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

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.     

Gender,reasoning ability,and scholastic achievement: A multilevel mediation analysis

The present study investigated gender differences in scholastic achievement (school grades in sciences and languages) as mediated by reasoning ability in a large sample with a clustered data structure from an educational context. Whereas girls outperformed boys in languages, boys excelled in sciences and reasoning. Multilevel analyses indicated a small indirect effect of gender on school grades mediated by reasoning ability. Gender differences in sciences, but not in languages were largely explained by reasoning ability, but not by factors such as gender ratio in the classroom or mental speed. The predictive power of reasoning ability for languages, but not sciences was larger in classrooms with higher mean reasoning ability. Further, gender differences in languages, but not sciences varied significantly across classrooms. Reasoning ability appears to be important for predicting scholastic achievement in sciences, whereas languages are more affected by gender-related attributes.     

How student characteristics affect girls' and boys' verbal engagement in physics instruction

This study investigated how student characteristics predict the nature of girls' and boys' verbal interactions with their teachers in physics classes. The sample included (N = 1378) students from 81 randomly selected high-school physics classrooms in Germany and the German-speaking part of Switzerland. At the beginning of the school year, the following student characteristics were assessed: cognitive abilities, pre-knowledge, self-concept, and interest. Each student was classified as having one of five profiles previously identified by Seidel (2006). Classroom instruction was videotaped four months after student characteristics were assessed. The videotaped classroom interactions were coded and analyzed with respect to the students' profiles. Multilevel analysis indicated the highest amount of verbal engagement for girls and boys with high-level cognitive and motivational-affective characteristics. There are significant interactions between student profile and gender for girls with high-level characteristics. We argue that the interaction between gender and other characteristics is a valuable predictor of verbal engagement in physics instruction.     

An Exploration of the Interaction between Speech Rate,Gender, and Cognitive Style in their Effect on Recall

This paper explores how the interaction between cognitive style, gender, and type of task predicts task outcome, particularly when presentation speed is varied. A sample of 91 11‐year‐old pupils completed the Cognitive Style Analysis. Pupils were assigned to one of two groups balanced for gender and cognitive style. Group 1 listened to a recording of a passage presented at 84wpm; Group 2 listened to the same passage at 197wpm. Pupils were then required to comprehend and recall information from the passage that required assimilation of distantly positioned information. Male verbalisers and female imagers performed well in the slow condition but poorly in the fast condition. Female verbalisers showed improved performance in the fast condition. Results indicate that the interaction between verbal–imagery style and gender predicts the outcome of verbal tasks, especially when processing speed is restricted. These results support differences in information processing between genders and also suggest that this processing is mediated by verbal–imagery cognitive style.     

Three studies of factors affecting the attitudes of blacks and females toward the pursuit of science and science-related careers

This study involved the development of an instrument, the Science Career Predictor Scale (SCPS), which assesses seven factors thought to be involved with science career choices: teacher/counselor encouragement, participation in science-related hobbies and activities, academic self-image, science-related career interest, parental encouragement and support, the perceived relevance of mathematics and science, and mathematics and science ability. This instrument was administered to a sample of 522 middle and high school students, and a sample of 185 students from an historically black university, and the effects of such factors as sex, race, personal acquaintance with a scientist, and type of community (rural or urban) on the above-mentioned variables were ascertained using a multivariate analysis of covariance with age as the covariate. A separate study on a sample of 81 high school students looked at race and gender differences in critical thinking abilities as measured by the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking appraisal, and how these abilities correlated with scores on the Science Career Predictor Scale. These studies produced several significant findings. Female subjects did produce significantly lower scores on the career interest factor. Black students actually had significantly higher science-career preference scores than their white counterparts. However, blacks scored significantly lower on the measure of critical thinking ability. Across both races and both sexes, however, the major factor affecting science-related career decisions appears to be personal contact with a scientist. The implications of these findings are discussed, along with possible strategies for increasing the participation of these groups in science.     

