University instructors can improve how they promote critical thinking in the classroom by fostering reflective writing habits with students. Midwest University requires all undergraduate students to complete 2 capstone courses, which are framed around a critical thinking curriculum. The skills of analyzing and reflecting on experiences are important components of critical thinking. Despite this acknowledged importance of critical thinking, there is currently no structured training for instructors of the capstone course on how to develop critical thinking abilities among adult students. The purpose of this case study was to examine the perceptions of the instructors of the capstone courses and their approaches to promoting critical thinking. Literature on critical thinking and reflective writing provided the framework for this study. Participants included 5 instructors with experience teaching one of the capstone courses. Data collection included semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and reflective journals. Analysis was inductive using open coding and constant comparison to identify emergent themes. Findings indicated that a common practice to promote critical thinking was through probing questions and deep discussions, that a challenge to promoting a critical thinking curriculum was student engagement, and that more importance should be placed on assessing critical thinking in the grading rubrics. Results prompted the creation of a professional development workshop to offer training to instructors that included the experience of progressing through reflective activities and deep discussion to better guide their students through the same process in an effort to strengthen critical thinking development. University instructors may glean best practices from this study to guide students in developing the capacity to think from a more critical and global perspective.

Preparing college students to be contributing members of local and global societies requires educators to analyze the capabilities and needs of their students and to adjust instructional content and practice. The purpose of this mixed-methods study was twofold: (a) to explore how classroom approaches designed to facilitate students' questioning of assumptions and beliefs regarding different cultural beliefs, social structures, and practices might influence Japanese college students' self-reported development of intercultural competence, and (b) to investigate whether or not the students developed their potential for intercultural competence. Mezirow's transformative learning theory informed this study. Archival qualitative data were from 137 Japanese undergraduate students' journals from a course with approaches designed to facilitate questioning their assumptions and beliefs. Multilevel coding was used to support thematic analysis. Archival quantitative data of students' pretest and posttest scores on the Intercultural Adaptation Potential Scale (ICAPS) were too few for meaningful analysis. Limited trend interpretations of the quantitative data helped support the qualitative data findings. Key findings included students identifying the importance of opportunities to discuss conflicting cultural beliefs, social structures, and practices; several questioned their assumptions and enhanced their intercultural competence. Expanded research into the challenge of enhancing cultural competence is needed. Positive social change is possible when intercultural competence and understanding the importance of dealing with cultural conflicts in an informed manner are enhanced. Students who expand their comfort levels and understandings will gain membership into multiple societies, reflect critically on their worldviews, and be able to take positive actions during conflicts.

Due to the fact that adolescents are familiar with so many different media and technology resources today, learning in a conventional way is no longer effective. The aim for this literature review was to analyse what research shows about the use of film as a teaching tool in English to develop students’ linguistic and critical thinking skills in upper secondary EFL classrooms. The results disclosed that film can improve students’ linguistic skills and critical thinking. One reason for this is that film is already such a large part of students’ lives and provides a meaningful and familiar context for them and that film offers visual support. Studentsʼ felt motivated to see and experience “real-life” situations as opposed to reading the conventional textbook. Interaction between the students also proved to be vital in developing their language skills. Results also showed that it is imperative that teachers present film not only as a tool of entertainment, but one for teaching as well. This can be done by creating contextualized assignments related to the film. The literature review concluded that there are gaps in knowledge of this subject and that further research is desirable.

