Thinking Critically about Critical Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mulnix, Jennifer Wilson

2012-01-01

As a philosophy professor, one of my central goals is to teach students to think critically. However, one difficulty with determining whether critical thinking can be taught, or even measured, is that there is widespread disagreement over what critical thinking actually is. Here, I reflect on several conceptions of critical thinking, subjecting…

Examination of the Computational Thinking Skills of Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Korucu, Agah Tugrul; Gencturk, Abdullah Tarik; Gundogdu, Mustafa Mucahit

2017-01-01

Computational thinking is generally considered as a kind of analytical way of thinking. According to Wings (2008) it shares with mathematical thinking, engineering thinking and scientific thinking in the general ways in which we may use for solving a problem, designing and evaluating complex systems or understanding computability and intelligence…

Models, measurement, and strategies in developing critical-thinking skills.

PubMed

Brunt, Barbara A

2005-01-01

Health care professionals must use critical-thinking skills to solve increasingly complex problems. Educators need to help nurses develop their critical-thinking skills to maintain and enhance their competence. This article reviews various models of critical thinking, as well as methods used to evaluate critical thinking. Specific educational strategies to develop nurses' critical-thinking skills are discussed. Additional research studies are needed to determine how the process of nursing practice can nurture and develop critical-thinking skills, and which strategies are most effective in developing and evaluating critical thinking.

Eying the future: Eye movement in past and future thinking.

PubMed

El Haj, Mohamad; Lenoble, Quentin

2017-06-07

We investigated eye movement during past and future thinking. Participants were invited to retrieve past events and to imagine future events while their scan path was recorded by an eye-tracker. Past thinking triggered more fixation (p < .05), and saccade counts (p < .05) than future thinking. Past and future thinking triggered a similar duration of fixations and saccades, as well as a similar amplitude of saccades. Interestingly, participants rated past thinking as more vivid than future thinking (p < .01). Therefore, the vividness of past thinking seems to be accompanied by an increased number of fixations and saccades. Fixations and saccades in past thinking can be interpreted as an attempt by the visual system to find (through saccades) and activate (through fixations) stored memory representations. The same interpretation can be applied to future thinking as this ability requires activation of past experiences. However, future thinking triggers fewer fixations and saccades than past thinking: this may be due to its decreased demand on visual imagery, but could also be related to a potentially deleterious effect of eye movements on spatial imagery required for future thinking. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Lateral Thinking of Prospective Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lawrence, A. S. Arul; Xavier, S. Amaladoss

2013-01-01

Edward de Bono who invented the term "lateral thinking" in 1967 is the pioneer of lateral thinking. Lateral thinking is concerned with the generation of new ideas. Liberation from old ideas and the stimulation of new ones are twin aspects of lateral thinking. Lateral thinking is a creative skills from which all people can benefit…

A Preliminary Investigation into Critical Thinking of Urban Xi'an High School Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhou, Qing; Wang, Xiang; Yao, Linna

2007-01-01

This paper reports the development of critical thinking of urban high school students in the Chinese city of Xi'an. It presents the assessment of the students' two components of critical thinking: dispositions towards critical thinking and critical thinking skills, using the California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory and the California…

Does a Business Curriculum Develop or Filter Critical Thinking?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coleman, B. Jay; Mason, Paul; Steagall, Jeffrey W.

2012-01-01

We investigate whether a business curriculum develops critical thinking ability or at least serves as a filter for critical thinking (i.e., students who cannot think critically tend not to progress toward graduation). We measure critical thinking by performance on the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal Short Form which was administered to a…

Critical Thinking Disposition and Skills in Dental Students: Development and Relationship to Academic Outcomes.

PubMed

Whitney, Eli M; Aleksejuniene, Jolanta; Walton, Joanne N

2016-08-01

Critical thinking is a key element of complex problem-solving and professional behavior. An ideal critical thinking measurement instrument would be able to accurately predict which dental students are predisposed to and capable of thinking critically and applying such thinking skills to clinical situations. The aims of this study were to describe critical thinking disposition and skills in dental students at the beginning and end of their first year, examine cohort and gender effects, and compare their critical thinking test scores to their first-year grades. Volunteers from three student cohorts at the University of British Columbia were tested using the California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory and California Critical Thinking Skills instruments at the beginning and end of their first year. Based on the preliminary findings, one cohort was retested at graduation when their final-year grades and clinical advisor rankings were compared to their critical thinking test scores. The results showed that students who entered dental school with higher critical thinking scores tended to complete their first year with higher critical thinking scores, achieve higher grades, and show greater disposition to think critically at the start of the program. Students who demonstrated an ability to think critically and had a disposition to do so at the start of the program were also likely to demonstrate those same attributes at the completion of their training. High critical thinking scores were associated with success in both didactic and clinical settings in dental school.

Critical thinking dispositions of nursing students in Asian and non-Asian countries: a literature review.

PubMed

Salsali, Mahvash; Tajvidi, Mansooreh; Ghiyasvandian, Shahrzad

2013-09-26

Critical thinking disposition represents an inclination of a person to use possessed skills in relation to critical thinking. The trend of critical thinking has been described as inner motivation to solve problems and make decisions by thinking. In nursing as a practical profession, the concept of critical thinking dispositions is important component in helping to manage complex health situations and to deal with patient issues effectively. Willingness to think critically is a prerequisite for safe and subtly performance. The results of studies show critical thinking dispositions of nursing students in Asian countries are different from non-Asian countries. Aim of this literature review was to compare critical thinking dispositions of nursing students in Asian and non-Asian countries. Literature review was done in English and Persian databases. The results showed of the 795 articles published in English and Persian language that studied critical thinking, 73 ones studied critical thinking skills and dispositions in nursing education, and relationship between teaching methods and critical thinking skills and dispositions in nursing education of different countries. Fifteen of seventy three articles assessed critical thinking dispositions in nursing students. Limited studies showed that the Asian nursing students had mostly undermining score of the critical thinking dispositions, while non-Asian countries tend to positive scores. The reasons for these differences could be due to issues such as environmental, educational methods and cultural differences. However, future studies should measure critical thinking disposition by discipline-based tools.

Critical Thinking Dispositions of Nursing Students in Asian and Non-Asian Countries: A Literature Review

PubMed Central

Salsali, Mahvash; Tajvidi, Mansooreh; Ghiyasvandian, Shahrzad

2013-01-01

Critical thinking disposition represents an inclination of a person to use possessed skills in relation to critical thinking. The trend of critical thinking has been described as inner motivation to solve problems and make decisions by thinking. In nursing as a practical profession, the concept of critical thinking dispositions is important component in helping to manage complex health situations and to deal with patient issues effectively. Willingness to think critically is a prerequisite for safe and subtly performance. The results of studies show critical thinking dispositions of nursing students in Asian countries are different from non-Asian countries. Aim of this literature review was to compare critical thinking dispositions of nursing students in Asian and non-Asian countries. Literature review was done in English and Persian databases. The results showed of the 795 articles published in English and Persian language that studied critical thinking, 73 ones studied critical thinking skills and dispositions in nursing education, and relationship between teaching methods and critical thinking skills and dispositions in nursing education of different countries. Fifteen of seventy three articles assessed critical thinking dispositions in nursing students. Limited studies showed that the Asian nursing students had mostly undermining score of the critical thinking dispositions, while non-Asian countries tend to positive scores. The reasons for these differences could be due to issues such as environmental, educational methods and cultural differences. However, future studies should measure critical thinking disposition by discipline-based tools. PMID:24171885

Assessing the critical thinking skills of faculty: What do the findings mean for nursing education?

PubMed

Zygmont, Dolores M; Schaefer, Karen Moore

2006-01-01

The purpose of this study was twofold: to determine the critical thinking skills of nurse faculty and to examine the relationship between epistemological position and critical thinking. Most participants reported having no education on critical thinking. Data were collected using the California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST) and the Learning Environment Preferences (LEP). Findings from the CCTST indicated that faculty varied considerably in their ability to think critically; LEP findings suggested that participants had not reached the intellectual level needed for critical thinking. In addition, 12 faculty participated in one-hour telephone interviews in which they described experiences in which students demonstrated critical thinking. Despite a lack of clarity on the definition of critical thinking, faculty described clinical examples where students engaged in analysis, inference, and evaluation. Based on these findings, it is recommended that faculty transfer their ability to engage students in critical thinking in the clinical setting to the classroom setting. Benchmarks can be established based on the ability of faculty to engage in critical thinking.

Characteristic of critical and creative thinking of students of mathematics education study program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rochmad; Agoestanto, A.; Kharis, M.

2018-03-01

Critical and creative thinking give important role in learning matematics for mathematics education students. This research to explored the characteristic of critical and creative thinking of students of mathematics study program in mathematics department. Critical thinking and creative thinking can be illustrated as two sides of a coin, which one is associated to the other. In elementary linear algebra courses, however, critical thinking can be seen as a foundation to build students’ creative thinking.

[Magical thinking in healthy people and in schizophrenia].

PubMed

Jarosz, M

1996-01-01

Different conditions of magical thinking have been analyzed. A formation of the proportion "realistic thinking - magical thinking" in paranoid schizophrenia has been discussed and the characteristic features of magical thinking in schizophrenia have been indicated.

Think Pair Share: A Teaching Learning Strategy to Enhance Students' Critical Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kaddoura, Mahmoud

2013-01-01

This study investigated the change in critical thinking (CT) skills of baccalaureate nursing students who were educated using a Think-Pair-Share (TPS) or an equivalent Non-Think-Pair-Share (Non-TPS) teaching method. Critical thinking has been an essential outcome of nursing students to prepare them to provide effective and safe quality care for…

Developing Thinking Skills in Malaysian Science Students via an Analogical Task

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Salih, Maria

2010-01-01

Teaching thinking skills to students is often associated with a thinking strategy or a specific thinking technique. The strategy or technique may refer to a series of steps that is systematically drawn up to ensure that the teaching of thinking skills takes place effectively. In the case of Malaysia, a conceptual framework of Thinking Skill…

It's All in the Detail: Intentional Forgetting of Autobiographical Memories Using the Autobiographical Think/No-Think Task

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Noreen, Saima; MacLeod, Malcolm D.

2013-01-01

Using a novel autobiographical think/no-think procedure (ATNT; a modified version of the think/no-think task), 2 studies explored the extent to which we possess executive control over autobiographical memory. In Study 1, 30 never-depressed participants generated 12 positive and 12 negative autobiographical memories. Memories associated with…

Hybrid Task Design: Connecting Learning Opportunities Related to Critical Thinking and Statistical Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kuntze, Sebastian; Aizikovitsh-Udi, Einav; Clarke, David

2017-01-01

Stimulating thinking related to mathematical content is the focus of many tasks in the mathematics classroom. Beyond such content-related thinking, promoting forms of higher order thinking is among the goals of mathematics instruction as well. So-called hybrid tasks focus on combining both goals: they aim at fostering mathematical thinking and…

An Arithmetic-Algebraic Work Space for the Promotion of Arithmetic and Algebraic Thinking: Triangular Numbers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hitt, Fernando; Saboya, Mireille; Cortés Zavala, Carlos

2016-01-01

This paper presents an experiment that attempts to mobilise an arithmetic-algebraic way of thinking in order to articulate between arithmetic thinking and the early algebraic thinking, which is considered a prelude to algebraic thinking. In the process of building this latter way of thinking, researchers analysed pupils' spontaneous production…

Functional Thinking Ways in Relation to Linear Function Tables of Elementary School Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tanisli, Dilek

2011-01-01

One of the basic components of algebraic thinking is functional thinking. Functional thinking involves focusing on the relationship between two (or more) varying quantities and such thinking facilitates the studies on both algebra and the notion of function. The development of functional thinking of students should start in the early grades and it…

Rational thinking and cognitive sophistication: development, cognitive abilities, and thinking dispositions.

PubMed

Toplak, Maggie E; West, Richard F; Stanovich, Keith E

2014-04-01

We studied developmental trends in 5 important reasoning tasks that are critical components of the operational definition of rational thinking. The tasks measured denominator neglect, belief bias, base rate sensitivity, resistance to framing, and the tendency toward otherside thinking. In addition to age, we examined 2 other individual difference domains that index cognitive sophistication: cognitive ability (intelligence and executive functioning) and thinking dispositions (actively open-minded thinking, superstitious thinking, and need for cognition). All 5 reasoning domains were consistently related to cognitive sophistication regardless of how it was indexed (age, cognitive ability, thinking dispositions). The implications of these findings for taxonomies of developmental trends in rational thinking tasks are discussed. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

Think Like a Nurse: A Critical Thinking Initiative.

PubMed

Ward, Terry D; Morris, Tiffany

2016-01-01

Critical thinking is essential in the practice of the nurse generalist, today. Nursing faculty is frequently trying to identify teaching strategies in promoting critical thinking and engaging students in active learning. To close the gap between critical thinking and student success, a school in the south east United States implemented the use of the 'think like a nurse initiative" for incoming junior nursing students. Faculty collaborated to adopt the fundamental and essential nursing concepts for nursing students to support thinking like a nurse.

Thinking Like a Social Worker: Examining the Meaning of Critical Thinking in Social Work

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mathias, John

2015-01-01

"Critical thinking" is frequently used to describe how social workers ought to reason. But how well has this concept helped us to develop a normative description of what it means to think like a social worker? This critical review mines the literature on critical thinking for insight into the kinds of thinking social work scholars…

Developing Students' Reasoning about Samples and Sampling Variability as a Path to Expert Statistical Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garfield, Joan; Le, Laura; Zieffler, Andrew; Ben-Zvi, Dani

2015-01-01

This paper describes the importance of developing students' reasoning about samples and sampling variability as a foundation for statistical thinking. Research on expert-novice thinking as well as statistical thinking is reviewed and compared. A case is made that statistical thinking is a type of expert thinking, and as such, research…

Think Pair Share: A Teaching Learning Strategy to Enhance Students' Critical Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kaddoura, Mahmoud

2013-01-01

This study investigated the change in critical thinking (CT) skills of baccalaureate nursing students who were educated using a Think-Pair-Share (TPS) or an equivalent Non-Think-Pair-Share (Non-TPS) teaching method. Critical thinking has been an essential outcome of nursing students to prepare them to provide effective and safe quality care for…

Nurse educators' critical thinking: A mixed methods exploration.

PubMed

Raymond, Christy; Profetto-McGrath, Joanne; Myrick, Florence; Strean, William B

2018-07-01

Nurse educator's critical thinking remains unexamined as a key factor in the development of students' critical thinking. The objective of this study is to understand how nurse educators reveal their critical thinking in the clinical setting while supervising students. This study uses a single-phase triangulation mixed methods design with multiple data gathering techniques. Participants for this study are clinical nurse educators from a large Western Canadian baccalaureate nursing program who teach 2nd or 3rd year students in medical-surgical settings. Participants for this study completed a demographic survey, the California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST), the California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCTDI), participant observation in a clinical practice setting, and semi-structured interviews. The results from the California Critical Thinking assessments (CCTST and CCTDI) show that participants are positively inclined and have a moderate to strong ability to think critically, similar to other studies. Participants find it difficult to describe how they reveal their critical thinking in the clinical setting, yet all participants use role modeling and questioning to share their critical thinking with students. When the quantitative and qualitative results are compared, it is apparent that the confidence in reasoning subscale of the California Critical Thinking Skills Test is higher in those educators who more frequently demonstrate and voice engagement in reflective activities. Dispositions associated with critical thinking, as measured by the California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory, are more easily observed compared to critical thinking skills. This study is a beginning exploration of nurse educators' critical thinking-in-action. Our mixed methods approach uncovers a valuable approach to understanding the complexity of nurse educators' critical thinking. Further study is needed to uncover how nurse educators' can specifically enact their thinking abilities to support student learning in the clinical setting. Crown Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Learning styles and critical thinking relationship in baccalaureate nursing education: a systematic review.

PubMed

Andreou, Christos; Papastavrou, Evridiki; Merkouris, Anastasios

2014-03-01

Critical thinking is a desirable competency for contemporary nurses although there are growing concerns supporting a disturbing paucity in its achievement. Learning styles reflect habitual behaviors which determine distinct preferences within learning situations. Evidence suggests that critical thinking could evolve through learning processes. Variances in critical thinking achievement by nursing students might therefore be influenced by individual learning preferences. The concepts "learning styles" and "critical thinking" have been independently examined in the nursing literature. No reviews were found however exploring their association in nursing education. To identify the potential relationships between learning styles and critical thinking in baccalaureate nursing students. Systematic review. Eleven electronic databases were utilized without geographical and time publishing filters. Hand-searching journals and scanning references from retrieved studies were also performed. Databases were searched for descriptive correlational studies which considered the relationship between learning styles and critical thinking in baccalaureate nursing students. The authors independently progressed three stage screening. Retrieved articles were reviewed at title, abstract and full text levels according to predetermined criteria. All included studies were quality appraised using a rating tool for descriptive studies. Six studies were finally included. Findings were grouped under four key themes: predominant learning styles, critical thinking scoring, critical thinking evolution across academic progress and learning styles-critical thinking correlations. Learning styles' diversities, weak critical thinking and inconsistent evolution through academic progress were revealed across studies. Critical thinking differed significantly between learning styles. Commonly accepted models in nursing education were lacking in both learning styles and critical thinking. Within studies identical learning styles were found to be positively or negatively related to critical thinking. However comparative findings across studies revealed that all learning styles might be positive determinants toward critical thinking evolution, suggesting that there is a relationship between learning styles and critical thinking. Certain links between learning styles and critical thinking were supported in given settings and given nursing student populations. Further field exploration is required. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Examining patterns of change in the critical thinking skills of graduate nursing students.

PubMed

McMullen, Maureen A; McMullen, William F

2009-06-01

Although critical thinking in undergraduate nursing education has been explored in depth, little is known about the critical thinking skills of graduate nursing students. Prior research on change in critical thinking scores is based primarily on pretest and posttest assessments that provide minimal information about change. This study used individual growth modeling to investigate how critical thinking skills change during a 2-year graduate nurse program. Scores from the evaluation, inference, and analysis subscales of the California Critical Thinking Skills Test comprised the empirical growth record. Change in the three critical thinking skills was more dynamic than that reported in previous studies. Patterns of change differed by critical thinking skill and in relation to students' initial critical thinking skill levels at program entry.

Can One Learn to Think Critically? – A Philosophical Exploration

PubMed Central

Raymond-Seniuk, Christy; Profetto-McGrath, Joanne

2011-01-01

Within nursing, critical thinking is a required skill that educators strive to foster in their students’ development for use in complex healthcare settings. Hence the numerous studies published measuring critical thinking as a terminal outcome of education. However, an important comparison between different philosophical underpinnings such as person, truth and the nature of nursing, and how one defines and utilizes critical thinking in practice, has been absent from discussions about critical thinking and learning. When one views critical thinking with varying philosophical lenses, important questions are raised and discussion is expanded. These questions illuminate different perspectives of critical thinking and attempt to explore whether critical thinking can be learned in nursing. The implications of taking a single philosophical viewpoint and a pluralistic approach to understanding critical thinking and learning are explored. PMID:21760871

Thinking for Speaking and Thinking for Listening: The Interaction of Thought and Language in Typical and Non-Fluent Comprehension and Production

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dipper, Lucy T.; Black, Maria; Bryan, Karen L.

2005-01-01

In this paper, we reconsider some of the processes that distinguish production and comprehension. In particular, we discuss the specific forms of thinking involved in each: "thinking for speaking" and "thinking for listening" (Black and Chiat, 2000; Slobin, 1996). We argue that thinking for speaking (or for any form of language output) crucially…

The Effect of Problem-Based Learning on the Creative Thinking and Critical Thinking Disposition of Students in Visual Arts Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ulger, Kani

2018-01-01

The problem-based learning (PBL) approach was implemented as a treatment for higher education visual arts students over one semester to examine its effect on the creative thinking and critical thinking disposition of these students. PBL had a significant effect on creative thinking, but critical thinking disposition was affected to a lesser…

Cognitive Competence as a Positive Youth Development Construct: A Conceptual Review

PubMed Central

Sun, Rachel C. F.; Hui, Eadaoin K. P.

2012-01-01

This paper focuses on discussing critical thinking and creative thinking as the core cognitive competence. It reviews and compares several theories of thinking, highlights the features of critical thinking and creative thinking, and delineates their interrelationships. It discusses cognitive competence as a positive youth development construct by linking its relationships with adolescent development and its contributions to adolescents' learning and wellbeing. Critical thinking and creative thinking are translated into self-regulated cognitive skills for adolescents to master and capitalize on, so as to facilitate knowledge construction, task completion, problem solving, and decision making. Ways of fostering these thinking skills, cognitive competence, and ultimately positive youth development are discussed. PMID:22654575

Brief, Embedded, Spontaneous Metacognitive Talk Indicates Thinking Like a Physicist

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sayre, Eleanor C.; Irving, Paul W.

2015-01-01

Instructors and researchers think "thinking like a physicist" is important for students' professional development. However, precise definitions and observational markers remain elusive. We reinterpret popular beliefs inventories in physics to indicate what physicists think thinking like a physicist entails. Through discourse analysis of…

Criminal thinking styles and emotional intelligence in Egyptian offenders.

PubMed

Megreya, Ahmed M

2013-02-01

The Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles (PICTS) has been applied extensively to the study of criminal behaviour and cognition. Increasingly growing evidence indicates that criminal thinking styles vary considerably among individuals, and these individual variations appear to be crucial for a full understanding of criminal behaviour. This study aimed to examine individual differences in criminal thinking as a function of emotional intelligence. A group of 56 Egyptian male prisoners completed the PICTS and Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i). The correlations between these assessments were examined using a series of Pearson correlations coefficients, with Bonferroni correction. General criminal thinking, reactive criminal thinking and five criminal thinking styles (mollification, cutoff, power orientation, cognitive indolence and discontinuity) negatively correlated with emotional intelligence. On the other hand, proactive criminal thinking and three criminal thinking styles (entitlement, superoptimism and sentimentality) did not associate with emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is an important correlate of individual differences in criminal thinking, especially its reactive aspects. Practical implications of this suggestion were discussed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Critical-thinking ability in respiratory care students and its correlation with age, educational background, and performance on national board examinations.

PubMed

Wettstein, Richard B; Wilkins, Robert L; Gardner, Donna D; Restrepo, Ruben D

2011-03-01

Critical thinking is an important characteristic to develop in respiratory care students. We used the short-form Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal instrument to measure critical-thinking ability in 55 senior respiratory care students in a baccalaureate respiratory care program. We calculated the Pearson correlation coefficient to assess the relationships between critical-thinking score, age, and student performance on the clinical-simulation component of the national respiratory care boards examination. We used chi-square analysis to assess the association between critical-thinking score and educational background. There was no significant relationship between critical-thinking score and age, or between critical-thinking score and student performance on the clinical-simulation component. There was a significant (P = .04) positive association between a strong science-course background and critical-thinking score, which might be useful in predicting a student's ability to perform in areas where critical thinking is of paramount importance, such as clinical competencies, and to guide candidate-selection for respiratory care programs.

Higher-Order Thinking and Metacognition in the First-Year Core-Education Classroom: A Case Study in the Use of Color-Coded Drafts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Murray, Jeffrey W.

2014-01-01

This article seeks to provide some modest insights into the pedagogy of higher-order thinking and metacognition and to share the use of color-coded drafts as a best practice in service of both higher-order thinking and metacognition. This article will begin with a brief theoretical exploration of thinking and of thinking about thinking--the latter…

Profile of Students’ Critical Thinking Skill Measured by Science Virtual Test on Living Things and Environmental Sustainability Theme

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maulida, N. I.; Firman, H.; Rusyati, L.

2017-02-01

The aims of this study are: (1) to investigate the level of students’ critical thinking skill on living things and environmental sustainability theme for each Inch’ critical thinking elements and overall, (2) to investigate the level of students’ critical thinking skill on living things characteristic, biodiversity, energy resources, ecosystem, environmental pollution, and global warming topics. The research was conducted due to the important of critical thinking measurement to get the current skill description as the basic consideration for further critical thinking skill improvement in lower secondary science. The research method used was descriptive. 331 seventh grade students taken from five lower secondary schools in Cirebon were tested to get the critical thinking skill data by using Science Virtual Test as the instrument. Generally, the mean scores on eight Inch’ critical thinking elements and overall score from descriptive statistic reveals a moderate attainments level. Students’ critical thinking skill on biodiversity, energy resources, ecosystem, environmental pollution, and global warming topics are in moderate level. While students’ critical thinking skill on living things characteristic is identified as high level. Students’ experience in thinking critically during science learning process and the characteristic of the topic are emerged as the reason behind the students’ critical thinking skill level on certain science topic.

A critical evaluation of the validity of episodic future thinking: A clinical neuropsychology perspective.

PubMed

Ward, Amanda M

2016-11-01

Episodic future thinking is defined as the ability to mentally simulate a future event. Although episodic future thinking has been studied extensively in neuroscience, this construct has not been explored in depth from the perspective of clinical neuropsychology. The aim of this critical narrative review is to assess the validity and clinical implications of episodic future thinking. A systematic review of episodic future thinking literature was conducted. PubMed and PsycInfo were searched through July 2015 for review and empirical articles with the following search terms: "episodic future thinking," "future mental simulation," "imagining the future," "imagining new experiences," "future mental time travel," "future autobiographical experience," and "prospection." The review discusses evidence that episodic future thinking is important for adaptive functioning, which has implications for neurological populations. To determine the validity of episodic future thinking, the construct is evaluated with respect to related constructs, such as imagination, episodic memory, autobiographical memory, prospective memory, narrative construction, and working memory. Although it has been minimally investigated, there is evidence of convergent and discriminant validity for episodic future thinking. Research has not addressed the incremental validity of episodic future thinking. Practical considerations of episodic future thinking tasks and related constructs in a clinical neuropsychological setting are considered. The utility of episodic future thinking is currently unknown due to the lack of research investigating the validity of episodic future thinking. Future work is discussed, which could determine whether episodic future thinking is an important missing piece in standard clinical neuropsychological assessment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Critically Thinking about Critical Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weissberg, Robert

2013-01-01

In this article, the author states that "critical thinking" has mesmerized academics across the political spectrum and that even high school students are now being called upon to "think critically." He furthers adds that it is no exaggeration to say that "critical thinking" has quickly evolved into a scholarly…

Developing Thinking in the Gifted. PAGE Bulletin.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Le Storti, Anthony J.

This bulletin offers guidelines to help parents and teachers improve the thinking skills of gifted children. It stresses the importance of encouraging thinking through the use of evocative questions, distinguishes between and defines critical thinking and creative thinking, and offers suggested questions to prompt either creative/divergent…

The Curiosity in Marketing Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hill, Mark E.; McGinnis, John

2007-01-01

This article identifies the curiosity in marketing thinking and offers ways to teach for marketing thinking through an environment that fosters students' curiosity. The significance of curiosity in its relationship with thinking is that when curiosity is absent, so is thinking. Challenges are discussed in recognizing the fragility of curiosity…

Critical Thinking Skills.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Word's Worth: A Quarterly Newsletter of the Lifelong Learning Network, 1998

1998-01-01

This issue of a quarterly newsletter focuses on the theme of critical thinking skills. "Critical Thinking Skills: An Interview with Dr. Richard Paul" (Barbara Christopher) is the text of an interview in which the director of research at Sonoma State University's Center for Critical Thinking examines the meaning of critical thinking and…

Linear and Nonlinear Thinking: A Multidimensional Model and Measure

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Groves, Kevin S.; Vance, Charles M.

2015-01-01

Building upon previously developed and more general dual-process models, this paper provides empirical support for a multidimensional thinking style construct comprised of linear thinking and multiple dimensions of nonlinear thinking. A self-report assessment instrument (Linear/Nonlinear Thinking Style Profile; LNTSP) is presented and…

Measuring Psychological Critical Thinking: An Update

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lawson, Timothy J.; Jordan-Fleming, Mary Kay; Bodle, James H.

2015-01-01

Critical thinking is widely considered an important skill for psychology majors. However, few measures exist of the types of critical thinking that are specific to psychology majors. Lawson (1999) designed the Psychological Critical Thinking Exam (PCTE) to measure students' ability to "think critically, or evaluate claims, in a way that…

Thinking Routines: Replicating Classroom Practices within Museum Settings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wolberg, Rochelle Ibanez; Goff, Allison

2012-01-01

This article describes thinking routines as tools to guide and support young children's thinking. These learning strategies, developed by Harvard University's Project Zero Classroom, actively engage students in constructing meaning while also understanding their own thinking process. The authors discuss how thinking routines can be used in both…

Cultivating Critical-Thinking Dispositions throughout the Business Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bloch, Janel; Spataro, Sandra E.

2014-01-01

Critical thinking is an essential component of managerial literacy, yet business school graduates struggle to apply critical-thinking skills at work to the level that employers desire. This article argues for a dispositional approach to teaching critical thinking, rooted in cultivating a critical-thinking culture. We suggest a two-pronged approach…

Thinking-in-Concert

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Donnell, Aislinn

2012-01-01

In this essay, I examine the concept of thinking in Hannah Arendt's writings. Arendt's interest in the experience of thinking allowed her to develop a concept of thinking that is distinct from other forms of mental activity such as cognition and problem solving. For her, thinking is an unending, unpredictable and destructive activity without fixed…

Learning to Think: Arendt on Education for Democracy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gordon, Haim

1988-01-01

Discusses Hannah Arendt's belief that Nazi Adolf Eichmann's crimes stem from his failure to think. States that educators in a democracy must teach students to think about political and social issues. Covers methods of teaching thinking (as differentiated from problem solving) and dangers of a political realm without thinking citizens. (CH)

Computational Thinking in the Wild: Uncovering Complex Collaborative Thinking through Gameplay

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berland, Matthew; Duncan, Sean

2016-01-01

Surprisingly few empirical studies address how computational thinking works "in the wild" or how games and simulations can support developing computational thinking skills. In this article, the authors report results from a study of computational thinking (CT) as evinced through player discussions around the collaborative board game…

What Is Scientific Thinking?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tweney, Ryan D.

Drawing parallels with critical thinking and creative thinking, this document describes some ways that scientific thinking is utilized. Cognitive approaches to scientific thinking are discussed, and it is argued that all science involves an attempt to construct a testable mental model of some aspect of reality. The role of mental models is…

Critical Thinking Dispositions of Undergraduate Nursing Students and Nursing Faculty in Southwestern Nigeria

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ojewole, Foluso O.

2013-01-01

The purpose of this quantitative research study was to identify the critical thinking dispositions of undergraduate nursing students and nursing faculty in Southwestern Nigeria. Critical thinking dispositions are required for critical thinking skills. People who have critical thinking disposition exhibit seven traits: truth-seeking,…

Critical Thinking in Nurse Anesthesia Education: A Pilot Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burns, Shari; Mendel, Shaun; Fisher, Rodney; Cooper, Kimball; Fisher, Michael

2013-01-01

Critical thinking is pivotal for student success in health professions education. Knowing the critical thinking ability of the learner helps educators tailor curriculum to enhance critical thinking. A quantitative comparative pilot study assessed critical thinking ability for students at two distinct points in a nurse anesthesia program…

Constructive thinking skills and impulsivity dimensions in conduct and substance use disorders: differences and relationships in an adolescents' sample.

PubMed

Urben, Sébastien; Suter, Maya; Pihet, Sandrine; Straccia, Claudio; Stéphan, Philippe

2015-06-01

Impact of conduct disorder (CD) and substance use disorder (SUD) on constructive thinking skills and impulsivity was explored. 71 offending adolescents were assessed for CD and SUD. Furthermore, the constructive thinking inventory, the immediate and delayed memory tasks and the UPPS impulsive behaviour scale were administered. Results showed that youths with CD, independently from SUD, presented higher personality impulsivity (urgency) and altered constructive thinking skills (categorical thinking and personal superstitious thinking). Furthermore, trait-impulsivity explained variation in constructive thinking skills. The implications of these results were discussed.

Construction of the mathematical concept of pseudo thinking students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anggraini, D.; Kusmayadi, T. A.; Pramudya, I.

2018-05-01

Thinking process is a process that begins with the acceptance of information, information processing and information calling in memory with structural changes that include concepts or knowledges. The concept or knowledge is individually constructed by each individual. While, students construct a mathematical concept, students may experience pseudo thinking. Pseudo thinking is a thinking process that results in an answer to a problem or construction to a concept “that is not true”. Pseudo thinking can be classified into two forms there are true pseudo and false pseudo. The construction of mathematical concepts in students of pseudo thinking should be immediately known because the error will have an impact on the next construction of mathematical concepts and to correct the errors it requires knowledge of the source of the error. Therefore, in this article will be discussed thinking process in constructing of mathematical concepts in students who experience pseudo thinking.

Cross-cultural perspectives on critical thinking.

PubMed

Jenkins, Sheryl Daun

2011-05-01

The purpose of this cross-cultural study was to explore critical thinking among nurse scholars in Thailand and the United States. The study used qualitative methodology to examine how nurse scholars describe critical thinking in nursing. Nurse educators in Thailand and the United States were questioned concerning the following aspects of critical thinking: essential components; teaching and evaluation techniques; characteristics of critical thinkers; and the importance of a consensus definition for critical thinking in nursing. Their statements, which revealed both common and specific cultural aspects of critical thinking, were subjected to content analysis. Certain themes emerged that have not been widely discussed in the literature, including the link between staying calm and thinking critically, the assertion that happiness is an essential component of critical thinking, and the participants' nearly unanimous support for coming to a consensus definition of critical thinking for nursing. Copyright 2011, SLACK Incorporated.

Use of critical thinking in the diagnostic process.

PubMed

Lunney, Margaret

2010-01-01

To demonstrate use of critical thinking in the diagnostic process in order to achieve accuracy of nursing diagnoses. The 7 cognitive skills and 10 habits of mind identified as important for nursing in a Delphi study by Scheffer and Rubenfeld are applied to the diagnostic process using a published case study of a woman with heart failure. Taking into account all data from the case study and using the concepts of critical thinking, two high-accuracy nursing diagnoses were selected to guide nursing interventions. Because the specific types of critical thinking needed for accurate diagnosing are not known, nurses should develop all 17 of the cognitive skills and habits of mind so these thinking abilities are available when needed. The 17 critical thinking concepts should be combined with domain knowledge, e.g., nursing diagnoses, to think about thinking, which will improve critical thinking processes.

Implementation and evaluation of critical thinking strategies to enhance critical thinking skills in Middle Eastern nurses.

PubMed

Simpson, Elaine; Courtney, Mary

2008-12-01

The purpose of this study was to develop, implement and evaluate critical thinking strategies to enhance critical thinking skills in Middle Eastern nurses. Critical thinking strategies such as questioning, debate, role play and small group activity were developed and used in a professional development programme, which was trialled on a sample of Middle Eastern nurses (n = 20), to promote critical thinking skills, encourage problem solving, development of clinical judgment making and care prioritization in order to improve patient care and outcomes. Classroom learning was transformed from memorization to interaction and active participation. The intervention programme was successful in developing critical thinking skills in both the nurse educators and student nurses in this programme. This programme successfully integrated critical thinking strategies into a Middle Eastern nursing curriculum. Recommendations are as follows: (1) utilize evidence-based practice and stem questions to encourage the formulation of critical thinking questions; (2) support the needs of nurse educators for them to effectively implement teaching strategies to foster critical thinking skills; and (3) adopt creative approaches to (i) transform students into interactive participants and (ii) open students' minds and stimulate higher-level thinking and problem-solving abilities.

Comparing the Effect of Thinking Maps Training Package Developed by the Thinking Maps Method on the Reading Performance of Dyslexic Students.

PubMed

Faramarzi, Salar; Moradi, Mohammadreza; Abedi, Ahmad

2018-06-01

The present study aimed to develop the thinking maps training package and compare its training effect with the thinking maps method on the reading performance of second and fifth grade of elementary school male dyslexic students. For this mixed method exploratory study, from among the above mentioned grades' students in Isfahan, 90 students who met the inclusion criteria were selected by multistage sampling and randomly assigned into six experimental and control groups. The data were collected by reading and dyslexia test and Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-fourth edition. The results of covariance analysis indicated a significant difference between the reading performance of the experimental (thinking maps training package and thinking maps method groups) and control groups ([Formula: see text]). Moreover, there were significant differences between the thinking maps training package group and thinking maps method group in some of the subtests ([Formula: see text]). It can be concluded that thinking maps training package and the thinking maps method exert a positive influence on the reading performance of dyslexic students; therefore, thinking maps can be used as an effective training and treatment method.

Hopelessness and future thinking in parasuicide: the role of perfectionism.

PubMed

Hunter, Elizabeth C; O'Connor, Rory C

2003-11-01

This study had three aims: (1) to independently replicate the future thinking effect, that parasuicides, when compared with controls, show a deficit in positive future thinking but no increase in negative future thinking; (2) to determine whether positive future thinking and socially prescribed perfectionism discriminate general hospital parasuicides from controls beyond measures of affect and; (3) to explore the relationship between future thinking and perfectionism. A cross-sectional design was employed. Three groups of participants took part: hospital parasuicide patients (N=22), hospital controls (N=22) and community controls (N=21). Parasuicide patients admitted, via accident and emergency, to a general hospital were matched with hospital and community controls and assessed on measures of hopelessness, depression, anxiety, perfectionism, and future thinking. There was evidence to support the future thinking effect. A discriminant function analysis revealed that social perfectionism and positive future thinking did indeed discriminate parasuicides from controls beyond the effects of hopelessness, depression, and anxiety. Exploratory relationships between perfectionism and positive future thinking were also reported. The results reinforce the importance of future thinking in parasuicide. Moreover, the role of social perfectionism in the suicidal process was elucidated and ought to be replicated within a prospective design.

Future-directed thinking in first-episode psychosis.

PubMed

Goodby, Emmeline; MacLeod, Andrew K

2016-06-01

This study employed the Future Thinking Task (MacLeod et al., 2005, Br. J. Clin. Psychol., 44, 495) to investigate whether future-directed thinking in first-episode psychosis is significantly different from that of matched controls, and to identify its correlates in this patient group. Cross-sectional, mixed-model, case-control design. Participants were 30 patients with first-episode psychosis and 27 matched controls. The Future Thinking Task was used to assess future-directed thinking in both groups. Anxiety and depression were also measured as well as self-report measures of hopelessness, suicide ideation and a measure of negative symptoms. Individuals with psychosis were impaired in future-directed thinking in both positive and negative domains, particularly with respect to the coming year. Increased self-reported hopelessness was associated with reduced positive future thinking and increased negative future thinking. Increased positive future thinking was also associated with reduced severity of negative symptoms, whilst negative future thinking was associated with suicide ideation. Individuals with first-episode psychosis show a reduction in positive future thinking in line with that seen in other clinical groups, but this is accompanied by an unexpected reduction in negative future thinking. The findings suggest a general disengagement with the future in this group that may affect recovery and functioning. Individuals with first-episode psychosis may benefit from interventions to help them engage with their future, in particular in the mid-range, up to 1 year. The Future Thinking Task may be a helpful addition to the assessment of suicide risk in those with first-episode psychosis. Decreased positive future thinking was associated with increased severity of negative symptoms, indicating a potential new treatment angle for this resistant aspect of psychosis. The cross-sectional design of this study does not allow for conclusions about the causal relationship between psychosis and future-directed thinking. This study investigated future-directed thinking in individuals with a range of psychotic illnesses employing a trans-diagnostic approach; therefore, conclusions cannot be drawn about the nature of future-directed thinking in individual psychotic disorders. © 2015 The British Psychological Society.

Assessment of Teaching Methods and Critical Thinking in a Course for Science Majors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Speck, Angela; Ruzhitskaya, L.; Whittington, A. G.

2014-01-01

Ability to think critically is a key ingredient to the scientific mindset. Students who take science courses may or may not be predisposed to critical thinking - the ability to evaluate information analytically. Regardless of their initial stages, students can significantly improve their critical thinking through learning and practicing their reasoning skills, critical assessments, conducting and reflecting on observations and experiments, building their questioning and communication skills, and through the use of other techniques. While, there are several of teaching methods that may help to improve critical thinking, there are only a few assessment instruments that can help in evaluating the efficacy of these methods. Critical thinking skills and improvement in those skills are notoriously difficult to measure. Assessments that are based on multiple-choice questions demonstrate students’ final decisions but not their thinking processes. In addition, during the course of studies students may develop subject-based critical thinking while not being able to extend the skills to the general critical thinking. As such, we wanted to design and conduct a study on efficacy of several teaching methods in which we would learn how students’ improve their thinking processes within a science discipline as well as in everyday life situations. We conducted a study among 20 astronomy, physics and geology majors-- both graduate and undergraduate students-- enrolled in our Solar System Science course (mostly seniors and early graduate students) at the University of Missouri. We used the Ennis-Weir Critical Thinking Essay test to assess students’ general critical thinking and, in addition, we implemented our own subject-based critical thinking assessment. Here, we present the results of this study and share our experience on designing a subject-based critical thinking assessment instrument.

Repetitive thinking, executive functioning, and depressive mood in the elderly.

PubMed

Philippot, Pierre; Agrigoroaei, Stefan

2017-11-01

Previous findings and the depressive-executive dysfunction hypothesis suggest that the established association between executive functioning and depression is accounted for by repetitive thinking. Investigating the association between executive functioning, repetitive thinking, and depressive mood, the present study empirically tested this mediational model in a sample of older adults, while focusing on both concrete and abstract repetitive thinking. This latter distinction is important given the potential protective role of concrete repetitive thinking, in contrast to the depletive effect of abstract repetitive thinking. A sample of 43 elderly volunteers, between 75 and 95 years of age, completed tests of executive functioning (the Stroop test, the Trail Making test, and the Fluency test), and questionnaires of repetitive thinking and depression. Positive correlations were observed between abstract repetitive thinking and depressive mood, and between concrete repetitive thinking and executive functioning; a negative correlation was observed between depressive mood and executive functioning. Further, mediational analysis evidenced that the relation between executive functioning and depressive mood was mediated by abstract repetitive thinking. The present data provide, for the first time, empirical support to the depressive-executive dysfunction hypothesis: the lack of executive resources would favor a mode of abstract repetitive thinking, which in turn would deplete mood. It suggests that clinical intervention targeting depression in the elderly should take into consideration repetitive thinking modes and the executive resources needed to disengage from rumination.

