Complex strategies and skills for assessing student learning and for developing competencies included in the school curriculum inspired by the Design Thinking approach have become fertile ground for continuing education for teachers. They have guided new ways for planning and evaluating integrated learning in curricular content, as well as training teachers in important aspects of the schools political-pedagogical planning. Design Thinking also proved promising as a methodological alternative research strategy.