Encouraging Critical Thinking Research Articles

Problem-solving abilities of radiography students at a South African university

Background. Developing the problem-solving skills of student radiographers is imperative for encouraging critical thinking and allowing them to work efficiently in an era of rapidly advancing technology. Students’ ability to demonstrate these skills was studied so that the Department of Radiography, at a comprehensive university in South Africa, could develop a more explicit curriculum to facilitate these competencies. Objective. To assess problem-solving skills of third-year radiography students at a comprehensive South African university. Methods. The study employed a descriptive exploratory design. The participants’ responses to vignettes (in the form of clinical scenarios) were analysed using a Likert scale and action verbs developed for evaluating evidence of problem-solving skills and providing quantitative data. Field notes were made while analysing responses to each question, providing qualitative data. Results. The findings indicate that the majority of participants demonstrated a minimal ability to problem solve in a vignette. This implies that to improve problem-solving skills of student radiographers, there is a need for curriculum adjustment to nurture and encourage this competency. Conclusion. Facilitators need to be taught methods to integrate problem solving into the curriculum, and learning material must be adjusted to accommodate problem solving for this skill to become part of the programme outcomes.

Preconditions for development of generic competencies by teaching biology in the general education school: the aspect of the content of textbooks for classes 9 and 10

The article deals with educational peculiarities, which highlight modern educational priorities, of the content of textbooks for classes 9 and 10 prepared during the current three years by individual Lithuanian authors. Applying content assessment analysis, didactic principles of preparation of textbooks were examined, and forms of educational expression of generic competencies (ability to learn, cognition, communication, use of ICT and other) in textual, visual, practical and other materials of these learning aids were revealed.During the research it was established that the key point of the content structure of modern textbooks is assistance to the student and the teacher. To achieve the set aim textbooks contain not only knowledge, but they also advise, encourage, motivate, indicate a learning direction, provide possibilities for students to check and evaluate their achievements themselves.Modern didactic principles are reflected in the content of textbooks in different forms which are accessible to students. One of them, i.e. a principle of accessibility, could be noted as it is revealed on the basis of the peculiarities of students‘ developmental cognitive psychology and logic; however, inborn or acquired special needs, learning styles of individual students are considered only in part. A principle of integrityis particularly distinct in the content of textbooks from the point of view of the subject, internal and socio-cultural integration. In the content of „Biology 9” and “Biology 10“, interdisciplinary integration is emphasized more. This educational principle is aimed at linking knowledge of different subjects by notional relationships. In the textbooks of „Bios“ series more attention is given to internal integration of the subject. It is guaranteed linking concepts and conceptions of the same subject by internal interrelations. Application of sociocultural integration aims at developing students’ general scientific conception. This principle of integration is expressed by linking concepts of ecology, healthy lifestyle, consumer culture or other areas with the biology subject content.Analysis of textbooks from the point of generic competencies demonstrated that this educational aspect is particularly distinct in the textbooks published in 2010–2012. In their content, it is aimed at developing generic competencies through certain sections, topics, tasks: ability to learn– “How to Study Biology”; the following rubrics are devoted for the developmentof a cognitive competency: “Science Report”, “Do it Practically”, “Laboratory”, “Method”;an ICT application competencyis developed by teaching how to use the opportunities provided by these technologies in searching, summarizing or submitting information, or processing the data of researches, tests and observations, examining or modelling phenomena. To achieve this aim, relevant Internet websites that can be used both in the classroom and at home are indicated; communication, initiative and creativity competenciesare developed through discussions of the tasks performed, debates, analysis and assessment of the results of the work, drawing conclusions.A social competencyis developed through the ability to socialize and cooperate, respect for the person, his rights and dignity. The content of the analyzed textbooks is characterized by a rather innovative biology education system, i.e. a constructivist approach to teaching (and learning) is evident, modern didactics and a provision of education (self-education) targeted to learning activities is emphasized. The mentioned learning activities involve: independent and active students’ learning, working in pairs or in groups, information search and its presentation, science research, vocational orientation.The material is presented in a form of problems, life situations encouraging critical thinking are created; the phenomena analyzed in topics are associated with the currently topical issues and presented according to the latest discoveries and technologies.

