Investigating critical thinking and knowledge construction in an interactive learning environment

Critical thinking and knowledge construction have become essential competencies for people in the new information age. In this study, we designed an interactive learning environment involving three forms of interaction: individual reflections, group collaboration and, class discussions. The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which the three forms of interaction promoted students' critical thinking and knowledge construction. Seventeen students at National Institute of Education of Singapore participated in this study. Their reflections and discussions were analyzed by following a content analysis approach. Results showed that writing reflections had potential to promote critical thinking but, not all students thought critically. Knowledge construction in groups and in class discussions happened at lower levels. This paper presents the conceptual framework, design specifications and evaluation results of the ILE. Implications of the results are discussed.     

Student perceptions of satisfaction and opportunities for critical thinking in distance education by interactive video

Abstract

Critical thinking is an important component of learning, yet it has received little attention in distance education literature. The purpose of this study was to investigate graduate students' satisfaction and perception of opportunities for critical thinking in distance education courses that utilized a two‐way audio/video system.     

A digital game-based assessment of middle-school and college students’ choices to seek critical feedback and to revise

A major goal of contemporary education is to teach students how to learn on their own. Assessments have largely lagged behind this goal, because they measure what students have learned and not necessarily their learning processes. This research presents Posterlet, an assessment that collects evidence regarding the strategies that students choose while learning on their own. Posterlet is an educational game-based assessment that measures two design thinking choices: students’ choices to seek critical (ie, negative) feedback and to revise their work while they learn graphic design principles through creating posters. This research also presents an examination of students’ choices to seek feedback and to revise, as well as of students’ learning outcomes based on these choices. This game-based assessment approach is empirically validated with three research studies sampling nearly 300 middle-school and college students who played Posterlet and completed a posttest. Results show that the game helps students learn, as students who play the game before completing the posttest learn more graphic design principles than students who only complete the posttest. Moreover, the choices to seek critical feedback and to revise can predict learning and can be used as valid outcome measures for learning. Findings can be used in developing and evaluating models of instruction and assessment that may help students make informed learning choices. A discussion of present and future trends in theory regarding digital feedback environments is also included.     

Using interactive management to facilitate a student-centred conceptualisation of critical thinking: a case study

Critical thinking (CT) is a metacognitive process, consisting of a number of sub-skills and dispositions, that, when used appropriately, increases the chances of producing a logical solution to a problem or a valid conclusion to an argument. CT has been identified as a fundamental learning objective of third-level education; however, students often report not being given the opportunity to adequately understand and cultivate CT skills. Though most CT interventions are designed based on academic or expert definitions of CT skills, students are rarely, if ever, asked to guide their instruction by describing their perspectives on what constitutes CT. The current case study investigated students’ conceptualisations of what constitutes good CT using a collective intelligence methodology, interactive management. Interactive management (IM) is a computer-assisted process that allows a group to build a structural model describing relations between elements in a system. Though decades of research on group decision-making in educational and social psychology highlight the many limitations associated with group problem solving (e.g. as a result of an over-reliance on heuristics, cognitive biases and ‘groupthink’), a fundamental skill for making decisions and solving problems is the ability to collectively visualise the structure of a shared problem, and use this knowledge to design solutions and strategies for collective action. Results of IM group work from the current case study revealed five core CT skills (clarity of expression, conversational skill, inference, evaluation, and explanation), five CT dispositions (detachment, listening, systematicity, recognising uncertainty, and self-questioning) and fourteen structural relationships among them. The ability to detach, listen and engage in conversation with others, were seen as fundamental drivers of all other competencies in the system. Results are discussed in light of research and theory on CT and best practice for CT instruction.     

A critical review of 13 years of mobile game-based learning

With the increasing popularity of smartphones and tablets, game-based learning (GBL) is undergoing a rapid shift to mobile platforms. This transformation is driven by mobility, wireless interfaces, and built-in sensors that these smart devices offer in order to enable blended and context-sensitive mobile learning (m-Learning) activities. Thus, m-Learning is becoming more independent and ubiquitous (u-Learning). In order to identify and analyze the main trends and the future challenging issues involved in designing mGBL learning strategies, as well as to bring to the foreground important issues pertaining to mobile and context-aware ubiquitous GBL, the work at hand conducts a comprehensive survey of this particular area. Specifically, it introduces and applies a six-dimensional framework consisted of Spatio-temporal, Collaboration/Social, Session, Personalization, Data security & privacy, and Pedagogy, with the aim of scrutinizing the contributions in the field of mGBL published from 2004 to 2016. It was found that the transition to mGBL presents several difficulties, and therefore cannot be conceived as a simple and quick modification of existing GBL solutions. In this respect, this work is anticipated to foster the development of well-designed solutions that are intensive not only in their technological aspect, but in pedagogical qualities as well.     

