Expertise reversal for different forms of instructional designs in dynamic visual representations

The recent advances in software and computer technology have enabled the incorporation of dynamic representations into a multitude of educational and training environments. Cognitive load theory has been extensively used to enhance learning from complex dynamic representations by providing appropriate instructional designs to manage learner cognitive load. The available evidence, however, indicates that the suggested instructional designs that are effective for novice learners can reverse and become ineffective for learners with higher levels of prior knowledge. This phenomenon is called the expertise reversal effect. This paper reviews a series of recent experimental studies that have found interactions between levels of learners' organized knowledge structures (endogenous support) and effectiveness of different instructional designs (exogenous support), leading to the expertise reversal effect. It is argued that adapting instructional designs to learners with different amount of prior knowledge is a crucial part of effective learning.     

A comparison of a subject-specific and a general measure of critical thinking

The majority of studies reporting gains in college students’ critical thinking due to instructional process variables measured critical thinking with subject-specific questions rather than general or decontextualized questions. However, it is uncertain whether these gains were attributable to the use of subject-specific questions or to other distinctive aspects of these studies (e.g., methodological). The present study provides a direct, controlled comparison between general and subject-specific test questions in the context of a laboratory-based true experiment assessing the effect of higher order review questions on gains in critical thinking. A stronger effect was found when the tests of critical thinking contained questions that were subject-specific (e.g., introductory psychology) rather than questions that focused on general topics.     

Do instructional interventions influence college students’ critical thinking skills? A meta-analysis

Promoting students’ critical thinking skills is an important task of higher education. Colleges and universities have designed various instructional interventions to enhance students’ critical thinking skills. Empirical studies have yielded inconsistent results in terms of the effects of such interventions. This meta-analysis presents a synthesis of empirical studies designed to promote measurable changes in students’ critical thinking skills using instructional interventions. Findings demonstrated statistically significant but small average effect size and evidence of heterogeneity among studies. Hierarchical linear model was adopted to explore potential predictors of the variance across effect sizes. Results showed that student discipline and treatment length explained part of the variability among treatment effects. Limitations and implications are discussed.     

THE VALIDITY OF HIGHER-ORDER QUESTIONS AS A PROCESS INDICATOR OF EDUCATIONAL QUALITY

One way to assess the quality of education in post-secondary institutions is through the use of performance indicators. Studies that have compared currently popular process indicators (e.g., library size, percentage of faculty with PhD) found that after controlling for incoming student ability, these process indicators tend to be weakly associated with student outcomes (Pascarella and Terenzini, 2005). In addition, while much research has found that students increase their critical thinking skills as a result of attending college, little is known about what goes on during the college experience that contributes to this. The purpose of this research was to examine the validity of higher-order questions on tests and assignments as a process indicator by comparing it with gains in critical thinking skills among college students as an outcome indicator. The present research consisted of three studies that used different designs, samples, and instruments. Overall, it was found that frequency of higher-order questions can be a valid process indicator as it is related to gains in students’ critical thinking skills.     

Effects of Critical Thinking Intervention for Early Childhood Teacher Candidates

This study is based on an intervention designed to enhance early childhood teacher candidates' critical thinking abilities. The concept, elements, standards, and traits of critical thinking were integrated into the main course contents, and the effects of the intervention were examined. The results indicated that early childhood teacher candidates' dispositions toward critical thinking significantly increased after the intervention. In addition, their knowledge about critical thinking and ability to apply critical thinking in their own learning showed growth as well. Curricula implications for early childhood teacher preparation programs and instructional practices for teacher educators are discussed.     

Questioning the Role of Technology in Higher Education: Why is this the Road Less Traveled?

This paper analyzes four issues that influence teaching and learning in college classrooms. These issues include the idea that using instructional technology in higher education should not be questioned; relationship between the corporate community and higher education; and effectiveness of distance learning as an instructional delivery system. The fourth issue, and possibly the most important, is developing a rich and deep understanding for the meaning of computer instructional technology, its relationship to teaching and learning, and the role it plays in shaping the context of what it means to be “educated.” A critical perspective, supported by the literature, is used to analyze these issues in the context of the college classroom. The paper closes with 20 questions intended to generate thinking and discussion about making thoughtful, informed and contextualized instructional decisions.     

