The effects of instructional methods on students' learning outcomes requiring different cognitive abilities: context-aware ubiquitous learning versus traditional instruction

The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of the context-aware ubiquitous learning (u-learning) approach versus traditional instruction on students' ability to answer questions that required different cognitive skills, using the framework of Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives, including knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, and synthesis. In this study, 230 third- and fourth-grade students in 8 classes were counterbalanced and assigned to the u-learning approach and traditional instruction for learning different topics in two separate plant-observing activities. The results showed that the students who learned with traditional instruction performed better than those who used the u-learning approach in terms of answering questions that required their cognitive abilities of knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, and synthesis. Moreover, an in-depth analysis of the students' learning behaviors in the u-learning context revealed that most of their learning behaviors recorded in the u-learning system were not significantly related to their cognitive abilities.     

Understanding the mediating effect of learning approach between learning factors and higher order thinking skills in collaborative inquiry-based learning

Educational technology research and development - Collaborative inquiry-based learning (CIBL) is a notable instructional method used to nurture students’ higher order thinking skills. Few...     

"Anatomizing" reversed: Use of examination questions that foster use of higher order learning skills by students

"Anatomizing" is a new verb some use to describe the breaking apart of a complex entity such as the human body, into isolated tidbits of information for study, which can never equal the complex, integrated whole. Although popular with first-year medical students, this practice of "tidbitting" anatomical information into easy to memorize facts or tables of facts does not prepare medical students for the inevitable task of dealing with the integrated structure-function of the human body, both normal and diseased, as patient managers. Examination questions drive the cognitive methods students will use to learn content. Asking students on examinations for recall of previously memorized tidbits fosters the cognitive learning behavior of only memorization. Examination questions, however, can be constructed that assess student understanding and integration of the content, that is, student use of cognitive and metacognitive methods of higher order learning that will foster high-quality learning producing better practitioners and lifelong learners. This kind of efficient student learning needs to begin in the first year of medical school.Learning more efficiently and at deeper levels of understanding is especially pertinent as the contact hours in anatomy courses continue to decrease.     

Inquiry and groups: student interactions in cooperative inquiry-based science

Science education research has recommended cooperative inquiry based science in the primary science context for more than two decades but after more than 20 years, student achievement in science has not substantially improved. This study, through direct observation and analysis, investigated content-related student interactions in an authentic inquiry based primary science class setting. Thirty-one upper primary students were videotaped working in cooperative inquiry based science activities. Cooperative talk and negotiation of the science content was analysed to identify any high-level group interactions. The data show that while all groups have incidences of high-level content-related group interactions, the frequency and duration of these interactions were limited. No specific pattern of preceding events was identified and no episodes of high-level content-related group interactions were immediately preceded by the teacher’s interactions with the groups. This in situ study demonstrated that even without any kind of scaffolding, specific skills in knowing how to implement cooperative inquiry based science, high-level content-related group interactions did occur very briefly. Support for teachers to develop their knowledge and skills in facilitating cooperative inquiry based science learning is warranted to ensure that high-level content-related group interactions and the associated conceptual learning are not left to chance in science classrooms.     

On the design of learning outcomes for the undergraduate engineer's final year project

The course for the final year project for engineering students, because of its strongly research-based, open-ended format, tends to not have well defined learning outcomes, which are also not aligned with any accepted pedagogical philosophy or learning technology. To address this problem, the revised Bloom's taxonomy table of Anderson and Krathwohl (2001) is utilised, as suggested previously by Lee and Lai (2007), to design new learning outcomes for the final year project course in engineering education. Based on the expectations of the engineering graduate, and integrating these graduate expectations into the six cognitive processes and four knowledge dimensions of the taxonomy table, 24 learning outcomes have been designed. It is proposed that these 24 learning outcomes be utilised as a suitable working template to inspire more critical evaluation of what is expected to be learnt by engineering students undertaking final year research or capstone projects.     

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

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

Development of an instructional model for higher order thinking in science among secondary school students: a fuzzy Delphi approach

It is important for science students to develop higher order thinking (HOT) so that they can reason like scientists in the field. In this study, a HOT instructional model for secondary school science was developed with experts. The model would focus on reflective thinking (RT) and science process skills (SPS) among Grade 7 students. The Fuzzy Delphi Method (FDM) was employed to determine consensus among a panel of 20 experts. First, semi-structured interviews were conducted among the experts to generate the elements required for the model. Then, a questionnaire was developed using a seven-point linguistic scale based on these elements. The defuzzification value was calculated for each item, and a threshold value (d) of 0.75 was used to determine consensus for the items in the questionnaire. The alpha-cut value of >0.5 was used to select the phases and sub-phases in the model. The elements in the model were ranked to identify the sub-phases which had to be emphasised for implementation in instruction. Consensus was achieved on the phases of the HOT instructional model: engagement, investigation, explanation, conclusion and reflection. An additional 24 learning activities to encourage RT skills and SPS among students were also identified to develop HOT skills in science.     