Studying Nature In Situ: Immersive Education for Better Integrated Water Management

AbstractThe term immersive education is currently used in two educational areas – language education, which involves students being totally immersed in a language and its culture; and virtual education, where teachers use computers and simulation games to immerse learners in a virtual, computer‐generated environment that mimics a real‐world environment and allows learners to interact with it. This paper uses examples from university teaching practices in marine studies and coastal zone management to make a case for a third definition for immersive education in tertiary settings – educating water managers by immersing and guiding them through real‐world situations that involve understanding and managing water, biodiversity, catchments, and people, and the interactions between them. Immersive education of this third kind, and traditional tertiary education approaches such as lectures and demonstrations, are compared, and the advantages of immersive education are discussed. The examples from practice and discussion presented show immersive education as being experiential and real, process‐driven, trans‐disciplinary, collaborative, participatory, and active, encouraging critical thinking and a renegotiation of power in relationships between participants. Such immersive education develops passion and persuasive capacity in students, providing personal experiences that are memorable and potentially life‐changing. Challenges to immersive education in tertiary education, including lack of finances, teacher burn‐out, safety concerns, and inertia to maintain the status quo of traditional education, are highlighted, as are ways to overcome these.

정보영재의 창의적 문제해결력을 위한 STEAM 기반 쓰기 활용 전략

본 논문에서는 정보영재의 창의적 문제해결력 향상을 위한 STEAM 기반 쓰기 활용 전략을 제안한다. 창의적 문제해결(creative problem solving)을 위해서는 다양한 요소의 복합적이며 역동적인 상호작용이 필요하며, 이러한 상호작용을 유도하고 실세계의 복잡한 문제를 해결할 수 있는 능력을 함양하기 위해서는 융합교육을 통해 다양한 학문을 아우르는 학습 경험을 제공해야 한다. 또한, 다양한 교과에서 이미 교육적 효과가 검증된 쓰기는 비판적 사고를 유도하고 문제해결의 시작이라 할 수 있는 문제인식을 도와 창의적 문제해결에 긍정적 영향을 줄 뿐만 아니라, 문제 해결과정과의 유사성을 바탕으로 문제해결력 향상을 위한 효과적인 도구로 쓰일 수 있다. 학습자들은 일상생활에서 흔히 사용하는 자판기, 휴대전화 같은 첨단기술 제품을 사용한 경험을 쓰고 분석하는 과정을 통해 알고리즘을 찾고 실생활에 쓰이는 여러 학문의 원리를 자연스럽게 학습하면서 다양한 사고의 융합과 상호작용을 경험하고 창의적 문제해결력을 함양할 수 있다. In this paper, we propose an a strategy using writing based on STEAM Instruction for information gifted students' creative problem-solving. It is needed a complex and dynamic interaction of variety elements for creative problem solving. And it should be provided experience encompassing various disciplines thorough convergence education for leading to the these interactions and developing the ability to solve complex problems. Writing has already been verified educational effects in a variety subjects. And writing gives a positive impact on creative problem solving by helping awareness of the problem and encouraging critical thinking. In addition, writing can be used as an effective tool for improving problem solving based on similarities between problem-solving process. Learners will find algorithm thorough the process analyzing and writing experience with high-tech products like vending machines, mobile phones and can learn naturally the principles of various disciplines used in real life. Furthermore, learners will experience interaction, convergence of various thinking and cultivate creative problem- solving skills.

Using higher order thinking questions to foster critical thinking: a classroom study

To determine if quizzes containing higher order thinking questions are related to critical thinking and test performance when utilised in conjunction with an immersion approach to instruction and effort-based grading, sections of an Educational Psychology course were assigned to one of three quizzing conditions. Quizzes contained factual multiple-choice questions, factual essay questions or essay items requiring higher order thinking. Critical thinking was measured with a pre-test–post-test design and the Watson–Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (Short Form). Classroom learning was assessed via multiple-choice and essay tests. Critical thinking increased equally across all sections. The section receiving higher order thinking quizzes performed significantly better than the other two sections on both the multiple-choice and essay portions of the classroom tests. The implications of these findings are discussed in the context of methodological approaches to encouraging critical thinking.