Cognitive performance of dysphasic students

The cognitive abilities of a group of dysphasic children in a special school in Finland were examined in this study to answer the following questions: Can we categorize their cognitive processing as planning, arousal-attention, simultaneous and successive processing (PASS)? The second question was concerned with detecting subgroups within the dysphasic sample in terms of PASS processes. The subjects were 60 dysphasic children in a special school. Their ages ranged from 7 to 19 years. All subjects were administered tests of planning, arousal-attention as well as simultaneous and successive processing. They were also administered the Wechsler test of intelligence for children and adults according to their ages, two sub-scales of Wechsler memory scale, as well as three ad hoc tests, cancellation task, KS persons and Rey Osterrieth copy task. The results of the factor analysis generally confirmed the emergence of the four PASS factors. As a results of cluster analysis, two subtypes of dysphasics emerged categorized as clearly high and low in the successive factor as well as relatively high and low on the simultaneous factor scores. The low-simultaneous/low-successive group was significantly lower in WISC verbal IQ the Wechsler memory scale for logical memory, and the ad hoc test of KS persons. The results were discussed, in terms of the importance of understanding the language problems typically associated with the two subtypes as well as the remedial program which will take into account their cognitive differences in spite of the fact that both groups had significant language impairment.     

FLUENCY,FLEXIBILITY, AND ORIGINALITY IN LATER ADULTHOOD

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between divergent thinking abilities, self‐esteem, and personal characteristics of older adults. A total of 39 subjects ranging in age from 61 to 84 years responded to a personal data inventory, a self‐esteem measure, and a taped auditory free‐response exercise in divergent thinking. Scores were obtained for fluency, flexibility, and originality of thought and for self‐esteem. Level of education was the best predictor of divergent thinking abilities. Self‐esteem and age were significantly correlated with fluency and flexibility but not with originality. Level of education accounted for the greatest proportion of variance in divergent thinking scores. In the multiple regressions neither self‐esteem nor age accounted for a significant proportion of the variance in fluency, flexibility, or originality. Self‐reports of subjects supported positiveness in self‐perceptions. Results are discussed in terms of the age‐decrement model of cognitive abilities and positiveness of educational intervention efforts.     

Making Conservationists and Classifiers of Preoperational Fifth-Grade Children

Abstract

Fifth-grade students (N = 103) from 4 classrooms were administered a multiple-choice test of Piaget tasks (B. J. Wadsworth, 1996). Fifty of the students were identified as preoperational in their cognitive understanding. Two of the classrooms served as the experimental group for 24 identified students; 26 students were in 2 classrooms that served as the control group. The experimental group received special lessons and activities designed to increase abilities in concrete and abstract thinking. The school had a large Hispanic population; therefore, the students received the instruction in the language in which they demonstrated mastery. Students in the experimental group showed a significantly greater increase in concrete operations than did the control group. All the students in the 2 experimental classrooms indicated greater use of concrete operations than did the students in the 2 control classrooms.     

Correlations among Six Learner Variables and the Performance of a Sample of Jamaican Eleventh-Graders on an Achievement Test on Respiration

This study aimed at establishing if the level of performance of 500 Jamaican Grade 11 students on an achievement test on the concept of respiration was satisfactory (mean=28 or 70% and above) or not (<70%); if there were statistically significant differences in their performance on the concept linked to their gender, cognitive abilities in biology, self-esteem, school location, socioeconomic background (SEB), school-type and school location; and if there were significant relationships among the six variables and the students’ performance. The sample (n=500) consisted of 212 boys and 288 girls selected from five all-boys’ schools (119 students), five all-girls’ schools (159 students), and six coeducational schools (222 students). The students were from six rural schools (137 students) and ten urban schools (363 students), out of which 291 were from a high SEB and 209 were from a low SEB. A 40-item multiple choice test on respiration and a self-esteem questionnaire were used to collect data. The results revealed that the students’ level of performance (mean=23.44 or 58.60%, SD=6.86) was regarded as fairly satisfactory; there were statistically significant differences in the students’ performance on respiration based on their cognitive abilities, and school-type in favour of students with high cognitive ability in biology and all-boys’ schools respectively. There was a positive statistically significant but weak relationship between the students’ (a) cognitive abilities, and (b) school-type and their performance on respiration.     

Parents’ assessments of their children’s abilities

Conducted in the framework of the theory of social representations, the study was designed to examine the dimensions in terms of which parents assess their children’s abilities, the ways in which social positions — here, the parents’ education and gender and the child’s gender — organize these assessments, and the ways in which the assessments relate to the estimated school success of the child. The subjects were a nationwide sample of parents (N=938), who were asked to estimate their children’s school success and to assess these children’s abilities. A factor analysis showed the ability assessments to be multidimensional. The parents assessed girls’ cognitive and social abilities to be better than boys’. Academically educated parents drew a more categorical distinction than other parents between cognitive and other abilities, which suggests that they endorse a differential conception of intelligence. A clear congruity of content was observed between the estimations of school success and the assessments of abilities, indicating that different school subjects are associated with different abilities.     

