This thesis examines what are for us two great sources or causes of error. The first arises from the influence of various cognitive biases upon our thinking, while the second emerges as a result of our wide-ranging dependence upon others for a vast amount of our beliefs about the world. Through both we can come to adopt false and harmful beliefs, a fact that naturally has both veridical and moral significance. One response is to suggest that we should increase our reliance upon experts in order to help us better acquire true beliefs and avoid false beliefs. By examining the historical, theoretical, psychological, and linguistic character of epistemic authorities and relationships, this avenue will be argued to be problematic. Scepticism in relation to epistemic authority is avoided in favour of an adoption of a critical attitude with respect to social sources of belief. The epistemology of testimony is next looked at, to see whether any lessons can be drawn from the nature of epistemic dependence to how we should epistemically approach others. Reductive versus non-reductive conceptions of the justification of testimony are explained, with the former conception being seen as naturally lending itself more to a critical treatment of social sources of belief. The question of why we should be rational at all is then examined. The positions of William K. Clifford and Karl Popper on the matter are explained, and my own views set forward. Finally, in light of the preceding groundwork, it is argued that there is a philosophical place and a social need for public education with respect to the broad epistemic situation in which we find ourselves.

This thesis explores how the discourse of complexity thinking can be used to foster emergence in curriculum and practice-based research. The curriculum-related exploration focused specifically on games of chase as one facet of early childhood curriculum. It investigated using complexity thinking firstly, to occasion emergence (that is, create a new phenomenon) in children’s games of chase at an early childhood centre and secondly, to describe this emergence. The research-related exploration focused on creating an emergent methodology which is underpinned by complexity thinking. In this thesis report, I present a series of emergent curriculum-related phenomena that arose during the explorations, that is, an emergent game, a local curriculum theory for games of chase, the concepts of local curriculum theory, curriculum design and curriculum dynamics, and a curriculum vision. I also present an understanding of emergent methodology and two methodological innovations in the form of the Research Data Management System and the Visual Summary. This research involved taking the role of a volunteer teacher-researcher-curriculum designer at an early childhood centre to play games of chase with children. This role was informed by and contributed to a curriculum design that focused on designing the teaching and learning environment to occasion emergence in learning and curriculum. The games of chase curriculum contributed to children’s learning, my own learning and the general rhythm of life at the centre. The children learnt to distinguish between children who were playing and those who were not. They also learnt different ways to tag people in a game. In addition, the children and I developed a game playing routine before playing each game. This routine involved putting on tag belts, discussing what game we were playing and how we were going to play it. We played three different games of chase, starting with tag, followed by What is the time Mr(s) Wolf?, and finally the emergent game Big A, Little A. The stories of emergence are described in visual, descriptive and narrative texts organised into curriculum stories, teaching stories and children’s learning stories. Curriculum stories describe the activities that unfolded. Teaching stories present stories of teaching while learning stories are stories of children’s learning. These stories represent views of the enacted curriculum as activity, teaching and learning respectively. Taken together, the stories present a description of the curriculum dynamics that unfolded at the centre in relation to games of chase. This thesis shows that a local curriculum theory for games of chase at the centre emerged from the complex interactions of curriculum design and curriculum dynamics that unfolded at the centre. It also articulates the emergent concepts of local curriculum theory, curriculum design and curriculum dynamics using the language of complexity. This thesis also presents the local curriculum theory as a curriculum vision. This vision involves a shift in thinking about curriculum as either a set “course to be run” or the “path created in the running” (currere) to embracing curriculum as both “the space for running” and currere. It is a vision that values both children’s and teachers’ interests, focuses on teachers and children exploring depth and breadth of a curriculum domain together, enables teachers to follow, generate and sustain children’s interest in the explorations, and is generative, flexible and future-focused. This thesis conceptualises an emergent methodology as a methodology for emergence which (1) involves the researcher actively striving to foster emergence in research, (2) is brought forth in the interactions between the designed and enacted facets of methodology, (3) is local to a particular research project, and (4) emerges from the interactions of several related strategies. This thesis can be seen as an attempt to change the language game of curriculum by using the language of complexity throughout the thesis. In so doing, it not only enables the reader to talk about the discourse of complexity thinking, it also enables the reader to experience the discourse and the emergence of the curriculum-related phenomena and the methodological innovations that are the focus of this thesis. Finally, this thesis argues that using the discourse of complexity thinking in teaching and research can be enabling. It can enable the teacher and/or researcher to be creative, flexible and ethical within the constraints of his/her professional and personal life.