Influences on children’s environmental cognition: a comparative analysis of New Zealand and Mexico

This paper investigates Mexican and New Zealand children’s conception of the environment and their understandings of environmental issues, focusing on how personal experiences, culture and school-based environmental education (EE) programmes influence their perspectives. Sixty Year 5 children (age 9–11) from three schools in Dunedin (New Zealand) and three schools from Ensenada (Mexico), their teachers and school principals were interviewed. The study found that children from both cities had limited opportunities for contact with nature. Most children understood the environment as nature, and did not typically link environmental problems to human activities or social causes. Rarely were children critical of the effect of socio-economic structure on the environment. The analysis shows that children’s understandings of the environment are connected to their personal experiences and mediated by culture. Children from Ensenada had a more global perspective on environmental issues but a more passive attitude towards their local environment, participating in fewer environmental activities than children from Dunedin. In both countries, children from schools with an EE programme did translate environmental practices learnt at school into environmental practices at home. Based on our results, EE could be improved by considering the cultural context, enhancing children’s contact with nature, encouraging critical thinking and more environmental activities.

Linking teaching and research in the field of public health: the Bulgarian experience

We describe our perception of the link between teaching and research at South West University (SWU) in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria. This analysis is based on a reflection of the existing curricula and research infrastructure at the Faculty of Public Health and Sports (FPHS) and a literature review of currently explored concepts and definitions connected to linking teaching and research. The research was conducted from April to December 2011 and was financed by the university. On the basis of our review we have proposed a framework for integrating teaching, research, and practice for the FPHS. We describe the key prerequisites for linking research and teaching and its clinical representation in Bachelor and Master's degree programs with the aim of encouraging critical thinking and clinical problem-solving skills in students and teachers.

Action learning and critical thinking: a synthesis of two models

Recent scholarship and the news media have identified a lack of critical thinking and ethical behavior in the business world. These deficiencies have led to faulty decision-making, ineffective planning, and frequent organizational dysfunction. This situation has focused attention on both practitioners in the field of business and on the university programs that educate them. A number of upper-tier universities have begun to address these important issues by exploring ways of revising their Master of Business Administration programs to place greater emphasis on their graduates' ability to think critically and consider ethical implications before and after taking action. The authors propose a potential means of addressing these issues in both the business and academic environments through a synthesis of two well-established models based on the constructs of critical thinking and action learning. This synthesis has the potential to produce symbiotic and synergistic effects that may provide educators and practitioners with a new tool for encouraging critical thinking and ethical behavior. The implications for future research and practice are also discussed.

Public Health Action: a new home for operational research.

This month sees the appearance of the new scientific journal, Public Health Action. Is there a need for such a journal? What does it bring to a field where many other journals already publish new knowledge? The journal has been launched by the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union) for the purpose of encouraging critical thinking directed to improving the quality of health services and systems for the poor. When we consider the burden of disease the poor suffer, we must conclude that relieving this burden is not primarily in knowing what to do, but rather in knowing how to do it. If we took the knowledge we already have and applied it in a feasible, sustainable, efficient and appropriate manner, we would go a long way to addressing the goal The Union has set for itself, namely ‘Health solutions for the poor’. This is what operational research is about. What is the specific focus of the new journal? It welcomes submissions that provide new knowledge concerning health services and systems for the poor so that action can be taken to improve these services and systems and to reduce their burden of disease. The articles in this first issue of PHA illustrate this very well: they report operational research from health services in Malawi,1–3 Pakistan,4 Ethiopia 5 and South Africa.6 The publications focus on services in the public sector as well as humanitarian projects addressing tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, malnutrition and malaria. The articles illustrate exactly what PHA is aiming to address, i.e., those conditions that are prevalent among the poor and that pose risks to life and health. Moreover, the focus of these manuscripts is on the practical work of those caring for such patients and clients, from services and systems for diagnosis, to treatment and to management of health information. When I mentioned to a respected colleague who specializes in clinical trials that we were planning to launch a new journal focused on operational research, he posed the question, ‘Is that really scientific research?’ Such a question is neither rare nor surprising. The place of operational research in the canon of science is far from generally recognized and it needs to be defended. The series of articles published in this issue demonstrate the scientific nature of operational research. They use rigorous scientific methods, generally address hypotheses, make comparisons, employ statistical analysis, draw conclusions that have relevance for the services and systems they are studying and provide new knowledge from which action can be taken to improve these services and systems. Public Health Action is here, it is freely accessible and it welcomes reports of research of the type illustrated in this issue. We hope that the new knowledge it publishes will provide the ‘Health solutions for the poor’ that is the reason The Union launched this journal.