Influences affecting the development of students' critical thinking skills

This study estimates the relative and unique effects on changes in critical thinking of three dimensions of students' college experience: curricular exposure, formal classroom and instructional experiences, and out-of-class experiences. Students' classroom/instructional and out-of-class experiences both make positive, statistically significant, and unique contributions to gains in critical thinking above and beyond students' precollege characteristics and level of critical thinking. Theoreticians have long speculated that students' academic and nonacademic experiences jointly influence change, and this study supports that belief. The design and instruments in this study may be of interest to persons involved in assessment or the study of college impact.Paper presented at the meeting of the Association for Institutional Research, New Orleans, LA, May 1993.The National Center on Postsecondary Teaching, Learning, and Assessment is funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI), under Grant No. R117G10037. The opinions herein do not necessarily reflect the position or policies of OERI, and no official endorsement should be inferred.     

COURSES AND INSTRUCTION AFFECTING CRITICAL THINKING

This study investigated how different types ofcourses and instructional techniques affect students'self-reported growth in critical thinking. Data aredrawn from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program's 1989 Follow-Up Survey of 24,837students who had first entered college as freshmen in1985. Results revealed that taking writing courses,interdisciplinary courses, history courses, sciencecourses, women's studies courses, math courses, foreignlanguage courses, ethnic studies courses, and enrollingin an honors program are each positively associated withselfreported growth in critical thinking. Moreover, self-reported growth in criticalthinking is positively related to having a papercritiqued by an instructor, conducting an independentresearch project, working on a group project, giving aclass presentation, and taking essay exams, butnegatively related to taking multiple-choice exams.Overall findings, however, suggest that the impact ofclassroom experiences on students' abilities to think critically is far weaker than one might expector hope.     

Instructional Design as Critical and Creative Thinking: A Journey Through a Jamestown-Era Native American Village

The role of critical and creative thinking has been debated within the field of instructional design. Through an instructional design and development project we have identified how critical and creative thinking are essential to the instructional design process. This paper highlights a recent project focused on a virtual Native American village and the development of supporting instructional materials. The materials combine instruction on content-area material, technology and critical and creative thinking skills. Our concept of critical and creative thinking skills is guided by a model that includes idea generation, reflective judgment, attitudes and dispositions and self-regulation. Through the process of designing instruction to teach critical and creative thinking skills, we recognized that these critical and creative thinking skills are essential in the design process.     

关于批判性思维教育和高等教育改革关系的思考

批判性思维教育和高等教育改革二者互促共进.一方面,批判性思维是全球化、多元化、信息化时代背景下高等教育改革的重要目标,也是高校课程改革的必然要求,对大学生的主动、全面、继续发展和有效学习都具有重要意义,有利于防止高校课程改革仅停留在表面活跃的浅层次上.另一方面,高等教育改革推动批判性思维的课程化为批判性思维教育积累丰富...     

How the instructional and learning environments of liberal arts colleges enhance cognitive development

This study analyzes longitudinal data from 17 four-year institutions in the United States to determine how the distinctive instructional and learning environment of American liberal arts colleges accounts for the positive impact of liberal arts college attendance on four-year growth in critical thinking skills and need for cognition. We find that, net of important confounding influences, attending an American liberal arts college (vs. a research university or a regional institution in the United States) increases one’s overall exposure to clear and organized classroom instruction and enhances one’s use of deep approaches to learning. In turn, clear and organized classroom instruction and deep approaches to learning tend to facilitate growth in both critical thinking and need for cognition—thus indirectly transmitting the impact of attending a liberal arts college.     

Learning to improve: using writing to increase critical thinking performance in general education biology

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.     

Passion play: Will Wright and games for science learning

Researchers and instructional designers are exploring the possibilities of using video games to support STEM education in the U.S., not only because they are a popular media form among youth, but also because well-designed games often leverage the best features of inquiry learning. Those interested in using games in an educational capacity may benefit from an examination of the work of video game designer Will Wright. Wright designs through a constructivist lens and his open-ended, sandbox games (SimCity, The Sims, Spore) present wide ??possibility spaces?? that allow players to exercise their critical thinking and problem solving skills. His games invoke a delight in discovery that inspire creative acts and interest-driven learning both during and outside of the game. Finally, he reminds us that failure-based learning is a viable strategy for building expertise and understanding.     