Critical Thinking and Disposition Toward Critical Thinking Among Physical Therapy Students.

PubMed

Domenech, Manuel A; Watkins, Phillip

2015-01-01

Students who enter a physical therapist (PT) entry-level program with weak critical thinking skills may not be prepared to benefit from the educational training program or successfully engage in the future as a competent healthcare provider. Therefore, assessing PT students' entry-level critical thinking skills and/or disposition toward critical thinking may be beneficial to identifying students with poor, fair, or good critical thinking ability as one of the criteria used in the admissions process into a professional program. First-year students (n=71) from the Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center completed the California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST), the California Critical Thinking Dispositions Inventory (CCTDI), and demographic survey during orientation to the DPT program. Three students were lost from the CCTST (n=68), and none lost from the CCTDI (n=71). Analysis indicated that the majority of students had a positive disposition toward critical thinking, yet the overall CCTST suggested that these students were somewhat below the national average. Also, individuals taking math and science prerequisites at the community-college level tended to have lower overall CCTST scores. The entering DPT class demonstrated moderate or middle range scores in critical thinking and disposition toward critical thinking. This result does not indicate, but might suggest, the potential for learning challenges. Assessing critical thinking skills as part of the admissions process may prove advantageous.

Assessing Students' Critical Thinking Performance: Urging for Measurements Using Multi-Response Format

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ku, Kelly Y. L.

2009-01-01

The current paper discusses ambiguities in critical thinking assessment. The paper first reviews the components of critical thinking. It then discusses the features and issues of commonly used critical thinking tests and to what extend they are made compatible to the conceptualization of critical thinking. The paper argues that critical thinking…

Proactive and Reactive Composite Scales for the Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles (PICTS)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walters, Glenn D.

2006-01-01

The purpose of this study was to construct composite scales for the Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles (PICTS) from the PICTS thinking style, factor, and content scales designed to provide general estimates of criminal thinking. The Entitlement thinking style scale, Self-Assertion/Deception factor scale, and Historical content…

Creating Thinking Schools through "Knowledge and Inquiry": The Curriculum Challenges for Singapore

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tan, Charlene

2006-01-01

The importance of thinking skills in Singapore was seen in the launch of the "Thinking Schools, Learning Nation" (TSLN) vision in 1997. This vision aims to develop creative thinking skills, a lifelong passion for learning and nationalistic commitment in the young. In elucidating the concept of "thinking schools" the former…

Negative Thinking versus Positive Thinking in a Singaporean Student Sample: Relationships with Psychological Well-Being and Psychological Maladjustment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wong, Shyh Shin

2012-01-01

This study examines the relationships of positive thinking versus negative thinking with psychological well-being and psychological maladjustment. Three hundred and ninety-eight undergraduate students from Singapore participated in this study. First, positive thinking were positively correlated with indicators psychological well-being--life…

A Conceptual Model for Teaching Critical Thinking in a Knowledge Economy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chadwick, Clifton

2011-01-01

Critical thinking, viewed as rational and analytic thinking, is crucial for participation in a knowledge economy and society. This article provides a brief presentation of the importance of teaching critical thinking in a knowledge economy; suggests a conceptual model for teaching thinking; examines research on the historical role of teachers in…

Faculty Perceptions of Critical Thinking at a Health Sciences University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rowles, Joie; Morgan, Christine; Burns, Shari; Merchant, Christine

2013-01-01

The fostering of critical thinking skills has become an expectation of faculty, especially those teaching in the health sciences. The manner in which critical thinking is defined by faculty impacts how they will address the challenge to promote critical thinking among their students. This study reports the perceptions of critical thinking held by…

Hybrid Tasks: Promoting Statistical Thinking and Critical Thinking through the Same Mathematical Activities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aizikovitsh-Udi, Einav; Clarke, David; Kuntze, Sebastian

2014-01-01

Even though statistical thinking and critical thinking appear to have strong links from a theoretical point of view, empirical research into the intersections and potential interrelatedness of these aspects of competence is scarce. Our research suggests that thinking skills in both areas may be interdependent. Given this interconnection, it should…

Seeing Thinking on the Web

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martin, Daisy; Wineburg, Sam

2008-01-01

Teaching a way of thinking requires making thinking visible. Educators need to pull back the curtains from historical cognition to show students not only what historians think, but "how" they think. Given that many students believe that history is a single story to be committed to memory and that texts speak for themselves, teaching historical…

A Soft OR Approach to Fostering Systems Thinking: SODA Maps plus Joint Analytical Process

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Shouhong; Wang, Hai

2016-01-01

Higher order thinking skills are important for managers. Systems thinking is an important type of higher order thinking in business education. This article investigates a soft Operations Research approach to teaching and learning systems thinking. It outlines the integrative use of Strategic Options Development and Analysis maps for visualizing…

Ecology of Mind: A Batesonian Systems Thinking Approach to Curriculum Enactment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bloom, Jeffrey W.

2012-01-01

This article proposes a Batesonian systems thinking and ecology of mind approach to enacting curriculum. The key ideas for the model include ecology of mind, relationships, systems, systems thinking, pattern thinking, abductive thinking, and context. These ideas provide a basis for a recursive, three-part model involving developing (a) depth of…

Understanding the Earth Systems: Expressions of Dynamic and Cyclic Thinking among University Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Batzri, Or; Ben Zvi Assaraf, Orit; Cohen, Carmit; Orion, Nir

2015-01-01

In this two-part study, we examine undergraduate university students' expression of two important system thinking characteristics--dynamic thinking and cyclic thinking--focusing particularly on students of geology. The study was conducted using an Earth systems questionnaire designed to elicit and reflect either dynamic or cyclic thinking. The…

When Students Say "I Just Couldn't Think": Challenges in Teaching Skilful Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Row, Bavani Nageswana; Subramaniam, Selvaranee; Sathasivam, Renuka V.

2016-01-01

This paper discusses challenges encountered by selected Year Four science teachers regarding their knowledge and implementation of skilful thinking (ST) in their classrooms. ST is a complex concept comprising three elements; specific thinking strategies, habits of mind and metacognitive thinking. Due of the complexity of ST, the implementation of…

"Minima Pedagogica": Education, Thinking and Experience in Adorno

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Snir, Itay

2017-01-01

This article attempts to think of thinking as the essence of critical education. While contemporary education tends to stress the conveying of knowledge and skills needed to succeed in the present-day information society, the present article turns to the work of Theodor W. Adorno to develop alternative thinking about education, thinking and the…

Development of Multiple Thinking and Creativity in Organizational Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cheng, Yin Cheong

2005-01-01

Purpose: Based on a typology of contextualized multiple thinking, this paper aims to elaborate how the levels of thinking (data, information, knowledge, and intelligence), and the types of thinking as a whole, can be used to profile the characteristics of multiple thinking in organizational learning, re-conceptualize the nature of creativity in…

Contribution of Emotional Intelligence towards Graduate Students' Critical Thinking Disposition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kang, Fong-Luan

2015-01-01

Good critical thinkers possess a core set of cognitive thinking skills, and a disposition towards critical thinking. They are able to think critically to solve complex, real-world problems effectively. Although personal emotion is important in critical thinking, it is often a neglected issue. The emotional intelligence in this study concerns our…

Dealing with Change in Hong Kong Schools Using Strategic Thinking Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pang, Nicholas Sun-Keung; Pisapia, John

2012-01-01

This paper reports an investigation into the strategic thinking skills of school leaders in Hong Kong. By adapting the Strategic Thinking Questionnaire in the school context and based on data self-reported from 543 Hong Kong school leaders, three cognitive capabilities with strategic thinking were identified: reflection, systems thinking and…

A Correlational Study on Critical Thinking in Nursing as an Outcome Variable for Success

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Porter, Rebecca Jean

2018-01-01

Critical thinking is a required curricular outcome for nursing education; however, the literature shows a gap related to valid and reliable tools to measure critical thinking specific to nursing and relating that critical thinking measurement to meaningful outcomes. This study examined critical thinking scores, as measured by Assessment…

The Cognitive Domain: The Last Frontier. Final Report of the Regional Study Award Project.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clary, Joan; Mahaffy, John

The theoretical foundations of thinking skills models differ. One category of thinking skills programs uses the cognitive process approach on the premise that thinking abilities depend upon certain fundamental processes. Thinking skills programs that present a strategic approach to thinking are called heuristics-oriented programs, and focus on an…

Development and validation of climate change system thinking instrument (CCSTI) for measuring system thinking on climate change content

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meilinda; Rustaman, N. Y.; Firman, H.; Tjasyono, B.

2018-05-01

The Climate Change System Thinking Instrument (CCSTI) is developed to measure a system thinking ability in the concept of climate change. CCSTI is developed in four phase’s development including instrument draft development, validation and evaluation including readable material test, expert validation, and field test. The result of field test is analyzed by looking at the readability score in Cronbach’s alpha test. Draft instrument is tested on college students majoring in Biology Education, Physics Education, and Chemistry Education randomly with a total number of 80 college students. Score of Content Validation Index at 0.86, which means that the CCSTI developed are categorized as very appropriate with question indicators and Cronbach’s alpha about 0.605 which mean categorized undesirable to minimal acceptable. From 45 questions of system thinking, there are 37 valid questions spread in four indicators of system thinking, which are system thinking phase I (pre-requirement), system thinking phase II (basic), system thinking phase III (intermediate), and system thinking phase IV (coherent expert).

The Van Hiele geometry thinking levels of mild mental retardation students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shomad, Z. A.; Kusmayadi, T. A.; Riyadi

2017-12-01

This research is to investigate the level of mild mental retardation geometry students thinking. This research focuses on the geometry thinking level based on Van Hiele theory. This study uses qualitative methods with case study strategy. Data obtained from observation and tests result. The subjects are 12 mental retardation students. The result show that ability of mild mental retardation students with each other is different but have same level of level thinking geometry. The geometry thinking level of mental retardation students was identified in level 1 of the Van Hiele theory. Based on the level thinking geometry of mental retardation students simplify geometry thinking teachers in selecting appropriate learning methods, choose the materials in accordance with ability, and can modify the material following the geometry thinking level of mental retardation students.

Critical thinking and accuracy of nurses' diagnoses.

PubMed

Lunney, Margaret

2003-01-01

Interpretations of patient data are complex and diverse, contributing to a risk of low accuracy nursing diagnoses. This risk is confirmed in research findings that accuracy of nurses' diagnoses varied widely from high to low. Highly accurate diagnoses are essential, however, to guide nursing interventions for the achievement of positive health outcomes. Development of critical thinking abilities is likely to improve accuracy of nurses' diagnoses. New views of critical thinking serve as a basis for critical thinking in nursing. Seven cognitive skills and ten habits of mind are identified as dimensions of critical thinking for use in the diagnostic process. Application of the cognitive skills of critical thinking illustrates the importance of using critical thinking for accuracy of nurses' diagnoses. Ten strategies are proposed for self-development of critical thinking abilities.

Explicitly Teaching Critical Thinking Skills in a History Course

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McLaughlin, Anne Collins; McGill, Alicia Ebbitt

2017-03-01

Critical thinking skills are often assessed via student beliefs in non-scientific ways of thinking, (e.g, pseudoscience). Courses aimed at reducing such beliefs have been studied in the STEM fields with the most successful focusing on skeptical thinking. However, critical thinking is not unique to the sciences; it is crucial in the humanities and to historical thinking and analysis. We investigated the effects of a history course on epistemically unwarranted beliefs in two class sections. Beliefs were measured pre- and post-semester. Beliefs declined for history students compared to a control class and the effect was strongest for the honors section. This study provides evidence that a humanities education engenders critical thinking. Further, there may be individual differences in ability or preparedness in developing such skills, suggesting different foci for critical thinking coursework.

Mathematics creative thinking levels based on interpersonal intelligence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuncorowati, R. H.; Mardiyana; Saputro, D. R. S.

2017-12-01

Creative thinking ability was one of student’s ability to determine various alternative solutions toward mathematics problem. One of indicators related to creative thinking ability was interpersonal intelligence. Student’s interpersonal intelligence would influence to student’s creativity. This research aimed to analyze creative thinking ability level of junior high school students in Karanganyar using descriptive method. Data was collected by test, questionnaire, interview, and documentation. The result showed that students with high interpersonal intelligence achieved third and fourth level in creative thinking ability. Students with moderate interpersonal intelligence achieved second level in creative thinking ability and students with low interpersonal intelligence achieved first and zero level in creative thinking ability. Hence, students with high, moderate, and low interpersonal intelligence could solve mathematics problem based on their mathematics creative thinking ability.

The influence of critical thinking skills on performance and progression in a pre-registration nursing program.

PubMed

Pitt, Victoria; Powis, David; Levett-Jones, Tracy; Hunter, Sharyn

2015-01-01

The importance of developing critical thinking skills in preregistration nursing students is recognized worldwide. Yet, there has been limited exploration of how students' critical thinking skill scores on entry to pre-registration nursing education influence their academic and clinical performance and progression. The aim of this study was to: i) describe entry and exit critical thinking scores of nursing students enrolled in a three year bachelor of nursing program in Australia in comparison to norm scores; ii) explore entry critical thinking scores in relation to demographic characteristics, students' performance and progression. This longitudinal correlational study used the Health Sciences Reasoning Test (HSRT) to measure critical thinking skills in a sample (n=134) of students, at entry and exit (three years later). A one sample t-test was used to determine if differences existed between matched student critical thinking scores between entry and exit points. Academic performance, clinical performance and progression data were collected and correlations with entry critical thinking scores were examined. There was a significant relationship between critical thinking scores, academic performance and students' risk of failing, especially in the first semester of study. Critical thinking scores were predictive of program completion within three years. The increase in critical thinking scores from entry to exit was significant for the 28 students measured. In comparison to norm scores, entry level critical thinking scores were significantly lower, but exit scores were comparable. Critical thinking scores had no significant relationship to clinical performance. Entry critical thinking scores significantly correlate to academic performance and predict students risk of course failure and ability to complete a nursing degree in three years. Students' critical thinking scores are an important determinant of their success and as such can inform curriculum development and selection strategies. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Critical thinking: knowledge and skills for evidence-based practice.

PubMed

Finn, Patrick

2011-01-01

I respond to Kamhi's (2011) conclusion in his article "Balancing Certainty and Uncertainty in Clinical Practice" that rational or critical thinking is an essential complement to evidence-based practice (EBP). I expand on Kamhi's conclusion and briefly describe what clinicians might need to know to think critically within an EBP profession. Specifically, I suggest how critical thinking is relevant to EBP, broadly summarize the relevant skills, indicate the importance of thinking dispositions, and outline the various ways our thinking can go wrong. I finish the commentary by suggesting that critical thinking skills should be considered a required outcome of our professional training programs.

Critical thinking in nursing: an integrated review.

PubMed

Brunt, Barbara A

2005-01-01

Critical thinking skills are essential to function in today's complex health care environment and to ensure continuing competence for the future. This article provides a review of various definitions and research studies related to critical thinking. Educators and researchers need to clearly define critical thinking, because there has been wide variation in definitions and descriptions of critical thinking. Research studies have shown inconsistent findings, and many have used a one-group pretest-posttest design over a single course or during the length of a nursing program. Studies have not shown an association between critical thinking and competence; rigorous research studies are needed to understand the process of critical thinking.

Perceptions of the use of critical thinking teaching methods.

PubMed

Kowalczyk, Nina; Hackworth, Ruth; Case-Smith, Jane

2012-01-01

To identify the perceived level of competence in teaching and assessing critical thinking skills and the difficulties facing radiologic science program directors in implementing student-centered teaching methods. A total of 692 program directors received an invitation to complete an electronic survey soliciting information regarding the importance of critical thinking skills, their confidence in applying teaching methods and assessing student performance, and perceived obstacles. Statistical analysis included descriptive data, correlation coefficients, and ANOVA. Responses were received from 317 participants indicating program directors perceive critical thinking to be an essential element in the education of the student; however, they identified several areas for improvement. A high correlation was identified between the program directors' perceived level of skill and their confidence in critical thinking, and between their perceived level of skill and ability to assess the students' critical thinking. Key barriers to implementing critical thinking teaching strategies were identified. Program directors value the importance of implementing critical thinking teaching methods and perceive a need for professional development in critical thinking educational methods. Regardless of the type of educational institution in which the academic program is located, the level of education held by the program director was a significant factor regarding perceived confidence in the ability to model critical thinking skills and the ability to assess student critical thinking skills.

Desire thinking: what is it and what drives it?

PubMed

Caselli, Gabriele; Spada, Marcantonio M

2015-05-01

The aim of this study was to provide an overview of the construct of desire thinking and test a metacognitive model of desire thinking and craving, based on the work of Spada, Caselli and Wells (2012; 2013), which aims to explain the perseveration of desire thinking. We conducted two studies involving four clinical samples (total N = 493) and a community sample (N = 494) presenting with different addictive behaviors. The relationships among variables were examined by testing the fit of path models within each sample. In the model presented it was proposed that positive metacognitions about desire thinking are associated with, in turn, imaginal prefiguration and verbal perseveration, marking the activation of desire thinking. Verbal perseveration is then associated to negative metacognitions about desire thinking and craving denoting the pathological escalation of desire thinking. Finally, a direct association between positive metacognitions about desire thinking and negative metacognitions about desire thinking would mark those occasions where target-achieving behaviour runs as an automatized schemata without the experience of craving. Results indicated a good model fit in the clinical sample and a variation in the model structure in the community sample. These findings provide further support for the application of metacognitive theory to desire thinking and craving in addictive behaviors. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effects of Teaching Critical Thinking within an Integrated Nursing Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown Basone', Lauren

2014-01-01

Nursing students need to think critically in order to pass their nursing courses and the critical thinking portion of the national licensure exam. To improve students' critical thinking skills, a nursing program in the southern United States recently required that 4th semester students take a 1-credit critical thinking course. This study evaluated…

Is Air War College Teaching the Right Leadership Skill Sets?

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-02-15

Following are the skill sets for strategic leaders: • Critical Thinking (includes Conceptual Competence/ Decision Making / Strategic Thinking... Decision Making / Strategic Thinking) • Creative Thinking (includes Conceptual Flexibility) • Integrating internal and external environments • Long Range... Making / Strategic Thinking Yes Integrating Internal and External Environments Yes Long Range Vision Yes Team Performance Facilitation/Team Building

The Relationships of Critical Thinking Skills, Critical Thinking Dispositions, and College Experiences of Theological Students in Indonesia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Soeherman, Sylvia

2010-01-01

The purposes of this study were to assess the critical thinking skills of theological students in Indonesia and to explore the relationships between these students' critical thinking skills and their demographic profiles, critical thinking dispositions, and college experiences. All third-year students who pursued either the Sarjana Theologi (a…

Visual Thinking Routines: A Mixed Methods Approach Applied to Student Teachers at the American University in Dubai

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gholam, Alain

2017-01-01

Visual thinking routines are principles based on several theories, approaches, and strategies. Such routines promote thinking skills, call for collaboration and sharing of ideas, and above all, make thinking and learning visible. Visual thinking routines were implemented in the teaching methodology graduate course at the American University in…

The Interplay between Reflective Thinking, Critical Thinking, Self-Monitoring, and Academic Achievement in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ghanizadeh, Afsaneh

2017-01-01

The present study assessed the associations among higher-order thinking skills (reflective thinking, critical thinking) and self-monitoring that contribute to academic achievement among university students. The sample consisted of 196 Iranian university students (mean age = 22.05, SD = 3.06; 112 females; 75 males) who were administered three…

Exploring Cultural Differences in Critical Thinking: Is It about My Thinking Style or the Language I Speak?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lun, Vivian Miu-Chi; Fischer, Ronald; Ward, Colleen

2010-01-01

Critical thinking is deemed as an ideal in academic settings, but cultural differences in critical thinking performance between Asian and Western students have been reported in the international education literature. We examined explanations for the observed differences in critical thinking between Asian and New Zealand (NZ) European students, and…

Development and Motivation in/for Critical Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Riggs, Larry W.; Hellyer-Riggs, Sandra

2014-01-01

An explicit link between the issues of development and critical thinking is provided by Elder and Paul (1996). In their stage theory of critical thinking, Elder and Paul argued that the first stage beyond unreflective thinking is that of the challenged thinker. The challenged thinker is one who has become aware of the actual role of thinking in…

Making Student Thinking Visible through a Concept Map in Computer-Based Assessment of Critical Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rosen, Yigal; Tager, Maryam

2014-01-01

Major educational initiatives in the world place great emphasis on fostering rich computer-based environments of assessment that make student thinking and reasoning visible. Using thinking tools engages students in a variety of critical and complex thinking, such as evaluating, analyzing, and decision making. The aim of this study was to explore…

Explicitly Teaching Critical Thinking Skills in a History Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McLaughlin, Anne Collins; McGill, Alicia Ebbitt

2017-01-01

Critical thinking skills are often assessed via student beliefs in non-scientific ways of thinking, (e.g, pseudoscience). Courses aimed at reducing such beliefs have been studied in the STEM fields with the most successful focusing on skeptical thinking. However, critical thinking is not unique to the sciences; it is crucial in the humanities and…

Validating the Persian Version of Reflective Thinking Questionnaire and Probing Iranian University Students' Reflective Thinking and Academic Achievement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ghanizadeh, Afsaneh; Jahedizadeh, Safoura

2017-01-01

Scholars in higher education deem reflective thinking as integral to the development of professional disciplinary practices. One of the major issues in studying reflective thinking pivots around its conceptualization and assessment. Over the years, researchers have used several methods and scales to measure reflective thinking. One of the most…

Teaching Critical Thinking and Civic Thinking in a First-Year College Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stearns, Donald E.; Houlihan, Adam J.; Corbo, Christopher P.; Mosher, Roy H.

2017-01-01

Two professors co-taught critical and civic thinking in the same first-semester course for four years. For the first year, they used computerized argument mapping and critical-thinking-for-civic-thinking (CT)[superscript 2] exercises based on open-ended scenarios framed within a civic context. The instructors assessed student skill levels using…

Individual Differences and Age-Related Changes in Divergent Thinking in Toddlers and Preschoolers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bijvoet-van den Berg, Simone; Hoicka, Elena

2014-01-01

Divergent thinking shows the ability to search for new ideas, which is an important factor contributing to innovation and problem solving. Current divergent thinking tests allow researchers to study children's divergent thinking from the age of 3 years on. This article presents the first measure of divergent thinking that can be used with children…

Writing Shapes Thinking: Investigative Study of Preservice Teachers Reading, Writing to Learn, and Critical Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sanchez, Bernice; Lewis, Katie D.

2014-01-01

Teacher Preparation Programs must work towards not only preparing preservice teachers to have knowledge of classroom pedagogy but also must expand preservice teachers understanding of content knowledge as well as to develop higher-order thinking which includes thinking critically. This mixed methods study examined how writing shapes thinking and…

Critical Thinking Ability of Higher Secondary School Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Devika, R.; Soumya, P. R.

2016-01-01

Critical thinking ability is one among the life skills enlisted by the World Health Organisation. Citizens who can think critically are the need of the nation. The new era warrants persons who can think and evaluate the information correctly. It is the duty of education to inculcate the skill of critical thinking in the students, the future…

Critical Thinking: The Role of Management Education. Developing Managers To Think Critically.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pierce, Gloria

Emphasizing critical thinking as the source of renewal and survival of organizations, this document begins by analyzing the Exxon Valdez oil spill and the destruction of the space shuttle Challenger as examples of inadequate critical thinking. The role of management education in promoting critical thinking is explored as well as the need for a…

Bilingualism and Creativity: Benefits in Convergent Thinking Come with Losses in Divergent Thinking

PubMed Central

Hommel, Bernhard; Colzato, Lorenza S.; Fischer, Rico; Christoffels, Ingrid K.

2011-01-01

Bilingualism is commonly assumed to improve creativity but the mechanisms underlying creative acts, and the way these mechanisms are affected by bilingualism, are not very well understood. We hypothesize that learning to master multiple languages drives individuals toward a relatively focused cognitive-control state that exerts strong top-down impact on information processing and creates strong local competition for selection between cognitive codes. Considering the control requirements posed by creativity tasks tapping into convergent and divergent thinking, this predicts that high-proficient bilinguals should outperform low-proficient bilinguals in convergent thinking, while low-proficient bilinguals might be better in divergent thinking. Comparing low- and high-proficient bilinguals on convergent-thinking and divergent-thinking tasks indeed showed a high-proficient bilingual advantage for convergent thinking but a low-proficient bilingual advantage for fluency in divergent thinking. These findings suggest that bilingualism should not be related to “creativity” as a unitary concept but, rather, to the specific processes and mechanisms that underlie creativity. PMID:22084634

Critical thinking level in geometry based on self-regulated learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bayuningsih, A. S.; Usodo, B.; Subanti, S.

2018-03-01

Critical thinking ability of mathematics students affected by the student’s ability in solving a specific problem. This research aims to determine the level of critical thinking (LCT) students in solving problems of geometry regarding self-regulated learning (SRL) students. This is a qualitative descriptive study with the purpose to analyze the level of Junior High School student’s critical thinking in the Regency of Banyumas. The subject is taken one student from each category SRL (high, medium and low). Data collection is given problem-solving tests to find out the level of critical thinking student, questionnaire, interview and documentation. The result of the research shows that student with SRL high is at the level of critical thinking 2, then a student with SRL medium is at the level of critical thinking 1 and student with SRL low is at the level of critical thinking 0. So students with SRL high, medium or low can solve math problems based on the critical thinking level of each student.

Development and evaluation of web-based animated pedagogical agents for facilitating critical thinking in nursing.

PubMed

Morey, Diane J

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of Web-based animated pedagogical agents on critical thinking among nursing students. A pedagogical agent or virtual character provides a possible innovative tool for critical thinking through active engagement of students by asking questions and providing feedback about a series of nursing case studies. This mixed methods experimental study used a pretest, posttest design with a control group. ANCOVA demonstrated no significant difference between the groups on the Critical Thinking Process Test. Pre- and post-think-alouds were analyzed using a rating tool and rubric for the presence of eight cognitive processes, level of critical thinking, and for accuracy of nursing diagnosis, conclusions, and evaluation. Chi-square analyses for each group revealed a significant difference for improvement of the critical thinking level and correct conclusions from pre-think-aloud to post-think-aloud, but only the pedagogical agent group had a significant result for appropriate evaluations.

Understanding criminals' thinking: further examination of the Measure of Offender Thinking Styles-Revised.

PubMed

Mandracchia, Jon T; Morgan, Robert D

2011-12-01

The Measure of Offender Thinking Styles (MOTS) was originally developed to examine the structure of dysfunctional thinking exhibited by criminal offenders. In the initial investigation, a three-factor model of criminal thinking was obtained using the MOTS. These factors included dysfunctional thinking characterized as Control, Cognitive Immaturity, and Egocentrism. In the present investigation, the stability of the three-factor model was examined with a confirmatory factor analysis of the revised version of the MOTS (i.e., MOTS-R). In addition, the internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and convergent validity of the MOTS-R were examined. Results indicated that the three-factor model of criminal thinking was supported. In addition, the MOTS-R demonstrated reliability and convergent validity with other measures of criminal thinking and attitudes. Overall, it appears that the MOTS-R may prove to be a valuable tool for use with an offender population, particularly because of the simple, intuitive structure of dysfunctional thinking that it represents.

Peer Led Team Learning in Introductory Biology: Effects on Peer Leader Critical Thinking Skills

PubMed Central

Snyder, Julia J.; Wiles, Jason R.

2015-01-01

This study evaluated hypothesized effects of the Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) instructional model on undergraduate peer leaders’ critical thinking skills. This investigation also explored peer leaders’ perceptions of their critical thinking skills. A quasi-experimental pre-test/post-test with control group design was used to determine critical thinking gains in PLTL/non-PLTL groups. Critical thinking was assessed using the California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST) among participants who had previously completed and been successful in a mixed-majors introductory biology course at a large, private research university in the American Northeast. Qualitative data from open-ended questionnaires confirmed that factors thought to improve critical thinking skills such as interaction with peers, problem solving, and discussion were perceived by participants to have an impact on critical thinking gains. However, no significant quantitative differences in peer leaders’ critical thinking skills were found between pre- and post-experience CCTST measurements or between experimental and control groups. PMID:25629311

Gender differences in algebraic thinking ability to solve mathematics problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kusumaningsih, W.; Darhim; Herman, T.; Turmudi

2018-05-01

This study aimed to conduct a gender study on students' algebraic thinking ability in solving a mathematics problem, polyhedron concept, for grade VIII. This research used a qualitative method. The data was collected using: test and interview methods. The subjects in this study were eight male and female students with different level of abilities. It was found that the algebraic thinking skills of male students reached high group of five categories. They were superior in terms of reasoning and quick understanding in solving problems. Algebraic thinking ability of high-achieving group of female students also met five categories of algebraic thinking indicators. They were more diligent, tenacious and thorough in solving problems. Algebraic thinking ability of male students in medium category only satisfied three categories of algebraic thinking indicators. They were sufficient in terms of reasoning and understanding in solving problems. Algebraic thinking ability group of female students in medium group also satisfied three categories of algebraic thinking indicators. They were fairly diligent, tenacious and meticulous on working on the problems.

Peer led team learning in introductory biology: effects on peer leader critical thinking skills.

PubMed

Snyder, Julia J; Wiles, Jason R

2015-01-01

This study evaluated hypothesized effects of the Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) instructional model on undergraduate peer leaders' critical thinking skills. This investigation also explored peer leaders' perceptions of their critical thinking skills. A quasi-experimental pre-test/post-test with control group design was used to determine critical thinking gains in PLTL/non-PLTL groups. Critical thinking was assessed using the California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST) among participants who had previously completed and been successful in a mixed-majors introductory biology course at a large, private research university in the American Northeast. Qualitative data from open-ended questionnaires confirmed that factors thought to improve critical thinking skills such as interaction with peers, problem solving, and discussion were perceived by participants to have an impact on critical thinking gains. However, no significant quantitative differences in peer leaders' critical thinking skills were found between pre- and post-experience CCTST measurements or between experimental and control groups.

Emotional salience, emotional awareness, peculiar beliefs, and magical thinking.

PubMed

Berenbaum, Howard; Boden, M Tyler; Baker, John P

2009-04-01

Two studies with college student participants (Ns = 271 and 185) tested whether peculiar beliefs and magical thinking were associated with (a) the emotional salience of the stimuli about which individuals may have peculiar beliefs or magical thinking, (b) attention to emotion, and (c) clarity of emotion. Study 1 examined belief that a baseball team was cursed. Study 2 measured magical thinking using a procedure developed by P. Rozin and C. Nemeroff (2002). In both studies, peculiar beliefs and magical thinking were associated with Salience x Attention x Clarity interactions. Among individuals for whom the objects of the belief-magical thinking were highly emotionally salient and who had high levels of attention to emotion, higher levels of emotional clarity were associated with increased peculiar beliefs-magical thinking. In contrast, among individuals for whom the objects of the belief-magical thinking were not emotionally salient and who had high levels of attention to emotion, higher levels of emotional clarity were associated with diminished peculiar beliefs-magical thinking. (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved.

An Integrative Review of the Concealed Connection: Nurse Educators' Critical Thinking.

PubMed

Raymond, Christy; Profetto-McGrath, Joanne; Myrick, Florence; Strean, William B

2017-11-01

The role of nurse educators in the development of students' critical thinking has been overlooked despite the emphasized need for effective teaching methods. An integrative review was performed to examine both quantitative and qualitative research published from 2000 to 2015 related to nurse educators' critical thinking. Many barriers and facilitators existing on individual, interpersonal, and contextual levels affected nurse educators' critical thinking. Various tools have been used to measure nurse educators' critical thinking. This review also highlighted the continued lack of a consensus definition of critical thinking and the limited presence of conceptual models to guide the use of critical thinking in nursing education. Continued examination of nurse educators' critical thinking is needed, given the limited number of studies that have been completed. Much needs to be explored further, including conceptualizations of critical thinking and confirmation of emerging themes identified in this review. [J Nurs Educ. 2017;56(11):648-654.]. © 2017 Raymond, Profetto-McGrath, Myrick, et al.

"Think" versus "feel" framing effects in persuasion.

PubMed

Mayer, Nicole D; Tormala, Zakary L

2010-04-01

Three studies explored think ("I think . . . ") versus feel ("I feel . . . ") message framing effects on persuasion.The authors propose a matching hypothesis, suggesting that think framing will be more persuasive when the target attitude or message recipient is cognitively oriented, whereas feel framing will be more persuasive when the target attitude or message recipient is affectively oriented. Study 1 presented cognitively and affectively oriented individuals with a think- or feel-framed message. Study 2 primed cognitive or affective orientation and then presented a think- or feel-framed message. Study 3 presented male and female participants with an advertisement containing think- or feel-framed arguments. Results indicated that think (feel) framing was more persuasive when the target attitude or recipient was cognitively (affectively) oriented. Moreover, Study 2 demonstrated that this matching effect was mediated by processing fluency. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Caring behaviours directly and indirectly affect nursing students' critical thinking.

PubMed

Chen, Shu-Yueh; Chang, Hsing-Chi; Pai, Hsiang-Chu

2018-03-01

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of caring behaviours on critical thinking and to examine whether self-reflection mediates the effect of caring on critical thinking. We also tested whether caring behaviours moderated the relationship between self-reflection and critical thinking. For this descriptive, correlational, cross-sectional study, we recruited 293 fifth-year nursing students from a junior college in southern Taiwan. Data were collected in 2014 on critical thinking, caring behaviours and self-reflection with insight using the Taiwan Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory, a Chinese version of the Caring Assessment Report Evaluation Q-sort, and a Chinese version of the Self-Reflection and Insight Scale, respectively. Relationships among variables were analysed by structural equation modelling, with the partial least squares method and Sobel test. The results showed that caring behaviours significantly positively affected critical thinking (β = 0.56, t = 12.37, p < 0.001) and self-reflection with insight (β = 0.54, t = 11.99, p < 0.001). Self-reflection and insight significantly positively affected critical thinking (β = 0.34, t = 6.48, p < 0.001). Further, self-reflection and insight mediated the relationship between caring behaviours and critical thinking. Caring behaviours did not, however, moderate the relationship between self-reflection (β = 0.001, t = 0.021, p > 0.05) and critical thinking. Caring behaviours directly affect self-reflection with insight and critical thinking. In addition, caring behaviours also indirectly affect critical thinking through self-reflection and insight. © 2017 Nordic College of Caring Science.

Jordanian TEFL Graduate Students' Use of Critical Thinking Skills (as Measured by the Cornell Critical Thinking Test, Level Z)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bataineh, Ruba Fahmi; Zghoul, Lamma Hmoud

2006-01-01

This study investigates the critical thinking skills of 50 students currently enrolled in the Master's TEFL Programme at Yarmouk University, Jordan. The Cornell Critical Thinking Test, Level Z is utilised to test the students' use, or lack thereof, of the critical thinking skills of deduction, semantics, credibility, induction, definition and…

Effective Instruction and Assessment Methods That Lead to Gains in Critical Thinking as Measured by the Critical Thinking Assessment Test (CAT)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leming, Katie P.

2016-01-01

Previous qualitative research on educational practices designed to improve critical thinking has relied on anecdotal or student self-reports of gains in critical thinking. Unfortunately, student self-report data have been found to be unreliable proxies for measuring critical thinking gains. Therefore, in the current interpretivist study, five…

Two Thinking Skills Assessment Approaches: "Assessment of Pupils' Thinking Skills" and "Individual Thinking Skills Assessments"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burke, Lynsey A.; Williams, Joanne M.

2012-01-01

This paper is linked to a previous paper outlining an evaluation of a thinking skills intervention (Burke & Williams, 2008). Following extensive requests for the assessment tools used in the intervention, this short paper presents the development and potential uses of two thinking skills assessment tools. The aim of the paper is simply to make…

Student Thinking Processes. The Influence of Immediate Computer Access on Students' Thinking. First- and Second-Year Findings. ACOT Report #3.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tierney, Robert J.

This 2-year longitudinal study explored whether computers promote more sophisticated thinking, and examined how students' thinking changes as they become experienced computer users. The first-year study examined the thinking process of four ninth-grade Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow (ACOT) students. The second-year study continued following these…

Critical Sociological Thinking and Higher-Level Thinking: A Study of Sociologists' Teaching Goals and Assignments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kane, Danielle; Otto, Kristin

2018-01-01

We argue that the literature on critical thinking in sociology has conflated two different skill sets: critical sociological thinking and higher-level thinking. To begin to examine how sociologists weigh and cultivate these skill sets, we interviewed 20 sociology instructors and conducted a content analysis of 26 assignments. We found that while…

The Enhancement of Mathematical Critical Thinking Ability of Aliyah Madrasas Student Model Using Gorontalo by Interactive Learning Setting Cooperative Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Husnaeni

2016-01-01

Critical thinking ability of students' mathematical is a component that must be mastered by the student. Learn to think critically means using mental processes, such as attention, categorize, selection, and rate/decide. Critical thinking ability in giving proper guidance in thinking and working, and assist in determining the relationship between…

Design Thinking: A Methodology towards Sustainable Problem Solving in Higher Education in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Munyai, Keneilwe

2016-01-01

This short paper explores the potential contribution of design thinking methodology to the education and training system in South Africa. Design thinking is slowly gaining traction in South Africa. Design Thinking is gaining traction in South Africa. There is offered by the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design Thinking at the University of Cape Town…

Activating Children's Thinking Skills (ACTS): The Effects of an Infusion Approach to Teaching Thinking in Primary Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dewey, Jessica; Bento, Janet

2009-01-01

Background: Recent interest in the teaching of thinking skills within education has led to an increase in thinking skills packages available to schools. However many of these are not based on scientific evaluation (DfEE, 1999). This paper endeavours to examine the effectiveness of one approach, that of infusion, to teaching thinking. Aims: To…

Development of Scientific Thinking Facilitated by Reflective Self-Assessment in a Communication-Intensive Food Science and Human Nutrition Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hendrich, Suzanne; Licklider, Barbara; Thompson, Katherine; Thompson, Janette; Haynes, Cynthia; Wiersema, Jan

2018-01-01

A one-credit seminar on controversies in food science and human nutrition was a platform to introduce students to learning frameworks for thinking-like-a-scientist. We hypothesized that explicitly engaging students in thinking about their thinking abilities within these frameworks would enhance their self-perception of scientific thinking, an…

Think to Learn (Creating a Standards-Driven Thinking Classroom). Occasional Paper Series. Volume 1, Number 2

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fluellen, Jerry E., Jr.

2006-01-01

Think to Learn. That's how Robert Sternberg boils down his approach for teaching thinking. In an urban technology high school, two Teacher Consultants in the District of Columbia Area Writing Project at Howard University co-constructed a prototype for creating standards driven thinking classrooms. With 132 high school students, they used the…

Nursing students' critical thinking disposition according to academic level and satisfaction with nursing.

PubMed

Kim, Dong Hee; Moon, Seongmi; Kim, Eun Jung; Kim, Young-Ju; Lee, Sunhee

2014-01-01

The development of critical thinking dispositions has become an important issue in nursing education in Korea. Nursing colleges in Korea have developed teaching strategies and curricula that focus on developing critical thinking dispositions. It is an imperative step that evaluates the changing pattern and development of students' critical thinking dispositions. This study identified critical thinking dispositions of Korean nursing students according to academic level and satisfaction with nursing. A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted among 1074 students in four colleges who completed the self-reported Critical Thinking Disposition Scale. Descriptive and univariate general linear model analyses were performed. The critical thinking disposition score increased according to academic level until junior year, after which it decreased in the senior year. Nursing students who were satisfied with nursing reported higher levels of critical thinking than those who were not satisfied or who responded neutrally. The critical thinking scores of nursing students not satisfied with nursing dropped greatly in the senior year. These results suggest the importance of targeting the development of curriculum and teaching methods for seniors and students who have a lower level of satisfaction with nursing to increase their critical thinking dispositions. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Balancing the seen and unseen: Nurse educator as role model for critical thinking.

PubMed

Raymond, Christy; Profetto-McGrath, Joanne; Myrick, Florence; Strean, William B

2018-05-04

Critical thinking is an important indicator of student learning and is an essential outcome of baccalaureate nursing education. The role of nurse educators in the development of students' critical thinking has been overlooked despite the importance of their actions to facilitate critical thinking in nursing education. We used a constructivist grounded theory approach within a larger mixed methods triangulation study to explore how nurse educators revealed their critical thinking in practice. From the grounded theory approach, a model emerged from our research, outlining the important aspects of nurse educators' critical thinking and how it is revealed in the clinical setting. The important categories of this model include: a) fostering the student-educator relationship; b) role modeling critical thinking; c) mobilizing and operationalizing resources; as well as d) balancing factors that impact nurse educators' critical thinking. Our findings inform what is known about nurse educators' critical thinking and how it can be implemented in nurse educators' teaching practice. Given our findings, we offer recommendations for future nursing education practice and research, including the need to apply our findings in additional settings and further develop nurse educators' awareness of their own critical thinking. Crown Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Community-based Inquiry Improves Critical Thinking in General Education Biology

PubMed Central

Faiola, Celia L.; Johnson, James E.; Kurtz, Martha J.

