Development Of Thinking Skills Research Articles

The development of inventive thinking skills in the upper secondary language classroom

The given paper presents the results of an empirical study into the efficacy of the Thinking Approach (TA) to language teaching and learning which is aimed at the development of students’ inventive thinking skills in the context of foreign language education, namely learning of English. The study was conducted among upper secondary students of two schools in Latvia and aimed to answer whether students working with the Thinking Approach demonstrate an increase in their inventive thinking skills. An inventive thinking test was employed as the research instrument. The results of the study suggest that students working with the TA demonstrate a significant increase in their inventive thinking skills in comparison with the control group ( t = 3.32, p = 0.001). At the same time a number of limiting factors that appeared in the process of the study due to its naturalistic setting call for further research that could increase the reliability of the findings.

A Review of e-Learning in Canada: A Rough Sketch of the Evidence, Gaps and Promising Directions

A Review of e-Learning in Canada: A Rough Sketch of the Evidence, Gaps and Promising Directions

Creative brainstorming and integrative thinking: skills for twenty‐first century managers

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce examples and methods of incorporating creative brainstorming and integrative thinking skills into training programs.Design/methodology/approach – The paper discusses an innovative training program as a case study to demonstrate the application of creative brainstorming and thinking skills into the design of the program.Findings – Interdisciplinary thinking, engagement, flexibility, individual customization, collaboration and inspiration are critical to the development of creative and integrative thinking skills for managers.Practical implications – This paper invites trainers and practitioners to consider new perspectives and customized approaches to develop creative and inter‐disciplinary thinking skills for managers.Originality/value – This paper opens up new possibilities for innovation and customization in training programs to develop creative thinking skills.

Early Field Experience Documents In Agricultural Education

The purpose of this study was to describe the means by which early field experience (EFE) is implemented within the context of agricultural teacher education.A content analysis using course documents obtained directly from each program's teacher education coordinator was determined to be the most appropriate method to accomplish the purpose and objectives of this study.Thirty-eight of the 82 agricultural teacher education programs responded by providing 57 unique, usable EFE documents. The study found that the most common purposes articulated in these documents were career exploration and observation.Secondary purposes of EFE were instruction and assisting in the classroom.The primary activities to achieve the purposes of EFE were observation, practice teaching, and reflection.A major finding of this study was that over three-fourths of the programs refer to observation as both a purpose and an activity.It is recommended that teacher education programs develop EFE programs that go beyond exploration and, using the established professional EFE standards, require more than non-academic, procedural-based activities.Programs could benefit from the development of EFE programs into a sound educational component focused on the application of professional and pedagogical knowledge and the development of critical reflection and higher-order thinking skills.

Reasoning about multiple variables: Control of variables is not the only challenge

AbstractThirty fourth‐grade students participated in an extended intervention previously successful in fostering skills of scientific investigation and inference, notably control of variables (COV). The intervention was similarly successful for a majority of students in the present study, enabling them to isolate the three causal and two noncausal variables operating in a multivariable system. However, when asked to predict outcomes of various constellations of variable levels, they tended not to take into account the effects of all of the causal variables they had identified. Moreover, they did not adhere to a consistency principle, i.e., that a factor that produces an effect can be expected to produce the same effect in the future, given similar conditions. These findings suggest that COV is not the only challenge students experience in reasoning about multiple variables. Elementary‐school students' mental models of multivariable causality appear to deviate from a normative, scientific model, even after they have mastered that aspect of scientific method having to do with the design of controlled experiments to isolate effects of individual variables. The challenges, beyond COV, that appear to be involved in making prediction judgments involving multiple variables warrant attention in the design of curricula to foster development of scientific thinking skills. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed 91:710–726, 2007

The development of scientific thinking skills in elementary and middle school

The goal of this article is to provide an integrative review of research that has been conducted on the development of children’s scientific reasoning. Broadly defined, scientific thinking includes the skills involved in inquiry, experimentation, evidence evaluation, and inference that are done in the service of conceptual change or scientific understanding. Therefore, the focus is on the thinking and reasoning skills that support the formation and modification of concepts and theories about the natural and social world. Recent trends include a focus on definitional, methodological and conceptual issues regarding what is normative and authentic in the context of the science lab and the science classroom, an increased focus on metacognitive and metastrategic skills, and explorations of different types of instructional and practice opportunities that are required for the development, consolidation and subsequent transfer of such skills.