This experiment was designed to compare two problem solving strategies, brainstorming and the hierarchical technique, and two problem solving technologies, computer software and pencil and paper. The first purpose of this study was to explore what effects computer software and pencil and paper have on the facilitation of solutions for individual problem solvers. Subjects generated solutions by either recording ideas on a computer or by writing ideas down on paper. The second purpose of this study was to examine how individuals evaluate solutions they have generated.Specifically, we were looking for solution evaluations to differ according to which problem solving strategy subjects received training on, brainstorming or the hierarchical technique. Solutions were rated on overall quality, practicality, and originality on a scale ranging from 0 (being the lowest possible score) to 4 (being the highest possible score).Subjects who used a computer to record ideas generated significantly more solutions than those subjects recording ideas on paper. Subjects trained with the hierarchical technique generated ideas higher in quality than those trained with brainstorming. Subjects trained with brainstorming generated more original ideas than those trained with the hierarchical technique. Finally, subjects rating of practicality did not differ according to problem solving strategy. / Department of Psychological Science

Two experiments were designed to compare methods of generation used in solving social problems. First, the experimenters explored the effectiveness of a new approach based on hierarchical organization. One hour of training was sufficient for subjects to learn the technique.Subjects reported that they found the hierarchical technique to be very valuable and easy to use.The purpose of the second experiment was to compare three methods of generation, two active methods and an inactive approach. Clearly, active participants generated more solutions to a social problem than subjects in the inactive condition. This result points to the importance of direct problem solving training.The performance of participants in the active hierarchical and brainstorming conditions was compared. Although the two approaches were equally effective in facilitating the production of numerous, quality solutions, the experimenters found the hierarchical technique to be a superior method of generation for practical problems. / Department of Psychological Science

Critical thinking skills have been identified as important for practicing nurses to acquire. Therefore, nurse educators have a responsibility to improve the critical thinking skills of nursing students. There is limited research related to critical thinking and nursing education especially in the clinical environment. Nurses need finely honed critical thinking skills in order to be safe, competent, and skillful practitioners of their profession.The purpose of this research was to study the way nursing faculty use clinical situations to develop critical thinking in student nurses. The research question was: How do nursing faculty use clinical situations to develop critical thinking in nursing students?In researching this question a grounded theory approach was chosen. The grounded theory approach allows for the development of theory or extension of existing theory which can be used to build on or base future research in nursing education (Chenitz & Swanson, 1986).Data collection was completed using open-ended interviews and participant observation which is consistent with the grounded theory approach. The constant comparative method of data analysis was used to compare and contrast data between and among identified groups.Clinical nursing instructors were asked to participate in the study. The subjects were interviewed and observed teaching in the clinical environment. Confidentiality was guaranteed through coding and destruction of the field notes upon completion of the project. Participation was voluntary and subjects could withdraw at any time from the study.There were no identifiable risks involved in the study. Potential benefits were increased awareness of strategies to develop critical thinking skills and contributions to improve nursing education.Setting the stage for critical thinking in nursing education was identified as the core category. The data supported the development of critical thinking in the clinical environment related to trusting relationships in a risk-free environment. Teaching strategies that contribute to the development of critical thinking were identified. Nursing faculty recognize the importance of critical thinking to nursing and attempt to instill critical thinking in the nursing students. / School of Nursing