The Perceived Value of an Extension Leadership Network: Enhancing Personal and Organizational Effectiveness

This study was designed to determine the value of the Southern Region Cooperative Extension Program Leadership Network in the United States. Of particular interest was determining the value added by the network for individual extension administrators, their state organizations, and the southern region. The researchers conducted a series of focus groups and an electronic survey of the members of the Southern Region Cooperative Extension Program Leadership Network to determine the value of the network. The Program Leadership Network was found to provide great value for the vast majority of study participants at the individual, team, and organizational levels. This value included enhancing individual performance, encouraging critical thinking, catalyzing best practices, providing opportunities for leadership and skill development, enhancing the relationship between extension programmes, and serving as a think tank for regional and national initiatives. Extension and programme administrators in other regions and countries should examine leadership networks to determine if they are adding value to extension work. Development of a network similar to the Southern Region Cooperative Extension Program Leadership Network could improve individual, team, and organizational effectiveness. This is especially true for enhancing multistate, regional, and national programming. Extension systems and workers will find value in this study since the results indicate that networking of extension workers enhances personal, team, and organizational performance. A secondary value includes the increased number of multistate, regional, and national coordination of extension programming efforts.

Research at the Bedside: Comparison of Blood Pressure Measurements

It is always desirable to bring nursing research to the bedside, thus making research meaningful to the direct care nurse. Encouraging critical thinking by utilizing a problem-solving approach has been shown to affect nurses' utilization of research. Implementing evidence-based practice demonstrates a problem-solving approach that disavows a reliance on “the way things have always been done.” The Rosswurm and Larrabee model for evidence-based practice mimics the traditional nursing process of assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation, which makes it a logical model for the direct care nurse to use in the design and evaluation of evidence-based practice change.

Classroom participation: A student perspective

Encouraging associate degree nursing students to participate during class is an essential step in facilitating learning and encouraging critical thinking. However, students remain reluctant to participate in classroom discussion for a variety of reasons. This project provides insight into students' perspectives on classroom participation and recommendations to increase levels of student participation based on these insights.

<b>Personal Reflection:</b> A Reflection on Encouraging Critical Thinking and Empathy: Using So-TL to Examine Teaching Effectiveness in a Social Justice in Graduate Education Class

This essay addresses the search for a more comprehensive and reflective method through which to analyze the efficacy of my teaching approach in a graduate level social justice in education class. I explored tenets of scholarship in teaching and learning as a basis for developing a more coherent and organic assessment approach, with the goal of assisting students to better address the intellectual challenges posed by the discussion and application of sensitive social justice topics. I was also interested in using scholarship of teaching and learning to analyze the effectiveness of the applied anthropological approach, now employed to assist culturally homogeneous graduate students and classroom teachers develop more empathic attitudes towards their international, multi-ethnic classroom population while examining their own approach to student learning outcomes.

The relationship between academics' conceptions of knowledge, research and teaching – a metaphor study

Universities are supposed to be institutes where research and teaching are closely related. To understand this relationship fully, it is necessary to learn how academics perceive these key components. Different conceptions among academics may stem from varying conceptions of knowledge. Thirty academics were interviewed by means of metaphors about their conceptions of research, teaching and knowledge. academics' conceptions of knowledge ranged from knowledge as facts in an external world to knowledge as a personal construction. Their conceptions of research ranged from research as disclosing patterns to research as creating patterns. Their conceptions of teaching ranged from teaching as knowledge transmission to teaching as encouraging critical thinking. Regarding the relationships between these conceptions, academics' conceptions of knowledge and research were shown to be closely linked, while their conceptions of teaching had a weaker association with their conceptions of knowledge and research.