2008-01-01

National stakeholders are becoming increasingly concerned about the inability of college graduates to think critically. Research shows that, while both faculty and students deem critical thinking essential, only a small fraction of graduates can demonstrate the thinking skills necessary for academic and professional success. Many faculty are considering nontraditional teaching methods that incorporate undergraduate research because they more closely align with the process of doing investigative science. This study compared a research-focused teaching method called community-based inquiry (CBI) with traditional lecture/laboratory in general education biology to discover which method would elicit greater gains in critical thinking. Results showed significant critical-thinking gains in the CBI group but decreases in a traditional group and a mixed CBI/traditional group. Prior critical-thinking skill, instructor, and ethnicity also significantly influenced critical-thinking gains, with nearly all ethnicities in the CBI group outperforming peers in both the mixed and traditional groups. Females, who showed decreased critical thinking in traditional courses relative to males, outperformed their male counterparts in CBI courses. Through the results of this study, it is hoped that faculty who value both research and critical thinking will consider using the CBI method. PMID:18765755

[Concept analysis of reflective thinking].

PubMed

Van Vuuren, M; Botes, A

1999-09-01

The nursing practice is described as a scientific practice, but also as a practice where caring is important. The purpose of nursing education is to provide competent nursing practitioners. This implies that future practitioners must have both critical analytical thinking abilities, as well as empathy and moral values. Reflective thinking could probably accommodate these thinking skills. It seems that the facilitation of reflective thinking skills is essential in nursing education. The research question that is relevant in this context is: "What is reflective thinking?" The purpose of this article is to report on the concept analysis of reflective thinking and in particular on the connotative meaning (critical attributes) thereof. The method used to perform the concept analysis is based on the original method of Wilson (1987) as described by Walker & Avant (1995). As part of the concept analysis the connotations (critical attributes) are identified, reduced and organized into three categories, namely pre-requisites, processes and outcomes. A model case is described which confirms the essential critical attributes of reflective thinking. Finally a theoretical definition of reflective thinking is derived and reads as follows: Reflective thinking is a cyclic, hierarchical and interactive construction process. It is initiated, extended and continued because of personal cognitive-affective interaction (individual dimension) as well as interaction with the social environment (social dimension). to realize reflective thinking, a level of internalization on the cognitive and affective domain is required. The result of reflective thinking is a integrated framework of knowledge (meaningful learning) and a internalized value system providing a new perspective on and better understanding of a problem. Reflective thinking further leads to more effective decision making- and problem solving skills.

Episodic future thinking and episodic counterfactual thinking: intersections between memory and decisions.

PubMed

Schacter, Daniel L; Benoit, Roland G; De Brigard, Felipe; Szpunar, Karl K

2015-01-01

This article considers two recent lines of research concerned with the construction of imagined or simulated events that can provide insight into the relationship between memory and decision making. One line of research concerns episodic future thinking, which involves simulating episodes that might occur in one's personal future, and the other concerns episodic counterfactual thinking, which involves simulating episodes that could have happened in one's personal past. We first review neuroimaging studies that have examined the neural underpinnings of episodic future thinking and episodic counterfactual thinking. We argue that these studies have revealed that the two forms of episodic simulation engage a common core network including medial parietal, prefrontal, and temporal regions that also supports episodic memory. We also note that neuroimaging studies have documented neural differences between episodic future thinking and episodic counterfactual thinking, including differences in hippocampal responses. We next consider behavioral studies that have delineated both similarities and differences between the two kinds of episodic simulation. The evidence indicates that episodic future and counterfactual thinking are characterized by similarly reduced levels of specific detail compared with episodic memory, but that the effects of repeatedly imagining a possible experience have sharply contrasting effects on the perceived plausibility of those events during episodic future thinking versus episodic counterfactual thinking. Finally, we conclude by discussing the functional consequences of future and counterfactual simulations for decisions. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Episodic future thinking and episodic counterfactual thinking: Intersections between memory and decisions

PubMed Central

Schacter, Daniel L.; Benoit, Roland G.; De Brigard, Felipe; Szpunar, Karl K.

2014-01-01

This article considers two recent lines of research concerned with the construction of imagined or simulated events that can provide insight into the relationship between memory and decision making. One line of research concerns episodic future thinking, which involves simulating episodes that might occur in one’s personal future, and the other concerns episodic counterfactual thinking, which involves simulating episodes that could have happened in one’s personal past. We first review neuroimaging studies that have examined the neural underpinnings of episodic future thinking and episodic counterfactual thinking. We argue that these studies have revealed that the two forms of episodic simulation engage a common core network including medial parietal, prefrontal, and temporal regions that also supports episodic memory. We also note that neuroimaging studies have documented neural differences between episodic future thinking and episodic counterfactual thinking, including differences in hippocampal responses. We next consider behavioral studies that have delineated both similarities and differences between the two kinds of episodic simulation. The evidence indicates that episodic future and counterfactual thinking are characterized by similarly reduced levels of specific detail compared with episodic memory, but that the effects of repeatedly imagining a possible experience have sharply contrasting effects on the perceived plausibility of those events during episodic future thinking versus episodic counterfactual thinking. Finally, we conclude by discussing the functional consequences of future and counterfactual simulations for decisions. PMID:24373942

Impact of episodic thinking on altruism

PubMed Central

Yi, Richard; Pickover, Alison; Stuppy-Sullivan, Allison M.; Baker, Sydney; Landes, Reid D.

2016-01-01

Episodic future thinking, which refers to the use of prospective imagery to concretely imagine oneself in future scenarios, has been shown to reduce delay discounting (enhance self-control). A parallel approach, in which prospective imagery is used to concretely imagine other’s scenarios, may similarly reduce social discounting (i.e., enhance altruism). In study 1, participants engaged in episodic thinking about the self or others, in a repeated-measures design, while completing a social discounting task. Reductions in social discounting were observed as a function of episodic thinking about others, though an interaction with order was also observed. Using an independent-measures design in study 2, the effect of episodic thinking about others was replicated. Study 3 addressed a limitation of studies 1 and 2, the possibility that simply thinking about others decreased social discounting. Capitalizing on Construal Level Theory, which specifies that social distance and time in the future are both dimensions of a common psychological distance, we hypothesized that episodic future thinking should also decrease social discounting. Participants engaged in episodic future thinking or episodic present thinking, in a repeated-measures design, while completing a social discounting task. The pattern of results was similar to study 1, providing support for the notion that episodic thinking about psychologically distant outcomes (for others or in the future) reduces social discounting. Application of similar episodic thinking approaches may enhance altruism. PMID:27821875

Functional neuroimaging correlates of thinking flexibility and knowledge structure in memory: Exploring the relationships between clinical reasoning and diagnostic thinking.

PubMed

Durning, Steven J; Costanzo, Michelle E; Beckman, Thomas J; Artino, Anthony R; Roy, Michael J; van der Vleuten, Cees; Holmboe, Eric S; Lipner, Rebecca S; Schuwirth, Lambert

2016-06-01

Diagnostic reasoning involves the thinking steps up to and including arrival at a diagnosis. Dual process theory posits that a physician's thinking is based on both non-analytic or fast, subconscious thinking and analytic thinking that is slower, more conscious, effortful and characterized by comparing and contrasting alternatives. Expertise in clinical reasoning may relate to the two dimensions measured by the diagnostic thinking inventory (DTI): memory structure and flexibility in thinking. Explored the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) correlates of these two aspects of the DTI: memory structure and flexibility of thinking. Participants answered and reflected upon multiple-choice questions (MCQs) during fMRI. A DTI was completed shortly after the scan. The brain processes associated with the two dimensions of the DTI were correlated with fMRI phases - assessing flexibility in thinking during analytical clinical reasoning, memory structure during non-analytical clinical reasoning and the total DTI during both non-analytical and analytical reasoning in experienced physicians. Each DTI component was associated with distinct functional neuroanatomic activation patterns, particularly in the prefrontal cortex. Our findings support diagnostic thinking conceptual models and indicate mechanisms through which cognitive demands may induce functional adaptation within the prefrontal cortex. This provides additional objective validity evidence for the use of the DTI in medical education and practice settings.

The relationship between students critical thinking measured by science virtual test and students logical thinking on eighth grade secondary school

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nurismawati, R.; Sanjaya, Y.; Rusyati, L.

2018-05-01

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between students’ critical thinking skill and students’ logical thinking skill of Junior High School students in Tasikmalaya city. The respondent consists of 168 students from eighth grade at three public schools in Tasikmalaya City. Science Virtual Test and Test of Logical Thinking were used in this research study. Science virtual test instrument consist of 26 questions with 5 different topics. IBM SPSS 23.00 program was used for analysis of the data. By the findings; students’ critical thinking skill has significant differences in elements of generating purpose, embodying point of view, utilizing concept and making implication and consequence. By Post Hoc LSD Test, from those four elements, there are significant differences between concrete - transitional groups and transitional – concrete groups. There is positive and weak correlation between students’ critical thinking and students’ logical thinking attainment.

Nursing care plans versus concept maps in the enhancement of critical thinking skills in nursing students enrolled in a baccalaureate nursing program.

PubMed

Sinatra-Wilhelm, Tina

2012-01-01

Appropriate and effective critical thinking and problem solving is necessary for all nurses in order to make complex decisions that improve patient outcomes, safety, and quality of nursing care. With the current emphasis on quality improvement, critical thinking ability is a noteworthy concern within the nursing profession. An in-depth review of literature related to critical thinking was performed. The use of nursing care plans and concept mapping to improve critical thinking skills was among the recommendations identified. This study compares the use of nursing care plans and concept mapping as a teaching strategy for the enhancement of critical thinking skills in baccalaureate level nursing students. The California Critical Thinking Skills Test was used as a method of comparison and evaluation. Results indicate that concept mapping enhances critical thinking skills in baccalaureate nursing students.

Exploring the attributes of critical thinking: a conceptual basis.

PubMed

Forneris, Susan G

2004-01-01

Many teaching methods used in nursing education to enhance critical thinking focus on teaching students how to directly apply knowledge; a technically rational approach. While seemingly effective at enhancing students' critical thinking abilities in structured learning situations, these methods don't prepare students to operationalize critical thinking to manage the complexities that actually exist in practice. The work of contemporary educational theorists Paulo Freire, Donald Schon, Chris Argyris, Jack Mezirow, Stephen Brookfield, and Robert Tennyson all share similar perspectives on thinking in practice and the use of reflection to achieve a coherence of understanding. Their perspectives provide insight on how educators can shift from a means-end approach to operationalizing thinking in practice. The author identifies four attributes of critical thinking in practice evidenced in these views, followed by a discussion of specific educational strategies that reflect these attributes, and operationalize a critical thinking process in nursing practice to achieve a coherence of understanding.

Measurement and comparison of nursing faculty members' critical thinking skills.

PubMed

Blondy, Laurie C

2011-03-01

Nursing faculty members strive to teach students to think critically. It has long been assumed that nursing faculty members are good at critical thinking because they are expected to teach these skills to students, but this assumption has not been well supported empirically. Faculty members question their ability to think critically and are unsure of their skills. The purpose of this study was to address this assumption by measuring nursing faculty members' critical thinking skills and compare the faculty mean score to that of a student norming group, and to the mean scores of other nursing faculty studies. Findings can be used to increase nursing faculty members' understanding of their critical thinking skills, prompt discussion about critical thinking skills, and to help faculty members address concerns and uncertainty about the concept of critical thinking. This study also helps establish an empirical basis for future research.

Challenges of assessing critical thinking and clinical judgment in nurse practitioner students.

PubMed

Gorton, Karen L; Hayes, Janice

2014-03-01

The purpose of this study was to determine whether there was a relationship between critical thinking skills and clinical judgment in nurse practitioner students. The study used a convenience, nonprobability sampling technique, engaging participants from across the United States. Correlational analysis demonstrated no statistically significant relationship between critical thinking skills and examination-style questions, critical thinking skills and scores on the evaluation and reevaluation of consequences subscale of the Clinical Decision Making in Nursing Scale, and critical thinking skills and the preceptor evaluation tool. The study found no statistically significant relationships between critical thinking skills and clinical judgment. Educators and practitioners could consider further research in these areas to gain insight into how critical thinking is and could be measured, to gain insight into the clinical decision making skills of nurse practitioner students, and to gain insight into the development and measurement of critical thinking skills in advanced practice educational programs. Copyright 2014, SLACK Incorporated.

Critical thinking in clinical nurse education: application of Paul's model of critical thinking.

PubMed

Andrea Sullivan, E

2012-11-01

Nurse educators recognize that many nursing students have difficulty in making decisions in clinical practice. The ability to make effective, informed decisions in clinical practice requires that nursing students know and apply the processes of critical thinking. Critical thinking is a skill that develops over time and requires the conscious application of this process. There are a number of models in the nursing literature to assist students in the critical thinking process; however, these models tend to focus solely on decision making in hospital settings and are often complex to actualize. In this paper, Paul's Model of Critical Thinking is examined for its application to nursing education. I will demonstrate how the model can be used by clinical nurse educators to assist students to develop critical thinking skills in all health care settings in a way that makes critical thinking skills accessible to students. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Critical thinking dispositions and learning styles of baccalaureate nursing students from China.

PubMed

Zhang, Huan; Lambert, Vickie

2008-09-01

Although considerable information exists regarding the learning styles and critical thinking dispositions of nursing students from Western countries, limited comparable information exists within China. The purposes of this study were to assess the learning styles and critical thinking dispositions of Chinese baccalaureate nursing students and to identify the relationships among the learning styles, critical thinking dispositions, and demographics. The sample consisted of 100 Chinese baccalaureate nursing students enrolled at two universities. The data were obtained through a Demographic Data Questionnaire, the California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory, and the Index of Learning Styles. The primary learning style dimensions were found to be reflective, sensing, visual, and global, while the critically thinking abilities was found to be weak. A number of positive and negative correlations were found among the demographics, learning styles, and critical thinking dispositions. These findings suggest further examination on how to increase nursing students' critical thinking skills based upon their preferred learning styles.

The Effect of Concept Maps on Undergraduate Nursing Students' Critical Thinking.

PubMed

Garwood, Janet K; Ahmed, Azza H; McComb, Sara A

The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of using concept maps as a teaching and learning strategy on students' critical thinking abilities and examine students' perceptions toward concept maps utilizing the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines. Researchers have found that almost two thirds of nurse graduates do not have adequate critical thinking skills for a beginner nurse. Critical thinking skills are required for safe practice and mandated by accrediting organizations. Nursing educators should consider teaching and learning strategies that promote the development of critical thinking skills. A literature review was conducted using "concept maps, nursing education, and critical thinking" as the combined search terms. Inclusion criteria were studies that measured the effects of concept mapping on critical thinking in nursing students. Seventeen articles were identified. Concept maps may be useful tools to promote critical thinking in nursing education and for applying theory to practice.

Evaluating critical thinking in clinical practice.

PubMed

Oermann, M H

1997-01-01

Although much has been written about measurement instruments for evaluating critical thinking in nursing, this article describes clinical evaluation strategies for critical thinking. Five methods are discussed: 1) observation of students in practice; 2) questions for critical thinking, including Socratic questioning; 3) conferences; 4) problem-solving strategies; and 5) written assignments. These methods provide a means of evaluating students' critical thinking within the context of clinical practice.

Effects of Induced Memory Strategies on Children's Memory for Pictures and Words.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Filan, Gary; Sullivan, Howard

In this study of children's memory, two types of presentation modes (pictures or words) were crossed with two levels of memory strategy ("make a picture in your mind" or "think of the word") to comprise four treatments: see picture/think picture, see picture/think word, see word/think picture, see word/think word. The study was conducted with 144…

An Evaluation on the Regression Level of Prospective Teachers' Metacognitive Skills in Terms of Their Community Service Activities Perceptions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kartal, Metin; Demir, Özden; Kaya, Halil Ibrahim

2017-01-01

Metacognition, thinking, and learning are a continuous transformation in case of different aspects of the same event. In turn, metacognition is an inseparable part of the process of thinking to think. Recently, the definition of metacognition has been elaborated. And as defined in the past, it has only consisted of "thinking on think",…

Effects of the Higher Order Thinking Skills Program on At-Risk Young Adolescents' Self-Concept, Reading Achievement, and Thinking Skills.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eisenman, Gordon; Payne, Beverly D.

1997-01-01

Contrasted effects of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) program to those of Chapter 1 programs on fourth and fifth graders' reading achievement, self-concept, and higher-order thinking skills. Found that HOTS is more effective in raising self-concept and some higher-order thinking skills in fifth grade and after two years of treatment, with…

I Used to Think... and Now I Think...: Twenty Leading Educators Reflect on the Work of School Reform

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Elmore, Richard F., Ed.

2011-01-01

This book's title, "I Used to Think... And Now I Think...", is borrowed from an exercise often used at the end of teacher professional development sessions, in which participants write down how what they've learned has changed their thinking. The resulting essays model the ongoing process of reflection and growth among those deeply committed to…

Thinking Is Fun! Thinking Skills Stimulate Enjoyment in the Classroom for Both Teachers and Pupils

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boardman, Pam

2004-01-01

This article tells the story of the author's discovery of thinking skills, how this has affected her teaching, and how these ideas have now spread to other curriculum areas in her school. In November 2001 the author began to carry out a research project on thinking skills, introducing new activities into lessons to encourage pupils to think and…

Food Design Thinking: A Branch of Design Thinking Specific to Food Design

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zampollo, Francesca; Peacock, Matthew

2016-01-01

Is there a need for a set of methods within Design Thinking tailored specifically for the Food Design process? Is there a need for a branch of Design Thinking dedicated to Food Design alone? Chefs are not generally trained in Design or Design Thinking, and we are only just beginning to understand how they ideate and what recourses are available to…

Clinical concept mapping: Does it improve discipline-based critical thinking of nursing students?

PubMed

Moattari, Marzieh; Soleimani, Sara; Moghaddam, Neda Jamali; Mehbodi, Farkhondeh

2014-01-01

Enhancing nursing students' critical thinking is a challenge faced by nurse educators. This study aimed at determining the effect of clinical concept mapping on discipline-based critical thinking of nursing students. In this quasi-experimental post-test only design, a convenient sample of 4(th) year nursing students (N = 32) participated. They were randomly divided into two groups. The experimental group participated in a 1-day workshop on clinical concept mapping. They were also assigned to use at least two clinical concepts mapping during their clinical practice. Post-test was done using a specially designed package consisting of vignettes for measurement of 17 dimensions of critical thinking in nursing under two categories of cognitive critical thinking skills and habits of mind. They were required to write about how they would use a designated critical thinking skills or habits of mind to accomplish the nursing actions. The students' responses were evaluated based on identification of critical thinking, justification, and quality of the student's response. The mean score of both groups was compared by Mann-Whitney test using SPSS version 16.5. The results of the study revealed a significant difference between the two groups' critical thinking regarding identification, justification, and quality of responses, and overall critical thinking scores, cognitive thinking skills, and habits of mind. The two groups also differed significantly from each other in 11 out of 17 dimensions of critical thinking. Clinical concept mapping is a valuable strategy for improvement of critical thinking of nursing students. However, further studies are recommended to generalize this result to nursing students in their earlier stage of education.

Is Episodic Future Thinking Important for Instrumental Activities of Daily Living? A Study in Neurological Patients and Healthy Older Adults.

PubMed

Brunette, Amanda M; Calamia, Matthew; Black, Jenah; Tranel, Daniel

2018-06-11

Episodic future thinking is the ability to mentally project oneself into the future. This construct has been explored extensively in cognitive neuroscience and may be relevant for adaptive functioning. However, it has not been determined whether the measurement of episodic future thinking might be valuable in a clinical neuropsychological setting. The current study investigated (1) the relationship between episodic future thinking and instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs); and (2) whether episodic future thinking is related to IADLs over and above standard measures of cognition. Sixty-one older adults with heterogeneous neurological conditions and 41 healthy older adults completed a future thinking task (the adapted Autobiographical Interview), a performance-based measure of instrumental activities of daily living (the Independent Living Scales), and standard clinical measures of memory and executive functioning. Episodic future thinking significantly predicted IADLs after accounting for age, education, gender, and depression (increase in R2 = .050, p = .010). Episodic future thinking significantly predicted IADLs over and above executive functioning (increase in R2 = .025, p = .030), but was not predictive of IADLs over and above memory (p = .157). This study suggests that episodic future thinking is significantly associated with IADLs, beyond what can be accounted for by executive functioning. However, episodic future thinking did not predict IADLs over and above memory. Overall, there is limited evidence for the clinical utility of episodic future thinking. The findings suggest that an episodic future thinking task does not provide enough valuable information about IADLs to justify its inclusion in a clinical neuropsychological setting.

Exploring the association between parental rearing styles and medical students' critical thinking disposition in China.

PubMed

Huang, Lei; Wang, Zhaoxin; Yao, Yuhong; Shan, Chang; Wang, Haojie; Zhu, Mengyi; Lu, Yuan; Sun, Pengfei; Zhao, Xudong

2015-05-14

Critical thinking is an essential ability for medical students. However, the relationship between parental rearing styles and medical students' critical thinking disposition has rarely been considered. The aim of this study was to investigate whether parental rearing styles were significant predictors of critical thinking disposition among Chinese medical students. 1,075 medical students from the first year to the fifth year attending one of three medical schools in China were recruited via multistage stratified cluster sampling. The Chinese Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory(CTDI-CV) and The Egna Minnen av Barndoms Uppfostran (EMBU) questionnaire were applied to collect data and to conduct descriptive analysis. Stepwise multiple linear regression was used to analyze the data. The critical thinking disposition average mean score was 287.44 with 632 participants (58.79%) demonstrating positive critical thinking disposition. Stepwise multiple linear regression analysis revealed that the rearing styles of fathers, including "overprotection", "emotional warmth and understanding", "rejection" and "over-interference" were significant predictors of medical students' critical thinking disposition that explained 79.0% of the variance in critical thinking ability. Rearing styles of mothers including "emotional warmth and understanding", "punishing" and "rejection" were also found to be significant predictors, and explained 77.0% of the variance. Meaningful association has been evidenced between parental rearing styles and Chinese medical students' critical thinking disposition. Parental rearing styles should be considered as one of the many potential determinant factors that contribute to the cultivation of medical students' critical thinking capability. Positive parental rearing styles should be encouraged in the cultivation of children's critical thinking skills.

An analysis of narratives to identify critical thinking contexts in psychiatric clinical practice.

PubMed

Mun, Mi Suk

2010-02-01

The development of students' critical thinking abilities is one of the greatest challenges facing contemporary nursing educators. Nursing educators should know about what kind of contents or situations need critical thinking. The research was undertaken to identify the critical thinking contexts that nursing students confront in psychiatric clinical practices. Students were asked to document their everyday experience. The narratives were analysed and interpreted from the philosophical notion of hermeneutics. Four themes emerged as critical thinking contexts: anxiety, conflict, hyper-awareness, dilemmas. Writing narratives appear to provide opportunities for reflection in addition to facilitating critical thinking and communicative skills in students. Also, for the instructor, students' clinical narratives could provide insight to understand how students are thinking and to share student's personal difficulties.

Divergent Thinking and Constructing Episodic Simulations

PubMed Central

Addis, Donna Rose; Pan, Ling; Musicaro, Regina; Schacter, Daniel L.

2014-01-01

Divergent thinking likely plays an important role in simulating autobiographical events. We investigated whether divergent thinking is differentially associated with the ability to construct detailed imagined future and imagined past events as opposed to recalling past events. We also examined whether age differences in divergent thinking might underlie the reduced episodic detail generated by older adults. The richness of episodic detail comprising autobiographical events in young and older adults was assessed using the Autobiographical Interview. Divergent thinking abilities were measured using the Alternate Uses Task. Divergent thinking was significantly associated with the amount of episodic detail for imagined future events. Moreover, while age was significantly associated with imagined episodic detail, this effect was strongly related to age-related changes in episodic retrieval rather than divergent thinking. PMID:25483132

Divergent thinking and constructing episodic simulations.

PubMed

Addis, Donna Rose; Pan, Ling; Musicaro, Regina; Schacter, Daniel L

2016-01-01

Divergent thinking likely plays an important role in simulating autobiographical events. We investigated whether divergent thinking is differentially associated with the ability to construct detailed imagined future and imagined past events as opposed to recalling past events. We also examined whether age differences in divergent thinking might underlie the reduced episodic detail generated by older adults. The richness of episodic detail comprising autobiographical events in young and older adults was assessed using the Autobiographical Interview. Divergent thinking abilities were measured using the Alternative Uses Task. Divergent thinking was significantly associated with the amount of episodic detail for imagined future events. Moreover, while age was significantly associated with imagined episodic detail, this effect was strongly related to age-related changes in episodic retrieval rather than divergent thinking.

Temporal cognition in children with autistic spectrum disorders: tests of diachronic thinking.

PubMed

Boucher, Jill; Pons, Francisco; Lind, Sophie; Williams, David

2007-09-01

Impaired diachronic thinking-(the propensity and capacity to think about events spreading across time)-was demonstrated in a 2-Phase study in which children with autism were compared with age and ability matched controls. Identical tests of diachronic thinking were administered in both phases of the study, but to different participant groups, with the same results. The marked impairments shown are therefore robust. Various non-temporal explanations of the findings were eliminated by the results of control tasks in Phase 2. Diachronic thinking did not correlate with verbal or non-verbal ability, age, or mentalising ability, consistent with other evidence of the specificity of diachronic thinking ability. Possible causes of impaired diachronic thinking in autism are discussed.

Episodic Future Thinking: Mechanisms and Functions.

PubMed

Schacter, Daniel L; Benoit, Roland G; Szpunar, Karl K

2017-10-01

Episodic future thinking refers to the capacity to imagine or simulate experiences that might occur in one's personal future. Cognitive, neuropsychological, and neuroimaging research concerning episodic future thinking has accelerated during recent years. This article discusses research that has delineated cognitive and neural mechanisms that support episodic future thinking as well as the functions that episodic future thinking serves. Studies focused on mechanisms have identified a core brain network that underlies episodic future thinking and have begun to tease apart the relative contributions of particular regions in this network, and the specific cognitive processes that they support. Studies concerned with functions have identified several domains in which episodic future thinking produces performance benefits, including decision making, emotion regulation, prospective memory, and spatial navigation.

New pedagogies for teaching thinking: the lived experiences of students and teachers enacting narrative pedagogy.

PubMed

Ironside, Pamela M

2003-11-01

The need to prepare students for a rapidly changing health care system sustains teachers' interest in developing students' thinking abilities at all levels of nursing education. Although significant effort has been directed toward developing efficient and effective strategies to teach thinking, this study explores the underlying assumptions embedded in any approach to teaching and learning and how these assumptions influence students' thinking. This study, using Heideggerian hermeneutics, explored how teachers and students experience enacting a new pedagogy, Narrative Pedagogy, and this article explains how enacting this pedagogy offers new possibilities for teaching and learning thinking. Two themes emerged from this analysis and are discussed: Thinking as Questioning: Preserving Perspectival Openness and Practicing Thinking: Preserving Fallibility and Uncertainty.

Critical thinking as a self-regulatory process component in teaching and learning.

PubMed

Phan, Huy P

2010-05-01

This article presents a theoretically grounded model of critical thinking and self-regulation in the context of teaching and learning. Critical thinking, deriving from an educational psychology perspective is a complex process of reflection that helps individuals become more analytical in their thinking and professional development. My conceptualisation in this discussion paper argues that both theoretical orientations (critical thinking and self-regulation) operate in a dynamic interactive system of teaching and learning. My argument, based on existing research evidence, suggests two important points: (i) critical thinking acts as another cognitive strategy of self-regulation that learners use in their learning, and (ii) critical thinking may be a product of various antecedents such as different self-regulatory strategies.

Is adolescence a critical period for learning formal thinking skills? A case study investigating the development of formal thinking skills in a short-term inquiry-based intervention program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Towne, Forrest S.

Current domestic and international comparative studies of student achievement in science are demonstrating that the U.S. needs to improve science education if it wants to remain competitive in the global economy. One of the causes of the poor performance of U.S. science education is the lack of students who have developed the formal thinking skills that are necessary to obtain scientific literacy. Previous studies have demonstrated that formal thinking skills can be taught to adolescents, however only 25% of incoming college freshman have these necessary skills. There is some evidence that adolescence (girls aged 11-13, boys aged 12-14) is a critical period where students must learn formal thinking skills, similar to the critical period that exists for young children learning languages. It is not known whether it is more difficult for students to learn formal thinking skills either prior to or following adolescence. The purpose of this quantitative case study is to determine whether adolescence is a critical period for students to learn formal thinking skills. The study also investigates whether a formal thinking skills focused program can improve students' intelligence. In this study 32 students who had not developed any formal thinking skills, ranging in age from 10-16, underwent an intensive four-week, inquiry-based, formal thinking skill intervention program that focused on two formal thinking skills: (1) the ability to control and exclude variables; and (2) the ability to manipulate ratios and proportionalities. The students undergoing the training were matched with control students by age, gender, formal thinking skill ability, and intelligence. The control group attended their traditional science course during the intervention periods. The results of the study showed that the intervention program was successful in developing students' formal thinking skills. The pre-adolescents (males, age 10-11, females, age 10) were unable to learn formal thinking skills. The data indicated that there is not a significant difference between adolescents and post-adolescents (up to 16-years-old) ability to learn formal thinking skills. Both groups (adolescent and post-adolescent) showed improvement in their formal thinking skill ability after the intervention. The intervention also demonstrated evidence of improving students' intelligence scores.

The effects of critical thinking instruction on training complex decision making.

PubMed

Helsdingen, Anne S; van den Bosch, Karel; van Gog, Tamara; van Merriënboer, Jeroen J G

2010-08-01

Two field studies assessed the effects of critical thinking instruction on training and transfer of a complex decision-making skill. Critical thinking instruction is based on studies of how experienced decision makers approach complex problems. Participants conducted scenario-based exercises in both simplified (Study I) and high-fidelity (Study 2) training environments. In both studies, half of the participants received instruction in critical thinking. The other half conducted the same exercises but without critical thinking instruction. After the training, test scenarios were administered to both groups. The first study showed that critical thinking instruction enhanced decision outcomes during both training and the test. In the second study, critical thinking instruction benefited both decision outcomes and processes, specifically on the transfer to untrained problems. The results suggest that critical thinking instruction improves decision strategy and enhances understanding of the general principles of the domain. The results of this study warrant the implementation of critical thinking instruction in training programs for professional decision makers that have to operate in complex and highly interactive, dynamic environments.

Critical thinking in physics education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sadidi, Farahnaz

2016-07-01

We agree that training the next generation of leaders of the society, who have the ability to think critically and form a better judgment is an important goal. It is a long-standing concern of Educators and a long-term desire of teachers to establish a method in order to teach to think critically. To this end, many questions arise on three central aspects: the definition, the evaluation and the design of the course: What is Critical Thinking? How can we define Critical Thinking? How can we evaluate Critical Thinking? Therefore, we want to implement Critical Thinking in physics education. How can we teach for Critical Thinking in physics? What should the course syllabus and materials be? We present examples from classical physics and give perspectives for astro-particle physics. The main aim of this paper is to answer the questions and provide teachers with the opportunity to change their classroom to an active one, in which students are encouraged to ask questions and learn to reach a good judgment. Key words: Critical Thinking, evaluation, judgment, design of the course.

Quantitative research on critical thinking and predicting nursing students' NCLEX-RN performance.

PubMed

Romeo, Elizabeth M

2010-07-01

The concept of critical thinking has been influential in several disciplines. Both education and nursing in general have been attempting to define, teach, and measure this concept for decades. Nurse educators realize that critical thinking is the cornerstone of the objectives and goals for nursing students. The purpose of this article is to review and analyze quantitative research findings relevant to the measurement of critical thinking abilities and skills in undergraduate nursing students and the usefulness of critical thinking as a predictor of National Council Licensure Examination-Registered Nurse (NCLEX-RN) performance. The specific issues that this integrative review examined include assessment and analysis of the theoretical and operational definitions of critical thinking, theoretical frameworks used to guide the studies, instruments used to evaluate critical thinking skills and abilities, and the role of critical thinking as a predictor of NCLEX-RN outcomes. A list of key assumptions related to critical thinking was formulated. The limitations and gaps in the literature were identified, as well as the types of future research needed in this arena. Copyright 2010, SLACK Incorporated.

Developing thinking skill system for modelling creative thinking and critical thinking of vocational high school student

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dewanto, W. K.; Agustianto, K.; Sari, B. E.

2018-01-01

Vocational students must have practical skills in accordance with the purpose of vocational school that creating the skilled graduates according to their field. Graduates of vocational education are required not just as users, but be able to create. Thus requiring critical and creative thinking skills to assist students in generating ideas, analyzing and creating a product of value. Based on this, then this research aims to develop a system to know the level of ability to think critically and creative students, that resulted students can do self-reflection in improving the ability to think critically and creatively as a supporter of practical ability. The system testing using Naïve Bayes Correlation shown an average accuracy of 93.617% in assessing the students’ critical and creative thinking ability. By using modeling with this system will be known level of students’ critical and creative thinking ability, then the output of the system is used to determine the type of innovation in the learning process to improve the critical and creative thinking skills to support the practical skills of students as skilled vocational students.

Foundations for Critical Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bers, Trudy; Chun, Marc; Daly, William T.; Harrington, Christine; Tobolowsky, Barbara F.

2015-01-01

"Foundations for Critical Thinking" explores the landscape of critical-thinking skill development and pedagogy through foundational chapters and institutional case studies involving a range of students in diverse settings. By establishing a link between active learning and improved critical thinking, this resource encourages all higher…

Differences in Styles of Thinking "In Light of Sternberg's Theory": A Case Study of Different Educational Levels in Saudi Arabia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aljojo, Nahla

2017-01-01

People's styles of thinking vary; we seek to understand these differences, to refine our abilities and skills, and find new and useful ways of thinking. To develop this concept, we implement the Sternberg (1997) thinking style inventory (TSI) as part of the learning process. The main idea behind the implementation of this style of thinking is to…

A concept analysis of critical thinking: A guide for nurse educators.

PubMed

Von Colln-Appling, Christina; Giuliano, Danielle

2017-02-01

In research literature, the concept of critical thinking has been widely utilized in nursing education. However, critical thinking has been defined and evaluated using a variety of methods. This paper presents a concept analysis to define and clarify the concept of critical thinking to provide a deeper understanding of how critical thinking can be incorporated into nursing education through the use of simulation exercises. A theoretical definition and sample cases were developed to illuminate the concept as well as a discussion of the antecedents, consequences, and empirical referents of critical thinking. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effect of Higher Order Thinking Laboratory on the Improvement of Critical and Creative Thinking Skills

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Setiawan, A.; Malik, A.; Suhandi, A.; Permanasari, A.

2018-02-01

This research was based on the need for improving critical and creative thinking skills of student in the 21 -st century. In this research, we have implemented HOT-Lab model for topic of force. The model was characterized by problem solving and higher order thinking development through real laboratory activities. This research used a quasy experiment method with pre-test post-test control group design. Samples of this research were 60 students of Physics Education Program of Teacher Educatuon Institution in Bandung. The samples were divided into 2 classes, experiment class (HOT-lab model) and control class (verification lab model). Research instruments were essay tests for creative and critical thinking skills measurements. The results revealed that both the models have improved student’s creative and critical thinking skills. However, the improvement of the experiment class was significantly higher than that of the control class, as indicated by the average of normalized gains (N-gain) for critical thinking skills of 60.18 and 29.30 and for creative thinking skills of 70.71 and 29.40, respectively for the experimental class and the control class. In addition, there is no significant correlation between the improvement of critical thinking skills and creative thinking skills in both the classes.

Effect of caring behavior on disposition toward critical thinking of nursing students.

PubMed

Pai, Hsiang-Chu; Eng, Cheng-Joo; Ko, Hui-Ling

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between caring behavior and the disposition toward critical thinking of nursing students in clinical practice. A structural equation model was used to test the hypothesized relationship between caring behavior and critical thinking skills. Caring is the core of nursing practice, and the disposition toward critical thinking is needed for competent nursing care. In a fast-paced and complex environment, however, "caring" may be lost. Because nursing students will become professional nurses, it is essential to explore their caring behaviors and critical thinking skills and to understand how to improve their critical thinking skills based on their caring behavior. A cross-sectional study was used, with convenience sampling of students who were participating in associate degree nursing programs at 3 colleges of nursing. The following instruments were used: critical thinking disposition inventory Chinese version and caring behaviors scale. The study found that individuals with a higher frequency of caring behaviors had a higher score on critical thinking about nursing practice (β = .44, t = 5.14, P < .001). Specifically, caring behaviors accounted for 19.4% of the variance in students' critical thinking. The findings of this study revealed the importance of caring behavior and its relationship with the disposition toward critical thinking. Thus, it is recommended that nursing education should emphasize a curriculum related to caring behavior to improve the disposition toward critical thinking of nursing students. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Constructing critical thinking in health professional education.

PubMed

Kahlke, Renate; Eva, Kevin

2018-04-04

Calls for enabling 'critical thinking' are ubiquitous in health professional education. However, there is little agreement in the literature or in practice as to what this term means and efforts to generate a universal definition have found limited traction. Moreover, the variability observed might suggest that multiplicity has value that the quest for universal definitions has failed to capture. In this study, we sought to map the multiple conceptions of critical thinking in circulation in health professional education to understand the relationships and tensions between them. We used an inductive, qualitative approach to explore conceptions of critical thinking with educators from four health professions: medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and social work. Four participants from each profession participated in two individual in-depth semi-structured interviews, the latter of which induced reflection on a visual depiction of results generated from the first set of interviews. Three main conceptions of critical thinking were identified: biomedical, humanist, and social justice-oriented critical thinking. 'Biomedical critical thinking' was the dominant conception. While each conception had distinct features, the particular conceptions of critical thinking espoused by individual participants were not stable within or between interviews. Multiple conceptions of critical thinking likely offer educators the ability to express diverse beliefs about what 'good thinking' means in variable contexts. The findings suggest that any single definition of critical thinking in the health professions will be inherently contentious and, we argue, should be. Such debates, when made visible to educators and trainees, can be highly productive.

Critical Thinking in Critical Care: Five Strategies to Improve Teaching and Learning in the Intensive Care Unit.

PubMed

Hayes, Margaret M; Chatterjee, Souvik; Schwartzstein, Richard M

2017-04-01

Critical thinking, the capacity to be deliberate about thinking, is increasingly the focus of undergraduate medical education, but is not commonly addressed in graduate medical education. Without critical thinking, physicians, and particularly residents, are prone to cognitive errors, which can lead to diagnostic errors, especially in a high-stakes environment such as the intensive care unit. Although challenging, critical thinking skills can be taught. At this time, there is a paucity of data to support an educational gold standard for teaching critical thinking, but we believe that five strategies, routed in cognitive theory and our personal teaching experiences, provide an effective framework to teach critical thinking in the intensive care unit. The five strategies are: make the thinking process explicit by helping learners understand that the brain uses two cognitive processes: type 1, an intuitive pattern-recognizing process, and type 2, an analytic process; discuss cognitive biases, such as premature closure, and teach residents to minimize biases by expressing uncertainty and keeping differentials broad; model and teach inductive reasoning by utilizing concept and mechanism maps and explicitly teach how this reasoning differs from the more commonly used hypothetico-deductive reasoning; use questions to stimulate critical thinking: "how" or "why" questions can be used to coach trainees and to uncover their thought processes; and assess and provide feedback on learner's critical thinking. We believe these five strategies provide practical approaches for teaching critical thinking in the intensive care unit.

Critical Thinking in Critical Care: Five Strategies to Improve Teaching and Learning in the Intensive Care Unit

PubMed Central

Chatterjee, Souvik; Schwartzstein, Richard M.

2017-01-01

Critical thinking, the capacity to be deliberate about thinking, is increasingly the focus of undergraduate medical education, but is not commonly addressed in graduate medical education. Without critical thinking, physicians, and particularly residents, are prone to cognitive errors, which can lead to diagnostic errors, especially in a high-stakes environment such as the intensive care unit. Although challenging, critical thinking skills can be taught. At this time, there is a paucity of data to support an educational gold standard for teaching critical thinking, but we believe that five strategies, routed in cognitive theory and our personal teaching experiences, provide an effective framework to teach critical thinking in the intensive care unit. The five strategies are: make the thinking process explicit by helping learners understand that the brain uses two cognitive processes: type 1, an intuitive pattern-recognizing process, and type 2, an analytic process; discuss cognitive biases, such as premature closure, and teach residents to minimize biases by expressing uncertainty and keeping differentials broad; model and teach inductive reasoning by utilizing concept and mechanism maps and explicitly teach how this reasoning differs from the more commonly used hypothetico-deductive reasoning; use questions to stimulate critical thinking: “how” or “why” questions can be used to coach trainees and to uncover their thought processes; and assess and provide feedback on learner’s critical thinking. We believe these five strategies provide practical approaches for teaching critical thinking in the intensive care unit. PMID:28157389

Ayahuasca enhances creative divergent thinking while decreasing conventional convergent thinking.