高职教育办学思路探析

高职教育是经济社会发展的必然产物,它给人们带来了新的办学观念和办学思路,给我国的高等教育增添了无穷的活力。但我国高职教育的发展毕竟还不成熟,在办学思路等问题还需要深入探讨。通过准确的高职定位,制定正确的办学指导思想,在强化实践技能培养、搞好产学研等方面把高职办出特色。     

Assessing and developing critical-thinking skills in higher education

Generic skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, and communication are essential for students' success in higher education and their careers. This article presents findings from an international study of students' (n ≈ 120,000) generic skills from six countries using a performance-based assessment. Results indicate that higher education students, on average, gain generic skills between entry and exit. However, learning gain is less marked than could be expected and varies significantly among country samples. Various background variables such as gender, ethnicity, parental level of education, and primary language are also explored. The authors conclude that it is feasible to reliably and validly measure generic skills in a cross-cultural context and that assessment of these skills is an essential component of best practices in higher education.     

Enhancing critical thinking using team-based learning

This study examines students’ perceptions of the development of academic and critical thinking skills in college, with a specific focus on team-based learning (TBL), an active learning strategy designed to increase student interaction and engagement. Six hundred and fifty students in five different courses were surveyed at the beginning of the semester about the extent to which they felt the typical college course enhances various academic and critical thinking skills. These responses were compared to their responses after a semester of TBL regarding the extent to which the TBL environment enhanced these same skills. Students expressed significantly greater improvement in critical thinking skills in a TBL environment in comparison to typical courses for most of the skills assessed and greater improvement in all of these skills in comparison to lecture-based courses. These results held for every demographic subgroup examined, including males, females, freshman, sophomores, juniors and seniors, as well as all levels of academic achievement as measured by grade point average.     

生物学探究性学习的实践与思考

探究性学习在生物学教育改革中势在必行。该文提出了探究性学习的教学策略和教学案例,辩证地分析了应注意的问题。     

The impact of inquiry-based learning on the critical thinking dispositions of pre-service science teachers

ABSTRACT

In the study, the impact of inquiry-based learning on pre-service teachers’ critical thinking dispositions was investigated. The sample of the study comprised of 56 pre-service teachers in the science education teacher education programme at the public university in the north of Turkey. In the study, quasi-experimental design with an experimental and a control group were applied to find out the impact of inquiry-based learning on the critical thinking dispositions of the pre-service teachers in the teacher education programme. The results showed that the pre-service teachers in the experimental group did not show statistically significant greater progress in terms of critical thinking dispositions than those in the control group. Teacher educators who are responsible for pedagogical courses in the teacher education programme should consider that the inquiry-based learning could not be effective method to improve pre-service teachers’ critical thinking dispositions. The results are discussed in relation to potential impact on science teacher education and implications for future research.     

Promoting group talk and higher‐order thinking in pupils by ‘coaching’ secondary English trainee teachers

One hundred and eighty British secondary school pupils aged 11–12 and their six trainee teachers in five schools participated in an action research project, designed to improve the quality of children's group talk in English lessons, particularly their engagement in higher‐order thinking through ‘exploratory’ talk. The programme, supported by the Teacher Training Agency (TTA), now Training and Development Agency, was devised by a team of mentors and an Initial Teacher Educator from Sussex University. It aimed to develop the trainees' skills both in planning challenging tasks for, and sustaining effective group talk, using ‘ground rules’ and varied teacher discourse strategies. The data include qualitative comparative analysis of discourse audiotaped before and after the intervention, taken from 66 pupils. Findings indicate a clear improvement in the quality of talk, in terms of pupils' collaborative engagement in higher‐order thinking. Further evidence from observations and interviews with all participants suggests confirmation of the programme's effectiveness in improving trainees' and pupils' skills in, and understanding of how to use group talk to reason.     

Classroom Debates: Using Speed Rounds To Encourage Greater Participation

The primary obstacle that can derail the effectiveness of a debate is one in which few students are involved and all of the energy and learning is limited to a few students. This leaves the majority of students passively absorbing information and does not encourage participation among those students that typically do not talk in class. This quick fix proposes a technique to increase the involvement of all students in the debate.     

Effects of different student response modes on science learning

Student response systems (SRSs) are wireless answering devices that enable students to provide simple real-time feedback to instructors. This study aims to evaluate the effects of different SRS interaction modes on elementary school students’ science learning. Three interaction modes which include SRS Individual, SRS Collaborative, and Classroom were examined. A pretest–posttest quasi-experimental design was used to compare the effects of the three interaction modes on science posttest scores for higher order thinking (HOT) questions as well as lower order thinking questions. The results show that SRS Collaborative mode has significant positive effects on science posttest scores of HOT questions. This study points to the potential benefits of using SRS, particularly for collaborative tasks, to solve problems that require HOT skills.     