This thesis proposed a framework for conceptualizing critical thinking in language learning. A learning environment where collaborative learning and network technology were combined − computer-mediated collaborative learning (CMCL) − was set up. The main aim was to study the potential of the learning environment in promoting critical thinking (CT) in language learning. The proposed framework of CT in language learning had three aspects: (1) communication, (2) reasoning, and (3) self-reflection. The study was a qualitative one that took place between June 2003 and January 2004. Three case studies were undertaken that involved up to 90 participants, comprising students, teachers, volunteers, and the researcher. All were members of an online learning community, the Bamboo Enterprise. Students worked in groups that investigated environmental problems. The student projects were grouped into three case studies: (1) Using Collaborative Environmental Projects to Promote Communicative Language Learning and Computer Skills, (2) Using Environmental Themes in Computer-Supported Cooperative Learning to Prepare ESL Students for Academic Study in the Australian University Environment, (3) Promoting Communicative Language Learning Through Computer-Supported Cooperative Learning. Findings were based on analyses of five sources of data: (1) interviews with the student participants; (2) teachers’ comments and opinions; (3) questionnaires; (4) students’ overall group work; and (5) online discussions. The investigation found that, overall, the CMCL environment with its particular framework had the potential to promote CT in language learning. However, it had both strengths and weaknesses. The strengths were that it promoted the communicative use of English, encouraged critical thinking in action, and extended the students’ potential to learn a second language. It also encouraged the appropriate use of technology. More importantly, this CMCL environment showed itself to be a viable method of learning and one in which both students and teachers can be empowered. However, along with these advantages, some avenues for improvement were evident. The study found that the students’ grammatical accuracy was low, despite their rich vocabulary and ability to use complex language structures. Some students found working in groups challenging and some never acquired the necessary web skills. Access to the Internet was not always adequate for this type of project. In sum, the students needed more support, especially at the task level, when using this method of language learning.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Education))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

The aim of this thesis was to explore Swedish pharmacist students’ learning during pharmacy internship. Internships are meant to introduce students to professional practice. Education programs have to reflect changes in the professional role, and take into account that learning in a professional practice setting differs from organized formal education. This thesis includes both quantitative and qualitative research approaches and applies workplace learning theories. A scheme for measuring pharmacy students’ reflective ability was developed and shown to be feasible and reliable. Factors important for reflection were found to be primarily social and contextual, especially trained tutor and small pharmacy size. Notably, learning style or critical thinking did not correlate to students’ reflective ability. Tutors and students perceived that students used a wide variety of activities supporting learning of a broad repertoire of knowledge and skills, preparing them for coming professional working life. Tutors are most important to support learning. However, the current curriculum and formal activities do not address all these outcomes and learning activities used, e.g. workplace learning. The first overall conclusion is that internship plays an essential part in the pharmacist education program. The integration of formal and informal learning activities during internship, including raising awareness of incidental learning, is important to support students in learning the professional practice of pharmacy. This integration could possibly be strengthened by introducing further tutor training, different assignments, and by using portfolios. The second conclusion is that the community of practice is essential for students’ learning during internship, especially the student-tutor interaction. Hence, the entire social context has to be considered and it is important to ensure a good learning environment at pharmacies during internship. In summary, this thesis contributes to the understanding of students’ learning during pharmacy internship and introduces educational research on the Swedish undergraduate pharmacy education programs.

The question of whether or not school makes a difference in preparing students for democratic citizenship has been debated for a long time in political science and curriculum studies. These discussions are mostly based on the results of international surveys measuring students’ political attitudes, values and participation. However, we first need to define what kind of prepared citizens are needed. This article takes on the definition issue and presents new perspectives by exploring how teachers in Social Science (Samhällskunskap) and their students in Sweden reason about engagement when they address complex societal issues such as globalisation. Based on interviews with a number of teachers and students I will argue that in order to understand what is going on in school we need to interpret Social Science teaching in terms of first- and second-order concepts, where the second-order concepts could be seen as "how to think like a social scientist". I will make a case that there is a didactic dilemma for teachers trying to educate students who are both trained in disciplinary thinking and leave school as politically engaged. However, this dilemma is not unsolvable and I will hold a position that it might contain answers to some of the questions that political scientists deal with in terms of engagement.