PubMed

Kuypers, K P C; Riba, J; de la Fuente Revenga, M; Barker, S; Theunissen, E L; Ramaekers, J G

2016-09-01

Ayahuasca is a South American psychotropic plant tea traditionally used in Amazonian shamanism. The tea contains the psychedelic 5-HT2A receptor agonist N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), plus β-carboline alkaloids with monoamine oxidase-inhibiting properties. Increasing evidence from anecdotal reports and open-label studies indicates that ayahuasca may have therapeutic effects in treatment of substance use disorders and depression. A recent study on the psychological effects of ayahuasca found that the tea reduces judgmental processing and inner reactivity, classic goals of mindfulness psychotherapy. Another psychological facet that could potentially be targeted by ayahuasca is creative divergent thinking. This mode of thinking can enhance and strengthen psychological flexibility by allowing individuals to generate new and effective cognitive, emotional, and behavioral strategies. The present study aimed to assess the potential effects of ayahuasca on creative thinking. We visited two spiritual ayahuasca workshops and invited participants to conduct creativity tests before and during the acute effects of ayahuasca. In total, 26 participants consented. Creativity tests included the "pattern/line meanings test" (PLMT) and the "picture concept test" (PCT), both assessing divergent thinking and the latter also assessing convergent thinking. While no significant effects were found for the PLMT, ayahuasca intake significantly modified divergent and convergent thinking as measured by the PCT. While convergent thinking decreased after intake, divergent thinking increased. The present data indicate that ayahuasca enhances creative divergent thinking. They suggest that ayahuasca increases psychological flexibility, which may facilitate psychotherapeutic interventions and support clinical trial initiatives.

Encouragement for Thinking Critically

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olivares, Sonia; Saiz, Carlos; Rivas, Silvia F.

2013-01-01

Introduction: Here we report the results obtained in an innovative teaching experience that encourages the development of Critical Thinking skills through motivational intervention. Understanding Critical Thinking as a theory of action, "we think to solve problems", and accompanying this concept with a program aimed at teaching/learning…

Two of Everything: Developing Functional Thinking in the Primary Grades through Children's Literature

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Muir, Tracey; Bragg, Leicha A.; Livy, Sharyn

2015-01-01

The concept of functional thinking as a foundational idea associated with algebraic thinking is explored by Tracey Muir, Leicha Bragg and Sharyn Livy. They provide ideas for using children's literature as a context to promote functional thinking

Intrapersonal positive future thinking predicts repeat suicide attempts in hospital-treated suicide attempters.

PubMed

O'Connor, Rory C; Smyth, Roger; Williams, J Mark G

2015-02-01

Although there is clear evidence that low levels of positive future thinking (anticipation of positive experiences in the future) and hopelessness are associated with suicide risk, the relationship between the content of positive future thinking and suicidal behavior has yet to be investigated. This is the first study to determine whether the positive future thinking-suicide attempt relationship varies as a function of the content of the thoughts and whether positive future thinking predicts suicide attempts over time. A total of 388 patients hospitalized following a suicide attempt completed a range of clinical and psychological measures (depression, hopelessness, suicidal ideation, suicidal intent and positive future thinking). Fifteen months later, a nationally linked database was used to determine who had been hospitalized again after a suicide attempt. During follow-up, 25.6% of linked participants were readmitted to hospital following a suicide attempt. In univariate logistic regression analyses, previous suicide attempts, suicidal ideation, hopelessness, and depression-as well as low levels of achievement, low levels of financial positive future thoughts, and high levels of intrapersonal (thoughts about the individual and no one else) positive future thoughts predicted repeat suicide attempts. However, only previous suicide attempts, suicidal ideation, and high levels of intrapersonal positive future thinking were significant predictors in multivariate analyses. Positive future thinking has predictive utility over time; however, the content of the thinking affects the direction and strength of the positive future thinking-suicidal behavior relationship. Future research is required to understand the mechanisms that link high levels of intrapersonal positive future thinking to suicide risk and how intrapersonal thinking should be targeted in treatment interventions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Clinical concept mapping: Does it improve discipline-based critical thinking of nursing students?

PubMed Central

Moattari, Marzieh; Soleimani, Sara; Moghaddam, Neda Jamali; Mehbodi, Farkhondeh

2014-01-01

Background: Enhancing nursing students’ critical thinking is a challenge faced by nurse educators. This study aimed at determining the effect of clinical concept mapping on discipline-based critical thinking of nursing students. Materials and Methods: In this quasi-experimental post-test only design, a convenient sample of 4th year nursing students (N = 32) participated. They were randomly divided into two groups. The experimental group participated in a 1-day workshop on clinical concept mapping. They were also assigned to use at least two clinical concepts mapping during their clinical practice. Post-test was done using a specially designed package consisting of vignettes for measurement of 17 dimensions of critical thinking in nursing under two categories of cognitive critical thinking skills and habits of mind. They were required to write about how they would use a designated critical thinking skills or habits of mind to accomplish the nursing actions. The students’ responses were evaluated based on identification of critical thinking, justification, and quality of the student's response. The mean score of both groups was compared by Mann-Whitney test using SPSS version 16.5. Results: The results of the study revealed a significant difference between the two groups’ critical thinking regarding identification, justification, and quality of responses, and overall critical thinking scores, cognitive thinking skills, and habits of mind. The two groups also differed significantly from each other in 11 out of 17 dimensions of critical thinking. Conclusion: Clinical concept mapping is a valuable strategy for improvement of critical thinking of nursing students. However, further studies are recommended to generalize this result to nursing students in their earlier stage of education. PMID:24554963

Correlation Between Critical Thinking Disposition and Mental Self-Supporting Ability in Nursing Undergraduates: A Cross-Sectional Descriptive Study.

PubMed

Wu, Defang; Luo, Yang; Liao, Xinyu

2017-02-01

There is universal agreement on the essential role of critical thinking in nursing practice. Most studies into this topic have provided descriptive statistical information and insights on related external factors such as educational environment and teaching strategies. However, there has been limited research into the psychological factors that may predict the disposition of students toward critical thinking. This study explored the relationship between the disposition of nursing students toward critical thinking and their mental self-supporting ability to obtain a profile and determine the psychological predictors of critical thinking. A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in 2013 using a convenience sample from four nursing schools. Four hundred six Chinese nursing undergraduates completed two questionnaires including (a) the California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (Chinese version) and (b) the Mental Self-Supporting Questionnaire for University Students. Pearson's correlation and linear regression analysis were used to investigate the relationship between these two variables and the predicted positive psychological qualities for the critical thinking disposition of participants. Average participant scores for critical thinking disposition and mental self-supporting were 280.91 ± 28.43 and 76.40 ± 8.47, respectively. Positive correlations were observed between these two variables (r = .583, p < .01) and participants' self-decision, self-cognition, self-confidence, and self-responsibility, which suggest that these factors play a significant role in critical thinking disposition (R = .435, p < .01). The participants earned midlevel scores for both disposition toward critical thinking and mental self-supporting abilities.The four factors that had a major influence on critical thinking disposition included self-decision, self-cognition, self-confidence, and self-responsibility. Nursing educators should focus on improving the critical thinking ability of their students in these four aspects.

Valuing both critical and creative thinking in clinical practice: narrowing the research-practice gap?

PubMed

Seymour, Beth; Kinn, Sue; Sutherland, Norrie

2003-05-01

Nurturing critical thinking skills in the classroom is considered an important educational activity. It is believed that critical thinking skills are transferable and that they can be applied in practice when appraising, evaluating and implementing research. That more nurses than ever before have been judged academically knowledgeable in research has not guaranteed the transfer of such knowledge to practice. This paper discusses some of the reasons for the failure to narrow the gap between research and practice. In particular we argue that, if nurses are encouraged to develop creative and generative thinking alongside their critical thinking skills, then the art of nursing will have fuller representation in education, research and practice. The successful development of critical thinking skills for academic purposes does not necessarily mean that these skills are used in practice in relation either to research or clinical decision-making. This suggests that the transferability of critical thinking skills is less than straightforward. Indeed, there has been little narrowing of the research-practice gap since students started to learn critical thinking for academic purposes. However, we propose that thinking skills can be encouraged in the context of practice and that regular educational events, such as journal clubs, can contribute to developing critical thinking in the practice environment. The research-practice gap will reduce only if research becomes part of practitioners' ideology, which includes the art and science of nursing. Critical and creative thinking are prerequisites to narrowing the disjuncture between research and practice, and we suggest that educators and practitioners explore structured ways of meeting together to appraise literature as a possible means of making use of their thinking and knowledge in clinical practice.

Measuring Gains in Critical Thinking in Food Science and Human Nutrition Courses: The Cornell Critical Thinking Test, Problem-Based Learning Activities, and Student Journal Entries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Iwaoka, Wayne T.; Li, Yong; Rhee, Walter Y.

2010-01-01

The Cornell Critical Thinking Test (CCTT) is one of the many multiple-choice tests with validated questions that have been reported to measure general critical thinking (CT) ability. One of the IFT Education Standards for undergraduate degrees in Food Science is the emphasis on the development of critical thinking. While this skill is easy to list…

Mechanisms and Development Strategies for Teaching Thinking to Move the Role of Jordan Universities as the Product of the Think Tank from the Faculty Members Point of View

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ziadat, Ayed H.; Abu-Nair, Natheer S.; Abu Sameha, Mansour A.

2011-01-01

The study aimed at revealing the mechanisms and development strategies for teaching thinking to move the role of Jordan universities as the product of think tank from the faculty members point of view. Also aimed to determine the influence of academic rank in shaping the mechanisms and development strategies for teaching thinking in Jordanian…

Systems Thinking and Systems-Based Practice Across the Health Professions: An Inquiry Into Definitions, Teaching Practices, and Assessment.

PubMed

Plack, Margaret M; Goldman, Ellen F; Scott, Andrea R; Pintz, Christine; Herrmann, Debra; Kline, Kathleen; Thompson, Tracey; Brundage, Shelley B

2018-01-01

Phenomenon: Systems thinking is the cornerstone of systems-based practice (SBP) and a core competency in medicine and health sciences. Literature regarding how to teach or apply systems thinking in practice is limited. This study aimed to understand how educators in medicine, physical therapy, physician assistant, nursing, and speech-language pathology education programs teach and assess systems thinking and SBP. Twenty-six educators from seven different degree programs across the five professions were interviewed and program descriptions and relevant course syllabi were reviewed. Qualitative analysis was iterative and incorporated inductive and deductive methods as well as a constant comparison of units of data to identify patterns and themes. Six themes were identified: 1) participants described systems thinking as ranging across four major levels of healthcare (i.e., patient, care team, organization, and external environment); 2) participants associated systems thinking with a wide range of activities across the curriculum including quality improvement, Inter-professional education (IPE), error mitigation, and advocacy; 3) the need for healthcare professionals to understand systems thinking was primarily externally driven; 4) participants perceived that learning systems thinking occurred mainly informally and experientially rather than through formal didactic instruction; 5) participants characterized systems thinking content as interspersed across the curriculum and described a variety of strategies for teaching and assessing it; 6) participants indicated a structured framework and inter-professional approach may enhance teaching and assessment of systems thinking. Insights: Systems thinking means different things to different health professionals. Teaching and assessing systems thinking across the health professions will require further training and practice. Tools, techniques, taxonomies and expertise outside of healthcare may be used to enhance the teaching, assessment, and application of systems thinking and SBP to clinical practice; however, these would need to be adapted and refined for use in healthcare.

The Case Method in Teaching Critical Thinking.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gantt, Vernon W.

When one instructor teaches a course called "Communication and Critical Thinking," he uses Josina Makau's book "Reasoning and Communication: Thinking Critically about Arguments" (1990), which maintains that critical thinking requires training. Case methodology can be used for training, not exclusively but as an alternative to…

Do Critical Thinking Exercises Improve Critical Thinking Skills?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cotter, Ellen M.; Tally, Carrie Sacco

2009-01-01

Although textbooks routinely include exercises to improve critical thinking skills, the effectiveness of these exercises has not been closely examined. Additionally, the connection between critical thinking skills and formal operational thought is also relatively understudied. In the study reported here, college students completed measures of…

Divergent Thinking and Hemispheric Dominance for Language Function among Preschool Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tegano, Deborah Walker; And Others

1983-01-01

An investigation of the relationship of hemispheric dominance (dichotic listening) and divergent thinking (Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking) with 27 preschool children indicates that divergent thinking is associated with right hemispheric dominance in children as young as four years. (Author/PN)

Traditional Literacy and Critical Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dando, Priscille

2016-01-01

How school librarians focus on activating critical thinking through traditional literacy development can proactively set the stage for the deep thinking that occurs in all literacy development. The critical-thinking skills students build while becoming accomplished readers and writers provide the foundation for learning in a variety of…

Visual thinking and neuroscience.

PubMed

Smith, C U M

2008-01-01

After a consideration of visual thinking in science the role of such thinking in neuroscience is discussed. Three instances are examined - cortical column, retina, impulse - and it is argued that visual thinking is employed, though in different ways, in each. It lies at the core of neurobiological thought.

Effective Thinking Outdoors.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hyde, Rod

1997-01-01

Effective Thinking Outdoors (ETO) is an organization that teaches thinking skills and strategies via significant outdoor experiences. Identifies the three elements of thinking as creativity, play, and persistence; presents a graphic depiction of the problem-solving process and aims; and describes an ETO exercise, determining old routes of travel…

Partners or Partners in Crime? The Relationship Between Criminal Associates and Criminogenic Thinking.

PubMed

Whited, William H; Wagar, Laura; Mandracchia, Jon T; Morgan, Robert D

2017-04-01

Meta-analyses examining the risk factors for recidivism have identified the importance of ties with criminal associates as well as thoughts and attitudes conducive to the continuance of criminal behavior (e.g., criminogenic thinking). Criminologists have theorized that a direct relationship exists between the association with criminal peers and the development of criminogenic thinking. The present study empirically explored the relationship between criminal associates and criminogenic thinking in 595 adult male inmates in the United States. It was hypothesized that the proportion of free time spent with and number of criminal associates would be associated with criminogenic thinking, as measured by two self-report instruments, the Measure of Offender Thinking Styles-Revised (MOTS-R) and the Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles (PICTS). Hierarchal linear regression analyses demonstrated that the proportion of free time spent with criminal associates statistically predicted criminogenic thinking when controlling for demographic variables. The implications of these findings on correctional practice (including assessment and intervention) as well as future research are discussed.

Desire thinking as a confounder in the relationship between mindfulness and craving: Evidence from a cross-cultural validation of the Desire Thinking Questionnaire.

PubMed

Chakroun-Baggioni, Nadia; Corman, Maya; Spada, Marcantonio M; Caselli, Gabriele; Gierski, Fabien

2017-10-01

Desire thinking and mindfulness have been associated with craving. The aim of the present study was to validate the French version of the Desire Thinking Questionnaire (DTQ) and to investigate the relationship between mindfulness, desire thinking and craving among a sample of university students. Four hundred and ninety six university students completed the DTQ and measures of mindfulness, craving and alcohol use. Results from confirmatory factor analyses showed that the two-factor structure proposed in the original DTQ exhibited suitable goodness-of-fit statistics. The DTQ also demonstrated good internal reliability, temporal stability and predictive validity. A set of linear regressions revealed that desire thinking had a confounding effect in the relationship between mindfulness and craving. The confounding role of desire thinking in the relationship between mindfulness and craving suggests that interrupting desire thinking may be a viable clinical option aimed at reducing craving. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Critical thinking skills profile of senior high school students in Biology learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saputri, A. C.; Sajidan; Rinanto, Y.

2018-04-01

Critical thinking is an important and necessary skill to confront the challenges of the 21st century. Critical thinking skills accommodate activities that can improve high-order thinking skills. This study aims to determine senior high school students' critical thinking skills in Biology learning. This research is descriptive research using instruments developed based on the core aspects of critical thinking skills according to Facione which include interpretation, analysis, evaluation, explanation, conclusion, and self-regulation. The subjects in this study were 297 students in grade 12 of a senior high school in Surakarta selected through purposive sampling technique. The results of this study showed that the students' critical thinking skills on evaluation and self-regulation are in good criterion with 78% and 66% acquisition while 52% interpretation, 56% analysis, 52% conclusion and 42% explanation indicate sufficient criteria. The conclusion from this research is that critical thinking skill of the students still was in enough category, so that needed a way to enhance it on some indicators.

Control deprivation and styles of thinking.

PubMed

Zhou, Xinyue; He, Lingnan; Yang, Qing; Lao, Junpeng; Baumeister, Roy F

2012-03-01

Westerners habitually think in analytical ways, whereas East Asians tend to favor holistic styles of thinking. We replicated this difference but showed that it disappeared after control deprivation (Experiment 1). Brief experiences of control deprivation, which stimulate increased desire for control, caused Chinese participants to shift toward Western-style analytical thinking in multiple ways (Experiments 2-5). Western Caucasian participants also increased their use of analytical thinking after control deprivation (Experiment 6). Manipulations that required Chinese participants to think in Western, analytical ways caused their sense of personal control to increase (Experiments 7-9). Prolonged experiences of control deprivation, which past work suggested foster an attitude more akin to learned helplessness than striving for control, had the opposite effect of causing Chinese participants to shift back toward a strongly holistic style of thinking (Experiments 10-12). Taken together, the results support the reality of cultural differences in cognition but also the cross-cultural similarity of using analytical thinking when seeking to enhance personal control.

Thinking Style Diversity and Collaborative Design Learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Volpentesta, Antonio P.; Ammirato, Salvatore; Sofo, Francesco

The paper explores the impact of structured learning experiences that were designed to challenge students’ ways of thinking and promote creativity. The aim was to develop the ability of students, coming from different engineering disciplines and characterized by particular thinking style profiles, to collaboratively work on a project-based learning experience in an educational environment. Three project-based learning experiences were structured using critical thinking methods to stimulate creativity. Pre and post-survey data using a specially modified thinking style inventory for 202 design students indicated a thinking style profile of preferences with a focus on exploring and questioning. Statistically significant results showed students successfully developed empathy and openness to multiple perspectives.

Nurse educators' perceptions of critical thinking in developing countries: Ghana as a case study.

PubMed

Boso, Christian Makafui; Gross, Janet J

2015-01-01

The ability to critically evaluate information for the purpose of rendering health care is a prerequisite for modern nurses in a complex and ever-changing health care environment. The nurse educators' perceptions influence the utilization of critical thinking strategies in the classroom. The purpose of this study was to assess nursing faculty's perceptions of critical thinking. Using a questionnaire 106 nurse educators from two types of nursing educational program self-reported their perceptions. Data were collected from November 2013 to March 2014. Results were presented using frequencies, percentages, and t-test. The findings revealed that majority (95.3%) of nurse educators could not provide definitions that captured both affective and cognitive aspects of critical thinking. However, the majority of nurse educators had positive perceptions of critical thinking. Nurse educators in universities had more positive perceptions of critical thinking than those in the nurses' training colleges (P=0.007). The results suggested that the current nursing programs are not preparing nurses with the necessary critical thinking skills for the complex health care environment. Professional development programs in critical thinking should be instituted for nurse educators to assist them in developing appropriate teaching strategies to foster students' acquisition of critical thinking skills.

Teachers' learning about research for enhancing students' thinking skills in science learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nammungkhun, Wisanugorn; Satchukorn, Sureerat; Saenpuk, Nudchanard; Yuenyong, Chokchai; Chantharanuwong, Warawun

2018-01-01

This paper aimed to clarify teachers' learning about research for enhancing students' thinking skills in science learning. The study applied the lens of sociocultural view of learning to discuss teachers' learning about research. Participants included teachers who participated in the project of thinking research schools: research for enhancing students' thinking skills. The project of thinking research schools provided participants chance to learn knowledge about research and thinking research, doing research and publication, and participate in the international conference. Methodology regarded ethnographic research. The tools of interpretation included participant observation, interview, and document analysis. The researchers as participants of the research project of thinking research schools tried to clarify what they learned about research from their way of seeing the view of research about enhancing students' thinking skills through participant observation. The findings revealed what and how teachers as apprenticeship learn about research through legitimate peripheral participation in the research project community of practice. The paper clarified teachers' conceptualization about research for enhancing students' thinking through the workshop, doing research, writing up research article with supported by experts, presenting research in the international conference, editing their research article on the way of publishing, and so on.

Reliability of assessment of critical thinking.

PubMed

Allen, George D; Rubenfeld, M Gaie; Scheffer, Barbara K

2004-01-01

Although clinical critical thinking skills and behaviors are among the most highly sought characteristics of BSN graduates, they remain among the most difficult to teach and assess. Three reasons for this difficulty have been (1) lack of agreement among nurse educators as to the definition of critical thinking, (2) low correlation between clinical critical thinking and existing standardized tests of critical thinking, and (3) poor reliability in scoring other evidences of critical thinking, such as essays. This article first describes a procedure for teaching critical thinking that is based on a consensus definition of 17 dimensions of critical thinking in clinical nursing practice. This procedure is easily taught to nurse educators and can be flexibly and inexpensively incorporated into any undergraduate nursing curriculum. We then show that students' understanding and use of these dimensions can be assessed with high reliability (coefficient alpha between 0.7 and 0.8) and with great time efficiency for both teachers and students. By using this procedure iteratively across semesters, students can develop portfolios demonstrating attainment of competence in clinical critical thinking, and educators can obtain important summary evaluations of the degree to which their graduates have succeeded in this important area of their education.

Vitalistic thinking in adults.

PubMed

Wilson, Stuart

2013-11-01

Vitalistic thinking has traditionally been associated with reasoning about biological phenomena. The current research aimed to investigate a broader range of vitalistic thinking than previously studied. Esoteric notions of 'energy' are frequently used by individuals when making causal attributions for strange occurrences, and previous literature has linked such thinking with paranormal, magical, and superstitious beliefs. Two experiments are described that aim to investigate whether adults are vitalistic when asked to make causal judgments, and whether this can be predicted by thinking styles and prior paranormal belief. Experiment 1 asked participants to rate three causal options (one of which was vitalistic) for six vignettes. Scores on one dimension of paranormal belief (New Age Philosophy) and analytical thinking significantly predicted vitalism, but scores on intuitive thinking and Traditional Paranormal Beliefs did not. Experiment 2 extended the findings by asking participants to generate their own causal responses. Again, paranormal belief was found to be the best predictor of vitalism, but this time Traditional Paranormal Beliefs were associated with vitalistic responses whilst both intuitive and analytical thinking were unable to significantly predict classification. Results challenge previous findings, suggesting that vitalistic thinking may operate differently when applied to everyday causal reasoning. © 2012 The British Psychological Society.

How to practice creative thinking skills through scaffolding on biotech content?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Natadiwijaya, I. F.; Rahmat, A.; Redjeki, S.; Anggraeni, S.

2018-05-01

Biotechnology content is a more applicative field of science, so learners should be able to have creative thinking skills in applying concepts to problem solving. In this research, Scaffolding learning has been conducted, which is student form of concept development based on constructivism learning paradigm and students build creative thinking skill through the creation of biotechnology product ideas. The research design was R & D method. The subject of this research is a semester V biology education student at Wiralodra University. The instruments used are biotechnology creative thinking tests and program implementation observations. The data of creative thinking test was analyzed using inferential statistic, while the observation sheet used descriptive analysis. The result of this research is the result of students’ creative thinking skill as well as description of the recommended shape and characteristics of the program, with the following results. The scaffolding learning program has a significant influence on students’ creative thinking skill, and the program that trains creative thinking skill is built through two phases, namely phase 1 in concept building where students build their own knowledge, and phase 2 where students build thinking skills creatively through the creation of biotechnology product ideas.

Rational Thinking and Belief in Psychic Abilities: It Depends on Level of Involvement.

PubMed

Stone, Anna

2016-02-01

Previous research has shown that lay believers in psychic abilities are more prone to intuitive thinking, less inclined to rational thinking, and have an external locus of control, compared to non-believers. Psychic practitioners, however, may have different characteristics. Psychic practitioners ( n = 31; M age = 42.7 yr., SD = 13.1), lay believers ( n = 33; M age = 33.0 yr., SD = 10.3), and non-believers ( n = 31; M age = 34.4 yr., SD = 15.4) completed questionnaires measuring thinking styles, locus of control, and psychic belief. Comparisons of lay believers with non-believers confirmed previous observations: believers had a higher propensity for intuitive thinking, lower propensity for rational thinking, and more external locus of control. In contrast, practitioners were equivalent to non-believers in rational thinking and had the highest internal locus of control. This highlights the importance of considering level of involvement with psychic practice in understanding the thinking styles of believers. Results suggested that practitioners may have rationalized their beliefs and constructed a coherent model of psychic phenomena that satisfies a propensity for rational thinking within a community of belief.

Effectiveness of higher order thinking skills (HOTS) based i-Think map concept towards primary students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ping, Owi Wei; Ahmad, Azhar; Adnan, Mazlini; Hua, Ang Kean

2017-05-01

Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) is a new concept of education reform based on the Taxonomies Bloom. The concept concentrate on student understanding in learning process based on their own methods. Through the HOTS questions are able to train students to think creatively, critic and innovative. The aim of this study was to identify the student's proficiency in solving HOTS Mathematics question by using i-Think map. This research takes place in Sabak Bernam, Selangor. The method applied is quantitative approach that involves approximately all of the standard five students. Pra-posttest was conduct before and after the intervention using i-Think map in solving the HOTS questions. The result indicates significant improvement for post-test, which prove that applying i-Think map enhance the students ability to solve HOTS question. Survey's analysis showed 90% of the students agree having i-Thinking map in analysis the question carefully and using keywords in the map to solve the questions. As conclusion, this process benefits students to minimize in making the mistake when solving the questions. Therefore, teachers are necessarily to guide students in applying the eligible i-Think map and methods in analyzing the question through finding the keywords.

Learning to Improve: Using Writing to Increase Critical Thinking Performance in General Education Biology

PubMed Central

Kurtz, Martha J.

2007-01-01

Increasingly, national stakeholders express concern that U.S. college graduates cannot adequately solve problems and think critically. As a set of cognitive abilities, critical thinking skills provide students with tangible academic, personal, and professional benefits that may ultimately address these concerns. As an instructional method, writing has long been perceived as a way to improve critical thinking. In the current study, the researchers compared critical thinking performance of students who experienced a laboratory writing treatment with those who experienced traditional quiz-based laboratory in a general education biology course. The effects of writing were determined within the context of multiple covariables. Results indicated that the writing group significantly improved critical thinking skills whereas the nonwriting group did not. Specifically, analysis and inference skills increased significantly in the writing group but not the nonwriting group. Writing students also showed greater gains in evaluation skills; however, these were not significant. In addition to writing, prior critical thinking skill and instructor significantly affected critical thinking performance, whereas other covariables such as gender, ethnicity, and age were not significant. With improved critical thinking skill, general education biology students will be better prepared to solve problems as engaged and productive citizens. PMID:17548876

Analysis of Geometric Thinking Students’ and Process-Guided Inquiry Learning Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hardianti, D.; Priatna, N.; Priatna, B. A.

2017-09-01

This research aims to analysis students’ geometric thinking ability and theoretically examine the process-oriented guided iquiry (POGIL) model. This study uses qualitative approach with descriptive method because this research was done without any treatment on subjects. Data were collected naturally. This study was conducted in one of the State Junior High School in Bandung. The population was second grade students and the sample was 32 students. Data of students’ geometric thinking ability were collected through geometric thinking test. These questions are made based on the characteristics of geometry thinking based on van hiele’s theory. Based on the results of the analysis and discussion, students’ geometric thinking ability is still low so it needs to be improved. Therefore, an effort is needed to overcome the problems related to students’ geometric thinking ability. One of the efforts that can be done by doing the learning that can facilitate the students to construct their own geometry concept, especially quadrilateral’s concepts so that students’ geometric thinking ability can enhance maximally. Based on study of the theory, one of the learning models that can enhance the students’ geometric thinking ability is POGIL model.

Teaching and evaluating critical thinking in respiratory care.

PubMed

Mishoe, Shelley C; Hernlen, Kitty

2005-09-01

The capacity to perform critical thinking in respiratory care may be enhanced through awareness and education to improve skills, abilities, and opportunities. The essential skills for critical thinking in respiratory care include prioritizing, anticipating, troubleshooting, communicating, negotiating, decision making, and reflecting. In addition to these skills, critical thinkers exhibit certain characteristics such as critical evaluation, judgment,insight, motivation, and lifelong learning. The teaching of critical thinking may be accomplished though problem-based learning using an evidenced-based approach to solve clinical problems similar to those encountered in professional practice. Other traditional strategies such as discussion, debate, case study, and case presentations can be used. Web-based curriculum and technologic advances have created opportunities such as bulletin boards, real-time chats, and interactive media tools that can incorporate critical thinking. Many concerns and controversies surround the assessment of critical thinking, and individuals who administer critical thinking tests must be aware of the strengths and limitations of these assessment tools, as well as their relevance to the workplace. The foundational works reported in this article summarize the current status of assessment of critical thinking and can stimulate further investigation and application of the skills, characteristics, educational strategies, and measurement of critical thinking in respiratory care.

Fostering Critical Thinking in Physical Education Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lodewyk, Ken R.

2009-01-01

Critical thinking is essentially "better thinking." When students think critically they consider complex information from numerous sources and perspectives in order to make a reasonable judgment that they can justify. It has been associated with academic qualities such as decision-making, creativity, reasoning, problem-solving, debating,…

Creative Thinking with Fairy Tales.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Flack, Jerry

2001-01-01

This article discusses how creative thinking can be encouraged in students through such classic tools as brainstorming and the productive thinking elements of fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration. It describes how fairy tales can be used to foster these thinking skills and suggests classroom activities. (Contains two references.) (CR)

Hemispheric Connectivity and the Visual-Spatial Divergent-Thinking Component of Creativity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moore, Dana W.; Bhadelia, Rafeeque A.; Billings, Rebecca L.; Fulwiler, Carl; Heilman, Kenneth M.; Rood, Kenneth M. J.; Gansler, David A.

2009-01-01

Background/hypothesis: Divergent thinking is an important measurable component of creativity. This study tested the postulate that divergent thinking depends on large distributed inter- and intra-hemispheric networks. Although preliminary evidence supports increased brain connectivity during divergent thinking, the neural correlates of this…

An Evaluation of Five Critical/Creative Thinking Strategies for Secondary Science Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zielinski, Edward J.; Sarachine, D. Michael

1994-01-01

Critical and creative thinking lessons were designed and presented to 20 biology students in a rural high school. Student attitudes toward critical thinking activities improved significantly after activities involving experimentation, discrepant events, student questioning, ethical dilemmas, and divergent and critical thinking. Includes examples…

Critical Thinking Concept Reconstructed

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Minter, Mary Kennedy

2010-01-01

This paper explores the proposition that teaching of critical thinking (CT) should include: (1) identifying and addressing the many environmental variables acting as barriers to our human thinking, i.e., an open system approach, and (2) utilizing the interrelatedness of the CT building blocks, i.e., creative thinking techniques, levels of…

Thinking about Thinking.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parker, Sarah J.

The teaching of decision-making, problem-solving, and higher-order thinking skills is necessary to ensure adaptability to our world of accelerated change. Living skills in the technology and information age will include the understanding and application of higher level thinking skills, which will be the educational "basics" of tomorrow.…

Helping Students Acquire Thinking Skills through Mathematics Instruction.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Van Devender, Evelyn M.

1992-01-01

Describes three activities that the teacher can employ to help students develop thinking skills through mathematics instruction: (1) memorization using the technique of chunking; (2) higher order thinking with magic squares; and (3) predicting games. Identifies eight facets of the teacher's role in promoting thinking skills. (MDH)

Developing Critical Thinking Skills for Information Seeking Success

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wallace, Elise D.; Jefferson, Renee N.

2013-01-01

Critical thinking skills are required to successfully navigate the overwhelming amount of information sources available today. To address the challenge of developing critical thinking skills, this empirical study examines the effectiveness of exercises in developing thinking skills in college freshmen students. The workbook exercises were designed…

Some Cognitive Components of the Diagnostic Thinking Process.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gale, Janet

1982-01-01

Identifies 14 cognitive components of the diagnostic thinking process in clinical problem solving. Analyzes the differences between medical students, hospital house officers, and hospital registrars in London, England, on the relative use of such thinking processes. Suggests that diagnostic thinking processes cannot be incorporated into medical…

Visual Thinking Strategies = Creative and Critical Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moeller, Mary; Cutler, Kay; Fiedler, Dave; Weier, Lisa

2013-01-01

Implementation of Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) into the Camelot Intermediate School curriculum in Brookings, South Dakota, has fostered the development of creative and critical thinking skills in 4th- and 5th-grade students. Making meaning together by observing carefully, deciphering patterns, speculating, clarifying, supporting opinions, and…

Autism from the Inside

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grandin, Temple

2007-01-01

Temple Grandin, a university professor and award-winning livestock designer with autism, describes how thinking, for her, means processing a series of photorealistic mental images. Thinking in pictures, according to Grandin, is the only possible mode of thinking for many autistic people: Others think with sound patterns, visual patterns, or long…

Identifying Talent and Giftedness Part II.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Male, Robert A.; Perrone, Philip

1979-01-01

The second article in a three-part series focuses on the GIFTS Identification Instrument for selecting talented children in six areas: convergent thinking and behavior, divergent/creative thinking and behavior, goal-related thinking and behavior, social skills and behavior, physical skills and behavior, and affective thinking and behavior. (SBH)

Extending Students' Mathematical Thinking during Whole-Group Discussions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cengiz, Nesrin; Kline, Kate; Grant, Theresa J.

2011-01-01

Studies show that extending students' mathematical thinking during whole-group discussions is a challenging undertaking. To better understand what extending student thinking looks like and how teachers' mathematical knowledge for teaching (MKT) supports teachers in their efforts to extend student thinking, the teaching of six experienced…

Feedback Dialogues That Stimulate Students' Reflective Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Van der Schaaf, Marieke; Baartman, Liesbeth; Prins, Frans; Oosterbaan, Anne; Schaap, Harmen

2013-01-01

How can feedback dialogues stimulate students' reflective thinking? This study aims to investigate: (1) the effects of feedback dialogues between teachers and students on students' perceptions of teacher feedback and (2) the relation between features of feedback dialogues and students' thinking activities as part of reflective thinking. A…

Recommendations to Support Computational Thinking in the Elementary Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Estapa, Anne; Hutchison, Amy; Nadolny, Larysa

2018-01-01

Computational thinking is an important and necessary way of thinking for computer programmers and other professionals in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Research on emerging practices around computational thinking that is developed through coding initiatives in schools reports that elementary children typically learn how…

Thinking through Writing. Lord Fairfax Community College, 1990-1992.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lord Fairfax Community Coll., Middletown, VA.

In an attempt to improve its students' writing abilities, as well as their critical thinking skills, Lord Fairfax Community College, in Virginia, developed a program called "Thinking through Writing." The project designers believed that concept formation, classification, memory enhancement, and other learning/thinking skills could be…

How to Develop Critical Thinking Skills Within the Armys Officer Education System (OES) Earlier in an Officer’s Career

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-02-13

thinking emerges.”31 Military leaders should minimize bureaucracy when possible in an attempt to facilitate creative thinking . Consequently, a...AIR WAR COLLEGE AIR UNIVERSITY HOW TO DEVELOP CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS WITHIN THE ARMY’S OFFICER EDUCTION SYSTEM (OES) EARLIER IN AN...Force Dragon’s Heart.” iv Abstract Critical thinking skills are required by strategic leaders to solve complex problems in an environment

Critical thinking dispositions in baccalaureate nursing students.

PubMed

Shin, Kyung Rim; Lee, Ja Hyung; Ha, Ju Young; Kim, Kon Hee

2006-10-01

This paper reports an investigation into the critical thinking disposition of students enrolled in a baccalaureate nursing programme at a university in Korea. Critical thinking may be summarized as a skilled process that conceptualizes and applies information from observation, experience, reflection, inference and communication in a technical manner. It is more of a rational act used as an instrument rather than as a result. Critical thinking is a core competency in nursing and has been widely discussed in nursing education. However, the results of previous research on the effectiveness of nursing education in improving students' critical thinking have been inconsistent. A longitudinal design was used with a convenience sample of 60 nursing students; 32 students participated four times in completing a questionnaire each March from 1999 to 2002. The California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory was administered to measure disposition to critical thinking. There was a statistically significant improvement in critical thinking disposition score by academic year (F = 7.54, P = 0.0001). Among the subscales, open-mindedness, self-confidence, and maturity also showed a statistically significant difference by academic year (P = 0.0194, 0.0041, 0.0044). Teaching strategies to enhance critical thinking should be developed, in addition to further research on the effect of the nursing curriculum on students' critical thinking. Moreover, survey instruments could be adjusted to incorporate characteristics of the Korean culture.

Investigating and analyzing prospective teacher's reflective thinking in solving mathematical problem: A case study of female-field dependent (FD) prospective teacher

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Agustan, S.; Juniati, Dwi; Siswono, Tatag Yuli Eko

2017-05-01

In the last few years, reflective thinking becomes very popular term in the world of education, especially in professional education of teachers. One of goals of the educational personnel and teacher institutions create responsible prospective teachers and they are able reflective thinking. Reflective thinking is a future competence that should be taught to students to face the challenges and to respond of demands of the 21st century. Reflective thinking can be applied in mathematics becauseby reflective thinking, students can improve theircuriosity to solve mathematical problem. In solving mathematical problem is assumed that cognitive style has an impact on prospective teacher's mental activity. As a consequence, reflective thinking and cognitive style are important things in solving mathematical problem. The subject, in this research paper, isa female-prospective teacher who has fielddependent cognitive style. The purpose of this research paperis to investigate the ability of prospective teachers' reflective thinking in solving mathematical problem. This research paper is a descriptive by using qualitativeapproach. To analyze the data related to prospectiveteacher's reflective thinking in solving contextual mathematicalproblem, the researchers focus in four main categories which describe prospective teacher's activities in using reflective thinking, namely; (a) formulation and synthesis of experience, (b) orderliness of experience, (c) evaluating the experience and (d) testing the selected solution based on the experience.

A conceptual framework for developing a critical thinking self-assessment scale.

PubMed

Nair, Girija G; Stamler, Lynnette Leeseberg

2013-03-01

Nurses must be talented critical thinkers to cope with the challenges related to the ever-changing health care system, population trends, and extended role expectations. Several countries now recognize critical thinking skills (CTS) as an expected outcome of nursing education programs. Critical thinking has been defined in multiple ways by philosophers, critical thinking experts, and educators. Nursing experts conceptualize critical thinking as a process involving cognitive and affective domains of reasoning. Nurse educators are often challenged with teaching and measuring CTS because of their latent nature and the lack of a uniform definition of the concept. In this review of the critical thinking literature, we examine various definitions, identify a set of constructs that define critical thinking, and suggest a conceptual framework on which to base a self-assessment scale for measuring CTS. Copyright 2013, SLACK Incorporated.

A critical thinking disposition scale for nurses: short form.

PubMed

Hwang, Shiow-Y; Yen, Miaofen; Lee, Bih-O; Huang, Mei-C; Tseng, Hung-F

2010-11-01

The aim of this study was to test the Chinese version of the Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CTDI-CV) among nurses in Taiwan. Critical thinking is the use of purposeful self-regulatory judgments to identify patient's problems and provide patient care. Critical thinking influences nurses' decision making. To date, no inventory to understand nurse's critical thinking disposition has been developed. This was a survey design with a stratified random sampling to test the reliability and validity of the CTDI-CV. The participants comprised 864 registered nurses who were chosen by stratified random sampling from seven hospitals in Taiwan. Data were collected through self-administered structured questionnaires. A new scale, short form (SF) CTDI-CV, contains 18 items with three subscales: 'systematic analysis', 'thinking within the box' and 'thinking out of the box', was generated from the analysis with 44% explained variance. Cronbach's alpha coefficients and intra-class correlation coefficients for overall and subscale were above 0.8. Goodness-of-fit test for the final model of SF-CTDI-CV revealed an acceptable result in the overall fit (χ(2)/df = 4.04, p < 0.05, GFI = 0.93, AGFI = 0.91, SRMR = 0.076, RMSEA = 0.059). On the basis of these results, the SF-CTDI-CV is a reliable instrument for assessing critical thinking disposition for nurses. A short and valid critical thinking instrument for nurses will facilitate critical thinking research in the clinical practice arena. When designing continuing education activities, clinical educators will be able to efficiently and effectively evaluate the quality of critical thinking among practicing nurses. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Evaluation of tools used to measure critical thinking development in nursing and midwifery undergraduate students: a systematic review.

PubMed

Carter, Amanda G; Creedy, Debra K; Sidebotham, Mary

2015-07-01

Well developed critical thinking skills are essential for nursing and midwifery practices. The development of students' higher-order cognitive abilities, such as critical thinking, is also well recognised in nursing and midwifery education. Measurement of critical thinking development is important to demonstrate change over time and effectiveness of teaching strategies. To evaluate tools designed to measure critical thinking in nursing and midwifery undergraduate students. The following six databases were searched and resulted in the retrieval of 1191 papers: CINAHL, Ovid Medline, ERIC, Informit, PsycINFO and Scopus. After screening for inclusion, each paper was evaluated using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme Tool. Thirty-four studies met the inclusion criteria and quality appraisal. Sixteen different tools that measure critical thinking were reviewed for reliability and validity and extent to which the domains of critical thinking were evident. Sixty percent of studies utilised one of four standardised commercially available measures of critical thinking. Reliability and validity were not consistently reported and there was a variation in reliability across studies that used the same measure. Of the remaining studies using different tools, there was also limited reporting of reliability making it difficult to assess internal consistency and potential applicability of measures across settings. Discipline specific instruments to measure critical thinking in nursing and midwifery are required, specifically tools that measure the application of critical thinking to practise. Given that critical thinking development occurs over an extended period, measurement needs to be repeated and multiple methods of measurement used over time. Crown Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cultivating Divergent Thinking: Conceptualization as a Critical Component of Artmaking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chin, Christina

2013-01-01

Discussing various perspectives of artists' influences and experiences can develop students' divergent thinking skills. Fostering students' divergent thinking skills is integral to developing creativity, and the Arts are a ripe forum for this. In contrast to convergent thinking, which focuses in on one "correct"…

An Assessment Instrument to Measure Geospatial Thinking Expertise

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huynh, Niem Tu; Sharpe, Bob

2013-01-01

Spatial thinking is fundamental to the practice and theory of geography, however there are few valid and reliable assessment methods in geography to measure student performance in spatial thinking. This article presents the development and evaluation of a geospatial thinking assessment instrument to measure participant understanding of spatial…

Language, Thinking, and Communication: A Developmental Psycholinguistic Perspective.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schneider, Phyllis

There are a number of views of the relationship between language and thinking. Two prominent figures in developmental psychology, Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky, proposed theories of language and thinking which also involve the notion of "communication." For Piaget, thinking develops first, and language comes along as an expression of…

Assessment of Higher Order Thinking Skills. Current Perspectives on Cognition, Learning and Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schraw, Gregory, Ed.; Robinson, Daniel H., Ed.