The effect of the biology critical thinking project on the development of critical thinking

This article describes the Biology Critical Thinking (BCT) project in which carefully designed activities for developing specific critical thinking skills are incorporated into the biology curriculum. The objectives were to find out whether the BCT project contributes to the development of critical thinking skills in various biological and nonbiological topics and how it affects students' biological knowledge and classroom learning environment. The study consisted of 678 seventh graders who were assigned randomly into two groups that studied the same seventh-grade biology textbook. Only one group, the experimental, completed the BCT activities. The results indicate that the students in the experimental group improved their critical thinking skills compared to their own initial level and compared to their counterparts in the control group. Improved critical thinking skills were observed in a new biological context and nonbiological everyday topics, suggesting generalization of thinking skills across domains. The experimental students scored significantly higher than the control on a knowledge test, suggesting that “knowledge of facts” as one educational goal and “learning to think” as another, need not conflict, but rather can interact with each other. Finally, the results show that BCT involvement decreased the frequency of teacher-centered teaching and enhanced student-centered, more active learning.     

The effects of environment‐based education on students' critical thinking skills and disposition toward critical thinking

This study examined the relationship between environment‐based education and high school students' critical thinking skills and disposition toward critical thinking. Four hundred four 9^th and 12^th grade students from 11 Florida high schools participated in the study. A Pretest‐Posttest Nonequivalent Comparison Group Design (9^th grade) and a Posttest Only Nonequivalent Comparison Group Design (12^th grade) were used. Interviews of students and teachers were used in the classic sense of triangulation. Data collection took place over the 2001–2002 school year. When controlling for pretest score, grade point average (GPA), gender, and ethnicity, environment‐based programs had a positive effect on 9^th grade students' critical thinking skills (p=.002). When controlling for GPA, gender, and ethnicity, environment‐based programs had a positive effect on 12^th grade students' critical thinking skills (p < .001) and disposition toward critical thinking (p < .001). The results of this study support the use of environment‐based education for improving critical thinking and can be used to guide future implementation.     

Multimodal analysis for critical thinking

This paper proposes a pedagogical approach for teaching and learning critical thinking through multimodal analysis – that is, ‘multimodal analysis for critical thinking'. The approach builds on the conviction that students require competencies that move beyond traditional notions of literacy to meet the changing demands posed by media and technology in the twenty-first century. The approach takes a social semiotic view toward critical multimodal literacy, which aims to provide students with an analytical metalanguage for the systematic analysis of multimodal texts and videos. The pedagogical approach is facilitated through the use of purpose-built software applications with comprehensive analytical frameworks designed to support the systematic teaching and learning of multimodal analysis, with a view to developing the critical literacy skills needed for life in the digital age. The potential efficacies of the approach are illustrated via the exposition of software functionalities and the sample analyses of a printed text with image components, and a short advocacy video.     

Cognitive load of critical thinking strategies

Argument–counterargument integration (Nussbaum, 2008) refers to the process of evaluating, refuting, and synthesizing arguments on two sides of an issue when creating justification for an overall conclusion. This study compared the cognitive load of two critical thinking strategies related to argument–counterargument integration: (a) constructing design claims that minimize disadvantages of an alternative, and (b) weighing refutations (which weaken an argument by arguing that there are more important values at stake). College students (N = 285) first completed the Need for Cognition (NFC) scale and were then presented with materials summarizing arguments and counterarguments on the topic of grading class participation. Participants completed a small, integrative essay justifying a stand on the issue, and completed the Mental Effort Rating Scale (Paas, 1992). Participants who generated complex weighing refutations reported more mental effort than those constructing complex design claims (and the control group), with a stronger relationship with those high in NFC. The need to coordinate disparate elements in working memory may explain the higher load associated with constructing weighing refutations. Students may need more (and different types of) scaffolding in using this strategy than when constructing a design claim, which is a more sequential process.     

