No description available.

No description available.

Institutions of higher education have long been regarded as centers of knowledge creation and dissemination. Although, more recently, colleges and universities are facing greater accountability for student learning as a result of crippling student loan debt projections and staggering retention rates. Critical thinking is in the company of many skills found to be deficient in college graduates. Simultaneously, critical thinking is among the most sought-after qualities among employers (National Association of Colleges & Employers, 2017). This problematic dichotomy presents a need to better understand how critical thinking is being taught in college. Much of the literature focuses on critical thinking as an outcome of classroom instruction while the impact of out-of-class experiences is largely neglected. This survey-based study employed the California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCTDI) to identify which out-of-classroom experiences have a singular and collective effect on critical thinking dispositions among graduating seniors at a public 4-year institution. Participation in internships, study abroad, service-learning, living-learning communities, club leadership, club membership, and employment was studied. The study offers promising data that suggest seniors are, in fact, disposed to critical thinking upon graduation. Correlation and multiple regression analyses revealed that several out-of-classroom activities had a positive effect on at least one critical thinking disposition. Among them were research with faculty, club membership, and employment. Interestingly, studying abroad was found to have a negative effect on students’ disposition toward intellectual curiosity. Only two out-of-classroom experiences were found to have a combined effect on critical thinking disposition—conducting research with faculty and holding employment for more than 20 hours per week. Findings of this study have implications for faculty, staff, and administrators alike. Looking ahead, institutions are encouraged to enhance students’ learning opportunities by leveraging student employment, incentivizing faculty-student research, and partnering with local employers. / Educational Leadership

Art and design programs at community colleges challenge students to think of numerous and diverse creative concepts when faced with an assignment that requires creative problem-solving. Concurrently the students are learning to acquire new disciplinary skills and manage the hurdles of various life responsibilities. Thus, it becomes the inspiring role of the art faculty to challenge their students to think creatively and critically about their work. I argue that training focused on creative thinking, self-regulation, and critical thinking in the classroom or through training workshops can improve these latent abilities. This dissertation presents the results of an educational intervention study examining whether undergraduate students in a community college setting who routinely practice and exercise creative thinking skills, self-regulation strategies, and critical thinking can improve their creative problem-solving. Prior research suggests that these skills and strategies can be learned and are critical to a student’s success in college. The sample for this study consisted of undergraduate students at a community college in Southeastern Pennsylvania who were randomly assigned to a treatment or control group. Training modules were delivered over ten weeks of the fall semester via the college’s learning management system. Participants could work through the training modules at their own pace. A pre-test/post-test design using divergent and convergent thinking, metacognition awareness, and critical thinking measured participants’ change in the understanding of those constructs. An additional post-test only, final design project, was used as a measure of the constructs. Demographic data were gathered through a questionnaire. The results indicate that there were no positive significant differences in the constructs from pre-test to post-test. The results of the final project post-test measure indicate that the treatment group had marginally higher scores on the design construct, the creative thinking sub-component of the design construct, and the critical thinking construct. The results also suggest that the additional training had little or no effect on the treatment group. / Educational Psychology

The dissertation explores middle-school students' abilities to engage in historical thinking. I dispute the Hallam-Piaget model, which discourages analytical thinking through the assumption that children lack skills to think critically about history. My historical narrative inquiry model (1) teaches procedural knowledge (the process of "doing" history); (2) enhances interpretative skills; (3) cultivates historical perspectives based upon evidentiary history; and (4) encourages student authorship of historical narratives. In the fall semester of 2006, with a classroom of twenty-five seventh-graders, I initiated a research study designed to explore the impact of the historical narrative inquiry model through a sequence of thirty-two lessons. The lessons involved small- and large-group activities, including oral presentations, discussions about primary documents, and consideration of the relation between narratology and the creation of written history. Students generated their own historical narratives in order to articulate their perspectives. Eight students having varied reading-level proficiency served as primary participants in the study. Each of these students received pre- and post-intervention interviews. Outcomes reflected the enhancement of pedagogy intended to facilitate historical thinking and historical empathy in the classroom.