2011-01-01

This volume examines the assessment of higher order thinking skills from the perspectives of applied cognitive psychology and measurement theory. The volume considers a variety of higher order thinking skills, including problem solving, critical thinking, argumentation, decision making, creativity, metacognition, and self-regulation. Fourteen…

Taoist Thinking Pattern as Reflected in Communication.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ma, Ringo

Students' exposure to the Taoist thinking pattern should have a significant meaning in their cognitive development and life enrichment. The thinking pattern reflected in Taoist discourse is in sharp contrast to what is demonstrated in Aristotelian rhetoric. The circular thinking pattern usually resided in a paradoxical and/or relativistic…

Critical Thinking: Thinking with Concepts.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Elder, Linda; Paul, Richard

2001-01-01

Urges education to help students learn through conceptual thinking. States that the first step must be to teach the subtleties of words--without a command of the language, important discriminations can be confused. Asserts that if students are to think well conceptually, surface language must dissolve, and alternative ways to communicate must be…

Rethinking Theatre Teacher Education: A National Think Tank for Change-Makers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lazarus, Joan

2002-01-01

Discusses development of the American Alliance for Theatre and Education's Think Tanks on Theatre Teacher Education. Notes the think tanks were intended to probe important issues, move to a new level of thinking, and hopefully, effect change in individual and collective practice of theatre teacher education. (SG)

Design and Design Thinking in Business and Management Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Matthews, Judy; Wrigley, Cara

2017-01-01

Design and design thinking have been identified as making valuable contributions to business and management, and the numbers of higher education programs that teach design thinking to business students, managers and executives are growing. However multiple definitions of design thinking and the range of perspectives have created some confusion…

Embedding Critical Thinking in IS Curricula

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thomas, Theda; Davis, Tim; Kazlauskas, Alanah

2007-01-01

It is important for students to develop critical thinking and other higher-order thinking skills during their tertiary studies. Along with the ability to think critically comes the need to develop students' meta-cognitive skills. These abilities work together to enable students to control, monitor, and regulate their own cognitive processes and…

Thinking Skill Education and Transformational Progress in Malaysia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Othman, Nooraini; Mohamad, Khairul Azmi

2014-01-01

This paper intends to highlight the issues in thinking skills development and efforts made in addressing these issues in Malaysia. The education system in Malaysia has undergone a huge transformational progress particularly in the field related to the development of thinking skill. Traditionally, thinking skill was not specifically cultivated in…

Teaching Thinking in the Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fisher, Robert

2007-01-01

In recent years there has been growing interest across the world in ways of developing children's thinking and learning skills. This interest has been fed by new knowledge about how the brain works and how people learn, and evidence that specific interventions can improve children's thinking and intelligence. Thinking skills are important because…

Assessing Critical Thinking in Higher Education: The HEIghten™ Approach and Preliminary Validity Evidence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Ou Lydia; Mao, Liyang; Frankel, Lois; Xu, Jun

2016-01-01

Critical thinking is a learning outcome highly valued by higher education institutions and the workforce. The Educational Testing Service (ETS) has designed a next generation assessment, the HEIghten™ critical thinking assessment, to measure students' critical thinking skills in analytical and synthetic dimensions. This paper introduces the…

Integrating Levels of Critical Thinking into Writing Assignments for Introductory Psychology Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Willis, A. Sandra

Short analytical writing exercises were designed to develop critical thinking and writing skills; stimulate creative thinking and writing; promote learning of psychological concepts; and to assess student knowledge. Design of these assignments was based on Bloom's taxonomy of multiple levels of critical thinking: recall, comprehension,…

Clinical Reasoning in Athletic Training Education: Modeling Expert Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Geisler, Paul R.; Lazenby, Todd W.

2009-01-01

Objective: To address the need for a more definitive approach to critical thinking during athletic training educational experiences by introducing the clinical reasoning model for critical thinking. Background: Educators are aware of the need to teach students how to think critically. The multiple domains of athletic training are comprehensive and…

Conceptualizing and Assessing Higher-Order Thinking in Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Afflerbach, Peter; Cho, Byeong-Young; Kim, Jong-Yun

2015-01-01

Students engage in higher-order thinking as they read complex texts and perform complex reading-related tasks. However, the most consequential assessments, high-stakes tests, are currently limited in providing information about students' higher-order thinking. In this article, we describe higher-order thinking in relation to reading. We provide a…

Scope of Semantic Activation and Innovative Thinking in College Students with ADHD

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

White, Holly A.; Shah, Priti

2016-01-01

Adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) show high divergent thinking on standardized laboratory measures. This study assessed innovative thinking in adults with ADHD using a realistic task and investigated a possible cognitive mechanism for ADHD-related advantages in innovative thinking. College students with and without ADHD…

Think3d!: Training Spatial Thinking Fundamental to STEM Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taylor, Holly A.; Hutton, Allyson

2013-01-01

This article describes the initial implementation of an innovative program for elementary-age children involving origami and pop-up paper engineering to promote visuospatial thinking. While spatial ability measures correlate with science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) success, a focus on spatial thinking is all but missing in elementary…

The Effect of Critical Thinking Instruction on Verbal Descriptions of Music

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Daniel C.

2011-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of critical thinking instruction on music listening skills of fifth-grade students as measured by written responses to music listening. The researcher compared instruction that included opportunities for critical thinking (Critical Thinking Instruction, CTI) with parallel instruction without…

Developmental Changes in Children's Understandings of Intelligence and Thinking Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burke, Lynsey A.; Williams, Joanne M.

2009-01-01

Research on children's concepts of intelligence has not considered how children conceptualise specific thinking skills. This study extends previous research on the development of children's concepts of intelligence and produces novel data on children's understandings of effective thinking and thinking skills. Seventy-five children were sampled…

The Role of Critical Thinking in Science Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Santos, Luis Fernando

2017-01-01

This review aims to respond various questions regarding the role of Critical Thinking in Science Education from aspects concerning the importance or relevance of critical thinking in science education, the situation in the classroom and curriculum, and the conception of critical thinking and fostering in science education. This review is specially…

The Feasibility of Systems Thinking in Biology Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boersma, Kerst; Waarlo, Arend Jan; Klaassen, Kees

2011-01-01

Systems thinking in biology education is an up and coming research topic, as yet with contrasting feasibility claims. In biology education systems thinking can be understood as thinking backward and forward between concrete biological objects and processes and systems models representing systems theoretical characteristics. Some studies claim that…

Enhancing Systems-Thinking Skills with Modelling

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hung, Woei

2008-01-01

Systems thinking is an essential cognitive skill that enables individuals to develop an integrative understanding of a given subject at the conceptual and systemic level. Yet, systems thinking is not usually an innate skill. Helping students develop systems-thinking skills warrants attention from educators. This paper describes a study examining…

Assessing an Introduction to Systems Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Monroe, Martha C.; Plate, Richard R.; Colley, Lara

2015-01-01

This research study investigated the learning outcomes of a brief systems thinking intervention at the undergraduate level. A pre/post experimental design (n = 50) was used to address two primary questions: (1) Can a brief introduction to systems thinking improve students' understanding of systems thinking? and (2) Which teaching method (of…

Connecting Research to Teaching: The "MOST" Productive Student Mathematical Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stockero, Shari L.; Peterson, Blake E.; Leatham, Keith R.; Van Zoest, Laura R.

2014-01-01

Instruction that meaningfully incorporates students' mathematical thinking is widely valued within the mathematics education community (NCTM 2000; Sherin, Louis, and Mendez 2000; Stein et al. 2008). Although being responsive to student thinking is important, not all student thinking has the same potential to support mathematical learning.…

Secondary Teachers' Conceptions of Creative Thinking within the Context of Environmental Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Daskolia, Maria; Dimos, Athanasios; Kampylis, Panagiotis G.

2012-01-01

Creative thinking in Environmental Education (EE) remains greatly under researched topic. Research on teachers' conceptions of creative thinking within EE context is also limited, although their role in facilitating creative thinking in students is well documented. The small-scale qualitative study presented here investigates Greek secondary…

Using Higher Order Thinking Questions to Foster Critical Thinking: A Classroom Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barnett, Jerrold E.; Francis, Alisha L.

2012-01-01

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…

Does College Teach Critical Thinking? A Meta-Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huber, Christopher R.; Kuncel, Nathan R.

2016-01-01

Educators view critical thinking as an essential skill, yet it remains unclear how effectively it is being taught in college. This meta-analysis synthesizes research on gains in critical thinking skills and attitudinal dispositions over various time frames in college. The results suggest that both critical thinking skills and dispositions improve…

Where Is the "Critical" in Critical Thinking?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Latchaw, Joan S.

Because it has been overworked, underanalyzed, and undefined, critical thinking has come to mean anything or nothing. The best work on critical thinking imagines it as an act of composing and revising. Definitions of critical thinking have undergone a historical evolution--from general problem-solving "skills" to a complex of…

Improving the Computational Thinking Pedagogical Capabilities of School Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bower, Matt; Wood, Leigh N.; Lai, Jennifer W. M.; Howe, Cathie; Lister, Raymond; Mason, Raina; Highfield, Kate; Veal, Jennifer

2017-01-01

The idea of computational thinking as skills and universal competence which every child should possess emerged last decade and has been gaining traction ever since. This raises a number of questions, including how to integrate computational thinking into the curriculum, whether teachers have computational thinking pedagogical capabilities to teach…

Developing Creative and Critical Thinkers

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-12-01

competitive advantage and long-term success. Strategic thinking meshes anticipated requirements with future organizational capabilities to ensure the organization wins in the future. Examples of failures in strategic thinking abound. They include the recent failures of U.S. auto companies to understand the key factors facing their industry. Of greater significance is our own failure of strategic thinking in the formulation and acceptance of the many pre-war assumptions about Iraq. The core elements of strategic thinking are the ability to think creatively and critically

Creative Cognition in Secondary Science: An exploration of divergent thinking in science among adolescents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Antink-Meyer, Allison; Lederman, Norman G.

2015-07-01

The divergent thinking skills in science of 282 US high school students were investigated across 16 weeks of instruction in order to determine whether typical academic time periods can significantly influence changes in thinking skills. Students' from 6 high school science classrooms completed the Scientific Structures Creativity Measure (SSCM) before and after a semester of instruction. Even the short time frame of a typical academic term was found to be sufficient to promote both improvements in divergent thinking skills as well as declining divergent thinking. Declining divergent thinking skills were more common in this time frame than were improvements. The nature of student performance on the SSCM and implications are discussed.

Freud, Piaget, or neither? Beliefs in controlling others by wishful thinking and magical behavior in young children.

PubMed

Vikan, A; Clausen, S E

1993-09-01

Tests showed that 4- to 6-year-old children believe that people can be influenced or "controlled" both by thinking (e.g., both wishful thinking and magical behavior) and by realistic means (e.g., positive reinforcement, example, and group pressure). Belief in control by thinking did not vary by the subjects' sex or age, influence type (wishing or magical behavior), or target response (behavior, emotion, or thought). Quantitative measures, however, suggested that magical behavior was seen by subjects as being more efficient than wishing, and that emotion was considered easier to influence than thinking. Beliefs in control by thinking were not related to a measure of fantasy-reality differentiation (realism).

Food for creativity: tyrosine promotes deep thinking.

PubMed

Colzato, Lorenza S; de Haan, Annelies M; Hommel, Bernhard

2015-09-01

Anecdotal evidence suggests that creative people sometimes use food to overcome mental blocks and lack of inspiration, but empirical support for this possibility is still lacking. In this study, we investigated whether creativity in convergent- and divergent-thinking tasks is promoted by the food supplement L-Tyrosine (TYR)-a biochemical precursor of dopamine, which is assumed to drive cognitive control and creativity. We found no evidence for an impact of TYR on divergent thinking ("brainstorming") but it did promote convergent ("deep") thinking. As convergent thinking arguably requires more cognitive top-down control, this finding suggests that TYR can facilitate control-hungry creative operations. Hence, the food we eat may affect the way we think.

Creativity and Memory: Effects of an Episodic Specificity Induction on Divergent Thinking

PubMed Central

Madore, Kevin P.; Addis, Donna Rose; Schacter, Daniel L.

2015-01-01

After receiving an episodic specificity induction - brief training in recollecting details of a recent event - people produce more episodic details when imagining future events and solving means-end problems than after receiving a control induction not focused on episodic retrieval. Here we show for the first time that an episodic specificity induction also enhances divergent creative thinking. In Experiment 1, participants exhibited a selective boost on a divergent thinking task that involves generating unusual uses of common objects after a specificity induction compared with a control induction; by contrast, performance was similar on an object association task thought to involve little divergent thinking. In Experiment 2, we replicated the specificity induction effect on divergent thinking using a different control induction, and also found that participants performed similarly on a convergent thinking task following both inductions. These experiments provide novel evidence that episodic memory is involved in divergent creative thinking. PMID:26205963

How mental health nurses improve their critical thinking through problem-based learning.

PubMed

Hung, Tsui-Mei; Tang, Lee-Chun; Ko, Chen-Ju

2015-01-01

Critical thinking has been regarded as one of the most important elements for nurses to improve quality of patient care. The aim of this study was to use problem-based learning (PBL) as a method in a continuing education program to evaluate nurses' critical thinking skills. A quasiexperimental study design was carried out. The "Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory" in Chinese was used for data collection. The results indicated significant improvement after PBL continuous education, notably in the dimensions of systematic analysis and curiosity. Content analysis extracted four themes: (a) changes in linear thinking required, (b) logical and systematic thinking required performance improved, (3) integration of prior knowledge and clinical application, and (4) brainstorming learning strategy. The study supports PBL as a continuing education strategy for mental health nurses, and that systematic analysis and curiosity effectively facilitate the development of critical thinking.

Improvement of nursing students' critical thinking skills through problem-based learning in the People's Republic of China: a quasi-experimental study.

PubMed

Yuan, Haobin; Kunaviktikul, Wipada; Klunklin, Areewan; Williams, Beverly A

2008-03-01

A quasi-experimental, two-group pretest-post-test design was conducted to examine the effect of problem-based learning on the critical thinking skills of 46 Year 2 undergraduate nursing students in the People's Republic of China. The California Critical Thinking Skills Test Form A, Chinese-Taiwanese version was used as both a pretest and as a post-test for a semester-long nursing course. There was no significant difference in critical thinking skills at pretest, whereas, significant differences in critical thinking skills existed between the problem-based learning and lecture groups at post-test. The problem-based learning students had a significantly greater improvement on the overall California Critical Thinking Skills Test, analysis, and induction subscale scores compared with the lecture students. Problem-based learning fostered nursing students' critical thinking skills.

Critical thinking in health professions education: summary and consensus statements of the Millennium Conference 2011.

PubMed

Huang, Grace C; Newman, Lori R; Schwartzstein, Richard M

2014-01-01

Critical thinking is central to the function of health care professionals. However, this topic is not explicitly taught or assessed within current programs, yet the need is greater than ever, in an era of information explosion, spiraling health care costs, and increased understanding about metacognition. To address the importance of teaching critical thinking in health professions education, the Shapiro Institute for Education and Research and the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation jointly sponsored the Millennium Conference 2011 on Critical Thinking. Teams of physician and nurse educators were selected through an application process. Attendees proposed strategies for integrating principles of critical thinking more explicitly into health professions curricula. Working in interprofessional, multi-institutional groups, participants tackled questions about teaching, assessment, and faculty development. Deliberations were summarized into consensus statements. Educational leaders participated in a structured dialogue about the enhancement of critical thinking in health professions education and recommend strategies to teach critical thinking.

Narrative thematic analysis of baccalaureate nursing students' reflections: critical thinking in the clinical education context.

PubMed

Naber, Jessica L; Hall, Joanne; Schadler, Craig Matthew

2014-09-01

This study sought to identify characteristics of clinically situated critical thinking in nursing students' reflections, originally part of a study guided by Richard Paul's model of critical thinking. Nurses are expected to apply critical thinking in all practice situations to improve health outcomes, including patient safety and satisfaction. In a previous study, Paul's model of critical thinking was used to develop questions for reflective writing assignments. Within that study, 30 nursing students completed six open-ended narratives of nurse-patient clinical encounters during an 8-week period. Improvements were seen in critical thinking scores after the intervention. This article reports the qualitative analysis of the content of six open-ended narratives. Six overarching themes were identified and combined into a tentative conceptual model. Faculty's understanding of the characteristics of critical thinking in the context of clinical education will help them to teach and evaluate students' progress and competencies for future practice.

[Reliability and validity of the Japanese version of the Thinking Style Inventory].

PubMed

Ochiai, Jun; Maie, Yuko; Wada, Yuichi

2016-06-01

This study examined the internal and external validity of the Japanese version of the Thinking Styles Inventory (TSI: Hiruma, 2000), which was originally developed by Sternberg and Wagner (1991) based on the framework of Sternberg's (1988) theory of mental self-government. The term "thinking style" refers to the concept that individuals differ in how they organize, direct, and manage their own thinking activities. We administered the Japanese version of the TSI to Japanese participants (N = 655: Age range 20-84 years). The results of item analysis, reliability analysis, and factor analysis, were consistent with the general ideas of the theory. In addition, there were significant relationships between certain thinking styles and 3 participant characteristics: age, gender, and working arrangement. Furthermore, some thinking styles were positively correlated with social skill. Implications of these results for the nature of Japanese thinking styles are discussed.

Exploring parenting as a predictor of criminogenic thinking in college students.

PubMed

Gonzalez, Rose; Mandracchia, Jon T; Nicholson, Bonnie; Dahlen, Eric

2014-09-01

Crime-promoting cognitions and attitudes, globally labeled as criminogenic thinking, are shown to perpetuate maladaptive and antisocial behavior in criminals and nonoffenders. In the nonoffender population, these thinking patterns may not lead to illegal behavior, but can result in irresponsible or maladaptive behavioral consequences. Theories suggest that early childhood parent-child interactions may be partly responsible for the development of criminogenic thinking. While the relationship between parenting and antisocial behavior is well documented, the connection between parenting and the development of criminogenic thinking styles has not yet been explored. The current study examined the nature of the relationship between exposure to parenting behaviors and subsequent criminogenic thoughts in a nonoffender, college population. The sample included 119 undergraduates. Results indicate that parenting may affect general criminogenic thinking as well as specific types of criminogenic thinking styles. Relevance and importance of the findings with regard to clinical work and parenting are also discussed. © The Author(s) 2013.

Thinking style changes among deaf, hard-of-hearing, and hearing students.

PubMed

Cheng, Sanyin; Zhang, Li-fang

2015-01-01

This study explores how university students' thinking styles changed over a single academic year by twice administering the Thinking Styles Inventory-Revised II to 256 deaf or hard-of-hearing (DHH) students and 286 hearing students from art and design academic disciplines in China. Results showed that after having studied at the university for one academic year, hearing students showed increased use of Type I thinking styles (more creativity generated, less structured, and more complex) and less use of Type II thinking styles (more norm favoring, more structured, and more simplistic), whereas DHH students demonstrated increased use of both Type I and Type II thinking styles. Moreover, students' changes in thinking styles differed across university class levels. The contributions, limitations, and implications of the present research are discussed. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

More dialectical thinking, less creativity? The relationship between dialectical thinking style and creative personality: the case of China.

PubMed

Liu, Hui; Wang, Fei-xue; Yang, Xiao-yang

2015-01-01

People use dialectical thinking to be holistic, reconcile contradictions, and emphasize changes when processing information and managing problems. Using a questionnaire survey, this study examined the relationship between dialectical thinking and creative personality in the Chinese culture, which encourages a holistic and collective thinking style. Undergraduates majoring in different subjects and adults in different professions were surveyed. The results showed that 1) compared with undergraduates majoring in art and adults from the design industry, undergraduates majoring in other disciplines significantly showed the least creative personality; 2) the highest score for dialectical thinking was found in the group of undergraduates who majored in other disciplines, followed by the adult group, and the undergraduates majoring in art had the lowest score; and 3) A negative relationship between dialectical thinking and creative personality was found mostly in the UMA group. The limitations of this study and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Practicing Critical Thinking in an Educational Psychology Classroom: Reflections from a Cultural-Historical Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lyutykh, Elena

2009-01-01

Present standards include creative and critical thinking among dispositions essential for the teaching profession. While teaching introductory courses in educational psychology, I have noticed that even though students can easily describe critical thinking in the abstract, they rarely and reluctantly engage in thinking critically about their own…

Reflections on Critical Thinking: Lessons from a Quasi-Experimental Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grussendorf, Jeannie; Rogol, Natalie C.

2018-01-01

In a pre/post quasi-experimental study assessing the impact of a specific curriculum on critical thinking, the authors employed a critical thinking curriculum in two sections of a U.S. foreign policy class. The authors found that the interactive and scaffolded critical thinking curriculum yielded statistically significant critical thinking…

Critical Thinking Disposition: The Effects of Infusion Approach in Engineering Drawing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Darby, Norazlinda Mohd; Rashid, Abdullah Mat

2017-01-01

Critical Thinking Disposition is known as an important factor that drives a student to use Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) in order to solve engineering drawing problems. Infusing them while teaching the subject may enhance students' disposition and higher order thinking skills. However, no research has been done in critical thinking…

Improving Student Critical Thinking and Perceptions of Critical Thinking through Direct Instruction in Rhetorical Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McGuire, Lauren A.

2010-01-01

This study investigated the effect of direct instruction in rhetorical analysis on students' critical thinking abilities, including knowledge, skills, and dispositions. The researcher investigated student perceptions of the effectiveness of argument mapping; Thinker's Guides, based on Paul's model of critical thinking; and Socratic questioning.…

Pedagogy for Developing Critical Thinking in Adolescents: Explicit Instruction Produces Greatest Gains

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marin, Lisa M.; Halpern, Diane F.

2011-01-01

Although the development and transfer of critical thinking skills are recognized as primary goals for education, there is little empirical evidence to help educators decide how to teach in ways that enhance critical thinking. In two studies, we compared explicit and imbedded instructional modes and assessed critical thinking with the Halpern…

A Guide to Critical Thinking for Maryland Social Scientists: A Summary Report of Ideas and Resources.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bell, James

Designed for community college social science instructors, this compilation of materials provides an overview of the literature on critical thinking. Following introductory comments, ideas are presented concerning the importance of teaching critical thinking, the conflicting opinions about the essence of critical thinking, the pros and cons of…

Higher Education Provision Using Systems Thinking Approach--Case Studies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dhukaram, Anandhi Vivekanandan; Sgouropoulou, Cleo; Feldman, Gerald; Amini, Ardavan

2018-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the complexities involved in higher education provision and how systems thinking and socio-technical systems (STS) thinking approach can be used to understand the education ecosystem. Systems thinking perspective is provided using two case studies: the development of European Learner Mobility (EuroLM)…

Professional Thinking in Occupational Therapy Education: Behaviors Indicative of Entry-Level Professional Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Mary E.

2017-01-01

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the behaviors indicative of professional thinking in entry-level occupational therapists and the teaching methodologies used to facilitate professional thinking during education as described by a sample of experienced occupational therapy educators. The researcher used The Model of Professional…

Creating Thinking Schools through Authentic Assessment: The Case in Singapore

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koh, Kim H.; Tan, Charlene; Ng, Pak Tee

2012-01-01

Using Singapore as an example, we argue that schools need to equip and encourage teachers to adopt authentic assessment in teaching and learning so as to develop the students' higher-order thinking. The importance of teaching and assessing higher-order thinking in Singapore classrooms is encapsulated in the vision of "Thinking Schools"…

Rational Thinking and Cognitive Sophistication: Development, Cognitive Abilities, and Thinking Dispositions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Toplak, Maggie E.; West, Richard F.; Stanovich, Keith E.

2014-01-01

We studied developmental trends in 5 important reasoning tasks that are critical components of the operational definition of rational thinking. The tasks measured denominator neglect, belief bias, base rate sensitivity, resistance to framing, and the tendency toward otherside thinking. In addition to age, we examined 2 other individual difference…

The Relationship of Critical-Thinking Skills and the Clinical-Judgment Skills of Baccalaureate Nursing Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bowles, Kathleen

2000-01-01

Nursing graduates (n=65) completed a critical thinking instrument and clinical decision-making scale. The critical thinking subscales of inference and inductive reasoning were positively correlated to clinical judgment. A significant relationship was found between critical thinking score and grade point average in nursing. (SK)

The Global Thinking Project: Linking Schools in Environmental Understanding. Symposium Proceedings (Atlanta, Georgia, November 1993).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Golley, Priscilla, Ed.; Hassard, Jack, Ed.

The Global Thinking Project at Georgia State University and the Department of Middle Secondary Education and Instructional Technology sponsored a Symposium on Global Thinking Research, in November, 1993. The following 11 papers were presented at the symposium: (1) "Teaching Students to Think Globally" (Jack Hassard); (2)…

How Critical Is Critical Thinking?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shaw, Ryan D.

2014-01-01

Recent educational discourse is full of references to the value of critical thinking as a 21st-century skill. In music education, critical thinking has been discussed in relation to problem solving and music listening, and some researchers suggest that training in critical thinking can improve students' responses to music. But what exactly is…

Exploration on Cultivation of Critical Thinking in College Intensive Reading Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tang, Lingying

2016-01-01

Critical thinking has drawn great concern from researchers in America and western world since 1980s. Chinese researchers have come to realize the fundamental function of critical thinking for innovation. However, it does not take effect to cultivate students' critical thinking in English classroom. English classroom activities are generally…

Developing Critical-Thinking Dispositions in a Listening/Speaking Class

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ordem, Eser

2017-01-01

Studies on critical thinking (CT) in education have been of paramount importance in recent decades to help individuals develop skills such as analyzing, synthesizing, higher-order thinking, and assessing. In line with such studies, this study aims to examine aspects of critical thinking dispositions of Turkish adult learners of English in a…

What Makes Critical Thinking Critical for Adult ESL Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miekley, Joshua P.

2014-01-01

Critical-thinking skills help to prepare adult education students for a successful transition to college degree programs and for job advancement. Yet fostering critical thinking poses a challenge to ESL instructors. Brookfield (2012) provides a way forward for adult educators when he explains that the crux of critical thinking is to discover one's…

Using Word Clouds in Online Discussions to Support Critical Thinking and Engagement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

deNoyelles, Aimee; Reyes-Foster, Beatriz

2015-01-01

Being actively engaged in a task is often associated with critical thinking. Cultivating critical thinking skills, such as purposefully reflecting and analyzing one's own thinking, is a major goal of higher education. However, there is a challenge in providing college students opportunities to clearly demonstrate these skills in online courses.…

Adapting the Critical Thinking Assessment Test for Palestinian Universities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Basha, Sami; Drane, Denise; Light, Gregory

2016-01-01

Critical thinking is a key learning outcome for Palestinian students. However, there are no validated critical thinking tests in Arabic. Suitability of the US developed Critical Thinking Assessment Test (CAT) for use in Palestine was assessed. The test was piloted with university students in English (n = 30) and 4 questions were piloted in Arabic…

What Is Needed to Develop Critical Thinking in Schools?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Radulovic, Lidija; Stancic, Milan

2017-01-01

Starting with the fact that school education has failed to become education for critical thinking and that one of the reasons for that could be in how education for critical thinking is conceptualised, this paper presents: (1) an analysis of the predominant approach to education for critical thinking through the implementation of special programs…

Teaching Critical Thinking: An Investigation of a Task in Introductory Macroeconomics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Anna

2004-01-01

This paper is an investigation of understandings of critical thinking from two teaching perspectives: academic staff and tutors. It explores critical thinking as situated within an assessment task in introductory macroeconomics. This study found that while the two academic staff conceptualized critical thinking as a set of concrete cognitive…

Using the Aesthetic Stance to Achieve Historical Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bassett Dahl, Heather Jane

2017-01-01

This research study focuses on how an aesthetic reading stance with dystopian literature can aid teens in the development of historical thinking skills. My research is based on ideas from Louise Rosenblatt's transactional theory and Sam Wineburg's concept and definition for historical thinking along with the UCLA Standards for Historical Thinking.…

Changing a Generation's Way of Thinking: Teaching Computational Thinking through Programming

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buitrago Flórez, Francisco; Casallas, Rubby; Hernández, Marcela; Reyes, Alejandro; Restrepo, Silvia; Danies, Giovanna

2017-01-01

Computational thinking (CT) uses concepts that are essential to computing and information science to solve problems, design and evaluate complex systems, and understand human reasoning and behavior. This way of thinking has important implications in computer sciences as well as in almost every other field. Therefore, we contend that CT should be…

Exploring Prospective Secondary Mathematics Teachers' Interpretation of Student Thinking through Analysing Students' Work in Modelling

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Didis, Makbule Gozde; Erbas, Ayhan Kursat; Cetinkaya, Bulent; Cakiroglu, Erdinc; Alacaci, Cengiz

2016-01-01

Researchers point out the importance of teachers' knowledge of student thinking and the role of examining student work in various contexts to develop a knowledge base regarding students' ways of thinking. This study investigated prospective secondary mathematics teachers' interpretations of students' thinking as manifested in students' work that…

Should Teachers Be Taught to Be Rational?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Floden, Robert E.; Feiman, Sharon

1981-01-01

Teacher education programs have long attempted to teach students to follow a rational mode of thinking. Recent research on teacher thinking has shown that a gap exists between how teachers think and the rational model. Such research should be used to give teacher educators insight into how their students think and learn. (JN)

Critical Thinking and Education for Democracy. Resource Publication Series 4 No. 2.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weinstein, Mark

A discussion of literature in critical thinking and education for democracy promotes critical thinking as one of the most reasonable educational tools to prepare students for participation in a democracy. The theories of Amy Gutmann, Jurgen Habermas, and Matthew Lipman offer insights into the various approaches to critical thinking and education…

Developing Critical Thinking Skills Using the Science Writing Heuristic in the Chemistry Laboratory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stephenson, N. S.; Sadler-McKnight, N. P.

2016-01-01

The Science Writing Heuristic (SWH) laboratory approach is a teaching and learning tool which combines writing, inquiry, collaboration and reflection, and provides scaffolding for the development of critical thinking skills. In this study, the California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST) was used to measure the critical thinking skills of…

The Use of Argument Mapping to Enhance Critical Thinking Skills in Business Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kunsch, David W.; Schnarr, Karin; van Tyle, Russell

2014-01-01

Complex business problems require enhanced critical thinking skills. In a dedicated, in-person critical thinking class, argument mapping techniques were used in conjunction with business and nonbusiness case studies to build the critical thinking skills of a group of master of business administration students. Results demonstrated that the…

Fostering Historical Thinking toward Civil Rights Movement Counter-Narratives: Documentary Film in Elementary Social Studies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buchanan, Lisa Brown

2015-01-01

This article describes how elementary preservice teachers used four documentary films to think historically about the United States Civil Rights Movement. The author situates the descriptive case study within research about historical thinking and documentary film, identifying the need for using documentary film to think historically in the…

Reflection as a Means of Developing Expertise in Problem Solving, Decision Making, and Complex Thinking of Designers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moallem, Mahnaz

This paper focuses on reflection and reflective thinking as a means of developing expertise in instructional designers. The need for the reflective instructional designer is discussed, and reflective thinking is examined from several perspectives, i.e., controlled thinking, tacit knowledge, epistemic assumption, abductive reasoning, willingness to…

The Importance of Undisciplined Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burger, Edward

2012-01-01

This past year, Baylor University created a program to reward some of its best teachers and challenge them to do something truly daring: teach their students how to think--not just how to think "about" course material, but rather how to think "through" the material. The idea is to help students learn how teachers, as…

Improving the Quality of Think-Alouds

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ness, Molly; Kenny, MaryBeth

2016-01-01

An essential element in teaching children to effectively comprehend text is the use of teacher-led think alouds. This article presents a three-step model to improve the quality and quantity of think alouds in K-6 classrooms. The article follows elementary teachers who planned, implemented, transcribed, and reflected upon think aloud lessons to…

Learning by Thinking during Play: The Power of Reflection to Aid Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Salmon, Angela K.

2016-01-01

Coupled with reflection, play leads to the development of thinking dispositions and promotes deep learning and understanding. The twenty-first century world demands that children learn how to learn by becoming reflective, self-regulating inquirers capable of metacognition (thinking about thinking). This manuscript aims to analyse how young minds…

Divergent Thinking and Age-Related Changes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Palmiero, Massimiliano; Di Giacomo, Dina; Passafiume, Domenico

2014-01-01

Aging can affect cognition in different ways. The extent to which aging affects divergent thinking is unclear. In this study, younger and older adults were compared at the performance on the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking in visual and verbal form. Results showed that older adults can think divergently as younger participants, although they…

Enhancing Thinking Skills in Early Childhood

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aubrey, Carol; Ghent, Kathryn; Kanira, Eleni

2012-01-01

A case study approach was adopted to investigate two thinking skills programmes for a maximum variation sample of five- to six-year-olds in four schools, in two local authorities (LAs), in England and Wales, using multiple methods. School staff interviewed felt that thinking skills programmes enhanced critical thinking skills and improved use of…

Thinking about "Design Thinking": A Study of Teacher Experiences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Retna, Kala S.

2016-01-01

Schools are continuously looking for new ways of enhancing student learning to equip students with skills that would enable them to cope with twenty-first century demands. One promising approach focuses on design thinking. This study examines teacher's perceptions, experiences and challenges faced in adopting design thinking. There is a lack of…

Cultivating Design Thinking in Students through Material Inquiry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Renard, Helene

2014-01-01

Design thinking is a way of understanding and engaging with the world that has received much attention in academic and business circles in recent years. This article examines a hands-on learning model as a vehicle for developing design thinking capacity in students. An overview of design thinking grounds the discussion of the material-based…

A Study of Causal Thinking in Elementary School Children. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ward, Edna M.

This study, which is a partial replication and validation of the 1962 Laurendeau and Pinard study of causal thinking, investigates cross-cultural differences among three age levels of Canadian and American school children in the development of causal thinking. Also studied is the relationship between level of development of causal thinking and…

Real-World Problems: Engaging Young Learners in Critical Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cole, Bronwyn; McGuire, Margit

2012-01-01

Critical thinking is a process that can be taught. It involves "evaluating the accuracy, credibility, and worth of information and lines of reasoning. Critical thinking is reflective, logical, evidence-based, and has a purposeful quality to it--that is, the learner thinks critically in order to achieve a particular goal." The authors have found…

Thinking Styles and Conceptions of Creativity among University Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhu, Chang; Zhang, Li-Fang

2011-01-01

This research aims to understand university students' thinking styles and the relationship with their views of creativity. The Thinking Styles Inventory-Revised II was used to measure 13 thinking styles as defined in Sternberg's theory of mental self-government and the Conceptions of Creativity Scales was used to inquire students' views about the…

Developing Critical Thinking through the Study of Paranormal Phenomena.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wesp, Richard; Montgomery, Kathleen

1998-01-01

Argues that accounts of paranormal phenomena can serve as an ideal medium in which to encourage students to develop critical-thinking skills. Describes a cooperative-learning approach used to teach critical thinking in a course on paranormal events. Reports that critical-thinking skills increased and that the course received favorable student…

A Conceptual Model for the Design and Delivery of Explicit Thinking Skills Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kassem, Cherrie L.

2005-01-01

Developing student thinking skills is an important goal for most educators. However, due to time constraints and weighty content standards, thinking skills instruction is often embedded in subject matter, implicit and incidental. For best results, thinking skills instruction requires a systematic design and explicit teaching strategies. The…

An Evaluation of University World Geography Textbook Questions for Components of Spatial Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scholz, Michael A.; Huynh, Niem Tu; Brysch, Carmen P.; Scholz, Ruojing Wang

2014-01-01

Geography textbooks contain chapter or review questions that may engage students in spatial thinking. This research used Jo and Bednarz's (2009) "Taxonomy of Spatial Thinking" to evaluate the percentage of spatial thinking questions in four university-level world geography course textbooks. The results from this study were then…

Effects of A Program in Rational Thinking on Anxieties in Older Persons

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keller, James F.; And Others

1975-01-01

The experimental group in this study received four weeks of study in rational-emotive education. The control group showed no significant declines in irrational thinking and anxiety, but the experimental group showed significant declines in irrational thinking and anxiety. The rational-emotive educational process, increased rational thinking and…

Red Dirt Thinking on Aspiration and Success

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Osborne, Sam; Guenther, John

2013-01-01

This article sets the scene for the series of five articles on "red dirt thinking". It first introduces the idea behind red dirt thinking as opposed to "blue sky thinking". Both accept that there are any number of creative and expansive solutions and possibilities to identified challenges--in this case, the challenge of…

Investigating Predictive Role of Critical Thinking on Metacognition with Structural Equation Modeling

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arslan, Serhat

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationships between critical thinking and metacognition. The sample of study consists of 390 university students who were enrolled in different programs at Sakarya University, in Turkey. In this study, the Critical Thinking Disposition Scale and Metacognitive Thinking Scale were used. The relationships…

Social Studies and Emerging Paradigms: Artificial Intelligence and Consciousness Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Braun, Joseph A., Jr.

1987-01-01

Asks three questions: (1) Are machines capable of thinking as people do? (2) How is the thinking of computers similar and different from human thinking? and (3) What exactly is thinking? Examines research in artificial intelligence. Describes the theory and research of consciousness education and discusses an emerging paradigm for human thinking…

Global Perspectives: Developing Media Literacy Skills to Advance Critical Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Radeloff, Cheryl L.; Bergman, Barbara J.

2009-01-01

Women's studies and feminist curricula have been lauded for the development and application of critical thinking skills for social and political change in its students (Fisher; Kellner and Share; Mayberry). Critical thinking can be defined as the ability to identify and challenge assumptions, to search for alternative ways of thinking, and to…

Design Thinking and the School Library

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coleman, Mary Catherine

2016-01-01

This past school year, the author set out to develop lessons that incorporated the design thinking process into her literature exploration curriculum in the school library. Design thinking is a term that the author has heard many times over the past few years in the context of education. Design thinking has been incorporated into the school…

Incorporating Critical Thinking into an Engineering Undergraduate Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Adair, Desmond; Jaeger, Martin

2016-01-01

Critical thinking extends to all aspects of professional engineering, especially in technical development, and, since the introduction of the ABET 2000 criteria, there has been an increased emphasis in engineering education on the development of critical thinking skills. What is hoped for is that the students obtain critical thinking skills to…

Enhanced Critical Thinking Skills through Problem-Solving Games in Secondary Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McDonald, Scott Douglas

2017-01-01

Aim/Purpose: Students face many challenges improving their soft skills such as critical thinking. This paper offers one possible solution to this problem. Background: This paper considers one method of enhancing critical thinking through a problem-solving game called the Coffee Shop. Problem-solving is a key component to critical thinking, and…

Teaching in the Zone: Formative Assessments for Critical Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maniotes, Leslie K.

2010-01-01

This article discusses how a school librarian can help students improve their critical thinking and strengthen their higher order thinking skills through the inquiry process. First, it will use a Guided Inquiry approach to examine how higher order thinking skills are taught within an inquiry paradigm. Next, it will consider how formative…

Conceptions of Critical Thinking from University EFL Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marin, Matias A.; de la Pava, Luisa

2017-01-01

Critical Thinking has become an educational and social ideal. English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teaching has not been apart from the discussion on the importance of implementing Critical Thinking into the educational process. However, research on Critical Thinking has broadly been carried out in other fields of knowledge rather than in EFL.…

Concept-Mapping Tools and the Development of Students' Critical-Thinking Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tseng, Sheng-Shiang

2015-01-01

Developing students' critical-thinking skills has recently received attention at all levels of education. This article proposes the use of concept-mapping tools to improve students' critical-thinking skills. The article introduces a Web-based concept-mapping tool--Popplet--and demonstrates its application for teaching critical-thinking skills in…

Visible Thinking in High School Mathematics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sliman, Emily

2013-01-01

If a teacher asked their students what thinking looks like, what would they say? Would they just look at the teacher quizzically? The question is challenging because thinking is largely an invisible endeavor, and developing thoughtful students can be a daunting task. However, the job of mathematics teachers is to develop students who think about…

The Systems Thinking and Curriculum Innovation Project. Technical Report, Part 2.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mandinach, Ellen B.; Thorpe, Margaret E.

This is the second of two reports on the first year activities and results of the Systems Thinking and Curriculum Innovation Project (STACI), a two-year project which is examining the cognitive demands and consequences of using the STELLA (Structural Thinking Experimental Learning Laboratory with Animation) software to teach systems thinking,…

Using Critical Thinking Drills to Teach and Assess Proficiency in Methodological and Statistical Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cascio, Ted V.