Critical care nurses need finely honed critical thinking skills in order to be safe, competent, and skillful practitioners of their profession. If clinical nurses do not learn how to reason effectively, they may make inappropriate decisions about their patients' care, ultimately resulting in increased patient mortality (Fonteyn, 1991). In addition, increasing nurses' decision-making and autonomy has been shown to improve job satisfaction and retention (Prescott, 1986).There are many authors who write about the need for developing critical thinking skills among practicing professional nurses (Creighton, 1984; Jenkins, 1985; Levenstein, 1981, 1983, 1984). However, research assessing the impact of continued education and clinical experience on the development of critical thinking skills is sparse.The purpose of this exploratory study is to determine if there is a relationship between the level of critical thinking skills (as measured by the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal Tool, 1980) in critical care nurses and the length of nursing experience, amount of continuing education pursued annually, and the level of formal nursing education completed. The conceptual framework that provides the basis for this study is Patricia Benner's (1984) application of the Dreyfus Model of Skill Acquisition to clinical nursing practice.Participants (N = 61) were obtained on a voluntary basis from the population of critical care nurses working in the intensive Care Unit, Coronary Care Unit, Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory, or Emergency Care Center of a 600 bed midwestern acute care facility. Each participant in the study was asked to sign an informed consent agreeing to participate after receiving a written and oral explanation of the study. Confidentiality of the participants was maintained by substituting identification numbers for the subjects' names on the data collection instruments. The investigator supervised the administration of the critical thinking instrument and demographic questionnaire.The Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient and a two-tailed t-test for independent samples were used to determine if there were any significant relationships between the WGCTA score and the length of critical care experience, attendance of continuing education programs, or completion of additional formal education. This data analysis supported hypothesis one with the results revealing a significant positive correlation (r = .46, p = <.001) between the WGCTA scores and the length of critical care experience. In addition, a statistically significant but weak positive correlation was found between the WGCTA scores and the length of experience in CCU (r = .52, p = .001). No significant correlation existed between the WGCTA scores and length of experience in ECC, ICU, or CCL. Hypothesis two was supported with a significant difference (t = 3.58, df = 59, p = .001) found between the critical thinking ability of the two groups, with those who have completed an additional formal program of nursing education scoring higher. A significant but weak positive correlation (r = .30, p =.020) was found between the number of continuing education programs attended annually and the WGCTA scores. Multiple regression was performed with the total WGCTA score being the dependent variable and total critical care experience, completion of additional formal education, and attendance of continuing education programs being the independent variables. Only total critical care experience entered the equation (E = 16.03, p = <.001) explaining 21% of the variance.The information gained from this study will provide direction for the review of existing orientation, continuing education, and staff development programs provided at different levels of nursing experience and make suggestions for change to enhance critical thinking skill development. / School of Nursing

In this study, two primary hypotheses drawn from Cognitive-Experiential Self-Theory (Epstein, 1994, 1998, 2003) and the treatment preference literature (Arnkoff, Glass, & Shapiro, 2002) were tested in the broader contexts of similarity/matching research and eclecticism in psychotherapy. Specifically, it was hypothesized that client-therapist similarity/dissimilarity in terms of (a) their Rational and Experiential Thinking styles (Pacini & Epstein, 1999), and (b) their preferences for a Cognitive ("Thinking") versus an Experiential ("Feeling") theoretical orientation (Hutchins, 1984), would affect the process and outcome of early therapy. Forty-seven client-therapist dyads participated in the study. In the seven hierarchical linear regressions conducted, no statistically significant effects were found on any of the dependent variables (working alliance, empathic understanding, session depth, session smoothness, satisfaction with treatment, perceived change, and objective change). Study limitations included its modest statistical power to detect small and moderate effect sizes.Three exploratory questions were also investigated in a sample of 89 clients and 79 therapists and were found to be statistically significant. Specifically, client rational and experiential thinking styles made substantial contributions in the expected direction in predicting client preference for a cognitive versus an experiential treatment. Similarly, therapist experiential thinking style was predictive of therapist treatment preference. These findings suggest that client and therapist personality (thinking styles) are more significant predictors of treatment preference than variables such as gender and clinical experience (as a therapist or a client). Last, rational thinking style was predictive of client intrapersonal adjustment, and experiential thinking style was predictive of client social adjustment. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