This paper in philosophy of education deals with order assessment in relation to moral autonomy, which is a way of teaching moral education with the purpose of creating an independent approach towards moral questions. The main research question is ’is order assessment hard to combine with moral autonomy?’. To answer the main question the following questions are used: 1 ’is order assessment hard to combine with a critical approach towards values?’, 2 ’is order assessment hard to combine with a critical approach towards authorities?’ and 3 ’is order assessment hard to combine with a critical approach towards rules?’. The thesis of the paper is that order assessment is hard to combine with moral autonomy. / Den här uppsatsen i utbildningsfilosofi behandlar ordningsomdömen i relation till moralisk självständighet, vilket är ett sätt att undervisa elever i moral med syftet att skapa ett självständigt förhållningssätt i moralfrågor. Den huvudsakliga forskningsfrågan är ’är ordningsomdömen svåra att förena med moralisk självständighet?’. För att besvara forskningsfrågan används följande frågeställningar: 1 ’är ordningsomdömen svåra att förena med ett kritiskt förhållningssätt gentemot normer?’, 2 ’är ordningsomdömen svåra att förena med ett kritiskt förhållningssätt gentemot auktoriteter?’ och 3 ’är ordningsomdömen svåra att förena med ett kritiskt förhållningssätt gentemot regler?’. Den tes som drivs i uppsatsen är att ordningsomdömen är svåra att förena med moralisk självständighet.

Clinical reasoning (CR) is an essential skill for nursing and is necessary for safe and effective nursing practice. This skill is critical in how well nurses make clinical decisions and take action to assist their patients. However, this skill is significantly lacking in new nurses, and an academic-practice gap is thought to be the reason. This study investigated the impact of a new concept-based inquiry teaching approach on nursing students’ CR and its relationship with demographics, retention, critical thinking (CT), and metacognition. A quasi-experimental pretest and posttest study design using a non-equivalent comparison group was conducted with undergraduate students enrolled in a baccalaureate pre-licensure program using a concept-based curriculum. The concept-based inquiry (CBI) approach was introduced to students in the intervention group, while the control group participated in a flipped classroom teaching approach. Both groups engaged in content related to the concept of gas exchange. Clinical reasoning was measured using an NCLEX Next Generation (NGN) style exam created by the author, the clinical reasoning exam (CRE). Test analysis on the exam revealed challenges in writing and using these types of exams to assess CR and were discussed. The relationships of CBI to demographics, critical thinking, and metacognition were also evaluated. A demographic survey assessed age, gender, race/ethnicity, learning disabilities, work experience, military experience, and education level. The Health Sciences Reasoning Test assessed CT, and the Metacognitive Awareness Inventory assessed metacognition. The results of the study revealed no significant difference in CR between the CBI intervention group and the Flipped Classroom comparison group after the gas exchange class. No significant relationships to demographics or knowledge retention were noted. However, the study revealed that the CBI significantly affected CT and metacognition, critical elements of the CR process. This study demonstrates that the CBI approach may be a promising new teaching method that should be investigated further to determine if using it for a more extended time period would have a greater impact on CR.

Doctor of Philosophy / Curriculum and Instruction Programs / Marjorie Hancock / With the inception of No Child Left Behind, educators are required to ensure proficiency for all students in reading and math, but provide no incentive for developing the talents of gifted students (Gentry, 2006b). Implementing differentiation into the classroom can assist educators in providing appropriate instruction for all students and maximizing the potential of gifted learners. Differentiation modifies curriculum and instruction to meet the diverse needs of students in the classroom (Tomlinson, 1999, 2001, 2003). The purpose of this study was to document how differentiation influenced the gifted readers’ ability to think more critically and the fifth grade teacher’s perceptions of differentiation as it was implemented into the reading curriculum for all readers in her classroom. This qualitative research study was conducted in a fifth grade classroom in a rural mid-western community from October 24, 2008 to February 4, 2009. Data collection included response journals of the gifted readers, audio recordings of literature circle discussions, observations/field notes, digital voice recording of interviews with the gifted readers and the classroom teacher, teacher reflective journal, and weekly meetings. Data analysis revealed three levels of critical thinking within ten categories as outlined in the Written Response Hierarchy of Journal Critical Thinking. Advanced Level Critical Thinking included the categories of Synthesis, Character Affinity, Character Scrutiny, and Evaluative Inquiry. Intermediate Level Critical Thinking was evidenced by the categories of Inference, Image Construction, Author’s Writing Technique, and Prediction. Basic Level Critical Thinking was represented by responses in the Ambiguity and Engagement categories. The Oral Response Hierarchy of Literature Circle Critical Thinking revealed four critical thinking levels of oral response. Analytical and Probe represented Advanced Level Critical Thinking, Conjecture demonstrated Intermediate Level Critical Thinking, and Engagement provided evidence of Basic Level Critical Thinking. Advanced Level Critical Thinking was evidenced in both written and oral responses across the three stages of the study. Data analysis further revealed the teacher’s perceptions of differentiated instruction. Benefits included increase in students’ motivation, active involvement and leadership, exceeding expectations, quality of literature circle discussions, confidence in implementing differentiation with continuous support of a mentor, flexibility, and empowerment to solve problems.