Scientific inquiry in K-12 classrooms tends to be procedural, lacking opportunities for students to gain understanding of how scientific knowledge is constructed through reflection, debate, and argument. Limited opportunity to develop scientific argumentation skills prevents students from practicing the scientific thinking needed to understand the nature of scientific knowledge and the role of scientific inquiry. To solve this problem in science education, recent research has focused on how to support student opportunities to learn scientific argumentation in the context of learning science content. The purpose of this investigation was to examine and analyze one science teacher's understanding of scientific argumentation and his teaching strategies for developing students' argumentation skills in the classroom. This investigation also analyzed student discourse in response to those teaching strategies, to see how students demonstrate improved scientific thinking skills while they developed skills in scientific argumentation. One science teacher, Mr. Field, and his students at the middle school level participated in this study for two months. Three interviews employing semi-structured protocols were used to examine Mr. Field's understanding of scientific argumentation. A structured observational protocol enhanced with field notes and audio tape recordings were employed to investigate Mr. Field's teaching strategies that led students to demonstrate scientific thinking skills. Transcriptions of student discourse and two lab reports were also analyzed for the quality of students' scientific thinking skills. Three different tools for argument analysis, Toulmin, Epistemic Operation, and Reasoning Complexity, were used to examine student argumentation in detail. The teacher, Mr. Field, defined scientific inquiry as the combination of developing procedural skills through hands-on activities and reasoning skills through argumentation. Seven different teaching strategies emerged based on sixty hours of classroom observation. Daily Science and the Claim-Evidence Approach were the two main teaching strategies that gave students opportunities to demonstrate the reasoning skills needed to construct scientific knowledge. However, students developed less extended arguments during Daily Science, whose purpose was to provide them with a chance to practice basic skills, such as differentiating independent variables from dependent. On the other hand, students developed more extended arguments during the Claim-Evidence Approach, where the purpose was to provide students with opportunities to develop claims, to find evidence from experiments to support the claims or refute those of others, and to discuss the limitation of the experiments. The less extended argumentation observed during these activities is described as a linear flow, moving from Mr. Field's question to students' answers to Mr. Field's evaluation at the end. The more extended argumentation can be described as a circular flow, moving from Mr. Field's question, to students' answers, to Mr. Field's evaluation with more prompts or questions, to students' responses as justification, to Mr. Field's general explanation based on students' justification, and finally to the teacher's or students' synthesis or applications. The former argumentation is named Fundamental Argumentation and the latter Exploring Argumentation. Fundamental Argumentation occurred more often than the other during this study. Shifting from Fundamental Argumentation to Exploring Argumentation was observed to depend on the teacher's scaffolding, such as using more extended questions and prompts to further the discussion. In addition, the students' abilities to develop scientific argumentation were related to their scientific knowledge, the teacher's engagement in interacting with students, and the opportunities students had to practice scientific argumentation. Limited scientific knowledge is believed to prevent students from demonstrating reasoning skills. Also, "wait time" that students need to retrieve knowledge, described by Mr. Field, is also believed to be one of the barriers to scientific argumentation in some of Mr. Field's classroom interaction. Further investigation of students' abilities to develop scientific argumentation in different contexts, such as group work and whole class discussion, is recommended with the use of the argument analysis tools employed in this study, in order to better understand the nature of learning and teaching scientific argumentation in the classroom. / Graduation date: 2006

The purpose of this thesis is to extrapolate through research the conceptual underpinnings of a body of artwork created by Matt Sigmon. The thesis explains the work in relation to art historical references to readymade art and the dilemmas that arise when fine art is compared to consumer commodities.

The purpose of this research was to assess the gain in critical thinking skills with a consideration of grade point averages during a semester in two high school home economics courses, and one language arts course which was used as a control group. The study was conducted by administering the California Critical Thinking Skills Test: College Level (CCTST) as a pretest and a posttest to students (n = 101) in three classes; Food Science, (grades 10 -12), Nutrition and Food Preparation, (grades 10 -12), and Intermediate Composition, (grade 1l). The study utilized a two-way fixed analysis of covariance design. The dependent variable was the adjusted CCTST posttest score. Independent variables consisted of grade point average (two levels, those students with g.p.a.'s of 2.75 or above and those with g.p.a.'s below 2.75), and class grouping (three levels, including Food Science, Intermediate Composition and Nutrition and Food Preparation). The covariate was the CCTST pretest score. Analyses were performed by SPSS/PC+, with covariate adjustment using the pretest as an influence on posttest scores. After adjustment by the covariate (pretest score), students with higher g.p.a.'s were found to be significantly higher on CCTST mean scores. No statistically significant main effect was found for levels of class group. In addition, no statistically significant interaction was observed between levels of class groups and grade point average. As a result of the findings, it is concluded that the students did not have statistically significant gain in critical thinking skills in any of the tested classes as assessed by the CCTST. There is a great need for students to learn critical thinking skills. Efforts must be included in the training of teachers so that they can guide students in learning critical thinking skills. An effort must be made to adjust lessons and change pedagogy so that students' critical thinking skills can be improved at the high school level. / Graduation date: 1993