Do preschool executive function skills explain the school readiness gap between advantaged and disadvantaged children?

We examine the extent to which executive functions (EFs), as opposed to other cognitive skills, account for socioeconomically based disparities in school readiness. Participants are 226 American children (aged 36–71 months) enrolled in either needs-based or private preschools. Children completed 6 tasks designed to measure EFs as well as assessments of general intelligence and speed of cognitive processing. Children were also assessed on math, reading, and vocabulary skills. EFs accounted for unique variance across all academic measures even when controlling for speed of processing and general intelligence and partially accounted for disparities in school readiness associated with type of preschool enrollment. When vocabulary was controlled in the model, EFs only mediated associations between type of preschool and math. Vocabulary skills accounted for associations between socioeconomic status and both math and reading achievement. General intelligence and speed of processing did not uniquely account for associations between disadvantage and school readiness.     

System thinking skills at the elementary school level

This study deals with the development of system thinking skills at the elementary school level. It addresses the question of whether elementary school students can deal with complex systems. The sample included 40 4th grade students from one school in a small town in Israel. The students studied an inquiry‐based earth systems curriculum that focuses on the hydro‐cycle. The program involved lab simulations and experiments, direct interaction with components and processes of the water cycle in the outdoor learning environment and knowledge integration activities. Despite the students' minimal initial system thinking abilities, most of them made significant progress with their ability to analyze the hydrological earth system to its components and processes. As a result, they recognized interconnections between components of a system. Some of the students reached higher system thinking abilities, such as identifying interrelationships among several earth systems and identifying hidden parts of the hydrological system. The direct contact with real phenomena and processes in small scale scenarios enabled these students to create a concrete local water cycle, which could later be expanded into large scale abstract global cycles. The incorporation of outdoor inquiry‐based learning with lab inquiry‐based activities and knowledge integration assignments contributed to the 4th grade students' capacity to develop basic system thinking abilities at their young age. This suggests that although system thinking is regarded as a high order thinking skill, it can be developed to a certain extent in elementary school. With a proper long‐term curriculum, these abilities can serve as the basis for the development of higher stages of system thinking at the junior–high/middle school level. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 47: 540–563, 2010     

Cognitive Abilities among Twelfth‐grade Students: Implications for Science Teaching∗

The study investigated the differences related to formal reasoning abilities among students attending different sections of the upper cycle of secondary schools in Cyprus. The subjects of the study were twelfth‐grade students from 21 intact classes (227 boys and 242 girls). These classes were randomly selected among the 36 twelfth‐grade classes of four schools in a town of Cyprus. The sample of students represented the science section, the economic section and the “unified” section consisting of sections following common curricula in science and mathematics. Students’ performance on a standardized Test of Logical Thinking (TOLT) was used as a measure of their cognitive abilities related to control of variables, proportional, probabilistic, correlational and combinatorial reasoning. The students of the “unified” section had lower performance than the students of both the science and the economic section on all cognitive measures, and female students had lower performance than male students on cognitive measures related to control of variables and probabilistic reasoning. Multiple regression analysis between performance on TOLT and gender, section of study, and measures of school achievement showed that gender, section of study, achievement in mathematics, and grade point average, but not achievement in science and Greek language, contributed significantly to predicting performance on TOLT. Observed differences related to measures of school achievement either among the subjects of the three sections or between male and female students did not correspond to differences related to cognitive measures. Factor analysis of performance on the ten TOLT items (two items from each reasoning mode) produced a two‐factor solution. There were also significant differences in students’ performance between items related to the same or different reasoning mode. The results of the study cast doubt on the appropriateness of the existing curricula or their implementation and indicate that different theoretical perspectives should be considered when evaluating cognitive development.     

Gender differences in reading achievement and enjoyment of reading: The role of perceived teaching quality

The authors examined the extent to which classroom-specific relationships between students’ gender and their reading achievement and enjoyment of reading are associated with student-perceived teaching quality. Based on a sample of 10,543 ninth-grade students from 427 classrooms, multilevel analyses revealed that effective classroom management, adequate pacing, and a strong focus on language competencies were related to a less pronounced increase of girls’ advantage in reading achievement during Grade 9. High levels of teacher support and focus on language competencies were related to smaller gender differences in enjoyment of reading at the beginning of Grade 9, though not associated with change of these differences over the school year. Our findings suggest that high teaching quality is not only related to higher reading achievement and reading enjoyment in classrooms as a whole, but may also help to mitigate the increase of gender gaps in reading achievement and motivation commonly observed in secondary school.     