Beyond translation: adapting a performance-task-based assessment of critical thinking ability for use in Rwanda

Critical thinking is frequently proposed as one of the most important learning outcomes of a university education. However, to date, it has been difficult to ascertain whether university students in low-income contexts are improving in their critical thinking skills, because the limited studies in this domain have relied on instruments developed in Western contexts, despite the clear dangers of such an approach. Cultural bias in assessment can best be overcome by explicitly developing tests for use in specific contexts. However, resource constraints often prevent this possibility. An alternative strategy is to adapt an existing instrument for use in a particular context. Although adaptation is the norm for high-stakes cross-cultural assessments, it is often not attempted for single country research studies. This may be due to an assumption that adaptation is excessively technical or will add significantly to a study timeline. In this article, which relies on data from a recent study in Rwanda, we present a methodology for adapting a performance-task-based assessment of critical thinking. Our experience with this methodology suggests that small teams can adapt instruments in a relatively short time frame, and that the benefits of doing so far outweigh any cost.     

Identities, social representations and critical thinking

This comment on L. Simonneaux and J. Simonneaux paper focuses on the role of identities in dealing with socio-scientific issues. We argue that there are two types of identities (social representations) influencing the students’ positions: On the one hand their social representations of the bears’ and wolves’ identities as belonging to particular countries (Slovenia versus France for bears, France and Italy for wolves), in other words, as having national identities; on the other hand representations of their own identities as belonging to the field of agricultural practitioners, and so sharing this socio-professional identity with shepherds and breeders, as opposed to ecologists. We discuss how these representations of identities influenced students’ reasoning and argumentation, blocking in some cases the evaluation of evidence. Implications for developing critical thinking and for dealing with SSI in the classrooms are outlined.

中学生物学教育与批判性思维

批判性思维 (ｃｒｉｔｉｃａｌｔｈｉｎｋｉｎｇ)是指个体对某一事物的长短利弊的评判 ,对学生来讲 ,主要是对所学知识产生的过程、背景、方法、证据、评价标准的对与错 ,完美与欠缺 ,价值大与小作出个性化判断。在提倡素质教育的今天 ,一个学生的批判精神和评判能力 ,对创新思想和创新品质的形成无疑有着重要的意义。在创新教育中有意识地培养学生批判性思维能力 ,有助于创新思维形成和发展 ,应引起教育工作者的高度重视。1　培养创新人才需要批判性思维1.1　生命科学在批判旧观念旧思想中发展　社会的进步 ,科学的发展 ,生产力的提高离不…     

An ‘infusion’ approach to critical thinking: Moore on the critical thinking debate

This paper argues that general skills and the varieties of subject‐specific discourse are both important for teaching, learning and practising critical thinking. The former is important because it outlines the principles of good reasoning simpliciter (what constitutes sound reasoning patterns, invalid inferences, and so on). The latter is important because it outlines how the general principles are used and deployed in the service of ‘academic tribes’. Because critical thinking skills are—in part, at least—general skills, they can be applied to all disciplines and subject‐matter indiscriminately. General skills can help us assess reasoning independently of the vagaries of the linguistic discourse we express arguments in. The paper looks at the debate between the ‘specifists’—those who stress the importance of critical thinking understood as a subject‐specific discourse—and the ‘generalists’—those that stress the importance of critical thinking understood independently of disciplinary context. The paper suggests that the ‘debate’ between the specifists and the generalists amounts to a fallacy of the false alternative, and presents a combinatory‐‘infusion’ approach to critical thinking.     

A case for critical constructivism and critical thinking in science education

While constructivism has made a considerable mark concerning learning in many areas of school learning, much less is evident relating to the education and professional development of teachers. This paper not only deals with the implementation and evaluation of such a constructivist course, but extends the argument towards the induction of teachers into “critical constructivism” through their own action research projects. Data is drawn from a single case study which illuminates the induction process and illustrates the changes taking place in the professional life and the reflective practice of one teacher as she deals with scientific concepts with two classes of 11–15 and 18–25 year olds. The Brazilian setting for the course lends resonance to its international significance.     

Assessment of negotiation styles in higher education through a game-based assessment tool

Education and Information Technologies - The purpose of this concurrent mixed-method research is to examine the negotiation styles of candidate sports coaches in higher education by using a...