2017-01-01

This study assesses the effectiveness of critical thinking drills (CTDs), a repetitious classroom activity designed to improve methodological and statistical thinking in relation to psychological claims embedded in popular press articles. In each of four separate CTDs, students critically analyzed a brief article reporting a recent psychological…

Leveling Students' Creative Thinking in Solving and Posing Mathematical Problem

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Siswono, Tatag Yuli Eko

2010-01-01

Many researchers assume that people are creative, but their degree of creativity is different. The notion of creative thinking level has been discussed .by experts. The perspective of mathematics creative thinking refers to a combination of logical and divergent thinking which is based on intuition but has a conscious aim. The divergent thinking…

Bringing CASE in from the Cold: The Teaching and Learning of Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oliver, Mary; Venville, Grady

2017-01-01

"Thinking Science" is a 2-year program of professional development for teachers and thinking lessons for students in junior high school science classes. This paper presents research on the effects of "Thinking Science" on students' levels of cognition in Australia. The research is timely, with a general capability focused on…

Augustine and Education in Critical Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Puolimatka, Tapio

2005-01-01

Augustine's concept of the deep self provides a basis for a complex and many-faceted account of critical thinking. He uncovers the moral sources of thinking in the inner depths of the self and shows that critical thinking presupposes radical self-reflection ready to face the truth about oneself. Self-knowledge assumes transparency, consciousness…

High Level Thinking and Questioning Strategies. Research Brief

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burton, Ella

2010-01-01

Higher-order thinking is an instructional strategy supported by research. Often referred to as critical thinking skills, it is more than simple recall of facts or information. It is a function of the interaction between cognitive strategies, meta-cognition, and nonstrategic knowledge when solving problems. Higher-order thinking is based on the…

Thinking Like a Psychologist Introductory Psychology Writing Assignments: Encouraging Critical Thinking and Resisting Plagiarism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wentworth, Diane Keyser; Whitmarsh, Lona

2017-01-01

Teaching the general psychology course provides instructors with the opportunity to invite students to explore the dynamics of behavior and mental processes through the lens of theory and research. Three innovative writing assignments were developed to teach students to think like a psychologist, operationalized as enhancing critical thinking,…

Making Thinking Audible and Visible via Cooperative Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jacobs, George M.; Wang, Aili; Li, Xishuang; Xie, Yongye

2008-01-01

This chapter begins with a section that describes cooperative learning and explains eight cooperative learning principles. The second section looks briefly at why making thinking audible and visible enriches students' thinking. Making thinking audible means that teachers and students speak out what is going through their minds as they do a task,…

Thinking in clinical nursing practice: a study of critical care nurses' thinking applying the think-aloud, protocol analysis method.

PubMed

Han, Kyung-Ja; Kim, Hesook Suzie; Kim, Mae-Ja; Hong, Kyung-Ja; Park, Sungae; Yun, Soon-Nyoung; Song, Misoon; Jung, Yoenyi; Kim, Haewon; Kim, Dong-Oak Debbie; Choi, Heejung; Kim, Kyungae

2007-06-01

The purpose of the paper is to discover the patterns and processes of decision-making in clinical nursing practice. A set of think-aloud data from five critical care nurses during 40 to 50 minutes of caregiving in intensive care units were obtained and analyzed by applying the procedures recommended by Ericsson and Simon for protocol analysis. Four thinking processes before acting were identified to constitute various sorts of thoughts in which the nurses were engaged during patient care: reviewing, validation, consideration, rationalization, and action. In addition, three patterns of sequential streaming of thinking (short, intermediate, long) were identified to reveal various ways the nurses dealt with clinical situations involving nursing tasks and responsibilities. This study specifies the initial categories of thoughts for each of the processes and various patterns with which these processes are sequentially combined, providing insights into the ways nurses think about problems and address their concerns. The findings suggest that the thinking in clinical practice involves more than focused decision-making and reasoning, and needs to be examined from a broader perspective.

Critical thinking: the development of an essential skill for nursing students.

PubMed

Papathanasiou, Ioanna V; Kleisiaris, Christos F; Fradelos, Evangelos C; Kakou, Katerina; Kourkouta, Lambrini

2014-08-01

Critical thinking is defined as the mental process of actively and skillfully perception, analysis, synthesis and evaluation of collected information through observation, experience and communication that leads to a decision for action. In nursing education there is frequent reference to critical thinking and to the significance that it has in daily clinical nursing practice. Nursing clinical instructors know that students face difficulties in making decisions related to clinical practice. The main critical thinking skills in which nursing students should be exercised during their studies are critical analysis, introductory and concluding justification, valid conclusion, distinguish of facts and opinions, evaluation the credibility of information sources, clarification of concepts and recognition of conditions. Specific behaviors are essentials for enhancing critical thinking. Nursing students in order to learn and apply critical thinking should develop independence of thought, fairness, perspicacity in personal and social level, humility, spiritual courage, integrity, perseverance, self-confidence, interest for research and curiosity. Critical thinking is an essential process for the safe, efficient and skillful nursing practice. The nursing education programs should adopt attitudes that promote critical thinking and mobilize the skills of critical reasoning.

Critical thinking of registered nurses in a fellowship program.

PubMed

Zori, Susan; Kohn, Nina; Gallo, Kathleen; Friedman, M Isabel

2013-08-01

Critical thinking is essential to nursing practice. This study examined differences in the critical thinking dispositions of registered nurses (RNs) in a nursing fellowship program. Control and experimental groups were used to compare differences in scores on the California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCTDI) of RNs at three points during a fellowship program: baseline, week 7, and month 5. The control group consisted of RNs who received no education in critical thinking. The experimental group received education in critical thinking using simulated scenarios and reflective journaling. CCTDI scores examined with analysis of variance showed no significant difference within groups over time or between groups. The baseline scores of the experimental group were slightly higher than those of the control group. Chi-square analysis of demographic variables between the two groups showed no significant differences. Critical thinking dispositions are a combination of attitudes, values, and beliefs that make up one's personality based on life experience. Lack of statistical significance using a quantitative approach did not capture the development of the critical thinking dispositions of participants. A secondary qualitative analysis of journal entries is being conducted. Copyright 2013, SLACK Incorporated.

The characteristics of failure among students who experienced pseudo thinking

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anggraini, D.; Kusmayadi, T. A.; Pramudya, I.

2018-04-01

The purpose of this research is to describe the thinking process of students who experienced pseudo thinking when solving the straight line equation. The result of this study shows the characteristics of error that caused students to experience pseudo thinking when solving the problem and their relation with students’ metacognition skill. This qualitative research was conducted in State 16 Junior High School in Surakarta, Indonesia during the odd semester of 2017/2018 academic year. The subjects of the study were students Junior High School students of 8th grade chosen using purposive sampling technique. Data were collected through the administration of think aloud method. The result showed that the characteristics of errors among the subjects are: 1) the answers resulted from pseudo thinking when solving the problem were obtained from the spontaneous, fast, unconscious and uncontrolled thinking process; 2) students had misconception; 3) students had tendency to memorize the formula and imitate the completion procedure; 4) students experienced fuzzy memory when solving the problem. From the mistakes among students who experienced pseudo thinking, their metacognition ability could be inferred.

Critical Thinking: The Development of an Essential Skill for Nursing Students

PubMed Central

Papathanasiou, Ioanna V.; Kleisiaris, Christos F.; Fradelos, Evangelos C.; Kakou, Katerina; Kourkouta, Lambrini

2014-01-01

Critical thinking is defined as the mental process of actively and skillfully perception, analysis, synthesis and evaluation of collected information through observation, experience and communication that leads to a decision for action. In nursing education there is frequent reference to critical thinking and to the significance that it has in daily clinical nursing practice. Nursing clinical instructors know that students face difficulties in making decisions related to clinical practice. The main critical thinking skills in which nursing students should be exercised during their studies are critical analysis, introductory and concluding justification, valid conclusion, distinguish of facts and opinions, evaluation the credibility of information sources, clarification of concepts and recognition of conditions. Specific behaviors are essentials for enhancing critical thinking. Nursing students in order to learn and apply critical thinking should develop independence of thought, fairness, perspicacity in personal and social level, humility, spiritual courage, integrity, perseverance, self-confidence, interest for research and curiosity. Critical thinking is an essential process for the safe, efficient and skillful nursing practice. The nursing education programs should adopt attitudes that promote critical thinking and mobilize the skills of critical reasoning. PMID:25395733

Can Learning a Foreign Language Foster Analytic Thinking?-Evidence from Chinese EFL Learners' Writings.

PubMed

Jiang, Jingyang; Ouyang, Jinghui; Liu, Haitao

2016-01-01

Language is not only the representation of thinking, but also shapes thinking. Studies on bilinguals suggest that a foreign language plays an important and unconscious role in thinking. In this study, a software-Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count 2007-was used to investigate whether the learning of English as a foreign language (EFL) can foster Chinese high school students' English analytic thinking (EAT) through the analysis of their English writings with our self-built corpus. It was found that: (1) learning English can foster Chinese learners' EAT. Chinese EFL learners' ability of making distinctions, degree of cognitive complexity and degree of thinking activeness have all improved along with the increase of their English proficiency and their age; (2) there exist differences in Chinese EFL learners' EAT and that of English native speakers, i. e. English native speakers are better in the ability of making distinctions and degree of thinking activeness. These findings suggest that the best EFL learners in high schools have gained native-like analytic thinking through six years' English learning and are able to switch their cognitive styles as needed.

Nurse educators’ perceptions of critical thinking in developing countries: Ghana as a case study

PubMed Central

Boso, Christian Makafui; Gross, Janet J

2015-01-01

The ability to critically evaluate information for the purpose of rendering health care is a prerequisite for modern nurses in a complex and ever-changing health care environment. The nurse educators’ perceptions influence the utilization of critical thinking strategies in the classroom. The purpose of this study was to assess nursing faculty’s perceptions of critical thinking. Using a questionnaire 106 nurse educators from two types of nursing educational program self-reported their perceptions. Data were collected from November 2013 to March 2014. Results were presented using frequencies, percentages, and t-test. The findings revealed that majority (95.3%) of nurse educators could not provide definitions that captured both affective and cognitive aspects of critical thinking. However, the majority of nurse educators had positive perceptions of critical thinking. Nurse educators in universities had more positive perceptions of critical thinking than those in the nurses’ training colleges (P=0.007). The results suggested that the current nursing programs are not preparing nurses with the necessary critical thinking skills for the complex health care environment. Professional development programs in critical thinking should be instituted for nurse educators to assist them in developing appropriate teaching strategies to foster students’ acquisition of critical thinking skills. PMID:26379453

Walking for Transportation: What do U.S. Adults Think is a Reasonable Distance and Time?

PubMed Central

Watson, Kathleen B; Carlson, Susan A; Humbert-Rico, Tiffany; Carroll, Dianna D.; Fulton, Janet E

2015-01-01

Background Less than one-third of U.S. adults walk for transportation. Public health strategies to increase transportation walking would benefit from knowing what adults think is a reasonable distance to walk. Our purpose was to determine (1) what adults think is a reasonable distance and amount of time to walk and (2) whether there were differences in minutes spent transportation walking by what adults think is reasonable. Methods Analyses used a cross-sectional nationwide adult sample (n=3,653) participating in the 2010 Summer ConsumerStyles mail survey. Results Most adults (>90%) think transportation walking is reasonable. However, less than half (43%) think walking a mile or more or for 20 minutes or more is reasonable. What adults think is reasonable is similar across most demographic subgroups, except for older adults (≥ 65 years) who think shorter distances and times are reasonable. Trend analysis that adjust for demographic characteristics indicates adults who think longer distances and times are reasonable walk more. Conclusions Walking for short distances is acceptable to most U.S. adults. Public health programs designed to encourage longer distance trips may wish to improve supports for transportation walking to make walking longer distances seem easier and more acceptable to most U.S. adults. PMID:25158016

Walking for Transportation: What do U.S. Adults Think is a Reasonable Distance and Time?

PubMed

Watson, Kathleen B; Carlson, Susan A; Humbert-Rico, Tiffany; Carroll, Dianna D; Fulton, Janet E

2015-06-16

Less than one-third of U.S. adults walk for transportation. Public health strategies to increase transportation walking would benefit from knowing what adults think is a reasonable distance to walk. Our purpose was to determine 1) what adults think is a reasonable distance and amount of time to walk and 2) whether there were differences in minutes spent transportation walking by what adults think is reasonable. Analyses used a cross-sectional nationwide adult sample (n = 3653) participating in the 2010 Summer ConsumerStyles mail survey. Most adults (> 90%) think transportation walking is reasonable. However, less than half (43%) think walking a mile or more or for 20 minutes or more is reasonable. What adults think is reasonable is similar across most demographic subgroups, except for older adults (≥ 65 years) who think shorter distances and times are reasonable. Trend analysis that adjust for demographic characteristics indicates adults who think longer distances and times are reasonable walk more. Walking for short distances is acceptable to most U.S. adults. Public health programs designed to encourage longer distance trips may wish to improve supports for transportation walking to make walking longer distances seem easier and more acceptable to most U.S. adults.

Developing critical thinking skills from clinical assignments: a pilot study on nursing students' self-reported perceptions.

PubMed

Marchigiano, Gail; Eduljee, Nina; Harvey, Kimberly

2011-01-01

Clinical assignments in nursing education provide opportunities for students to develop thinking skills vital to the effective delivery of patient care. The purpose of the present study was to examine students' perceived levels of confidence for using thinking skills when completing two types of clinical assignments. Clinical educators and managers are challenged to develop teaching and learning strategies that help students think critically and reflectively and transfer these skills into sound nursing practice. This study is based on the theoretical framework of critical thinking within the nursing process framework. Undergraduate nursing students (n=51) completed surveys indicating their confidence in using seven thinking skills for nursing care. Students indicated significantly more confidence when implementing the journal format as compared with the care plan format when analysing information, determining relevance, making connections, selecting appropriate information, applying relevant knowledge and evaluating outcomes. The findings of the present study propose a new approach for enhancing students' thinking skills. Journaling is an effective strategy for enhancing students' thinking skills. Nursing managers are in key organisational positions for supporting and promoting the use of the journal format and building supportive and collaborative learning environments for students to develop thinking skills for managing patient care. © 2010 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Imbalance between abstract and concrete repetitive thinking modes in schizophrenia.

PubMed

Maurage, Pierre; Philippot, Pierre; Grynberg, Delphine; Leleux, Dominique; Delatte, Benoît; Mangelinckx, Camille; Belge, Jan-Baptist; Constant, Eric

2017-10-01

Repetitive thoughts can be divided in two modes: abstract/analytic (decontextualized and dysfunctional) and concrete/experiential (problem-focused and adaptive). They constitute a transdiagnostic process involved in many psychopathological states but have received little attention in schizophrenia, as earlier studies only indexed increased ruminations (related to dysfunctional repetitive thoughts) without jointly exploring both modes. This study explored the two repetitive thinking modes, beyond ruminations, to determine their imbalance in schizophrenia. Thirty stabilized patients with schizophrenia and 30 matched controls completed the Repetitive Response Scale and the Mini Cambridge-Exeter Repetitive Thought Scale, both measuring repetitive thinking modes. Complementary measures related to schizophrenic symptomatology, depression and anxiety were also conducted. Compared to controls, patients with schizophrenia presented an imbalance between repetitive thinking modes, with increased abstract/analytic and reduced concrete/experiential thoughts, even after controlling for comorbidities. Schizophrenia is associated with stronger dysfunctional repetitive thoughts (i.e. abstract thinking) and impaired ability to efficiently use repetitive thinking for current problem-solving (i.e. concrete thinking). This imbalance confirms the double-faced nature of repetitive thinking modes, whose influence on schizophrenia's symptomatology should be further investigated. The present results also claim for evaluating these processes in clinical settings and for rehabilitating the balance between opposite repetitive thinking modes. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Defining Computational Thinking for Mathematics and Science Classrooms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weintrop, David; Beheshti, Elham; Horn, Michael; Orton, Kai; Jona, Kemi; Trouille, Laura; Wilensky, Uri

2016-02-01

Science and mathematics are becoming computational endeavors. This fact is reflected in the recently released Next Generation Science Standards and the decision to include "computational thinking" as a core scientific practice. With this addition, and the increased presence of computation in mathematics and scientific contexts, a new urgency has come to the challenge of defining computational thinking and providing a theoretical grounding for what form it should take in school science and mathematics classrooms. This paper presents a response to this challenge by proposing a definition of computational thinking for mathematics and science in the form of a taxonomy consisting of four main categories: data practices, modeling and simulation practices, computational problem solving practices, and systems thinking practices. In formulating this taxonomy, we draw on the existing computational thinking literature, interviews with mathematicians and scientists, and exemplary computational thinking instructional materials. This work was undertaken as part of a larger effort to infuse computational thinking into high school science and mathematics curricular materials. In this paper, we argue for the approach of embedding computational thinking in mathematics and science contexts, present the taxonomy, and discuss how we envision the taxonomy being used to bring current educational efforts in line with the increasingly computational nature of modern science and mathematics.

Thinking in early modernity and the separation process between philosophy and psychology.

PubMed

Klempe, Sven Hroar

2015-03-01

One of the big questions in psychology is when and how psychology disentangled from philosophy. Usually it is referred to the laboratory Wundt established in Leipzig in 1879 as the birth for psychology as an independent science. However this separation process can also be traced in other ways, like by focusing on how the two sciences approach and understand thinking. Although thinking and language were not included in the research in this laboratory, Wundt (1897) regarded thinking as the core of psychology. As a commentary to Papanicolaou (Integr Psychol Behav Sci doi:10.1007/s12124-014-9273-3, 2014), this paper investigates the differences in how psychology and philosophy conceptualized thinking in early Western modernity. Thus one of the findings is that the separation process between the two was more or less initiated by Immanuel Kant. By defining thinking in terms of the pure reason he excluded the psychological understanding of thinking because psychology basically defined thinking in terms of ideas derived from qualia and sensation. Another finding is that psychology itself has not completely realized the differences between the philosophical and the psychological understanding of thinking by having been influenced by Kant's ideal of the pure reason. This may also explain some of the crises psychology went through during the twentieth century.

Analyzing course objectives: assessing critical thinking in the pharmacy curriculum.

PubMed

Vuchetich, Phillip J; Hamilton, William R; Ahmad, S Omar; Makoid, Michael C

2006-01-01

Assessment of critical thinking objectives in a pharmacy program curriculum is an important part of program assessment. This study measures the proportion of cognitive learning objectives at various levels of Bloom's taxonomy throughout the required curriculum using the stated objectives in course syllabi (the explicit curriculum). In one entry level doctor of pharmacy program, 54.90% of cognitive objectives identified critical thinking outcomes using the rubric of Bloom's level 3 or higher as an indicator of critical thinking. In this program, there was a similar percent of critical thinking objectives in each of the first three years, but the final year of the curriculum had a higher percent of critical thinking objectives than each of the first three years (p = 0.0018, Kruskal-Wallis test). The increase in critical thinking in the final year suggests that the explicit expectations in the syllabi are weighted toward a higher percent of critical thinking objectives during clinical rotations. The methods described in the study may serve as tools for a curriculum committee or program assessment team to compare critical thinking in the curriculum at different points in time, and may assist in curricular mapping efforts. These methods may complement studies measuring the implicit curriculum (that which the faculty actually teach, which may not be stated in the explicit curriculum.).

Analysis of critical thinking ability of VII grade students based on the mathematical anxiety level through learning cycle 7E model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Widyaningsih, E.; Waluya, S. B.; Kurniasih, A. W.

2018-03-01

This study aims to know mastery learning of students’ critical thinking ability with learning cycle 7E, determine whether the critical thinking ability of the students with learning cycle 7E is better than students’ critical thinking ability with expository model, and describe the students’ critical thinking phases based on the mathematical anxiety level. The method is mixed method with concurrent embedded. The population is VII grade students of SMP Negeri 3 Kebumen academic year 2016/2017. Subjects are determined by purposive sampling, selected two students from each level of mathematical anxiety. Data collection techniques include test, questionnaire, interview, and documentation. Quantitative data analysis techniques include mean test, proportion test, difference test of two means, difference test of two proportions and for qualitative data used Miles and Huberman model. The results show that: (1) students’ critical thinking ability with learning cycle 7E achieve mastery learning; (2) students’ critical thinking ability with learning cycle 7E is better than students’ critical thinking ability with expository model; (3) description of students’ critical thinking phases based on the mathematical anxiety level that is the lower the mathematical anxiety level, the subjects have been able to fulfil all of the indicators of clarification, assessment, inference, and strategies phases.

E-learning for Critical Thinking: Using Nominal Focus Group Method to Inform Software Content and Design.

PubMed

Parker, Steve; Mayner, Lidia; Michael Gillham, David

2015-12-01

Undergraduate nursing students are often confused by multiple understandings of critical thinking. In response to this situation, the Critiique for critical thinking (CCT) project was implemented to provide consistent structured guidance about critical thinking. This paper introduces Critiique software, describes initial validation of the content of this critical thinking tool and explores wider applications of the Critiique software. Critiique is flexible, authorable software that guides students step-by-step through critical appraisal of research papers. The spelling of Critiique was deliberate, so as to acquire a unique web domain name and associated logo. The CCT project involved implementation of a modified nominal focus group process with academic staff working together to establish common understandings of critical thinking. Previous work established a consensus about critical thinking in nursing and provided a starting point for the focus groups. The study was conducted at an Australian university campus with the focus group guided by open ended questions. Focus group data established categories of content that academic staff identified as important for teaching critical thinking. This emerging focus group data was then used to inform modification of Critiique software so that students had access to consistent and structured guidance in relation to critical thinking and critical appraisal. The project succeeded in using focus group data from academics to inform software development while at the same time retaining the benefits of broader philosophical dimensions of critical thinking.

A systematic review of critical thinking in nursing education.

PubMed

Chan, Zenobia C Y

2013-03-01

This review aimed to explore how critical thinking is perceived in previous studies of nursing education, and analyse the obstacles and strategies in teaching and learning critical thinking mentioned in these studies. Systematic review. This review was based on the following five databases: The British Nursing Index, Ovid Medline, CINAHL, PsycINFO and Scopus. After the screening process and evaluation through using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme tool, 17 studies were identified that met the inclusion and quality criteria. The studies were read through several times and analysed through thematic synthesis. A total of three themes were developed. The first theme, components for critical thinkers, suggests the abilities and attitudes that critical thinkers should have. The other two themes, influential factors of critical thinking in nursing education, and strategies to promote critical thinking, describe the obstacles and strategies in teaching and learning critical thinking. The 17 studies illustrated that the definition and concept of critical thinking may change from time to time, and hence there is a need to clarify educators' perspective towards critical thinking. There is also a need to evaluate the efficacy of the new strategies mentioned in several selected studies, such as art-based, questioning, cross-cultural nursing experience, and preceptorship. With a better understanding of critical thinking in nursing education, educators and nursing faculty are able to develop better strategies in enhancing critical thinking development in nursing students, in turn preparing them for future clinical practice. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Abstract and concrete repetitive thinking modes in alcohol-dependence.

PubMed

Grynberg, Delphine; de Timary, Philippe; Philippot, Pierre; D'Hondt, Fabien; Briane, Yasmine; Devynck, Faustine; Douilliez, Céline; Billieux, Joël; Heeren, Alexandre; Maurage, Pierre

2016-01-01

Emotional and interpersonal deficits play a crucial role in alcohol-related disorders as they predict alcohol consumption and relapse. Recent models of emotion regulation in psychopathology postulate that these deficits are centrally related to increased abstract/analytic repetitive thinking, combined with reduced concrete/experiential repetitive thinking. As this assumption has not been tested in addictions, this study aimed at investigating repetitive thinking modes in a large sample of alcohol-dependent individuals. One hundred recently detoxified alcohol-dependent individuals (29 females; mean age = 49.51-years-old) recruited during the 3rd week of their treatment in a detoxification center were compared to 100 healthy controls (29 females; mean age = 48.51-years-old) recruited in the experimenters' social network, matched at the group level for age, gender, and educational level. All participants completed the Mini Cambridge Exeter Repetitive Thought Scale measuring abstract/analytic and concrete/experiential repetitive thinking modes as well as complementary psychopathological measures (Beck Depression Inventory and State/Trait Anxiety Inventory). Alcohol-dependent individuals have similar levels of concrete repetitive thinking as controls but report significantly higher levels of abstract repetitive thinking (p < 0.001; d = 1.28). This effect remains significant after controlling for depression and anxiety. Relative to healthy controls, alcohol-dependent patients report more frequent use of abstract/analytic repetitive thinking, with preserved concrete/experiential thinking. Despite the cross-sectional nature of the study, the frequent use of abstract repetitive thinking thus appears to constitute a main feature of alcohol-dependence.

Dorsomedial prefontal cortex supports spontaneous thinking per se.

PubMed

Raij, T T; Riekki, T J J

2017-06-01

Spontaneous thinking, an action to produce, consider, integrate, and reason through mental representations, is central to our daily experience and has been suggested to serve crucial adaptive purposes. Such thinking occurs among other experiences during mind wandering that is associated with activation of the default mode network among other brain circuitries. Whether and how such brain activation is linked to the experience of spontaneous thinking per se remains poorly known. We studied 51 healthy subjects using a comprehensive experience-sampling paradigm during 3T functional magnetic resonance imaging. In comparison with fixation, the experiences of spontaneous thinking and spontaneous perception were related to activation of wide-spread brain circuitries, including the cortical midline structures, the anterior cingulate cortex and the visual cortex. In direct comparison of the spontaneous thinking versus spontaneous perception, activation was observed in the anterior dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. Modality congruence of spontaneous-experience-related brain activation was suggested by several findings, including association of the lingual gyrus with visual in comparison with non-verbal-non-visual thinking. In the context of current literature, these findings suggest that the cortical midline structures are involved in the integrative core substrate of spontaneous thinking that is coupled with other brain systems depending on the characteristics of thinking. Furthermore, involvement of the anterior dorsomedial prefrontal cortex suggests the control of high-order abstract functions to characterize spontaneous thinking per se. Hum Brain Mapp 38:3277-3288, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Relationship between critical thinking disposition and teaching efficacy among special education integration program teachers in Malaysia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sulaiman, Tajularipin; a/l Kuppusamy, Suresh Kumar; Ayub, Ahmad Fauzi Mohd; Rahim, Suzieleez Syrene Abdul

2017-01-01

This study aims to assess the level of critical thinking disposition and teaching efficacy among the Special Education Integration Programme (SEIP) teachers in Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. The level of critical thinking dispositions and teaching efficacy in the SEIP were compared based on teaching experience and gender. The study also examined the relationship between critical thinking disposition and teaching efficacy at SEIP. The research adopted a quantitative survey approach. A total of 190 primary school teachers from the SEIP in Negeri Sembilan were selected using proportional sampling method. The instrument used in this study comprised of three sections; demography, critical thinking disposition and teaching efficacy. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used in the analysis. Analysis shows that the respondents have a moderate level of critical thinking disposition (M = 2.99, S.D = 0.160) and teaching efficacy (M = 3.01 S.D. = 0.128) was at a high level. For teaching experience, the analysis showed that thinking disposition of novice teachers (mean = 2.52, SD = .503) are significantly higher than experienced teachers (mean = 2.35, SD = .481, t = 2.244, p <.05). There was no significant difference between male and female SEIP teachers in critical thinking disposition and teaching efficacy. Findings also indicated that there is a significant positive moderate relationship (r = .477) between critical thinking disposition and teaching efficacy among SEIP teachers. This study suggests that critical thinking disposition and teaching efficacy play an important role to enhance the performance of SEIP teachers.

E-learning for Critical Thinking: Using Nominal Focus Group Method to Inform Software Content and Design

PubMed Central

Parker, Steve; Mayner, Lidia; Michael Gillham, David

2015-01-01

Background: Undergraduate nursing students are often confused by multiple understandings of critical thinking. In response to this situation, the Critiique for critical thinking (CCT) project was implemented to provide consistent structured guidance about critical thinking. Objectives: This paper introduces Critiique software, describes initial validation of the content of this critical thinking tool and explores wider applications of the Critiique software. Materials and Methods: Critiique is flexible, authorable software that guides students step-by-step through critical appraisal of research papers. The spelling of Critiique was deliberate, so as to acquire a unique web domain name and associated logo. The CCT project involved implementation of a modified nominal focus group process with academic staff working together to establish common understandings of critical thinking. Previous work established a consensus about critical thinking in nursing and provided a starting point for the focus groups. The study was conducted at an Australian university campus with the focus group guided by open ended questions. Results: Focus group data established categories of content that academic staff identified as important for teaching critical thinking. This emerging focus group data was then used to inform modification of Critiique software so that students had access to consistent and structured guidance in relation to critical thinking and critical appraisal. Conclusions: The project succeeded in using focus group data from academics to inform software development while at the same time retaining the benefits of broader philosophical dimensions of critical thinking. PMID:26835469

Critical thinking skills in nursing students: comparison of simulation-based performance with metrics.

PubMed

Fero, Laura J; O'Donnell, John M; Zullo, Thomas G; Dabbs, Annette DeVito; Kitutu, Julius; Samosky, Joseph T; Hoffman, Leslie A

2010-10-01

This paper is a report of an examination of the relationship between metrics of critical thinking skills and performance in simulated clinical scenarios. Paper and pencil assessments are commonly used to assess critical thinking but may not reflect simulated performance. In 2007, a convenience sample of 36 nursing students participated in measurement of critical thinking skills and simulation-based performance using videotaped vignettes, high-fidelity human simulation, the California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory and California Critical Thinking Skills Test. Simulation-based performance was rated as 'meeting' or 'not meeting' overall expectations. Test scores were categorized as strong, average, or weak. Most (75.0%) students did not meet overall performance expectations using videotaped vignettes or high-fidelity human simulation; most difficulty related to problem recognition and reporting findings to the physician. There was no difference between overall performance based on method of assessment (P = 0.277). More students met subcategory expectations for initiating nursing interventions (P ≤ 0.001) using high-fidelity human simulation. The relationship between videotaped vignette performance and critical thinking disposition or skills scores was not statistically significant, except for problem recognition and overall critical thinking skills scores (Cramer's V = 0.444, P = 0.029). There was a statistically significant relationship between overall high-fidelity human simulation performance and overall critical thinking disposition scores (Cramer's V = 0.413, P = 0.047). Students' performance reflected difficulty meeting expectations in simulated clinical scenarios. High-fidelity human simulation performance appeared to approximate scores on metrics of critical thinking best. Further research is needed to determine if simulation-based performance correlates with critical thinking skills in the clinical setting. © 2010 The Authors. Journal of Advanced Nursing © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Probing concept of critical thinking in nursing education in Iran: a concept analysis.

PubMed

Tajvidi, Mansooreh; Ghiyasvandian, Shahrzad; Salsali, Mahvash

2014-06-01

Given the wide disagreement over the definition of critical thinking in different disciplines, defining and standardizing the concept according to the discipline of nursing is essential. Moreover, there is limited scientific evidence regarding critical thinking in the context of nursing in Iran. The aim of this study was to analyze and clarify the concept of critical thinking in nursing education in Iran. We employed the hybrid model to define the concept of critical thinking. The hybrid model has three interconnected phases--the theoretical phase, the fieldwork phase, and the final analytic phase. In the theoretical phase, we searched the online scientific databases (such as Elsevier, Wiley, CINAHL, Proquest, Ovid, and Springer as well as Iranian databases such as SID, Magiran, and Iranmedex). In the fieldwork phase, a purposive sample of 17 nursing faculties, PhD students, clinical instructors, and clinical nurses was recruited. Participants were interviewed by using an interview guide. In the analytical phase we compared the data from the theoretical and the fieldwork phases. The concept of critical thinking had many different antecedents, attributes, and consequences. Antecedents, attributes, and consequences of critical thinking concept identified in the theoretical phase were in some ways different and in some way similar to antecedents, attributes, and consequences identified in the fieldwork phase. Finally critical thinking in nursing education in Iran was clarified. Critical thinking is a logical, situational, purposive, and outcome-oriented thinking process. It is an acquired and evolving ability which develops individually. Such thinking process could lead to the professional accountability, personal development, God's consent, conscience appeasement, and personality development. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier B.V.

The effect of human patient simulation on critical thinking and its predictors in prelicensure nursing students.

PubMed

Shinnick, Mary Ann; Woo, Mary A

2013-09-01

Human patient simulation (HPS) is becoming a popular teaching method in nursing education globally and is believed to enhance both knowledge and critical thinking. While there is evidence that HPS improves knowledge, there is no objective nursing data to support HPS impact on critical thinking. Therefore, we studied knowledge and critical thinking before and after HPS in prelicensure nursing students and attempted to identify the predictors of higher critical thinking scores. Using a one-group, quasi-experimental, pre-test post-test design, 154 prelicensure nursing students (age 25.7± 6.7; gender=87.7% female) from 3 schools were studied at the same point in their curriculum using a high-fidelity simulation. Pre- and post-HPS assessments of knowledge, critical thinking, and self-efficacy were done as well as assessments for demographics and learning style. There was a mean improvement in knowledge scores of 6.5 points (P<0.001), showing evidence of learning. However, there was no statistically significant change in the critical thinking scores. A logistic regression with 10 covariates revealed three variables to be predictors of higher critical thinking scores: greater "age" (P=0.01), baseline "knowledge" (P=0.04) and a low self-efficacy score ("not at all confident") in "baseline self-efficacy in managing a patient's fluid levels" (P=.05). This study reveals that gains in knowledge with HPS do not equate to changes in critical thinking. It does expose the variables of older age, higher baseline knowledge and low self-efficacy in "managing a patient's fluid levels" as being predictive of higher critical thinking ability. Further study is warranted to determine the effect of repeated or sequential simulations (dosing) and timing after the HPS experience on critical thinking gains. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Critical thinking dispositions among newly graduated nurses

PubMed Central

Wangensteen, Sigrid; Johansson, Inger S; Björkström, Monica E; Nordström, Gun

2010-01-01

wangensteen s., johansson i.s., björkström m.e. & nordström g. (2010) Critical thinking dispositions among newly graduated nurses. Journal of Advanced Nursing66(10), 2170–2181. Aim The aim of the study was to describe critical thinking dispositions among newly graduated nurses in Norway, and to study whether background data had any impact on critical thinking dispositions. Background Competence in critical thinking is one of the expectations of nursing education. Critical thinkers are described as well-informed, inquisitive, open-minded and orderly in complex matters. Critical thinking competence has thus been designated as an outcome for judging the quality of nursing education programmes and for the development of clinical judgement. The ability to think critically is also described as reducing the research–practice gap and fostering evidence-based nursing. Methods A cross-sectional descriptive study was performed. The data were collected between October 2006 and April 2007 using the California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory. The response rate was 33% (n= 618). Pearson’s chi-square tests were used to analyse the data. Results Nearly 80% of the respondents reported a positive disposition towards critical thinking. The highest mean score was on the Inquisitiveness subscale and the lowest on the Truth-seeking subscale. A statistically significant higher proportion of nurses with high critical thinking scores were found among those older than 30 years, those with university education prior to nursing education, and those working in community health care. Conclusion Nurse leaders and nurse teachers should encourage and nurture critical thinking among newly graduated nurses and nursing students. The low Truth-seeking scores found may be a result of traditional teaching strategies in nursing education and might indicate a need for more student-active learning models. PMID:20384637

Critical thinking skills in nursing students: comparison of simulation-based performance with metrics

PubMed Central

Fero, Laura J.; O’Donnell, John M.; Zullo, Thomas G.; Dabbs, Annette DeVito; Kitutu, Julius; Samosky, Joseph T.; Hoffman, Leslie A.

2018-01-01

Aim This paper is a report of an examination of the relationship between metrics of critical thinking skills and performance in simulated clinical scenarios. Background Paper and pencil assessments are commonly used to assess critical thinking but may not reflect simulated performance. Methods In 2007, a convenience sample of 36 nursing students participated in measurement of critical thinking skills and simulation-based performance using videotaped vignettes, high-fidelity human simulation, the California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory and California Critical Thinking Skills Test. Simulation- based performance was rated as ‘meeting’ or ‘not meeting’ overall expectations. Test scores were categorized as strong, average, or weak. Results Most (75·0%) students did not meet overall performance expectations using videotaped vignettes or high-fidelity human simulation; most difficulty related to problem recognition and reporting findings to the physician. There was no difference between overall performance based on method of assessment (P = 0·277). More students met subcategory expectations for initiating nursing interventions (P ≤ 0·001) using high-fidelity human simulation. The relationship between video-taped vignette performance and critical thinking disposition or skills scores was not statistically significant, except for problem recognition and overall critical thinking skills scores (Cramer’s V = 0·444, P = 0·029). There was a statistically significant relationship between overall high-fidelity human simulation performance and overall critical thinking disposition scores (Cramer’s V = 0·413, P = 0·047). Conclusion Students’ performance reflected difficulty meeting expectations in simulated clinical scenarios. High-fidelity human simulation performance appeared to approximate scores on metrics of critical thinking best. Further research is needed to determine if simulation-based performance correlates with critical thinking skills in the clinical setting. PMID:20636471

Identifying critical thinking indicators and critical thinker attributes in nursing practice.

PubMed

Chao, Shu-Yuan; Liu, Hsing-Yuan; Wu, Ming-Chang; Clark, Mary Jo; Tan, Jung-Ying

2013-09-01

Critical thinking is an essential skill in the nursing process. Although several studies have evaluated the critical thinking skills of nurses, there is limited information related to the indicators of critical thinking or evaluation of critical thinking in the context of the nursing process. This study investigated the potential indicators of critical thinking and the attributes of critical thinkers in clinical nursing practice. Knowledge of these indicators can aid the development of tools to assess nursing students' critical thinking skills. The study was conducted between September 2009 and August 2010. In phase 1, a literature review and four focus groups were conducted to identify the indicators of critical thinking in the context of nursing and the attributes of critical thinkers. In phase 2, 30 nursing professionals participated in a modified Delphi research survey to establish consensus and the appropriateness of each indicator and attribute identified in phase 1. We identified 37 indicators of critical thinking and 10 attributes of critical thinkers. The indicators were categorized into five subscales within the context of the nursing process toreflect nursing clinical practice: assessment, 16 indicators of ability to apply professional knowledge and skills to analyze and interpret patient problems; diagnosis, five indicators of ability to propose preliminary suppositions; planning, five indicators of ability to develop problem-solving strategies; implementation, five indicators of ability to implement planning; and evaluation, six indicators of ability to self-assess and reflect. The study operationalized critical thinking into a practical indicator suitable for nursing contexts in which critical thinking is required for clinical problem solving. Identified indicators and attributes can assist clinical instructors to evaluate student critical thought skills and development-related teaching strategies.

Critical-Thinking Predisposition Among Undergraduate Athletic Training Students

PubMed Central

Leaver-Dunn, Deidre; Harrelson, Gary L.; Martin, Malissa; Wyatt, Tom

2002-01-01

Objective: To investigate the tendency of undergraduate athletic training students to think critically, to assess their likelihood of using specific components of critical thinking, and to study the effect of selected demographic and educational variables on critical-thinking tendencies in this sample of students. Design and Setting: Data were collected before regularly scheduled athletic training classes at the beginning of the spring semester. Subjects: Ninety-one students enrolled in 3 Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs-accredited undergraduate athletic training education programs in the southeast. The subjects ranged in age from 19 to 29 years (mean age = 22.33 ± 1.94). Forty-six (50.5%) of the subjects were men and 45 (49.5%) were women. Measurements: The California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory contains 75 Likert-type items assessing 7 components of critical thinking: truth seeking, open mindedness, analyticity, systematicity, inquisitiveness, cognitive maturity, and critical-thinking self-confidence. Results: The overall mean indicated a general but mild trend toward critical thinking, with weak scores on the truth-seeking subscale. One-way analysis of variance reflected significant differences among the schools for truth seeking, open mindedness, and maturity subscales and for the overall mean score for the entire inventory. Only the open-mindedness difference persisted between 2 of the schools after post hoc testing. Correlation analyses indicated no significant relationship between total score and age, sex, ethnicity, year in athletic training program, cumulative grade point average, completed semester hours, or clinical-experience hours. Conclusions: Athletic training students are inclined toward critical thinking, but this tendency is relatively weak. Classroom and clinical instructors should use teaching methods and techniques that facilitate the components of critical thinking. The promotion of critical thinking and critical-thinking skills has implications for athletic training education and the advancement of certified athletic trainers and the profession of athletic training. PMID:12937536

The effects of an inquiry-based earth science course on the spatial thinking of pre-service elementary teacher education students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weakley, Kevin Douglas

This study examined the effectiveness of two geography courses at improving student spatial thinking skills. Spatial thinking is an important cognitive skill in the sciences and everyday life. A taxonomy of spatial thinking was constructed by Gersmehl (2008) in geography education which included core modes assessed in this study: comparison, region, transition, analogy, pattern, and association. Two additional modes related to space over time, change and movement, were also assessed. The central research question in this study is: What are the effects of a pre-service teacher education earth science content course (Geography 1900) that is conceptually designed and inquiry-based on the spatial thinking of university students compared to the Geography 1020 course that follows a lecture format with an atlas study component? The six sub-questions to this central question were: (1) What spatial thinking modes are embedded in the Geography 1900 course based on the Gersmehl (2008) classification of modes of spatial thinking? (2) What modes of spatial thinking do pre-service elementary education students exhibit prior to instruction in Geography 1900 and 1020? (3) What changes occur in spatial thinking and spatial skills as a result of enrolling in and completing a conceptually based, inquiry course (Geography 1900) that has embedded clearly identifiable spatial tasks based on Gersmehl's classification? (4) What are the effects of Geography 1900 on the modes of spatial thinking that students apply at the completion of the course? (5) What modes of spatial thinking do students transfer from the classroom to the outdoors as they move about campus? (6) Are there differences in spatial thinking between the Geography 1900 population and the Geography 1020 comparison sample of students that received a different course treatment? The research used a mixed methods approach with both quantitative and qualitative information. Statistically significant changes were observed in the use of spatial constructs and concepts by students in each of the course treatments that were compared. Students were also observed to apply spatial modes outside the classroom that represented the spatial thinking within the new context of the university environment as they observed and described the landscape.

Development of Early Conceptions in Systems Thinking in an Environmental Context: An Exploratory Study of Preschool Students' Understanding of Stocks & Flows, Behavior Over Time and Feedback

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gillmeister, Kristina M.