It is imperative to prepare South African learners to participate and function confidently within the context of a rapidly changing world. The curriculum of the South African Education System emphasises the significance of optimising learners‟ cognitive development as early as pre-school age to enable them to become creative and critical citizens who lead purposeful lives in a safe and prejudice-free environment. Despite continuous efforts by educators to optimise cognitive development, recently executed research studies indicate that cognitive development has not been adequately optimised in South African schools. This study was undertaken to establish the cognitive development level (cognitive and meta-cognitive skills and strategies, cognitive functions and non-intellective factors) of Grade R-learners and to determine the effect of an intervention programme, the Cognitive Enhancement Programme for Pre-schoolers (CEPP), on their cognitive development. By means of a literature study, I investigated whether, to what extent the cognitive development of Grade R-learners was taking place, and established which cognitive and meta-cognitive thinking skills and strategies, cognitive functions and non-intellective factors are required for effective cognitive development among Grade R-learners. In addition to this, the role of mediation for optimising cognitive development was investigated. A concurrent embedded mixed methods design was conducted in the implementation of the research. Intervention research within a quasi-experimental research design was applied. The data collection by means of a quantitative strategy (quasi-experimental research) and qualitative strategy (observation study) was executed simultaneously. By means of convenient sampling, one Grade R-class with twenty learners was subjected to a pre-test to establish their cognitive developmental level. The test results as well as the observations conducted during the pre-test revealed that the learners experienced problems related to their cognitive development. Ten of the twenty learners were then divided purposively based on their test performance into two experimental groups, Experimental Group A and Experimental Group B consisting of five participants each. Experimental group A and Experimental Group B took part in the CEPP intervention based on the principles of mediation on a rotational basis over a period of twelve weeks, during which intentional attempts were made to optimise their cognitive development. Both groups completed a post-test and delayed post-test (retention) to determine the effect of the CEPP intervention on their cognitive development. In addition to the test results, observations in the form of structured running and anecdotal records and reflective notes were utilised to understand the nature and quality of the cognitive development of the learners better. Furthermore, the effect of the intervention on their cognitive development was established. The cognitive development of Grade R-learners who participated in this study was optimised, which is a clear indication that cognitive capacity can be optimised when instruction is based on the principles of mediation / PhD, Teaching and Learning, North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2012

Nowadays, an increasing amount of psychologists and educators find that literature designed for children plays a very important role in a child’s upbringing. A good children’s book not only influences a child’s psychological development, but is also a useful tool for scholars to research children’s psychology, which reflects children’s thinking regarding certain aspects. Astrid Lindgren’s Pippi Longstocking (1957) and Tetsuke Kuroyanagi’s The Little Girl at the Window (1984) undoubtedly are two representative children’s literatures, which were written during a time where the child's perspective in children's literature was not yet an attitude commonly adopted by narrators in novels. The novels illustrate and highlight children's thinking and reasoning abilities, and the characterization appears to draw on children's developmental cognitive theories, describing a child whose cognition ability recalls Jean Piaget's work and ideas. This thesis attempts to analyze Pippi’s and Totto’s thinking and reasoning and how it can illustrate some of Piaget’s theories about children’s drawing and children’s cognitive development. And a further discussion will be going on in this thesis about how Piaget's work might inform and enrich educational practices in accordance with children’s specific needs at different ages and from different cultural backgrounds.

The capacity to mentally project the self into the future or, what has recently been termed “episodic foresight” is an emerging topic of study in developmental psychology. The aim of this dissertation was to review available research on this topic and explore its development in two groups of children: typically-developing preschoolers and children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This dissertation had two main goals. The first goal was to explore whether tasks thought to measure episodic foresight in children are related and whether, as has been hypothesized, they were related to theory of mind (ToM) and executive function (EF). Study 1 showed that after controlling for age and language ability, episodic foresight tasks were not intercorrelated, nor were they individually related to ToM or EF tasks. Importantly, however, an episodic foresight composite score was related to several EF tasks. Specifically, the results suggested a significant relation between episodic foresight and inhibitory control. The second goal of this dissertation was to explore the development of episodic foresight in children with ASD. Specifically, I tested whether children with ASD would perform more poorly on a series of episodic foresight tasks than a mental-age matched group of typically-developing children. Study 2 revealed significant group differences on several episodic foresight tasks, suggesting that children with ASD showed impairments in thinking about themselves in the future. These results are a timely contribution to the research on episodic foresight and will hopefully aid in the further development of tasks that adequately measure this important cognitive ability in children.