The Disposition of Eleventh-Grade Science Students Toward Critical Thinking

The California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCTDI) was used to assess the disposition of Israeli eleventh-grade science students toward critical thinking according to school type affiliate, scientific level, and gender. Our findings, strongly support (a) the establishment of a baseline reference for disposition toward critical thinking of high school science students; (b) the application of the CCTDI in the context of ongoing science education in different settings; and finally (c) the reliable use of the CCTDI in future research aiming at evaluating the effectiveness of critical thinking (CT) and higher-order cognitive skills (HOCS) oriented instructional goals.     

Teaching learning disabled adolescents to think critically using a problem‐solving schema

Abstract

In this study we describe and examine the effectiveness of an instructional program designed to teach learning disabled adolescents to make better personal decisions. We presented problems in short narratives based on the types of problems these students must solve in their own lives. The program, conducted as part of the students' regular resource room curriculum, incorporated schema‐general questions for problem solving coupled with practice in generating problem‐specific questions to reach an appropriate decision. Participants were 70 resource room students in two large, urban high schools. We employed a pretest‐posttest comparison group design. On the posttest, instructed students performed significantly better on (1) identifying a general schema for making a personal decision and (2) applying the schema to reach appropriate decisions concerning novel problem narratives. The results support the view that application of a general schema to specific problems can be an effective instructional method to improve critical thinking and decision making.     

Integrating direct and inquiry-based instruction in the teaching of critical thinking: an intervention study

Critical thinking is a unifying goal of modern education. While past research has mostly examined the efficacy of a single instructional approach to teaching critical thinking, recent literature has begun discussing mixed teaching approaches. The present study examines three modes of instruction, featuring the direct instruction approach and the inquiry-based approach in different sequences and proportions, in enhancing Chinese secondary student’s critical thinking performance. A total of 651 Grade 12 students participated in an 18-hour intervention with pre- and post-intervention measures on critical thinking performance and critical thinking dispositions. Specifically, critical thinking assessments utilizing different response format were used. Those who received training showed greater improvement on at least one of the critical thinking assessments compared to those who received no training. Participants’ performances with regards to different critical thinking assessments are discussed. Benefits of adopting more than one instructional approach to teaching critical thinking are highlighted.     

Coffee Houses May Stir Intellectual Activity

Abstract

Although faculty agree that critical thinking is an important learning outcome for college courses, experts disagree on how to define and conceptualize critical thinking. Some researchers see it as a general skill, similar to reading or mathematics. Others see it as highly specific to each academic discipline, with critical thinking in one discipline being qualitatively different than critical thinking in another discipline. However, researchers to date have not yet tried to conceptualize how critical thinking might systematically vary across disciplines. The purpose of this study was to gather definitions of critical thinking from faculty in a range of disciplines and compare these domain-specific definitions to each other. Across disciplines, faculty defined critical thinking as applying knowledge to new situations, considering different viewpoints, evaluating options and evidence, and having a critical thinking disposition. The article concludes with suggestions for fostering critical thinking skills in general education courses.     

Cohorts and Relatedness: Self-Determination Theory as an Explanation of How Learning Communities Affect Educational Outcomes

This study examines whether feelings of relatedness constitute a substantial means by which learning communities (cohorts) improve learning outcomes in higher education. It applies Ryan and Deci’s Self-Determination Theory to an analysis of the National Survey of Student Engagement. The SDT hypothesizes that environments that support perceptions of social relatedness improve motivation, thereby positively influencing learning behavior. The authors propose that participation in cohort programs constitutes such an environment. Measuring student perceptions of the contributions of their institutions, the study found increased relatedness to peers and faculty and increased higher order thinking assignments (a control variable included in the research model) to be substantial predictors of educational outcomes relevant to literacy, critical thinking, and, especially, job preparation. The researchers suggest that institutions will want to ensure that their learning community designs enhance student feelings of relatedness.     

SST (Successful Strategic Teaching): Enhancing Adult Learners’ Motivation and Achievement

Enhancing motivation in adult learners is often a difficult task in today’s college classroom. Significant reforms in America’s educational system have directed the initiative to adopt Common Core Standards in Language Arts by all 50 states. With the focus on increased rigor and depth of understanding in learning, the hope is to prepare students throughout the K–12 sequence for college and careers. This new instructional model requires moving students from passive recipients to active learners. Although the arrival of an expanding population is encouraging for college communities, the issue of underprepared college students must be addressed. Instructional methods designed to cultivate active learning and critical thinking through more contextualized, hands-on teaching activities produced initial evidence of improved reading achievement.