PowerPoint, habits of mind, and classroom culture

In lecture halls, in secondary school classrooms, during training workshops, and at research conferences, PowerPoint is becoming a preferred method of communicating, presenting, and sharing knowledge. Questions have been raised about the implications of the use of this new medium for knowledge dissemination. It is suggested PowerPoint supports a cognitive and pedagogical style inconsistent with both the development of higher analytical thinking skills and the acquisition of rich narrative and interpretive understanding. This paper examines how PowerPoint invites and seduces educators to reshape knowledge in particular ways, and subsequently how this knowledge is presented to students in the classroom. The particular forms of knowing, relating, and presenting with PowerPoint are decided in part by teacher habituation to the software tool’s default patterns, but also by the very nature of the presentation medium itself.

Creative dance: Singapore children's creative thinking and problem‐solving responses

An important outcome of Singapore's education system is the development of creative thinking skills. This project investigates the impact of a creative dance unit on a class of Primary One (seven‐year‐old) children's usage of bodily kinaesthetic intelligence to solve problems. One key objective was for the researchers to observe something new, something that stimulated the children to deviate from their normal range of motion. Students were observed across five sessions in order to document any progressive learning, particularly in their kinaesthetic responses to the problem‐solving tasks. These kinaesthetic responses serve as the primary data source for this paper. Our belief was that creative thinking and problem solving are learnable and teachable skills. We hypothesized that in spite of children's lack of dance education, there would be an observable increase in creative thinking as expressed in varied solutions to movement problems over the course of five sessions. A programme of instruction and curricular materials has been designed to support the acquisition of cognitive skills and subject‐matter knowledge and increase students' proficiency in problem solving and experimentation using the tools of dance.

Journal Writing and the Development of Spatial Thinking Skills

Informal journal writing in freshman level World Regional Geography classes is discussed as an active learning method that helps students to develop their spatial perspective and gain a better understanding of the interconnected nature of geographic phenomena. In particular, students read about events in the world and write their ideas about the geographic nature and implications of those events. Thinking spatially and thinking critically by creating their own framework for interpreting the event and applying concepts learned in class means that students are actively participating in their own learning. Ongoing instructor feedback and assessment are essential to this learning activity and are discussed as part of this exercise.

DESIGNING A CASE ON PLANT PHYSIOLOGY FOR THE REAL WORLD

A new course design was implemented in a plant physiology course using a case-based learning design. Three cases formed the basis of tutorial groups for internal students and for facilitated online discussion groups for distance students using the WebCT platform. The design was constructed to encourage the development of higher order cognitive thinking skills in an environment of authentic situated learning, to foster self-directed learning skills and to provide better opportunities for peer interaction. The new design also aimed to improve student engagement with and understanding of the content. The design was evaluated using a range of evaluation tools: an initial self-directed learning skills survey; focus groups; individual interviews; an anonymous teacher evaluation survey; and by examination results. Initially, it was evident that internal and distance students had different strengths in their learning skills. Internal students had quite well developed teamwork skills but appeared to be less able self-directed learners. Distance mode students relied on their well-developed self-directed learning skills but showed poorly developed group and teamwork skills. The new design appeared to initiate the development of self-directed learning skills of the internal student cohort and teamwork skills in distance learners. Although the first case was time intensive for teaching staff and difficult to implement (particularly in distance mode), both student cohorts responded positively to the new course design. An important outcome of the new approach, based on the preliminary observations, was the reduction in failure rates across both cohorts compared to the previous year. The student evaluations clearly identified areas where further improvement to the design could occur, particularly the inclusion of better orientation and scaffolding for the first case. The design has been refined for implementation and the concept has been translated to other undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