Systems thinking allows learners to look at the world as a series of interconnected parts of a whole. A debate exists in early childhood research literature about whether or not children have the capacity to hold systems thinking conceptions due to the complex thought processing needed for systems thinking. Additionally, many researchers question whether children have enough life experience or cognitive schema to participate fully in systems thinking. However, this study's findings indicate that young children do show signs of more complex understanding in systems thinking than what previous literature suggests a young child has the ability to do. This three part research study was conducted in a universal pre-kindergarten (UPK) classroom in a first-ring suburb of a rust-belt city in the Northeastern United States. The study was grounded in a desire to uncover young children's understanding of systems thinking through everyday classroom activities. Twenty students participated in this qualitative study which utilized read-aloud, water play and the interpretation and creation of graphs through associated structured and semi-structured interviews. Data from student's observations and interviews was transcribed, segmented, coded and analyzed. This student-centered process approach (Gotwals & Alonzo, 2012) allowed for children's ideas to emerge naturally during the research tasks. Data was analyzed according to a three step analysis process using a real-world lens, a systems thinking skills lens, and the development of lower anchors for future learning progressions lens. Across a group of 20 preschool children there was an overarching theme that the ability to think in systems and utilize simple systems thinking tools, such as stock-flow maps, feedback loops and behavior over time graphs, was present. Since children are ready to reason using rudimentary systems thinking, then systems thinking opportunities should be incorporated into their informal and formal learning settings. The knowledge that children have the ability to comprehend basic systems thinking concepts is important to early childhood educators, curriculum developers, teacher preparation programs, professional developers, and standards & policy makers.

The effectiveness of problem-based learning on development of nursing students' critical thinking: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

PubMed

Kong, Ling-Na; Qin, Bo; Zhou, Ying-qing; Mou, Shao-yu; Gao, Hui-Ming

2014-03-01

The objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to estimate the effectiveness of problem-based learning in developing nursing students' critical thinking. Searches of PubMed, EMBASE, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Proquest, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) were undertaken to identify randomized controlled trails from 1965 to December 2012, comparing problem-based learning with traditional lectures on the effectiveness of development of nursing students' critical thinking, with no language limitation. The mesh-terms or key words used in the search were problem-based learning, thinking, critical thinking, nursing, nursing education, nurse education, nurse students, nursing students and pupil nurse. Two reviewers independently assessed eligibility and extracted data. Quality assessment was conducted independently by two reviewers using the Cochrane Collaboration's Risk of Bias Tool. We analyzed critical thinking scores (continuous outcomes) using a standardized mean difference (SMD) or weighted mean difference (WMD) with a 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Heterogeneity was assessed using the Cochran's Q statistic and I(2) statistic. Publication bias was assessed by means of funnel plot and Egger's test of asymmetry. Nine articles representing eight randomized controlled trials were included in the meta-analysis. Most studies were of low risk of bias. The pooled effect size showed problem-based learning was able to improve nursing students' critical thinking (overall critical thinking scores SMD=0.33, 95%CI=0.13-0.52, P=0.0009), compared with traditional lectures. There was low heterogeneity (overall critical thinking scores I(2)=45%, P=0.07) in the meta-analysis. No significant publication bias was observed regarding overall critical thinking scores (P=0.536). Sensitivity analysis showed that the result of our meta-analysis was reliable. Most effect sizes for subscales of the California Critical Thinking Dispositions Inventory (CCTDI) and Bloom's Taxonomy favored problem-based learning, while effect sizes for all subscales of the California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST) and most subscales of the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (WCGTA) were inconclusive. The results of the current meta-analysis indicate that problem-based learning might help nursing students to improve their critical thinking. More research with larger sample size and high quality in different nursing educational contexts are required. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Emergence of Episodic Future Thinking in Humans

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Atance, C.M.; O'Neill, D.K.

2005-01-01

In this paper, we discuss the construct of episodic future thinking. We have previously defined episodic future thinking as the ability to project oneself into the future to pre-experience an event (Atance & O'Neill, 2001). We distinguish this type of thinking about the future from that which is largely based on a script of how an event routinely…

Think Bubbles and Socrates: Teaching Critical Thinking to Millennials in Public Relations Classes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tallent, Rebecca J.; Barnes, Justin J.

2015-01-01

Critical thinking skills are crucial in the public relations profession, but teaching these skills to the Millennial Generation is vastly different from previous generations. How can a professor get past No Child Left Behind's dependence on test review guides and "everybody wins" in getting students to think for themselves? Using the…

Educating for Critical Thinking: Thought-Encouraging Questions in a Community of Inquiry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Golding, Clinton

2011-01-01

This paper presents one method for educating for critical thinking in Higher Education. It elaborates Richard Paul's method of Socratic questioning to show how students can learn to be critical thinkers. This method combines and uses the wider pedagogical and critical thinking literature in a new way: it emphasises a thinking-encouraging approach…

Content Analysis in Computer-Mediated Communication: Analyzing Models for Assessing Critical Thinking through the Lens of Social Constructivism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buraphadeja, Vasa; Dawson, Kara

2008-01-01

This article reviews content analysis studies aimed to assess critical thinking in computer-mediated communication. It also discusses theories and content analysis models that encourage critical thinking skills in asynchronous learning environments and reviews theories and factors that may foster critical thinking skills and new knowledge…

Purposely Teaching for the Promotion of Higher-Order Thinking Skills: A Case of Critical Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miri, Barak; Ben-Chaim, David; Zoller, Uri

2007-01-01

This longitudinal case-study aimed at examining whether purposely teaching for the promotion of higher order thinking skills enhances students' critical thinking (CT), within the framework of science education. Within a pre-, post-, and post-post experimental design, high school students, were divided into three research groups. The experimental…

Critical Thinking in a Higher Education Functional English Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Khan, Shaista Irshad

2017-01-01

Critical thinking is seen as a highly desirable way of thinking that needs to be encouraged in all areas of higher education. However, it is not easy to conceptualise critical thinking in ways that can help in its development and in its assessment. Recent policy documents in Pakistan have laid emphasis on the development of critical thinking…

Think Tanks, Education and Elite Policy Actors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Savage, Glenn C.

2016-01-01

The past decade has seen think tanks operate in sophisticated ways to influence the development of education policies. In this paper, I reflect upon the influence of think tanks in the formation of national reform, using the Common Core State Standards initiative in the USA as an illustrative case. In doing so, I explore how certain think tanks,…

An Analysis of Higher-Order Thinking on Algebra I End-of-Course Tests

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thompson, Tony

2011-01-01

This research provides insight into one US state's effort to incorporate higher-order thinking on its Algebra I End-of-Course tests. To facilitate the inclusion of higher-order thinking, the state used "Dimensions of Thinking" (Marzano et al., 1988) and "Bloom's Taxonomy" (Bloom et al., 1956). An analysis of Algebra I test…

Advanced Analytic Cognition: Thinking Dispositions

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-09-01

on this instrument showed no significant differences between the experimental and control groups . Further, posttest means were not significantly...different from pretest means in either group ( Pretest : Experimental M = 296, Control M = 297; Posttest : Experimental M = 298, Control M = 302). It...for critical thinking in nursing also addressed thinking dispositions.  The planning group on critical thinking at Frostburg State University

A Teacher Action Research Study: Enhancing Student Critical Thinking Knowledge, Skills, Dispositions, Application and Transfer in a Higher Education Technology Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Phelan, Jack Gordon

2012-01-01

This study examined the effects of a critical thinking instructional intervention in a higher education technology course with the purpose of determining the extent to which the intervention enhanced student critical thinking knowledge, skills, dispositions, application and transfer abilities. Historically, critical thinking has been considered…

Critical Thinking and Cognitive Transfer: Implications for the Development of Online Information Literacy Tutorials

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reece, Gwendolyn J.

2005-01-01

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…

Thinking Styles and Academic Stress Coping among Chinese Secondary School Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yuan, Wei; Zhang, Li-Fang; Fu, Mingchen

2017-01-01

This study investigated the predictive power of thinking styles for academic stress coping. Participants were 563 (280 males, 275 females, 8 gender unspecified) secondary school students in grades 7 through 12 from mainland China. Thinking styles were measured using the Thinking Styles Inventory-Revised II which was based on the theory of mental…

Childhood, Philosophy and Play: Friedrich Schiller and the Interface between Reason, Passion and Sensation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weber, Barbara

2011-01-01

Philosophy for Children claims to foster not only critical thinking, but also creative and caring thinking. However, its theoretical foundations draw mainly on the analytic and pragmatist philosophical tradition. Consequently, and made evident by the choice of the terms "caring thinking" and "creative thinking", it seem to reduce these concepts…

Assessing student critical thinking through online discussions.

PubMed

Leppa, Carol J

2004-01-01

Critical thinking is integral to nursing practice and education. The introduction of Internet-based and Internet-assisted instruction provides an opportunity to explore critical thinking with nursing students in a new format. The author reports on a hybrid or blended Internet-assisted course structure that incorporates online discussion and a new method for assessing student critical thinking.

Critical Thinking: Theory, Research, Practice, and Possibilities. ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report No. 2, 1988.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kurfiss, Joanne Gainen

The formal development of critical thinking is discussed, and guidance is provided to help faculty insure that critical thinking becomes an integral part of learning. Theory, research, teaching practice, and college programs pertinent to the development and role of critical thinking are presented in order to show how educators have shaped…

Teaching Critical Thinking without (Much) Writing: Multiple-Choice and Metacognition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bassett, Molly H.

2016-01-01

In this essay, I explore an exam format that pairs multiple-choice questions with required rationales. In a space adjacent to each multiple-choice question, students explain why or how they arrived at the answer they selected. This exercise builds the critical thinking skill known as metacognition, thinking about thinking, into an exam that also…

Critical-Thinking Grudge Match: Biology vs. Chemistry--Examining Factors That Affect Thinking Skill in Nonmajors Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Quitadamo, Ian J.; Kurtz, Martha J.; Cornell, Caitlyn Nicole; Griffith, Lindsay; Hancock, Julie; Egbert, Brandi

2011-01-01

Chemistry students appear to bring significantly higher critical-thinking skill to their nonmajors course than do biology students. Knowing student preconceptions and thinking ability is essential to learning growth and effective teaching. Of the factors investigated, ethnicity and high school physics had the largest impact on critical-thinking…

Critical Thinking Development in Undergraduate Engineering Students from Freshman through Senior Year: A 3-Cohort Longitudinal Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ralston, Patricia A.; Bays, Cathy L.

2015-01-01

Critical thinking is considered a necessary learning outcome for all college students and essential for academic and career success. There are many challenges to developing a comprehensive approach to teaching and assessing critical thinking skills. Although the literature has many examples of the incorporation of critical thinking and assessment…

The Process of Collaborative Concept Mapping in Kindergarten and the Effect on Critical Thinking Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sundararajan, NarayanKripa; Adesope, Olusola; Cavagnetto, Andy

2017-01-01

To develop and nurture critical thinking, students must have opportunities to observe and practice critical thinking in the classroom. In this parallel mixed method classroom study, we investigate the role of collaborative concept mapping in the development of kindergarten learners' critical thinking skills of analysis and interpretation over a…

Test Review: Watson, G., & Glaser, E. M. (2010), "Watson-Glaser™ II Critical Thinking Appraisal." Washington State University, Pullman, USA

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sternod, Latisha; French, Brian

2016-01-01

The Watson-Glaser™ II Critical Thinking Appraisal (Watson-Glaser II; Watson & Glaser, 2010) is a revised version of the "Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal®" (Watson & Glaser, 1994). The Watson-Glaser II introduces a simplified model of critical thinking, consisting of three subdimensions: recognize assumptions, evaluate…

Autonomy, Critical Thinking and the Wittgensteinian Legacy: Reflections on Christopher Winch, "Education, Autonomy and Critical Thinking"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Siegel, Harvey

2008-01-01

In this review of Christopher Winch's new book, "Education, Autonomy and Critical Thinking" (2006), I discuss its main theses, supporting some and criticising others. In particular, I take issue with several of Winch's claims and arguments concerning critical thinking and rationality, and deplore his reliance on what I suggest are problematic…

Developing Contextual Mathematical Thinking Learning Model to Enhance Higher-Order Thinking Ability for Middle School Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Samo, Damianus D.; Darhim; Kartasasmita, Bana

2017-01-01

The purpose of this research is to develop contextual mathematical thinking learning model which is valid, practical and effective based on the theoretical reviews and its support to enhance higher-order thinking ability. This study is a research and development (R & D) with three main phases: investigation, development, and implementation.…

The Correlation of Critical Thinking Disposition and Approaches to Learning among Baccalaureate Nursing Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kabeel, Abeer Refaat; Eisa, Sahar Abd El-Mohsen Mosa

2016-01-01

Background: Part of the 21st century skills is critical thinking and learning approaches of students. A part of that resurgence can be attributable to several studies on critical thinking, logic, and thinking skills. Health care professionals are challenged by the complexities of the health care environment. The practice of nursing requires…

With a Critic's Eye: Helping Language/Learning-Disabled Kids Think about Their Thinking.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

D'Alessandro, Marilyn

1991-01-01

Describes the development of an approach to reading comprehension by teaching 9- and 10-year-old language-disabled and learning-disabled children to think about their thinking. The juxtaposition of reading books and watching videos of the same stories stimulates these children to process written information into a sequence that communicates…

Computational Thinking in Compulsory Education: Towards an Agenda for Research and Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Voogt, Joke; Fisser, Petra; Good, Jon; Mishra, Punya; Yadav, Aman

2015-01-01

Computational Thinking is considered a universal competence, which should be added to every child's analytical ability as a vital ingredient of their school learning. In this article we further elaborate on what Computational Thinking is and present examples of what needs to be taught and how. First we position Computational Thinking in Papert's…

Thinking Like a Lawyer, Thinking Like a Legal System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stuart, Richard Clay

2013-01-01

The legal system is the product of lawyers. Lawyers are the product of a specific educational system. Therefore, to understand the legal system, we must first explore how lawyers are trained and conditioned to think. What does it mean to "Think Like a Lawyer?'' This dissertation makes use of autoethnography to explore the experience…

The Effect of Learning Styles, Critical Thinking Disposition, and Critical Thinking on Clinical Judgment in Senior Baccalaureate Nursing Students during Human Patient Simulation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCormick, Kiyan

2014-01-01

Simulated learning experiences using high-fidelity human patient simulators (HPS) are increasingly being integrated into baccalaureate nursing programs. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine relationships among learning style, critical thinking disposition, critical thinking, and clinical judgment during high-fidelity human patient…

Seeping Deficit Thinking Assumptions Maintain the Neoliberal Education Agenda: Exploring Three Conceptual Frameworks of Deficit Thinking in Inner-City Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sharma, Manu

2018-01-01

This article draws awareness to the subtle and seeping "common sense" mentality of neoliberalism and deficit thinking assumptions about racially marginalized students in inner-city schools. From a literature review conducted on deficit thinking and deficit practices in schools, I developed three different frameworks for understanding the…

Temporal Cognition in Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders: Tests of Diachronic Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boucher, Jill; Pons, Francisco; Lind, Sophie; Williams, David

2007-01-01

Impaired diachronic thinking--(the propensity and capacity to think about events spreading across time)--was demonstrated in a 2-Phase study in which children with autism were compared with age and ability matched controls. Identical tests of diachronic thinking were administered in both phases of the study, but to different participant groups,…

Instructional Design Models and Teacher Thinking: Toward a New Conceptual Model for Research and Development.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moallem, Mahnaz; Earle, Rodney S.

1998-01-01

In an effort to connect current research findings on teacher thinking with components of instructional design models and principles, this article discusses a new contextual model for thinking about teaching and considers the implications of the model for instructional development of research in instructional design and teacher thinking. (Author)

Identification of Relationships between Emotional Intelligence Skill & Critical Thinking Disposition in Undergraduate Leadership Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stedman, Nicole L. P.; Andenoro, Anthony C.

2007-01-01

Engaging students emotionally is the key to strengthening their dispositions toward critical thinking. Elder (1997) contends that it is critical thinking which leads us to a rational and reasonable emotional life. The link between thinking and emotions is essential in leadership education. With this in mind, the researchers sought to examine the…

The Relationship between Campus Climate and the Teaching of Critical Thinking Skills in Community College Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Simon, Thomas C.

2010-01-01

Although critical thinking skills are important for all citizens participating in a democratic society, many community college students appear to lack these skills. This study addressed the apparent lack of research relating critical thinking instruction to campus climate. Critical thinking theory and Moos's organizational climate theory served as…

The Network Concept of Creativity and Deep Thinking: Applications to Social Opinion Formation and Talent Support

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Csermely, Peter

2017-01-01

Our century has unprecedented new challenges, which need creative solutions and deep thinking. Contemplative, deep thinking became an "endangered species" in our rushing world of Tweets, elevator pitches, and fast decisions. Here, we describe how important aspects of both creativity and deep thinking can be understood as network…

Thinking Science: A Way to Change Teacher Practice in Order to Raise Students' Ability to Think

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hueppauff, Sonia

2016-01-01

This article describes key facets of the Cognitive Acceleration through Science Education (CASE), a curriculum that emerged in the United Kingdom, enabling teachers to accelerate the process of cognitive development so that more students could attain the higher-order thinking skills (formal operational thinking) required (Lecky, 2012). CASE, also…

Taking Your Mind for a Walk: A Qualitative Investigation of Walking and Thinking among Nine Norwegian Academics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keinänen, Mia

2016-01-01

Walking has long been associated with thinking. Anecdotal evidence from philosophers, writers, researchers, artists, business leaders and so forth testify to the powers of walking-for-thinking. This study explores walking-for-thinking among nine academics in Norway, four university professors, two research and development professionals, two…

Thinking Design and Pedagogy: An Examination of Five Canadian Post-Secondary Courses in Design Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Donar, Ann

2011-01-01

At the tertiary level today, courses on design thinking can be found in diverse programs in and beyond the realm of traditional design disciplines. Across Canada, design thinking courses feature in communication, culture and information technology, and business and engineering. This paper reports findings from a study that investigated the…

Critical Thinking Motivational Scale: A Contribution to the Study of Relationship between Critical Thinking and Motivation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Valenzuela, Jorge; Nieto, Ana M.; Saiz, Carlos

2011-01-01

Introduction: The present work reports the characteristics of an instrument measuring the degree of motivation that people possess to think critically. The "Critical Thinking Motivation Scales" ("CTMS") is based on a theoretical option that affords precedence to the perspective of motivation for over the perspective of dispositions. Motivation is…

Students' Thinking about Effort and Ability: The Role of Developmental, Contextual, and Individual Difference Factors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Muenks, Katherine; Miele, David B.

2017-01-01

Students' thinking about the relation between effort and ability can influence their motivation, affect, and academic achievement. Students sometimes think of effort as inversely related to ability (such that people with low ability must work harder than people with high ability) and other times think of effort as positively related to ability…

Philosophy for Children: Capacity Evaluation of Humorous Stories in "Masnavi" Based on "Lipman's Views on Philosophical Thinking Components"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fard, Fateme Azamat madar; Nasrabadi, Hassan Ali Bakhtiyar; Heidari, Mohammad Hossein

2016-01-01

The aim of this research is to study humorous tales in "Masnavi" according to Lipman's views on "Philosophical thinking components". To achieve this goal, first, Lipman's components of philosophical thinking were identified and divided into three dimensions of critical, creative and caring thinking components. In the second…

Creative Thinking in Prospective Teachers: The "Status Quo" and the Impact of Contextual Factors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Meintjes, Hannetjie; Grosser, Mary

2010-01-01

To create unique and appropriate learning opportunities and environments and to nurture the development of creative thinking abilities among learners are some of the demands for creative thinking currently expected of teachers globally and also in South Africa. Creative thinking in academic context assumes, among other things, the ability to…

Understanding Approaches to Teaching Critical Thinking in High School Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jeremiah, Ken

2012-01-01

Critical thinking continues to be an educational concern even though many school systems, educators, and academic articles have stressed its importance. To teach critical thinking, teachers need to learn what it is and how it is taught. It is unknown to what extent critical thinking skills are taught and assessed in classrooms. The purpose of this…

Critical Thinking in Secondary Language Arts: Teacher Perceptions and Relevant Strategies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Enabulele, Augustine

2011-01-01

The purpose of this research was to examine the effectiveness of the dialectical journal as a tool for teaching critical thinking skills, and to assess middle school teachers' perception of critical thinking. Two groups of middle school students were split into one control and one experimental group. Both groups took a critical thinking test…

Beyond Critical Thinking Skills: Investigating the Relationship between Critical Thinking Skills and Dispositions through Different Online Instructional Strategies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yang, Ya-Ting C.; Chou, Heng-An

2008-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate (1) the relationship between critical thinking skills (CTS) and critical thinking dispositions (CTD), and (2) the effectiveness of different levels of instructional strategy (asynchronous online discussions (AODs), CTS instruction via AODs, and CTS instruction with CTD cultivation via AODs) in improving…

Linkographic Evidence for Concurrent Divergent and Convergent Thinking in Creative Design

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goldschmidt, Gabriela

2016-01-01

For a long time, the creativity literature has stressed the role of divergent thinking in creative endeavor. More recently, it has been recognized that convergent thinking also has a role in creativity, and the design literature, which sees design as a creative activity a priori, has largely adopted this view: Divergent and convergent thinking are…

Domain-General and Domain-Specific Creative-Thinking Tests: Effects of Gender and Item Content on Test Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hong, Eunsook; Peng, Yun; O'Neil, Harold F., Jr.; Wu, Junbin

2013-01-01

The study examined the effects of gender and item content of domain-general and domain-specific creative-thinking tests on four subscale scores of creative-thinking (fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration). Chinese tenth-grade students (234 males and 244 females) participated in the study. Domain-general creative thinking was measured…

Level of Student's Creative Thinking in Classroom Mathematics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Siswono, Tatag Yuli Eko

2011-01-01

It is reasonable to assume that people are creative, but the degree of creativity is different. The Idea of the level of student's creative thinking has been expressed by experts, such as Gotoh (2004), and Krulik and Rudnick (1999). The perspective of the mathematics creative thinking refers to a combination of logical and divergent thinking which…

The Effects of Peer-Interaction Styles in Team Blogs on Students' Cognitive Thinking and Blog Participation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Xie, Ying; Ke, Fengfeng; Sharma, Priya

2010-01-01

Deep cognitive thinking refers to a learner's purposeful and conscious manipulation of ideas toward meaningful learning. Strategies such as journaling/blogging and peer feedback have been found to promote deep thinking. This article reports a research study about the effects of two different blog leader styles on students' deep thinking as…

Evaluation of Critical Thinking and Reflective Thinking Skills among Science Teacher Candidates

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Demir, Sibel

2015-01-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate and determine the critical thinking and reflective thinking skills of science teacher candidates. The study was performed with the participation of 30 teacher candidates enrolled in the science teaching department of a university in Turkey. Scales administered during the study included the California Critical…

An Analysis of Mathematics Teacher Candidates' Critical Thinking Dispositions and Their Logical Thinking Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Incikabi, Lutfi; Tuna, Abdulkadir; Biber, Abdullah Cagri

2013-01-01

This study aimed to investigate the existence of the relationship between mathematics teacher candidates' critical thinking skills and their logical thinking dispositions in terms of the variables of grade level in college, high school type, and gender. The current study utilized relational survey model and included a total of 99 mathematics…

Impacts of a book reading club intervention on enhancing parents' positive thinking.

PubMed

Hong, Zuway-R; Lin, Huann-shyang

2012-03-01

This study investigated the effects of participating in a book reading club on improving parents' positive interactions with children and positive thinking. A total of 85 parent volunteers were randomized into the experimental or comparison group. The Parent Questionnaire was used to measure positive thinking and interaction with children. Additionally interview results were used to triangulate and elucidate the findings. The findings revealed a positive impact on parents' positive thinking and interaction with children and that these were significant predictors of parents' positive thinking. Implications and recommendations are presented.

Thinking styles and creativity preferences in nursing.

PubMed

Almansa, Pilar; López-Martínez, Olivia; Corbalán, Javier; Limiñana-Gras, Rosa M

2013-01-01

This article describes a study using a descriptive approach of cross-sectional correlation to explore the association between thinking styles and creativity in a group of nursing professionals and students. A thinking style is a characteristic way of thinking. The hypothesis was that the most creative subjects would present thinking styles that enhance and express their creativity. De la Torre and Violant (2006) argue that creativity is not only a personal value, insofar as it recognizes and stimulates the transforming potential of the individual, but is also an educational value because it generates abilities and attitudes toward improvement. The study results show that a legislative thinking style encourages innovation and creativity and should be encouraged both during education and training and in the professional domain.

Technology in Muslim Moral Philosophy.

PubMed

Moosa, Ebrahim

2016-04-01

The article explores the place, role and status of technology in Muslim moral philosophy. Invoking early Muslim encounters with technology the author makes the case why technology is already deeply embedded in contemporary Muslim bioethical thinking. Due to an absence of the philosophical grounding there remains some ambivalence as to why technology is essential to Muslim ethical thinking. Countering the techno-pessimists, the author makes a case in favor of compositional thinking, namely that our thinking itself is altered by our tools and our environment. Compositional thinking opposes the representational mode of thinking that creates a dichotomy between nature versus culture, and technology versus nature. One should, however, anticipate an environment in which technology would be beneficial and not be viewed as potentially harmful.

Student’s critical thinking skills in authentic problem based learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yuliati, L.; Fauziah, R.; Hidayat, A.

2018-05-01

This study aims to determine students’ critical thinking skills in authentic problem based learning, especially on geometric optics. The study was conducted at the vocational school. The study used a quantitative descriptive method with the open question to measure critical thinking skills. The indicators of critical thinking skills measured in this study are: formulating problems, providing simple answers, applying formulas and procedures, analyzing information, making conclusions, and synthesizing ideas. The results showed that there was a positive change in students’ critical thinking skills with the average value of N-Gain test is 0.59 and effect size test is 3.73. The critical thinking skills of students need to be trained more intensively using authentic problems in daily life.

Openness to Experience as a Moderator of the Relationship between Intelligence and Creative Thinking: A Study of Chinese Children in Urban and Rural Areas.

PubMed

Shi, Baoguo; Dai, David Y; Lu, Yongli

2016-01-01

Using testing and questionnaire methods, this study investigated the relationships among openness to experience, intelligence and creative thinking. This study focused on the moderating effects of openness to experience on the relationship between intelligence and creative thinking in a sample of 831 primary school students in China. The findings showed significant positive relationships among openness to experience, intelligence and creative thinking. In relation to the focus of this study, openness to experience moderated the relationship between intelligence and creative thinking. However, the correlation between openness to experience and creative thinking was stronger for urban children than for rural children, and the moderating effect existed only in urban settings.

Openness to Experience as a Moderator of the Relationship between Intelligence and Creative Thinking: A Study of Chinese Children in Urban and Rural Areas

PubMed Central

Shi, Baoguo; Dai, David Y.; Lu, Yongli

2016-01-01

Using testing and questionnaire methods, this study investigated the relationships among openness to experience, intelligence and creative thinking. This study focused on the moderating effects of openness to experience on the relationship between intelligence and creative thinking in a sample of 831 primary school students in China. The findings showed significant positive relationships among openness to experience, intelligence and creative thinking. In relation to the focus of this study, openness to experience moderated the relationship between intelligence and creative thinking. However, the correlation between openness to experience and creative thinking was stronger for urban children than for rural children, and the moderating effect existed only in urban settings. PMID:27199866

Divergent creative thinking in young and older adults: Extending the effects of an episodic specificity induction.

PubMed

Madore, Kevin P; Jing, Helen G; Schacter, Daniel L

2016-08-01

Recent research has suggested that an episodic specificity induction-brief training in recollecting the details of a past experience-enhances divergent creative thinking on the alternate uses task (AUT) in young adults, without affecting performance on tasks thought to involve little divergent thinking; however, the generalizability of these results to other populations and tasks is unknown. In the present experiments, we examined whether the effects of an episodic specificity induction would extend to older adults and a different index of divergent thinking, the consequences task. In Experiment 1, the specificity induction significantly enhanced divergent thinking on the AUT in both young and older adults, as compared with a control induction not requiring specific episodic retrieval; performance on a task involving little divergent thinking (generating associates for common objects) did not vary as a function of induction. No overall age-related differences were observed on either task. In Experiment 2, the specificity induction significantly enhanced divergent thinking (in terms of generating consequences of novel scenarios) in young adults, relative to another control induction not requiring episodic retrieval. To examine the types of creative ideas affected by the induction, the participants in both experiments also labeled each of their divergent-thinking responses as an "old idea" from memory or a "new idea" from imagination. New, and to some extent old, ideas were significantly boosted following the specificity induction relative to the control. These experiments provide novel evidence that an episodic specificity induction can boost divergent thinking in young and older adults, and indicate that episodic memory is involved in multiple divergent-thinking tasks.

Divergent creative thinking in young and older adults: Extending the effects of an episodic specificity induction

PubMed Central

Madore, Kevin P.; Jing, Helen G.; Schacter, Daniel L.

2016-01-01

Recent research has suggested that an episodic specificity induction- brief training in recollecting the details of a past experience- enhances divergent creative thinking on the Alternate Uses Task (AUT) in young adults without affecting performance on tasks thought to involve little divergent thinking, but the generalizability of these results to other populations and tasks is unknown. The present experiments examined whether effects of an episodic specificity induction extend to older adults and a different index of divergent thinking, the Consequences Task. In Experiment 1, the specificity induction significantly enhanced divergent thinking on the AUT in both young and older adults compared with a control induction not requiring specific episodic retrieval; performance on a task involving little divergent thinking did not vary as a function of induction (generating associates for common objects). No overall age-related differences were observed on either task. In Experiment 2, the specificity induction significantly enhanced divergent thinking (generating consequences of novel scenarios) in young adults compared with another control induction not requiring episodic retrieval. To examine the types of creative ideas affected by the induction, participants in both experiments also labeled each of their divergent thinking responses as an old idea from memory or new idea from imagination. New and to some extent old ideas were significantly boosted following the specificity induction compared with the control. These experiments provide novel evidence that an episodic specificity induction can boost divergent thinking in young and older adults, and indicate that episodic memory is involved in multiple divergent thinking tasks. PMID:27001170

The longitudinal effect of concept map teaching on critical thinking of nursing students.

PubMed

Lee, Weillie; Chiang, Chi-Hua; Liao, I-Chen; Lee, Mei-Li; Chen, Shiah-Lian; Liang, Tienli

2013-10-01

Concept map is a useful cognitive tool for enhancing a student's critical thinking by encouraging students to process information deeply for understanding. However, there is limited understanding of longitudinal effects of concept map teaching on students' critical thinking. The purpose of the study was to investigate the growth and the other factors influencing the development of critical thinking in response to concept map as an interventional strategy for nursing students in a two-year registered nurse baccalaureate program. The study was a quasi-experimental and longitudinal follow-up design. A convenience sample was drawn from a university in central Taiwan. Data were collected at different time points at the beginning of each semester using structured questionnaires including Critical Thinking Scale and Approaches to Learning and Studying. The intervention of concept map teaching was given at the second semester in the Medical-Surgical Nursing course. The results of the findings revealed student started with a mean critical thinking score of 41.32 and decreased at a rate of 0.42 over time, although not significant. After controlling for individual characteristics, the final model revealed that the experimental group gained a higher critical thinking score across time than the control group. The best predictive variables of initial status in critical thinking were without clinical experience and a higher pre-test score. The growth in critical thinking was predicted best by a lower pre-test score, and lower scores on surface approach and organized study. Our study suggested that concept map is a useful teaching strategy to enhance student critical thinking. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Do scores on three commonly used measures of critical thinking correlate with academic success of health professions trainees? A systematic review and meta-analysis.

PubMed

Ross, David; Loeffler, Kim; Schipper, Shirley; Vandermeer, Ben; Allan, G Michael

2013-05-01

To determine whether the three commonly used measures of critical thinking correlate with academic success of medical professionals in training. The search for English-language articles (from 1980 to 2011) used Medline, Embase, Scopus, Cochrane Library on Ovid, Proquest Dissertations, Health and Psychosocial Instruments, PsychINFO, and references of included articles. Studies comparing critical thinking with academic success among medical professionals were included. Two authors performed study selection independently, with disagreement resolved by consensus. Two authors independently abstracted data on study characteristics, quality, and outcomes, with disagreement resolved by a third author. Critical thinking tests studied were the California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST), California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCTDI), and Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal. Correlation coefficients were pooled in meta-analysis. The search identified 557 studies: 52 met inclusion for systematic review, 41 of which were meta-analyzed. Critical thinking was positively correlated with academic success, r=0.31 (95% confidence intervals [CI] 0.26, 0.35), with a moderate statistical heterogeneity (I=67%). In subgroup analysis, only student type had statistical significance for correlation, although bias was likely due to low numbers for some student types. In direct comparison, using studies that employed two critical thinking tests, the CCTDI (r=0.23, 95% CI 0.15, 0.30) was significantly inferior (P<.001) to the CCTST (r=0.39, 95% CI 0.33, 0.45). Critical thinking was moderately correlated with academic success of medical professionals in training. The CCTDI was inferior to the CCTST in correlating with academic success.

Verbal and visual divergent thinking in aging.

PubMed

Palmiero, Massimiliano; Nori, Raffaella; Piccardi, Laura

2017-04-01

According to the peak and decline model divergent thinking declines at a specific age (in or after middle age). However, if divergent thinking declines steadily in aging still has to be clarified. In order to explore the age-related changes in verbal and visual divergent thinking, in the present study a sample of 159 participants was divided in five age groups: young adults (18-35 years), middle-aged adults (36-55), young old (56-74), old (75-85) and the oldest-old (86-98). Two divergent thinking tasks were administered: the alternative uses for cardboard boxes, aimed at assessing verbal ideational fluency, flexibility and originality; the completion drawing task, aimed at assessing visual ideational fluency, flexibility and originality. Results showed that after peaking in the young adult group (20-35 years) all components of verbal and visual divergent thinking stabilized in the middle-aged adult group (36-55 years) and then started declining in the young old group (56-75). Interestingly, all components were found to be preserved after declining. Yet, verbal and visual divergent thinking were found at the same extent across age groups, with the exception of visual ideational fluency, that was higher in the young old group, the old group and the oldest-old group than verbal ideational fluency. These results support the idea that divergent thinking does not decline steadily in the elderly. Given that older people can preserve to some extent verbal and visual divergent thinking, these findings have important implications for active aging, that is, divergent thinking might be fostered in aging in order to prevent the cognitive decline.

Structural correlates of creative thinking in patients with bipolar disorder and healthy controls-a voxel-based morphometry study.

PubMed

Tu, Pei-Chi; Kuan, Yi-Hsuan; Li, Cheng-Ta; Su, Tung-Ping

2017-06-01

This study investigated the structural correlates of creative thinking in patients with bipolar disorder (BD) to understand the possible neural mechanism of creative thinking in BD. We recruited 59 patients with BD I or BD II (35.3±8.5 y) and 56 age- and sex-matched controls (HCs; 34±7.4 y). Each participant underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging and evaluation of creative thinking, which was assessed using two validated tools: the Chinese version of the Abbreviated Torrance Test for Adults for divergent thinking and the Chinese Word Remote Associates Test for remote association. Voxel-based morphometry was performed using SPM12. In patients with BD, divergent thinking positively correlated with the gray matter volume (GMV) in right medial frontal gyrus (Brodmann area [BA] 9), and remote association positively correlated with the GMV in the medial prefrontal gyrus (BA 10). In the HCs, divergent thinking negatively correlated with the GMV in left superior frontal gyrus (BA 8) and positively correlated with the GMV in the precuneus and occipital regions, and remote association positively correlated with the GMV in the hippocampus. Patients with BD were receiving various dosages of antipsychotics, antidepressants and mood stabilizer. These medications may confound the GMV-creative thinking relationship in patients with BD. Our findings indicate that medial prefrontal cortex plays a major and positive role in creative thinking in patients with BD. By contrary, creative thinking involves more diverse structures, and the prefrontal cortex may have an opposite effect in HCs. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Profile of senior high school students’ creative thinking skills on biology material in low, medium, and high academic perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nurhamidah, D.; Masykuri, M.; Dwiastuti, S.

2018-04-01

Creative thinking is one of the most important skills of the 21st Century. Students are demanded not only be able to solve the cognitive problems but also to face the life problems. The aim of this study is to determine students’ creative thinking skills in biology class for XI grade of three Senior High Schools in Ngawi regency. The approach used to categorised the three schools into low, medium and high academic rank was a norm-referenced test. The study involved 92 students who completed a test. Guilford's alternative uses task was used to measure the level of students’ creative thinking skills. The results showed that in the school of high academic rank, 89,74% of students had low creative thinking skills and 10,25% of them are in moderate category. In the medium academic rank school, 85,71% of students had low creative thinking skills and 14,29% of them are moderate. In the school of low academic rank, 8% of students had very low creative thinking skills, 88% are low, and 4% are moderate. Based on the finding of the research, the creative thinking skills of students in the three school was categorised as low level, therefore the learning design should be developed which can improve the students’ creative thinking skills.

Profile of male-field dependent (FD) prospective teacher's reflective thinking in solving contextual mathematical problem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Agustan, S.; Juniati, Dwi; Siswono, Tatag Yuli Eko

2017-08-01

Reflective thinking is an important component in the world of education, especially in professional education of teachers. In learning mathematics, reflective thinking is one way to solve mathematical problem because it can improve student's curiosity when student faces a mathematical problem. Reflective thinking is also a future competence that should be taught to students to face the challenges and to respond of demands of the 21st century. There are many factors which give impact toward the student's reflective thinking when student solves mathematical problem. One of them is cognitive style. For this reason, reflective thinking and cognitive style are important things in solving contextual mathematical problem. This research paper describes aspect of reflective thinking in solving contextual mathematical problem involved solution by using some mathematical concept, namely linear program, algebra arithmetic operation, and linear equations of two variables. The participant, in this research paper, is a male-prospective teacher who has Field Dependent. The purpose of this paper is to describe aspect of prospective teachers' reflective thinking in solving contextual mathematical problem. This research paper is a descriptive by using qualitative approach. To analyze the data, the researchers focus in four main categories which describe prospective teacher's activities using reflective thinking, namely; (a) formulation and synthesis of experience, (b) orderliness of experience, (c) evaluating the experience and (d) testing the selected solution based on the experience.

Analytic thinking reduces belief in conspiracy theories.

PubMed

Swami, Viren; Voracek, Martin; Stieger, Stefan; Tran, Ulrich S; Furnham, Adrian

2014-12-01

Belief in conspiracy theories has been associated with a range of negative health, civic, and social outcomes, requiring reliable methods of reducing such belief. Thinking dispositions have been highlighted as one possible factor associated with belief in conspiracy theories, but actual relationships have only been infrequently studied. In Study 1, we examined associations between belief in conspiracy theories and a range of measures of thinking dispositions in a British sample (N=990). Results indicated that a stronger belief in conspiracy theories was significantly associated with lower analytic thinking and open-mindedness and greater intuitive thinking. In Studies 2-4, we examined the causational role played by analytic thinking in relation to conspiracist ideation. In Study 2 (N=112), we showed that a verbal fluency task that elicited analytic thinking reduced belief in conspiracy theories. In Study 3 (N=189), we found that an alternative method of eliciting analytic thinking, which related to cognitive disfluency, was effective at reducing conspiracist ideation in a student sample. In Study 4, we replicated the results of Study 3 among a general population sample (N=140) in relation to generic conspiracist ideation and belief in conspiracy theories about the July 7, 2005, bombings in London. Our results highlight the potential utility of supporting attempts to promote analytic thinking as a means of countering the widespread acceptance of conspiracy theories. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Emotional intelligence moderates the relationship between regional gray matter volume in the bilateral temporal pole and critical thinking disposition.

PubMed

Yao, Xiaonan; Yuan, Shuge; Yang, Wenjing; Chen, Qunlin; Wei, Dongtao; Hou, Yuling; Zhang, Lijie; Qiu, Jiang; Yang, Dong

2018-04-01

Critical thinking enables people to form sound beliefs and provides a basis for emotional life. Research has indicated that individuals with better critical thinking disposition can better recognize and regulate their emotions, though the neuroanatomical mechanisms involved in this process remain to be elucidated. Further, the influence of emotional intelligence on the relationship between brain structure and critical thinking disposition has not been examined. The present study utilized voxel-based morphometry (VBM) to investigate the neural structures underlying critical thinking disposition in a large sample of college students (N = 296). Regional gray matter volume (rGMV) in the bilateral temporal pole, which reflects an individual's ability to process social and emotional information, was negatively correlated with critical thinking disposition. In addition, rGMV in bilateral para hippocampal regions -regions involved in contextual association/emotional regulation-exhibited negative correlation with critical thinking disposition. Further analysis revealed that emotional intelligence moderated the relationship between rGMV of the temporal pole and critical thinking disposition. Specifically, critical thinking disposition was associated with decreased GMV of the temporal pole for individuals who have relatively higher emotional intelligence rather than lower emotional intelligence. The results of the present study indicate that people who have higher emotional intelligence exhibit more effective and automatic processing of emotional information and tend to be strong critical thinkers.