Prevalence,gender ratio and gender differences in reading‐related cognitive abilities among Chinese children with dyslexia in Hong Kong

Based on the data of the normative study of the Hong Kong test of specific learning difficulties in reading and writing, and the Test of visual‐perceptual skills (non‐motor)—Revised, 99 children aged between 6 and 10½ years were identified as children with dyslexia out of the normative sample of 690 children. By excluding 12 children known to score below average in IQ, 87 children, including 20 children not tested for IQ, could be regarded as children with dyslexia, yielding a prevalence rate of 12.6% and a boy:girl gender ratio of 1.6 to 1. The figures would become 9.7% and 2.0 to 1 if the 20 children were omitted from computation. However, gender imbalance could not be readily explained by gender differences in reading‐related cognitive abilities, as there were only minor and subtle differences. Regression analyses to evaluate the relative contribution of different cognitive abilities to reading and writing suggested that orthographic knowledge and naming speed were most important among children with dyslexia. Implications of the findings and the need for early intervention are discussed.     

A classroom observational study of Qatar's independent schools: Instruction and school reform

Qatar initiated a K–12 national educational reform in 2001. However, there is limited information on the instructional practices of the teachers in the reform schools. This project was an observational study of classrooms with a stratified random sample of the first six cohorts of reform schools. Specifically, 156 classrooms were observed in 29 reform schools. Instructional differences were noted in schools with different gender of students and were moderated by school level. Implications of findings were discussed pertaining to implementation of the Qatar national reform and professional development needs of teachers.     

A PROBABILISTIC MODEL FOR STUDENTS’ ERRORS AND MISCONCEPTIONS ON THE STRUCTURE OF MATTER IN RELATION TO THREE COGNITIVE VARIABLES

In this study, the effect of 3 cognitive variables such as logical thinking, field dependence/field independence, and convergent/divergent thinking on some specific students’ answers related to the particulate nature of matter was investigated by means of probabilistic models. Besides recording and tabulating the students’ responses, a combination of binomial and multinomial logistic regression techniques was used to analyze the data. Thus, students’ misconceptions as well as the compatible-with-the-scientific-view student’s answers were explored one by one in relation to the above 3 cognitive variables. The study took place with the participation of 329 ninth-grade junior high school pupils (aged 14–15). The results showed that mostly logical thinking and sporadically the other 2 cognitive variables were significantly associated with students’ answers. Interpretation of the results and implications for science education are discussed.     

Impact of instruction on learning disabled students' creative thinking

Forty-nine pupils from learning disabilities intermediate-level classrooms served as subjects in the study and were randomly assigned to an experimental and control group. The Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking were used as pretests and posttests. The Purdue Creative Training Program was used to stimulate the learning disabled experimental group's divergent thinking abilities for 14 weeks. Pupils in the learning disabled experimental group made significantly higher scores than did the comparison group on the creativity variables of the verbal subtest of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking.     

An explanation of reading comprehension across development using models from Cattell–Horn–Carroll theory: Support for integrative models of reading

The purpose of this research was to investigate the cognitive abilities that explain reading comprehension across childhood and early adulthood. Drawing from the standardization sample of the Woodcock–Johnson III, analyses were conducted with large samples at age levels spanning early childhood to early adulthood: 5 to 6 (n = 639), 7 to 8 (n = 720), 9 to 13 (n = 1,995), 14 to 19 (n = 1,615), and 20 to 39 (n = 1,409). Using a model including factors representing general intelligence, Cattell–Horn–Carroll broad abilities, and reading decoding skills, results revealed significant direct effects for reading decoding skills and Crystallized Intelligence on reading comprehension across all age levels. Memory‐related abilities, processing speed, and auditory processing demonstrated indirect effects on reading comprehension through reading decoding skills. The magnitude of direct and indirect effects varied as a function of age. The results provide support for integrative models of reading that include both direct and indirect effects of cognitive abilities on reading comprehension and for consideration of developmental differences in the cognitive aptitudes predicting reading comprehension. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.