How Students Think: Implications for Learning in Introductory Geoscience Courses

Non-major students in introductory geoscience classes exhibit a wide range of intellectual development. Approximately half of these students do not have the skills to understand the abstract scientific concepts traditionally discussed in introductory classes. Many geological concepts will remain unlearned without appropriate activities that build on a foundation of concrete examples. The good news is that these same students can improve their logical thinking skills when they participate in challenging in-class collaborative learning exercises with their more intellectually sophisticated peers. While the exercises themselves are important in promoting the development of higher-order thinking skills, the group interaction also appears to be a significant contributor to the improvement of reasoning.

Comparisons of Higher-Order Thinking Skills among Prospective Freshmen and Upper-Level Preservice Music Education Majors

High school students aspiring to become music educators ( N=116) and upper-level music education majors ( N=130) took part in this investigation comparing higher-order thinking skills in an observation analysis task. We used certain procedures from previous investigations (Sheldon & DeNardo, 2004; Standley & Madsen, 1991). Upperclassmen demonstrated greater higher-order thinking skills, measured by success in providing descriptive and inferential statements in an observation task, compared to prospective freshmen. This outcome is consistent with those of prior studies (Sheldon & DeNardo, 2004; Standley & Madsen, 1991) and suggests that the continued development of higher-order thinking skills among prospective music educators can be cultivated within an undergraduate music education degree program. When entrance examination variables of prospective freshmen were analyzed for relationships, few strong correlations were found. February 27, 2004 December 14, 2004.

The Case for a Cooperative Studio Classroom: Teaching Petrology in a Different Way

To improve our Petrology course, I have changed it from a lab-lecture format to one that emphasizes studio and cooperative learning. The goals of the changes are to: (1) improve student learning by covering (a smaller number of) topics in greater depth, (2) deemphasize knowledge-based learning and emphasize development of higher order thinking skills (comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, evaluation), and (3) help our students develop good habits of the mind and fundamental skills useful for lifelong learning.The reformatted course requires that students take more responsibility for their learning. I and the teaching assistant act as mentors, guiding students as they carry out the learning process. Lab and lecture sessions are seamlessly combined. Formal lectures are short and rare. Instead, students do many group projects, studying complex problems in depth. The content covered in the semester is less than in a more traditional class but the learning is greater.After one semester, a multipronged assessment reveals that students like the redesigned course and believe they learn more than in a traditional course. They report no major problems. I, too, have found the redesigned course to be a success. It met all of the initial goals, was successful in many other ways, and will lead to improvements in other classes and in our curricula.

Evolution Towards A Clinical Pharmacy Degree Program: A U.S. Perspective

Pharmacy practice is progressing toward the future with the addition of 2 years to the Japanese pharmacy school curriculum by the year 2006. With a 6-year pharmacy degree, graduating pharmacists can provide more pharmaceutical care to patients in hospitals and community pharmacies than ever before. In the United States, the clinical pharmacy movement began to evolve during the 1960's. Several key philosophical changes and structural modifications to the pharmacy curriculum prepared graduates for new roles in patient education, communication with physicians, independent learning, and problem-solving. Patient case discussions through the small group, problem-based learning (PBL) approach are essential courses for the development of analytical thinking skills. Students are required to justify their choices with evidence-based primary literature. The curriculum is also strengthened by including participatory experiences, such as clinical rotations, within the curriculum structure prior to graduation. The clinical pharmacy movement was successful and now pharmacists in the United States perform a broad scope of patient-oriented clinical practice activities, such as preventative healthcare screening and monitoring of cholesterol, blood glucose, and hemoglobin Alc blood levels, taking blood pressure measurements, administering immunizations and providing more patient education than ever before.

Critical thinking and cognitive transfer: Implications for the development of online information literacy tutorials

The definitions of information literacy make it clear that it is concerned with higher-order thinking skills. This article surveys the literature on critical thinking and extrapolates pedagogical requirements for fostering the development and use of higher-order thinking skills. It then considers these requirements in relation to the development of computer-assisted instructional tools, such as Web-based information literacy tutorials. Needs for further collaboration are discussed.