An Exploration of the Interplay of Students' Dispositions to Critical Thinking, Formal Thinking and Procedural Knowledge in Science.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ferguson, Nicole; Vazquez-Abad, Jesus

This paper describes part of a study undertaken to examine the relationship between dispositions to critical thinking, procedural knowledge in science, and formal reasoning. Three tests were administered to 346 grade 7 students at the beginning and at the end of the school year: California Critical Thinking Dispositions Inventory, Group Assessment…

Student's Perceived Level and Teachers' Teaching Strategies of Higher Order Thinking Skills: A Study on Higher Educational Institutions in Thailand

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shukla, Divya; Dungsungnoen, Aj Pattaradanai

2016-01-01

Higher order thinking skills (HOTS) has portrayed immense industry demand and the major goal of educational institution in imparting education is to inculcate higher order thinking skills. This compiles and mandate the institutions and instructor to develop the higher order thinking skills among students in order to prepare them for effective…

Factors Affecting Higher Order Thinking Skills of Students: A Meta-Analytic Structural Equation Modeling Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Budsankom, Prayoonsri; Sawangboon, Tatsirin; Damrongpanit, Suntorapot; Chuensirimongkol, Jariya

2015-01-01

The purpose of the research is to develop and identify the validity of factors affecting higher order thinking skills (HOTS) of students. The thinking skills can be divided into three types: analytical, critical, and creative thinking. This analysis is done by applying the meta-analytic structural equation modeling (MASEM) based on a database of…

Thinking Like a Chemist: Development of a Chemistry Card-Sorting Task to Probe Conceptual Expertise

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Krieter, Felicia E.; Julius, Ryan W.; Tanner, Kimberly D.; Bush, Seth D.; Scott, Gregory E.

2016-01-01

An underlying goal in most chemistry curricula is to enable students to think like chemists, yet there is much evidence to suggest that students can learn to solve problems without thinking conceptually like a chemist. There are few tools, however, that assess whether students are learning to think like Ph.D. faculty, putative experts in the…

Thinking Constructively with Metaphors. A Review of Barbara J. Thayer-Bacon, Transforming Critical Thinking: Thinking Constructively.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yob, Iris M.

2003-01-01

Describes Thayer-Bacon's book on metaphors and explores the role of metaphor in constructive thinking. Provides an in depth analysis of Thayer-Bacon's quilting bee metaphor and how it takes the organization, structures, entities, and forces of a literal quilting bee and applies them to the realm of learning. Concludes that Thayer-Bacon's…

Subject Comprehension and Critical Thinking: An Intervention for Subject Comprehension and Critical Thinking in Mixed-Academic-Ability University Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bellaera, Lauren; Debney, Lauren; Baker, Sara T.

2016-01-01

Subject comprehension and critical thinking are both key goals of higher education. However, while the former is, on the whole, successfully cultivated in undergraduate students, the latter is not. Few empirical studies have investigated the relationship between subject comprehension and critical thinking. In the present article we suggest that…

New Graduate Nurses' Perceived Definition of Critical Thinking during Their First Nursing Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kaddoura, Mahmoud

2013-01-01

Critical thinking (CT) is a flourishing concept that has been developing throughout the fields of both nursing education and practice. In fact, every person thinks in his or her own way that is varied among individuals; it is the nature of human mankind to do so. Nevertheless, much of our thinking might be subjective, indefinite, limited,…

Staying on Task: Can a Thinking Skills Approach Support a Productive Pedagogy for Inclusion?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baumfield, Vivienne; Devlin, Niall

2005-01-01

This study investigates the effects of a thinking skills approach on the on task rates of pupils with Special Educational Needs (SEN). There were three situations: two experimental and one controlled. The experimental situations compared on task rates of 19 primary-aged pupils with SEN in thinking skills (TS) and non-thinking skills (XTS) lessons.…

Acting without Regarding: Daoist Self-Cultivation as Education for Non-Dichotomous Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sta. Maria, Joseph Emmanuel D.

2017-01-01

In this article, I show how resources for an education for non-dichotomous thinking can be drawn from the two Daoist texts, the Daodejing and the Zhuangzi. Dichotomous thinking can be defined as thinking that considers things in terms of strict and even irreconcilable dichotomous oppositions. The authors of the Daodejing and the Zhuangzi are known…

Computational thinking and thinking about computing

PubMed Central

Wing, Jeannette M.

2008-01-01

Computational thinking will influence everyone in every field of endeavour. This vision poses a new educational challenge for our society, especially for our children. In thinking about computing, we need to be attuned to the three drivers of our field: science, technology and society. Accelerating technological advances and monumental societal demands force us to revisit the most basic scientific questions of computing. PMID:18672462

Improving Critical Thinking Skills of College Students through RMS Model for Learning Basic Concepts in Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Muhlisin, Ahmad; Susilo, Herawati; Amin, Mohamad; Rohman, Fatchur

2016-01-01

The purposes of this study were to: 1) Examine the effect of RMS learning model towards critical thinking skills. 2) Examine the effect of different academic abilities against critical thinking skills. 3) Examine the effect of the interaction between RMS learning model and different academic abilities against critical thinking skills. The research…

Critical Thinking as a Predictor and Outcome Measure in a Large Undergraduate Educational Psychology Course.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Williams, Robert L.

This study first determined how well two types of critical thinking measures, generic and subject-specific, predicted performance on course tests. Secondly, the study examined the extent to which critical thinking changed from the beginning to the end of the course. Two generic and one subject-specific measure of critical thinking were used in the…

Instructional Design and Facilitation Approaches That Promote Critical Thinking in Asynchronous Online Discussions: A Review of the Literature

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schindler, Laura A.; Burkholder, Gary J.

2014-01-01

Asynchronous online discussions (AODs) are often used to promote critical thinking in online courses; however, recent research suggests that levels of critical thinking in discussions remain low. Furthermore, there is a lack of consensus in the literature about the definition of critical thinking and many of the existing studies focus on one…

Identifying and Fostering Higher Levels of Geometric Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Škrbec, Maja; Cadež, Tatjana Hodnik

2015-01-01

Pierre M. Van Hiele created five levels of geometric thinking. We decided to identify the level of geometric thinking in the students in Slovenia, aged 9 to 11 years. The majority of students (60.7%) are at the transition between the zero (visual) level and the first (descriptive) level of geometric thinking. Nearly a third (31.7%) of students is…

Thinking Allowed: Use of Egocentric Speech after Acquired Brain Injury (ABI)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rees, Sian A.; Skidmore, David

2011-01-01

This paper explores the use of thinking aloud made by young people who have sustained a severe acquired brain injury (ABI). The phenomenon is compared with the concepts of egocentric speech and inner speech before the form of thinking aloud by pupils with ABI is examined. It is suggested that by using thinking aloud, this group of pupils is able…

Rupture or Continuity: The Arithmetico-Algebraic Thinking as an Alternative in a Modelling Process in a Paper and Pencil and Technology Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hitt, Fernando; Saboya, Mireille; Zavala, Carlos Cortés

2017-01-01

Part of the research community that has followed the Early Algebra paradigm is currently delimiting the differences between arithmetic thinking and algebraic thinking. This trend could prevent new research approaches to the problem of learning algebra, hiding the importance of considering an arithmetico-algebraic thinking, a new approach which…

Investigation of the Effects of Mathematical Thinking States of Form Teachers on Their Mathematics Teaching Anxieties

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yorulmaz, Alper; Altintas, Sedat; Sidekli, Sabri

2017-01-01

The state of mathematical thinking is considered to have an effect on the formation of anxiety regarding teaching mathematics. It is hypothesized that with the formation of mathematical thinking, the anxiety in teachers regarding teaching mathematics will be reduced. Since mathematical thinking is a skill acquired starting from the early years of…

The Analysing Children's Creative Thinking Framework: Development of an Observation-Led Approach to Identifying and Analysing Young Children's Creative Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Robson, Sue

2014-01-01

Increased international recognition of the value of supporting creative thinking suggests the value of development of approaches to its identification in children. Development of an observation-led framework, the Analysing Children's Creative Thinking (ACCT) framework, is described, and a case made for the validity of inferring creative thinking…

Thinking Maps: Research-Based Instructional Strategy in a PDS

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kessler, Cristy; Zuercher, Deborah K.; Wong, Caroline S.

2013-01-01

An exploratory action research case study was conducted at Moanalua Middle School from 2006-2009 to examine the impact of Thinking Maps on student achievement. Thinking Maps are not just another set of graphic organizers but a set of eight of unique visual mind maps with each linked to a specific higher-order thinking pattern. This study tells the…

Profile of student critical thinking ability on static fluid concept

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sulasih; Suparmi, A.; Sarwanto

2017-11-01

Critical thinking ability is an important part of educational goals. It has higher complex processes, such as analyzing, synthesizing and evaluating, drawing conclusion and reflection. This study is aimed to know the critical thinking ability of students in learning static fluids of senior high school students. This research uses the descriptive method which its instruments based on the indicator of critical thinking ability developed according to Ennis. The population of this research is XIth grade science class Public Senior High School, SMA N 1, Sambungmacan, Sragen, Central Java. The static fluid teaching material is delivered using Problem Based Learning Model through class experiment. The results of this study shows that the average student of XIth science class have high critical thinking skills, particularly in the ability of providing simple explanation, build basic skill, and provide advanced explanation, but they do not have high enough in ability of drawing conclusion and strategic and tactical components of critical thinking ability in the study of static fluid teaching material. The average of students critical thinking ability is 72.94, with 27,94% of students are in a low category and 72,22% of students in the high category of critical thinking ability.

Student teachers' pedagogical content knowledge for teaching systems thinking: effects of different interventions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rosenkränzer, Frank; Hörsch, Christian; Schuler, Stephan; Riess, Werner

2017-09-01

Systems' thinking has become increasingly relevant not only in education for sustainable development but also in everyday life. Even if teachers know the dynamics and complexity of living systems in biology and geography, they might not be able to effectively explain it to students. Teachers need an understanding of systems and their behaviour (content knowledge), and they also need to know how systems thinking can be fostered in students (pedagogical content knowledge (PCK)). But the effective development of teachers' professional knowledge in teaching systems thinking is empirically uncertain. From a larger study (SysThema) that investigated teaching systems thinking, this article reports the effects of the three different interventions (technical course, didactic course and mixed course) in student teachers' PCK for teaching systems thinking. The results show that student teachers' PCK for teaching systems thinking can be promoted in teacher education. The conclusion to be drawn from our findings is that a technically orientated course without didactical aspects seems to be less effective in fostering student teachers' PCK for teaching systems thinking. The results inform educators in enhancing curricula of future academic track and non-academic track teacher education.

Can Learning a Foreign Language Foster Analytic Thinking?—Evidence from Chinese EFL Learners' Writings

PubMed Central

Jiang, Jingyang; Ouyang, Jinghui; Liu, Haitao

2016-01-01

Language is not only the representation of thinking, but also shapes thinking. Studies on bilinguals suggest that a foreign language plays an important and unconscious role in thinking. In this study, a software—Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count 2007—was used to investigate whether the learning of English as a foreign language (EFL) can foster Chinese high school students’ English analytic thinking (EAT) through the analysis of their English writings with our self-built corpus. It was found that: (1) learning English can foster Chinese learners’ EAT. Chinese EFL learners’ ability of making distinctions, degree of cognitive complexity and degree of thinking activeness have all improved along with the increase of their English proficiency and their age; (2) there exist differences in Chinese EFL learners’ EAT and that of English native speakers, i. e. English native speakers are better in the ability of making distinctions and degree of thinking activeness. These findings suggest that the best EFL learners in high schools have gained native-like analytic thinking through six years’ English learning and are able to switch their cognitive styles as needed. PMID:27741270

The Experimental Manipulation of Desire Thinking in Alcohol use Disorder.

PubMed

Caselli, Gabriele; Gemelli, Antonella; Spada, Marcantonio M

2017-03-01

Desire thinking is a voluntary cognitive process involving verbal and imaginal elaboration of a desired target. Recent research has revealed that desire thinking may play a significant role in the escalation of craving. The goal of this study was to explore the effect of a desire thinking induction on craving in a sample of patients with alcohol use disorder. Ten patients with alcohol use disorder were exposed to a brief exposure to alcohol-related thoughts plus desire thinking induction versus brief exposure to alcohol-related thoughts plus distraction. The induction of desire thinking led to a significant increase in distress and urge to use alcohol when compared to a behavioural assessment test and a distraction task. The clinical implications for the treatment of alcohol use disorder are discussed. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Psychotherapeutic strategies that target desire thinking, both at the assessment and at the intervention levels, may be relevant in the treatment of craving-related problems. Deriving and illustrating the role of desire thinking in a given episode of craving may support the development of metacognitive awareness about its functions and consequences. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Regarding the confusion between the population concept and Mayr's "population thinking".

PubMed

Hey, Jody

2011-12-01

Ernst Mayr said that one of Darwin's greatest contributions was to show scholars the way to population thinking, and to help them discard a mindset of typological thinking. Population thinking rejects a focus on a central representative type, and emphasizes the variation among individuals. However, Mayr's choice of terms has led to confusion, particularly among biologists who study natural populations. Both population thinking and the concept of a biological population were inspired by Darwin, and from Darwin the chain for both concepts runs through Francis Galton who introduced the statistical usage of "population" that appears in Mayr's population thinking. It was Galton's "population" that was modified by geneticists and biometricians in the early 20th century to refer to an interbreeding and evolving community of organisms. Under this meaning, a population is a biological entity and so paradoxically population thinking, which emphasizes variation at the expense of dwelling on entities, is usually not about populations. Mayr did not address the potential for misunderstanding but for him the important part of the population concept was that the organisms within a population were variable, and so he probably thought there should not be confusion between population thinking and the concept of a population.

The relationship between schizotypal facets and conspiracist beliefs via cognitive processes.

PubMed

Barron, David; Furnham, Adrian; Weis, Laura; Morgan, Kevin D; Towell, Tony; Swami, Viren

2018-01-01

This study sought to replicate previous work showing relationships between components of schizotypy and conspiracist beliefs, and extend it by examining the mediating role of cognitive processes. An international online sample of 411 women and men (mean age = 35.41 years) completed measures of the schizotypal facets of Odd Beliefs or Magical Thinking and Ideas of Reference, conspiracist beliefs, and cognitive processes related to need for cognition, analytic thinking, and cognitive insight. Path analysis confirmed the associations between both schizotypal facets and conspiracist beliefs in the present sample. Confirmatory evidence was found for the association between analytic thinking and conspiracist beliefs, and results also suggested an association between cognitive insight and conspiracist beliefs. Cognitive insight also mediated the link between Odd Beliefs or Magical Thinking and Ideas of Reference with conspiracist beliefs. However, analytic thinking provided a mediating link to conspiracy ideation for Odd Beliefs or Magical Thinking and not Ideas of Reference. Finally, there was an association between Odd Beliefs or Magical Thinking and need for cognition, but this path did not extend to conspiracist beliefs. These results suggest possible mediating roles for analytic thinking and self-certainty between schizotypy and conspiracist beliefs. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Is perfectionism associated with academic burnout through repetitive negative thinking?

PubMed

Garratt-Reed, David; Howell, Joel; Hayes, Lana; Boyes, Mark

2018-01-01

Academic burnout is prevalent among university students, although understanding of what predicts burnout is limited. This study aimed to test the direct and indirect relationship between two dimensions of perfectionism (Perfectionistic Concerns and Perfectionistic Strivings) and the three elements of Academic Burnout (Exhaustion, Inadequacy, and Cynicism) through Repetitive Negative Thinking. In a cross-sectional survey, undergraduate students ( n  = 126, M age = 23.64, 79% female) completed well-validated measures of Perfectionism, Repetitive Negative Thinking, and Academic Burnout. Perfectionistic Concerns was directly associated with all elements of burnout, as well as indirectly associated with Exhaustion and Cynicism via Repetitive Negative Thinking. Perfectionistic Strivings was directly associated with less Inadequacy and Cynicism; however, there were no indirect associations between Perfectionistic Strivings and Academic Burnout operating through Repetitive Negative Thinking. Repetitive Negative Thinking was also directly related to more burnout Exhaustion and Inadequacy, but not Cynicism. It is concluded that future research should investigate whether interventions targeting Perfectionistic Concerns and Repetitive Negative Thinking can reduce Academic Burnout in university students.

Rigorous Mathematical Thinking Approach to Enhance Students’ Mathematical Creative and Critical Thinking Abilities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hidayat, D.; Nurlaelah, E.; Dahlan, J. A.

2017-09-01

The ability of mathematical creative and critical thinking are two abilities that need to be developed in the learning of mathematics. Therefore, efforts need to be made in the design of learning that is capable of developing both capabilities. The purpose of this research is to examine the mathematical creative and critical thinking ability of students who get rigorous mathematical thinking (RMT) approach and students who get expository approach. This research was quasi experiment with control group pretest-posttest design. The population were all of students grade 11th in one of the senior high school in Bandung. The result showed that: the achievement of mathematical creative and critical thinking abilities of student who obtain RMT is better than students who obtain expository approach. The use of Psychological tools and mediation with criteria of intentionality, reciprocity, and mediated of meaning on RMT helps students in developing condition in critical and creative processes. This achievement contributes to the development of integrated learning design on students’ critical and creative thinking processes.

The role of student’s critical asking question in developing student’s critical thinking skills

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Santoso, T.; Yuanita, L.; Erman, E.

2018-01-01

Questioning means thinking, and thinking is manifested in the form of questions. Research that studies the relationship between questioning and students’ critical thinking skills is little, if any. The aim of this study is to examine how student’s questions skill correlates to student’s critical thinking skills in learning of chemistry. The research design used was one group pretest-posttest design. The participants involved were 94 students, all of whom attended their last semesters, Chemistry Education of Tadulako University. A pre-test was administered to check participants’ ability to ask critical questions and critical thinking skills in learning chemistry. Then, the students were taught by using questioning technique. After accomplishing the lesson, a post-test was given to evaluate their progress. Obtained data were analyzed by using Pair-Samples T.Test and correlation methods. The result shows that the level of the questions plays an important role in critical thinking skills is the question levels of predictive, analysis, evaluation and inference.

[Clinical decision making and critical thinking in the nursing diagnostic process].

PubMed

Müller-Staub, Maria

2006-10-01

The daily routine requires complex thinking processes of nurses, but clinical decision making and critical thinking are underestimated in nursing. A great demand for educational measures in clinical judgement related with the diagnostic process was found in nurses. The German literature hardly describes nursing diagnoses as clinical judgements about human reactions on health problems / life processes. Critical thinking is described as an intellectual, disciplined process of active conceptualisation, application and synthesis of information. It is gained through observation, experience, reflection and communication and leads thinking and action. Critical thinking influences the aspects of clinical decision making a) diagnostic judgement, b) therapeutic reasoning and c) ethical decision making. Human reactions are complex processes and in their course, human behavior is interpreted in the focus of health. Therefore, more attention should be given to the nursing diagnostic process. This article presents the theoretical framework of the paper "Clinical decision making: Fostering critical thinking in the nursing diagnostic process through case studies".

Nurses' reported thinking during medication administration.

PubMed

Eisenhauer, Laurel A; Hurley, Ann C; Dolan, Nancy

2007-01-01

To document nurses' reported thinking processes during medication administration before and after implementation of point-of-care technology. Semistructured interviews and real-time tape recordings were used to document the thinking processes of 40 nurses practicing in inpatient care units in a large tertiary care teaching hospital in the northeastern US. Content analysis resulted in identification of 10 descriptive categories of nurses' thinking: communication, dose-time, checking, assessment, evaluation, teaching, side effects, work arounds, anticipating problem solving, and drug administration. Situations requiring judgment in dosage, timing, or selection of specific medications (e.g., pain management, titration of antihypertensives) provided the most explicit data about nurses' use of critical thinking and clinical judgment. A key element was nurses' constant professional vigilance to ensure that patients received their appropriate medications. Nurses' thinking processes extended beyond rules and procedures and were based on patient data and interdisciplinary professional knowledge to provide safe and effective care. Identification of thinking processes can help nurses to explain the professional expertise inherent in medication administration beyond the technical application of the "5 rights."

Postdecisional counterfactual thinking by actors and readers.

PubMed

Girotto, Vittorio; Ferrante, Donatella; Pighin, Stefania; Gonzalez, Michel

2007-06-01

How do individuals think counterfactually about the outcomes of their decisions? Most previous studies have investigated how readers think about fictional stories, rather than how actors think about events they have actually experienced. We assumed that differences in individuals' roles (actor vs. reader) can make different information available, which in turn can affect counterfactual thinking. Hence, we predicted an effect of role on postdecisional counterfactual thinking. Reporting the results of eight studies, we show that readers undo the negative outcome of a story by undoing the protagonist's choice to tackle a given problem, rather than the protagonist's unsuccessful attempt to solve it. But actors who make the same choice and experience the same negative outcome as the protagonist undo this outcome by altering features of the problem. We also show that this effect does not depend on motivational factors. These results contradict current accounts of counterfactual thinking and demonstrate the necessity of investigating the counterfactual thoughts of individuals in varied roles.

Is perfectionism associated with academic burnout through repetitive negative thinking?

PubMed Central

Garratt-Reed, David; Hayes, Lana; Boyes, Mark

2018-01-01

Academic burnout is prevalent among university students, although understanding of what predicts burnout is limited. This study aimed to test the direct and indirect relationship between two dimensions of perfectionism (Perfectionistic Concerns and Perfectionistic Strivings) and the three elements of Academic Burnout (Exhaustion, Inadequacy, and Cynicism) through Repetitive Negative Thinking. In a cross-sectional survey, undergraduate students (n = 126, Mage = 23.64, 79% female) completed well-validated measures of Perfectionism, Repetitive Negative Thinking, and Academic Burnout. Perfectionistic Concerns was directly associated with all elements of burnout, as well as indirectly associated with Exhaustion and Cynicism via Repetitive Negative Thinking. Perfectionistic Strivings was directly associated with less Inadequacy and Cynicism; however, there were no indirect associations between Perfectionistic Strivings and Academic Burnout operating through Repetitive Negative Thinking. Repetitive Negative Thinking was also directly related to more burnout Exhaustion and Inadequacy, but not Cynicism. It is concluded that future research should investigate whether interventions targeting Perfectionistic Concerns and Repetitive Negative Thinking can reduce Academic Burnout in university students. PMID:29938132

Episodic Memory and Future Thinking During Early Childhood: Linking the Past and Future

PubMed Central

Cuevas, Kimberly; Rajan, Vinaya; Morasch, Katherine C.; Bell, Martha Ann

2015-01-01

Despite extensive examination of episodic memory and future thinking development, little is known about the concurrent emergence of these capacities during early childhood. In Experiment 1, 3-year-olds participated in an episodic memory hiding task [“what, when, where” (WWW) components] with an episodic future thinking component. In Experiment 2, a group of 4-year-olds (including children from Experiment 1) participated in the same task (different objects and locations), providing the first longitudinal investigation of episodic memory and future thinking. Although children exhibited age-related improvements in recall, recognition, and binding of the WWW episodic memory components, there were no age-related changes in episodic future thinking. At both ages, WWW episodic memory performance was higher than future thinking performance, and episodic future thinking and WWW memory components were unrelated. These findings suggest that the WWW components of episodic memory are potentially less fragile than the future components when assessed in a cognitively demanding task. PMID:25864990

Creativity and Memory: Effects of an Episodic-Specificity Induction on Divergent Thinking.

PubMed

Madore, Kevin P; Addis, Donna Rose; Schacter, Daniel L

2015-09-01

People produce more episodic details when imagining future events and solving means-end problems after receiving an episodic-specificity induction-brief training in recollecting details of a recent event-than after receiving a control induction not focused on episodic retrieval. Here we show for the first time that an episodic-specificity induction also enhances divergent creative thinking. In Experiment 1, participants exhibited a selective boost on a divergent-thinking task (generating unusual uses of common objects) after a specificity induction compared with a control induction; by contrast, performance following the two inductions was similar on an object association task thought to involve little divergent thinking. In Experiment 2, we replicated the specificity-induction effect on divergent thinking using a different control induction, and also found that participants performed similarly on a convergent-thinking task following the two inductions. These experiments provide novel evidence that episodic memory is involved in divergent creative thinking. © The Author(s) 2015.

No body is perfect: the significance of habitual negative thinking about appearance for body dissatisfaction, eating disorder propensity, self-esteem and snacking.

PubMed

Verplanken, Bas; Tangelder, Yonne

2011-06-01

Thinking negatively about one's appearance may be a major source of unhappiness. It was investigated whether the habitual quality of negative body image thinking constitutes an additional vulnerability factor, i.e. when such thinking is repetitive and automatic. The cognitive content of negative body image thinking ('what') was distinguished from the habitual occurrence of such thinking ('how'). The mental habit component uniquely predicted explicit as well as implicit body dissatisfaction (the latter measured by an implicit association test) over and above cognitive content. Mental habit also accounted for eating disturbance propensity, low self-esteem and restrained snacking behaviour over and above cognitive content, even when controlled for body dissatisfaction. The habitual component of negative thinking about appearance thus seems a significant body image construct, has discriminant validity against body dissatisfaction, and constitutes a vulnerability factor for feelings of low self-worth and eating disturbance propensity. Implications for intervention strategies, such as mindfulness-based approaches, are discussed. © 2011 Taylor & Francis

Phenomenological Characteristics of Future Thinking in Alzheimer's Disease.

PubMed

Moustafa, Ahmed A; El Haj, Mohamad

2018-05-11

This study investigates phenomenological reliving of future thinking in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients and matched controls. All participants were asked to imagine in detail a future event, and afterward, were asked to rate phenomenological characteristics of their future thinking. As compared to controls, AD participants showed poor rating for reliving, travel in time, visual imagery, auditory imagery, language, and spatiotemporal specificity. However, no significant differences were observed between both groups in emotion and importance of future thinking. Results also showed lower rating for visual imagery relative to remaining phenomenological features in AD participants compared to controls; conversely, these participants showed higher ratings for emotion and importance of future thinking. AD seems to compromise some phenomenological characteristics of future thinking, especially, visual imagery; however, other phenomenological characteristics, such as emotion, seem to be relatively preserved in these populations. By highlighting the phenomenological experience of future thinking in AD, our paper opens a unique window into the conscious experience of the future in AD patients.

Bringing CASE in from the Cold: the Teaching and Learning of Thinking

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oliver, Mary; Venville, Grady

2017-02-01

Thinking Science is a 2-year program of professional development for teachers and thinking lessons for students in junior high school science classes. This paper presents research on the effects of Thinking Science on students' levels of cognition in Australia. The research is timely, with a general capability focused on critical thinking in the newly implemented F-10 curriculum in Australia. The design of the research was a quasi-experiment with pre- and post-intervention cognitive tests conducted with participating students ( n = 655) from nine cohorts in seven high schools. Findings showed significant cognitive gains compared with an age-matched control group over the length of the program. Noteworthy is a correlation between baseline cognitive score and school Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage (ICSEA). We argue that the teaching of thinking be brought into the mainstream arena of educational discourse and that the principles from evidence-based programs such as Thinking Science be universally adopted.

Interference thinking in constructing students’ knowledge to solve mathematical problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jayanti, W. E.; Usodo, B.; Subanti, S.

2018-04-01

This research aims to describe interference thinking in constructing students’ knowledge to solve mathematical problems. Interference thinking in solving problems occurs when students have two concepts that interfere with each other’s concept. Construction of problem-solving can be traced using Piaget’s assimilation and accommodation framework, helping to know the students’ thinking structures in solving the problems. The method of this research was a qualitative method with case research strategy. The data in this research involving problem-solving result and transcripts of interviews about students’ errors in solving the problem. The results of this research focus only on the student who experience proactive interference, where student in solving a problem using old information to interfere with the ability to recall new information. The student who experience interference thinking in constructing their knowledge occurs when the students’ thinking structures in the assimilation and accommodation process are incomplete. However, after being given reflection to the student, then the students’ thinking process has reached equilibrium condition even though the result obtained remains wrong.

The Illusory Beliefs Inventory: a new measure of magical thinking and its relationship with obsessive compulsive disorder.

PubMed

Kingdon, Bianca L; Egan, Sarah J; Rees, Clare S

2012-01-01

Magical thinking has been proposed to have an aetiological role in obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). To address the limitations of existing measures of magical thinking we developed and validated a new 24-item measure of magical thinking, the Illusory Beliefs Inventory (IBI). The validation sample comprised a total of 1194 individuals across two samples recruited via an Internet based survey. Factor analysis identified three subscales representing domains relevant to the construct of magical thinking: Magical Beliefs, Spirituality, and Internal State and Thought Action Fusion. The scale had excellent internal consistency and evidence of convergent and discriminant validity. Evidence of criterion-related concurrent validity confirmed that magical thinking is a cognitive domain associated with OCD and is largely relevant to neutralizing, obsessing and hoarding symptoms. It is important for future studies to extend the evidence of the psychometric properties of the IBI in new populations and to conduct longitudinal studies to examine the aetiological role of magical thinking.

The application of systems thinking in health: why use systems thinking?

PubMed

Peters, David H

2014-08-26

This paper explores the question of what systems thinking adds to the field of global health. Observing that elements of systems thinking are already common in public health research, the article discusses which of the large body of theories, methods, and tools associated with systems thinking are more useful. The paper reviews the origins of systems thinking, describing a range of the theories, methods, and tools. A common thread is the idea that the behavior of systems is governed by common principles that can be discovered and expressed. They each address problems of complexity, which is a frequent challenge in global health. The different methods and tools are suited to different types of inquiry and involve both qualitative and quantitative techniques. The paper concludes by emphasizing that explicit models used in systems thinking provide new opportunities to understand and continuously test and revise our understanding of the nature of things, including how to intervene to improve people's health.

Nurses' systems thinking competency, medical error reporting, and the occurrence of adverse events: a cross-sectional study.

PubMed

Hwang, Jee-In; Park, Hyeoun-Ae

2017-12-01

Healthcare professionals' systems thinking is emphasized for patient safety. To report nurses' systems thinking competency, and its relationship with medical error reporting and the occurrence of adverse events. A cross-sectional survey using a previously validated Systems Thinking Scale (STS), was conducted. Nurses from two teaching hospitals were invited to participate in the survey. There were 407 (60.3%) completed surveys. The mean STS score was 54.5 (SD 7.3) out of 80. Nurses with higher STS scores were more likely to report medical errors (odds ratio (OR) = 1.05; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.02-1.08) and were less likely to be involved in the occurrence of adverse events (OR = 0.96; 95% CI = 0.93-0.98). Nurses showed moderate systems thinking competency. Systems thinking was a significant factor associated with patient safety. Impact Statement: The findings of this study highlight the importance of enhancing nurses' systems thinking capacity to promote patient safety.

More Dialectical Thinking, Less Creativity? The Relationship between Dialectical Thinking Style and Creative Personality: The Case of China

PubMed Central

Liu, Hui; Wang, Fei-xue; Yang, Xiao-yang

2015-01-01

People use dialectical thinking to be holistic, reconcile contradictions, and emphasize changes when processing information and managing problems. Using a questionnaire survey, this study examined the relationship between dialectical thinking and creative personality in the Chinese culture, which encourages a holistic and collective thinking style. Undergraduates majoring in different subjects and adults in different professions were surveyed. The results showed that 1) compared with undergraduates majoring in art and adults from the design industry, undergraduates majoring in other disciplines significantly showed the least creative personality; 2) the highest score for dialectical thinking was found in the group of undergraduates who majored in other disciplines, followed by the adult group, and the undergraduates majoring in art had the lowest score; and 3) A negative relationship between dialectical thinking and creative personality was found mostly in the UMA group. The limitations of this study and suggestions for future research are discussed. PMID:25856372

Episodic memory and future thinking during early childhood: Linking the past and future.

PubMed

Cuevas, Kimberly; Rajan, Vinaya; Morasch, Katherine C; Bell, Martha Ann

2015-07-01

Despite extensive examination of episodic memory and future thinking development, little is known about the concurrent emergence of these capacities during early childhood. In Experiment 1, 3-year-olds participated in an episodic memory hiding task ("what, when, where" [WWW] components) with an episodic future thinking component. In Experiment 2, a group of 4-year-olds (including children from Experiment 1) participated in the same task (different objects and locations), providing the first longitudinal investigation of episodic memory and future thinking. Although children exhibited age-related improvements in recall, recognition, and binding of the WWW episodic memory components, there were no age-related changes in episodic future thinking. At both ages, WWW episodic memory performance was higher than future thinking performance, and episodic future thinking and WWW memory components were unrelated. These findings suggest that the WWW components of episodic memory are potentially less fragile than the future components when assessed in a cognitively demanding task. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Pitting intuitive and analytical thinking against each other: the case of transitivity.

PubMed

Rusou, Zohar; Zakay, Dan; Usher, Marius

2013-06-01

Identifying which thinking mode, intuitive or analytical, yields better decisions has been a major subject of inquiry by decision-making researchers. Yet studies show contradictory results. One possibility is that the ambiguity is due to the variability in experimental conditions across studies. Our hypothesis is that decision quality depends critically on the level of compatibility between the thinking mode employed in the decision and the nature of the decision-making task. In two experiments, we pitted intuition and analytical thinking against each other on tasks that were either mainly intuitive or mainly analytical. Thinking modes, as well as task characteristics, were manipulated in a factorial design, with choice transitivity as the dependent measure. Results showed higher choice consistency (transitivity) when thinking mode and the characteristics of the decision task were compatible.

[Effects of situational and individual variables on critical thinking expression].

PubMed

Tanaka, Yuko; Kusumi, Takashi

2016-04-01

The present study examined when people decide to choose an expression that is based on critical thinking, and how situational and individual variables affect such a decision process. Given a conversation scenario including overgeneralization with two friends, participants decided whether to follow the conversation by a critical-thinking expression or not. The authors controlled purpose and topic as situational variables, and measured critical-thinking ability, critical-thinking disposition, and self-monitoring as individual variables. We conducted an experiment in which the situational variables were counterbalanced in a within-subject design with 60 university students. The results of logistic regression analysis showed differences within individuals in the decision process whether to choose a critical-thinking expression, and that some situational factors and some subscales of the individual measurements were related to the differences.

Episodic future thinking reduces temporal discounting in healthy adolescents.

PubMed

Bromberg, Uli; Lobatcheva, Maria; Peters, Jan

2017-01-01

Episodic Future Thinking has proven efficient in reducing impulsive behavior in several adult populations. Whether it also has a beneficial impact on decision making in adolescents is not known. Here the impact of episodic future thinking on discounting behavior was investigated in a sample of healthy adolescents (n = 44, age range 13-16 years). Discounting behavior in trials including episodic future thinking was significantly less impulsive than in control trials (t = 2.74, p = .009, dz = .44). In a subsample we controlled for executive function, alcohol use and developmental measures. Neither executive function nor alcohol use but developmental measures explained variability in the effect of episodic future thinking. These findings reveal that episodic future thinking can improve adolescent decision making while the effect is to some degree modulated by developmental measures.

Education within Sustainable Development: Critical Thinking Formation on ESL Class

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pevneva, Inna; Gavrishina, Olga; Smirnova, Anna; Rozhneva, Elena; Yakimova, Nataliya

2017-11-01

The article is devoted to consideration of the critical thinking formation in course of foreign language teaching within the education for sustainable development as a crucial skill of perspective employee and a future leader of Russian employment market. The necessity to include the component of problem education and critical thinking methodology in course of the foreign language class is justified along with analysis of the basic principles of critical thinking and certain strategies that can be implied in class. This model targets communicative language competences of students as well as critical thinking due to interconnection of various types of cognitive activities in class. The role in personality development of the students is considered along with the formation and enhancing of critical thinking skills within the modern personality-oriented approach.

Implementing NICU critical thinking programs: one unit's experience.

PubMed

Zimmerman, Denise; Pilcher, Jobeth

2008-01-01

Critical thinking is the hallmark of today's nursing practice environment. Nowhere is this more critical than in the high-tech environment of the NICU. Despite the importance of critical thinking in nursing practice, there is limited information on the process of teaching new NICU nurses to think critically. Based on the principles of adult education, orientation and continuing education for NICU nurses should be goal directed, build on the learner's prior experience, and build in opportunities for active participation, reflection, and experiential learning. This article reviews the principles of adult education and their application to the process of teaching critical thinking in the NICU. One unit's experience of critical thinking education is used to provide concrete examples of how NICU education can be transformed from a traditional didactic methodology to a more dynamic experiential approach.

Assessment of critical thinking in pharmacy students.

PubMed

Cisneros, Robert M

2009-07-10

To determine whether changes occur over 1 academic year in pharmacy students' critical thinking skills and disposition to think critically. First, second, third, and fourth-year pharmacy students completed the California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST) and the California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCTDI) at the beginning and end of 1 academic year. One hundred thirty-seven students completed the study. No significant changes occurred over the year in total scores on either instrument. However, scores in 3 of 12 subscale scores changed significantly and several significant correlations were found. Pharmacy students' scores on 2 critical thinking instruments showed no major improvements over 1 academic year but most scores were above average. Some areas of possible weakness were identified. Additional studies comparing scores over a longer period of time (eg, admission to graduation) are needed.

Unpleasant and Pleasant Referential Thinking: Relations with Self- Processing, Paranoia, and Other Schizotypal Traits

PubMed Central

Cicero, David C.; Kerns, John G.

2015-01-01

Referential thinking is the tendency to view innocuous stimuli as having a specific meaning for the self and is associated with personality traits and disorders. In three studies, this research examined the relations among referential thinking, self-processing, and paranoia. In study 1, follow-up questions on the Referential Thinking Scale (Lenzenweger, Bennett, & Lilenfeld, 1997) revealed that referential thoughts are experienced as unpleasant and pleasant. In Study 2, unpleasant referential thinking was more strongly associated with paranoia and maladaptive self-processing and personality. CFAs in Study 1 and 2 found that unpleasant and pleasant referential thinking loaded on different factors. In Study 3, a group of participants with elevated schizotypal personality reported more unpleasant and pleasant referential thoughts than a control group. PMID:26028792

Thinking styles and emotions.

PubMed

Zhang, Li-Fang

2008-09-01

This study aimed to explore the relationship between thinking styles and emotions among university students in Hong Kong. Participants were 99 2nd-year students (23 men and 76 women) who responded to the Thinking Styles Inventory-Revised (TSI-R), based on R. J. Sternberg's (1988) theory of mental self-government, and to the Iowa Managing Emotions Inventory (IMEI), based on A. Chickering's (1969) theory of psychosocial development. Results indicated not only that thinking styles were associated with emotions but also that thinking styles had predictive power for emotions beyond age. The author discusses implications of these findings for faculty members and student-development educators.

How Radiologists Think: Understanding Fast and Slow Thought Processing and How It Can Improve Our Teaching.

PubMed

van der Gijp, Anouk; Webb, Emily M; Naeger, David M

2017-06-01

Scholars have identified two distinct ways of thinking. This "Dual Process Theory" distinguishes a fast, nonanalytical way of thinking, called "System 1," and a slow, analytical way of thinking, referred to as "System 2." In radiology, we use both methods when interpreting and reporting images, and both should ideally be emphasized when educating our trainees. This review provides practical tips for improving radiology education, by enhancing System 1 and System 2 thinking among our trainees. Copyright © 2017 The Association of University Radiologists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Using student writing assignments to assess critical thinking skills: a holistic approach.

PubMed

Niedringhaus, L K

2001-04-01

This work offers an example of one school's holistic approach to the evaluation of critical thinking by using student writing assignments. Faculty developed tools to assess achievement of critical thinking competencies, such as analysis, synthesis, insight, reflection, open mindedness, and depth, breadth, and appropriateness of clinical interventions. Faculty created a model for the development of program-specific critical thinking competencies, selected appropriate writing assignments that demonstrate critical thinking, and implemented a holistic assessment plan for data collection and analysis. Holistic assessment involves the identification of shared values and practices, and the use of concepts and language important to nursing.

Localization of cortical areas activated by thinking.

PubMed

Roland, P E; Friberg, L

1985-05-01

These experiments were undertaken to demonstrate that pure mental activity, thinking, increases the cerebral blood flow and that different types of thinking increase the regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in different cortical areas. As a first approach, thinking was defined as brain work in the form of operations on internal information, done by an awake subject. The rCBF was measured in 254 cortical regions in 11 subjects with the intracarotid 133Xe injection technique. In normal man, changes in the regional cortical metabolic rate of O2 leads to proportional changes in rCBF. One control study was taken with the subjects at rest. Then the rCBF was measured during three different simple algorithm tasks, each consisting of retrieval of a specific memory followed by a simple operation on the retrieved information. Once started, the information processing went on in the brain without any communication with the outside world. In 50-3 thinking, the subjects started with 50 and then, in their minds only, continuously subtracted 3 from the result. In jingle thinking the subjects internally jumped every second word in a nine-word circular jingle. In route-finding thinking the subjects imagined that they started at their front door and then walked alternatively to the left or the right each time they reached a corner. The rCBF increased only in homotypical cortical areas during thinking. The areas in the superior prefrontal cortex increased their rCBF equivalently during the three types of thinking. In the remaining parts of the prefrontal cortex there were multifocal increases of rCBF. The localizations and intensities of these rCBF increases depended on the type of internal operation occurring. The rCBF increased bilaterally in the angular cortex during 50-3 thinking. The rCBF increased in the right midtemporal cortex exclusively during jingle thinking. The intermediate and remote visual association areas, the superior occipital, posterior inferior temporal, and posterior superior parietal cortex, increased their rCBF exclusively during route-finding thinking. We observed no decreases in rCBF. All rCBF increases extended over a few square centimeters of the cortex. The activation of the superior prefrontal cortex was attributed to the organization of thinking. The activation of the angular cortex in 50-3 thinking was attributed to the retrieval of the numerical memory and memory for subtractions. The activation of the right midtemporal cortex was attributed to the retrieval of the nonverbal auditory memory.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Thinking about Thinking. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the South Atlantic Philosophy of Education Society (31st, Baltimore, Maryland, October 10-11, 1986).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Craver, Samuel M., Ed.

The following papers (with authors and respondents) were presented at the annual conference of the South Atlantic Philosophy of Education Society: (1) "Teaching Critical Thinking through the Disciplines: Content Versus Process" (John E. McPeck) Respondent--Kingsley Price; (2) "Philosophy for Children and the Critical Thinking Movement" (Robert J.…