Low back disorders (LBDs) are one of the most commonly occurring injuries in industry. To attempt to reduce these work-related injuries, billions of dollars are being budgeted for formal training in the U.S. However, the outcomes of this training are below a satisfactory level. The majority of organizations utilize the Four-level Evaluation Model to evaluate their training program. However, previous studies have pointed out some limitations regarding this evaluation model. Moreover, most organizations collect only trainee reaction, the first level of the Four-level Evaluation Model, to determine the effectiveness of their training program. Many studies reveal that trainee reaction is an invalid indicator to determine the effectiveness of a training program, and further suggest multi-dimensional categorization within each level of the Four-level Evaluation. Therefore, in this study, the Revised Bloom's Taxonomy was employed to enable multidimensional categorization of learning outcomes in a lifting and lowering training program. The learning outcomes of interest in such a training program relate to procedural knowledge and the cognitive process involved are categorized as remembering, understanding, applying, and evaluating the contents of the training program. Two research questions were asked. What types of learning outcomes are most predictive of training performance? How do the learning outcomes predict training performance compared to affective and utility type reactions? The ability of different types of learning outcomes to predict training performance was tested by multiple regression analyses. The results revealed that apply-procedural learning outcomes and the interaction variable of understand-procedural and apply-procedural learning outcomes were the most predictive of training performance. Further, these learning outcomes were more predictive of training performance than the trainee reactions (affective and utility type reactions) to explain training performance. The results of this study yielded a set of recommendations that may be useful in designing and evaluating lifting and lowering training programs. Moreover, this study examined the Revised Bloom's Taxonomy as a novel method of considering the multidimensional nature of learning and provided a potential application of the Revised Bloom's Taxonomy in the training discipline. / Master of Science

Critical thinking has long been recognized as a valuable skill, both in education in general and within the world language teaching field specifically. In recent years, critical thinking has been identified as one of the 21st century skills that students need to succeed in modern society (Partnership, 2009). However, there is no clear, unifying definition of the term itself (Paul, 2004), and the definition of critical thinking is debated in many different fields without support from empirical data (Kuhn, 1999). Similarly, critical thinking has been often discussed in the literature as having great potential to facilitate language learning, and particularly to develop language proficiency (Gaskaree, Mashhady & Dousti, 2010; Heining-Boynton & Heining-Boynton, 1992; Hoch & Hart, 1991; Rojas, 2001; Williams, Lively & Harper, 1994). However, this discussion has not been centered around a single, clear definition or been supported by empirical research. This study attempts to fill these gaps by exploring how currently practicing world language teachers define the term critical thinking. Definitions were gathered through a survey of K-16 world language teachers from across the United States and through interviews with individual beginning level German instructors at a large, private university in the western United States. Findings revealed three primary ways in which teachers define critical thinking: first, by identifying characteristics of critical thinking; second, by discussing the thought processes and skills used in the action of critical thinking; and third, by describing the topics about which critical thinking takes place, either on the micro-level, dealing with language itself, or on the macro-level, dealing with real-world issues and themes. Based on these three areas of definition, several pedagogical implications were identified. As critical thinking is integrated as a 21st century skill into the world language classroom, the traditional roles of the teacher may need to transform, the content used in the classroom may need to change, and the activities in which students are asked to engage may likewise need to shift. The integration of these pedagogical implications into the world language classroom as a means to facilitate the development of advanced levels of language proficiency is also discussed.

The Dissertation work is focused on finding the effectivity of the inquiry-based science education of Chemistry subject at elementary schools and grammar schools concerning the topic of Chemistry process. The theoretical part proves the knowledge of inquiry-based science education (IBSE) in the 21 century, specifies the level of research, learning cycle 5E, its positives and negatives. The practical part is created by the files of methodology, particularly the methodological worksheets for teachers and worksheets for pupils as well, regarding the topic Substance Transformation for the elementary schools and for the grammar schools the topic Chemical Reactions and Chemical Equations. In the research part, there are shown the results of paedagogical research aiming at verifying the influence IBSE on to develop the higher mind operations according to Bloom taxonomy, to develop the scientific skills, as well as the survey of pupils' attitudes to this particular educational teaching process. The results obtained from the IBSE implementation and its verification performed by the cognitive tests and further by statistical evaluation, have confirmed the validity of the set hypotheses - the level of pupils' knowledge and skills has been increased, especially at weaker pupils in both degree of schools. By...