Teaching evidence-based practice to speech and language therapy students in the United Kingdom

We outline three ways in which evidence-based practice (EBP) is formally embedded into the curricula for pre-registration Speech and Language Therapy students and experienced Speech and Language Therapists at Newcastle University in the United Kingdom. We describe key features of an undergraduate module, an undergraduate clinical placement, and a new Master's degree program, each aimed at encouraging critical thinking and clinical problem-solving skills in students.

Building a Strong Web: Connecting Information Spaces in Schools and Communities

Informed by Progressive education reforms of the nineteenth and twentieth century, progressive movements in librarianship, the social responsibility movement within the American Library Association (ALA), and recent collaborations of ALA’s youth-focused divisions, the authors link historical precedents with current examples, ideas, and practices to inform initiatives in education and literacy programming. Progressive librarians and educators share a history of common goals. The article explores how these histories connect with current examples of interinstitutional collaborations among educators, school libraries, public libraries, universities, and community organizations. This paper traces Progressive librarianship to Youth Community Informatics (YCI), collaborative programs in which public libraries, school libraries, teachers, community organizations, and universities connect to form new services or teaching models that connect learning to life in an integrated way. These programs are developing innovative approaches to teaching students; promoting literacy; and encouraging critical thinking and community connectedness within schools, libraries, and community contexts.

Encouraging Critical Thinking in Online Threaded Discussions

Critical thinking is a highly desirable goal of online higher education courses. This article presents qualitative data from a mixed-method study that explores how asynchronous discussions within online courses influence critical thinking among students. In this study, online discussions were related to higher levels of critical thinking, but qualitative data indicate that the way discussions are used and facilitated is vital for encouraging critical thinking. Online discussions typically have the purpose of creating a space and time for informal, open-ended thinking to occur. Critical thinking appears to be best encouraged among students when a more consistent emphasis is placed on the discussions, and when instructor facilitation is less frequent but more purposeful.

Students’ perception of the characteristics of effective bedside teachers

Background and methods: To determine a student perspective of the characteristics of ideal bedside teachers, a 25-item questionnaire was administered to 84 final-year medical students. The items were constructed to check for two domains of ‘Communication’ and of ‘Demographics’. The former included behaviours such as providing constructive feedback, respecting patient confidentiality and encouraging critical thinking, while the latter included characteristics such as gender, academic rank and language skills.Results: The students identified the characteristics in the ‘Communication’ domain as being far more important determinants of ideal bedside teaching than the ‘Demographics’ domain. Factor analysis showed that of the questions designed to determine communication all but one loaded unequivocally into a single factor, while the demographics were best described by two additional factors. Both these factors represented teacher properties that were difficult or impossible for the teacher to modify, while those in the communication domain were all amenable to change.Conclusions: These results are consistent with data from the literature on the broader aspects of clinical teaching, and imply that the ideal bedside teaching experience from the perspective of the students is heavily influenced by teacher behaviours than that can be modified.Practice pointsStudents' views of the ideal bedside teaching experience fall into two broad domains.Factors concerned with “communication” are closely correlated with teaching excellence.Factors concerned with “demographics” play an inconsistent role in good teaching.The most important determinants are things that are within the instructors power to change.

Danger and Opportunity

Evidence-based practice has received increased emphasis within the social work field in the past decade and social work educational programs are including more evidence-based practice content in their curricula. This article examines some issues social work educators may wish to consider as they teach evidence-based practice to social work students, including encouraging student critical thinking, rather than simple acceptance of any practice guideline labeled “evidence-based,” enhancing student awareness of potential misuses of evidence-based practices, and facilitating exploration of evidence-based practices within the larger context of social work values. Recommendations for addressing these issues are provided.

Not Just a Humorous Text: Humor as Text in the Writing Class

The use of humorous texts in the writing class can help students improve skills in effective writing while encouraging critical thinking and an increased range in expression. In addition, because of the accessible nature of humor and the focus on purpose and audience that is necessary when writing it, students show a natural inclination toward peer review and recursive writing, with an enthusiasm that is often lacking when working with traditional texts in the writing class.