South Africa needs an economy which is competitive and successful. Therefore, it is important that an education system will provide a skilled work force. Learners need to develop biology skills that will equip them for life, enable them to solve problems and think critically. Unfortunately South Africa is presently encountering a lack of skilled citizens. The reasons for this most probably is that the biology curriculum is mainly discipline-based, content-loaded and largely irrelevant, resulting in learners not furthering their studies in biology and related fields. The biology matriculation examination has a strangle hold on what is taught. Lengthy, content-loaded curricula emphasise the memorising of facts by means of expository teaching methods, leaving little opportunity to teach the application of information and skills to solve problems in real life situations. The teaching methods of biology are thus not sufficiently stimulating and motivating. Biology teaching should not only concentrate on facts or explain facts to learners, but should also concentrate on ways or processes by means of which these facts can be obtained. To implement a process approach where learners can develop basic- and integrated skills is not an easy task for those involved. The empirical research of this study, confirmed the findings throughout the literature study that various factors hamper the effective implementation of the process approach. It is important that negative factors such as 'large classes' and 'a lengthy syllabus' (in historically disadvantaged [HD] and advantaged schools [HA]) and 'lack of equipment' and 'resource material' (only in HD schools) which received high percentages in the survey, will duly be considered when implementing the process approach, curriculum 2005 or 21. These factors can exert a powerful influence on the success of any changes in biology education. To ensure the successful implementation of the process approach it is important that all teachers receive adequate in-service training to keep abreast with new teaching strategies and methods / Educational Studies / D.Ed. (Didactics)

This study provides a critical interrogation of the perceptions held by the undergraduate Philosophy of Education students at an open and distance learning institution, towards African philosophy. The study is premised on famed Kenyan philosopher, Odera Henry Oruka‟s classification of African philosophy into four trends: ethno-philosophy, philosophic sagacity, nationalist-ideological philosophy and professional philosophy. These trends confirm that African philosophy is more than traditions, culture or ubuntu, and more complex than the students make it to be. The study makes a link between the students‟ flawed perceptions of African philosophy with their lack of critical thinking skills. The study has attempted to answer questions such as why students have flawed perceptions of African philosophy; how critical thinking assists in changing their perceptions of African philosophy, and what role can the education system play in equipping students with critical thinking skills. The study‟s findings show that undergraduate Philosophy of Education students conflate African philosophy with African people‟s traditions and cultures, and with ubuntu. Students perceive that African philosophy lacks reason and rationality - key elements of critical thinking. The study‟s findings show that students lack critical thinking skills. The study notes that the way students are taught makes a large contribution to their perceptions and lack of critical thinking skills. The study makes the following recommendations. Firstly, to deal with the problem of students‟ conflations, the study recommends the introduction of the principles of African philosophy, namely, ubuntu, communalism and indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) in the school curriculum, and to emphasise these principles in the curricula of higher education institutions. Secondly, the study recommends the introduction of philosophy for children (P4C) in schools. It is envisaged that P4C will assist learners to acquire critical thinking skills at an early stage of learning. Thirdly, the study recommends the teaching of critical thinking skills at universities. Finally, the study recommends that in- service training be made an integral part of teachers‟ and lecturers‟ professional training, to bring them up-to-date with new ideas and methods of teaching. / Educational Studies / D. Ed. (Philosophy of Education)