Facilitating experiential learning of study skills in sports students

In recent years the student population in the UK has grown considerably, and students are entering higher education with a more diverse range of qualifications and skills. This is particularly the case in post‐1992 universities with a widening participation agenda, as these institutions have a larger share of students from non‐traditional backgrounds. Universities therefore need to consider ways in which they can encourage achievement and success amongst a diverse population of students, many of whom enter higher education without the skills needed to study effectively. Within this article the authors consider the use of experiential learning tasks to facilitate the development of study skills, as it has been suggested that such tasks aid student learning and the acquisition of skills.

The authors outline a Level 1 module, delivered to a large cohort of students at a post‐1992 university in the United Kingdom, and designed to facilitate the development of study skills in a way that is consistent with Kolb’s experiential learning cycle. Their small‐scale and provisional examination of the first iteration of this module suggests that they have produced an initiative that encourages student engagement and facilitates learning in each of the four stages of Kolb’s cycle. However, wider investigation is required to ascertain the effectiveness of the initiative in allowing student access to some of the key aims of higher education.     

The return of behaviourist epistemology: A review of learning outcomes studies

Learning outcomes as a concept has encountered a revival since the beginning of the Bologna process in 1999. The concept itself has a longer history with its roots in the behaviourist tradition of the 1960s. The goal of this review is to study how the historical roots of learning outcomes are noted in current research articles since the launch of the Bologna process and whether the concept of learning outcomes is used critically or uncritically. The review of 90 articles shows that the behaviourist tradition is still evident in the 21st century research with 29% of the articles directly and 11% indirectly referring uncritically to the respective publications or to the behaviourist epistemology. Only a minority of the articles, i.e. 8%, was found to be critical towards the behaviourist meaning of learning outcomes.     

Meta-concepts,thinking skills and religious education

This paper proposes that the acquisition of meta-concepts and thinking skills in order to facilitate scholarly religious thought should be the principal aim of religious education in schools. As a result, the aim of religious education is primarily stated in cognitive terms and religious education is understood as closely related to education about religion. The educational value of this approach is explained in a cultural–historical perspective on learning. It is shown that there is a close connection between learning and development and that school learning especially contributes to development of pupils’ higher cognitive functions, if school learning aims at the acquisition of subject-specific meta-concepts and thinking skills. In order to apply these insights to religious education, the aim of religious education is reconsidered and some examples of meta-concepts and thinking skills that may serve as the content of religious education are discussed.     

Encouraging the development of higher-level study skills using an experiential learning framework

Teachers have only recently considered how study skills support in higher education (HE) can be delivered in a way that encourages experiential learning. This paper aims to substantiate, or otherwise, the idea that a carefully developed initiative can encourage the experiential learning of study skills. In addition, it considers whether such an approach might also allow student access to some of the higher-level study skills required for successful university study. Focus group data were used to evaluate a module delivered to sports students at a post-1992 university in the UK. This data suggested that the module facilitated learning in each stage of Kolb's experiential learning cycle. Moreover, there was evidence that the module encouraged students to undertake an ‘epistemological shift’ in which they moved from seeing knowledge as a set of uncontested facts to seeing it as something that they are expected to question and contribute to themselves.     

Role of comprehension on performance at higher levels of Bloom's taxonomy: Findings from assessments of healthcare professional students

The first four levels of Bloom's taxonomy were used to create quiz questions designed to assess student learning of the gross anatomy, histology, and physiology of the gastrointestinal (GI) system. Information on GI histology and physiology was presented to separate samples of medical, dental, and podiatry students in computer based tutorials where the information from the two disciplines was presented either separately or in an integrated fashion. All students were taught GI gross anatomy prior to this study by course faculty as part of the required curriculum of their respective program. Student responses to the quiz questions were analyzed to assess both the validity of Bloom's cumulative hierarchy and the effectiveness of an integrated curriculum. No statistically significant differences were found between quiz scores from students who received the integrated tutorial and from those who received the separate tutorials. Multiple regression analyses provided partial support for a cumulative hierarchy where scores on the lower levels of Bloom's taxonomy predicted scores on higher levels. Notably, in the majority of regression analyses, the comprehension score was the key foundational predictor for application and analysis scores. This study supports the suggestion that educators increase the number of comprehension level questions, even at the expense of knowledge level questions, in course assessments both to evaluate lower order cognitive skills and also as a predictor of success on questions requiring application and analysis levels of the higher order cognitive skills of Bloom's taxonomy. Anat Sci Educ 11: 433–444. © 2018 American Association of Anatomists.