A qualitative tool for critical thinking skill development.

Quantitative measures were not meeting the needs of faculty for evaluating critical thinking among Baccalaureate of Science Nursing students. The authors discuss the critical thinking self-reflection tool that was developed for teaching critical thinking and qualitatively evaluating changes over time with established interrater reliability and content validity. The tool is consistent with the concepts of critical thinking in the curriculum and was implemented systematically in all clinical nursing courses.

Using Tutorials in the Development of Economics and Management Thinking Skills

One of the primary goals of educating in economics and management (E&M) is to teach students to think for themselves rather than repeat text-book theories. Drawing upon my own teaching experiences, I will discuss a framework for tutorial-based teaching of applied E&M thinking. The paper discusses results to date from the use of this framework as well as lessons learned which might be applicable to a range of University and non-University based programmes teaching skills in economics and management.

The use of assessment in the development of higher-order thinking skills

In an increasingly complex and specialised society, it is imperative that individuals think critically and creatively. This kind of thinking is also required to achieve the critical outcomes as stated in the Revised National Curriculum Statement for South Africa. It seems, however, that higher-order thinking is unlikely to occur unless learners are engaged in activities that deliberately promote this kind of thinking. They should also be guided on how to engage in these complex thinking tasks. The aim of this article is to reflect on the use of assessment to promote learners' higher-order thinking skills. The role of assessment has implications for the nature of teacher training programmes. If lecturers model the way assessment can be done to develop higher-order thinking skills, it is hoped that teachers will have little difficulty in adapting it to their unique classroom situations. Examples from language modules of an in-service teacher training programme are used to show how assessment can be implemented to help learners develop higher-order thinking skills within the framework of outcomes-based education and the Revised National Curriculum Statement.

Student Attitudes and the Impact of GIS on Thinking Skills and Motivation

The value of GIS within school curricula seems well perceived but ill-substantiated. This paper discusses the role of GIS in the development of higher order thinking skills and in motivating student learning. It then reports on attitudinal surveys undertaken before and after student exposure to GIS-related tasks. The tasks formed part of four subjects within three year levels. Data were collected from 109 students from two schools. Individual survey items were evaluated using a t-test for paired means and a two-tailed test for significance. Weighted average responses for the five constructs being surveyed were calculated. Attitudinal improvements were found in three of these: perceived usefulness of computers, perceived control of computers and behavioural attitude to computers. The weighted average declined for the remaining two constructs: attitude to subject and affective attitude toward computers. These data suggest that GIS influences student ability to utilise higher level thinking skills within a context of enhanced relevance.

SOME IMPLICATIONS OF THE RESULTS OF A CASE STUDY FOR THE DESIGN OF PRE-CONSTRUCTED, DYNAMIC GEOMETRY SKETCHES AND ACCOMPANYING MATERIALS

The study that informs this article was undertaken to investigate the benefits and limitations of using pre-constructed,web-based, dynamic geometry sketches inactivities related to deductive proof at the secondary school level. Two distinct themes emerged from analysis of the results– first, the relationship between the activities and the development of geometric thinking skills, and second, the relationship between the design of the materials, and the exploration process. This article focuses on the latter. An analysis of the data showed that task question and sketch provision must work together to create an environment for exploration. It also indicated that explicit attention to visual interpretation and exploration using change is required in order for students to benefit fully from their experiences with pre-constructed dynamic geometry sketches. This article draws attention to the idea that pre-constructed dynamic sketches(whether web-based or not) and accompanying materials are central elements of the learning activity of which they are a part,and therefore, that decisions about their design have the potential to support or impede the development of exploration strategies and geometric thinking skills. An examination of student responses to particular questions in light of visual and dynamic geometry research suggests that through the materials we may be able to improve students' use of the mathematical investigation process in exploring pre-constructed dynamic geometry sketches.