Teaching thinking on a national scale: Israel's pedagogical horizons

Like other countries, Israel had its share of projects that see the implementation of inquiry and higher order thinking in schools as their main goal. However, although many of these projects were quite successful, they did not succeed in changing the bulk of teaching and learning in Israeli schools. This article describes a new national educational policy called “Pedagogical Horizons for Learning”. The goal of this policy is to move the whole educational system towards a focus on higher order thinking and deep understanding. Such a move must consider the knowledge gained from previous projects but it must also lean on strategies for implementing systemic educational change. Implementing the goals of the “Pedagogical Horizons for Learning” on a national scale requires simultaneous work on three-dimensions: (a) curriculum, learning materials and standards; (b) professional development; and (c) assessment. The article outlines the plan for each of these three-dimensions and provides some accounts of the first stages of the implementation process.     

Themes of individualism, competition, and cooperation in teachers' stories

This paper deals with themes of individualism, competition, and cooperation in teachers' stories, as they are told in a high school staffroom. Teachers told stories to their colleagues and through these stories they presented their professional culture to themselves. The three themes of individualism, cooperation, and competition were woven together in the stories, stressing the importance of all three in the teachers' work. This triple theme is contradictory in essence and so it shows new difficulties in the teaching profession.     

Establishing the validity and reliability of a modified tool for assessing innovative thinking of engineering students

Abstract

The goal of this study was to establish the validity and reliability of a self-report tool for assessing individual differences in innovative thinking, based on a modification of the ‘innovative behavior scale’. A five-stage study was conducted among engineering students worldwide, who enrolled in a massive open online course in Nanotechnology and Nanosensors. Content validity was established by a panel of experts in engineering education. Construct validity was established through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, indicating a four-factor solution with 13 items loaded above critical level. Known-groups validity revealed differences among learners with distinct expertise. The scale’s stability across populations and over time was confirmed, providing there has been no intentional intervention. Finally, the scale’s concurrent validity was reinforced through data triangulation with actual practice - the fabrication of innovative nanosensors.     

Reasoning about Interactions between Variables

Thinking about interactions between variables is a necessary condition for accurate scientific thinking. The purpose of this study was to investigate difficulties in thinking about interactions between variables and to suggest remedial educational means. A conceptual analysis distinguishes between valid interaction inferences, invalid interaction inferences, and limited inferences which can be seen as a partial or a primitive interaction inference. Empirical findings show that expert thinkers demonstrate thinking about interactions at both an operational and a metastrategic level. Some lay-adults however, although able to draw many limited inferences, encounter substantial difficulties in drawing valid interaction inferences while engaged in an investigation of a scientific sort. Four types of difficulties were identified in this study: lack of a “double set of controlled comparisons” strategy that is necessary for valid inferences about interacting variables; lack of the conceptual framework for interacting factors; diversion of attention to other features; and difficulty in maintaining the necessary control of other variables. The implications of the findings to science curriculum are discussed.     

Characterisation of Cognitive Difficulty Level of Test Items

Abstract

The study of subjects in science and technology involves high level thinking. Student‐material match at the design stage of a curriculum refers, in most cases, to the general criteria of thinking and learning theories, such as the ability to carry out ‘formal operations’ according to Piaget. The question of relevance may arise when dealing with a specific subject matter, in this context. Checking the student‐material match through an achievement post test enables us to refer to the relevant contents.

A method is proposed to characterise a test item through a content ingredient (Number of Schemes NS required for solution) and the required learner's resources (represented by the Problem Solving Taxonomy PST level). The Cognitive Difficulty Level CDL is then defined as: CDL=NS ? CDL.

The validity of CDL as a difficulty index of a test item, has been verified in the case of teaching basic electronics at the high‐school level (tenth and eleventh grades): a decrease has been obtained in students' achievement scores with an increase in the CDL value. Two types of student populations have been involved in the study: high and low achievers. The findings indicate that at the initial stage of learning a new subject, mainly the content factor (NS) affects the difficulty level of a mental task. After the ‘transient time’ has elapsed, both factors, NS and PST (i.e. CDL) affect the cognitive difficulty level. In the later stages, when the complexity of the material increases, the effect of PST becomes most dominant.     

Enhancing Higher Order Thinking Skills Among Inservice Science Teachers Via Embedded Assessment

Testing students on higher order thinking skills may reinforce these skills among them. To research this assertion, we developed a graduate course for inservice science teachers in a framework of a “Journal Club”—a hybrid course which combines face-to-face classroom discussions with online activities, interrelating teaching, learning, and assessment. The course involves graduate students in critical evaluation of science education articles and cognitive debates, and tests them on these skills. Our study examined the learning processes and outcomes of 51 graduate students, from three consecutive semesters. Findings indicated that the students’ higher order thinking skills were enhanced in terms of their ability to (a) pose complex questions, (b) present solid opinions, (c) introduce consistent arguments, and (d) demonstrate critical thinking.     

From ‘doing’ to ‘doing with learning’: reflection on an effort to promote self-regulated learning in technological projects in high school

Project-based learning is undoubtedly one of the best instructional methods for developing students’ broad learning capabilities, beyond teaching specific subject matter. However, experienced engineering teachers often tend to concentrate on merely teaching pupils the technical side of project work. This paper describes a programme aimed at fostering self-regulated learning among high schools pupils working on projects in electronics, control systems and robotics. The programme sought, for example, to promote pupils’ conceptual knowledge regarding the subjects they dealt with in their projects, enabling the learners to gain experience using simulation, laboratory testing and troubleshooting in a system that they were constructing. The change in project work also required pupils to document systematically all stages of system development and reflect on their learning by preparing a printed or web-based ePortfolio on the project. Outcomes of the in-service training course given to teachers countrywide and the first signs of change in project work in schools are reported.     

Children's sleep regulation is linked to mothers’ sleep-related childhood experiences

The present research explored how mothers’ own childhood experiences are linked to their perceptions of their children's sleep regulation. It focused on collective sleeping; a practice used in the past in the Israeli kibbutz, and used a quasi-experimental research design to examine whether mothers who were raised in collective sleeping arrangements differed from mothers who were raised in home sleeping. Two typically developing cohorts: infants (n = 68; ages 9–15 months; M = 12.2, SD = 2.2) and preschool children (n = 113; ages 48–55 months; M = 51.5, SD = 1.85) participated in this investigation. Sleep regulation and temperament were reported for infants and children, whereas for mothers data were collected on separation anxiety and appraisal of the ecology in which they were raised. Collectively raised mothers evaluated their upbringing significantly more negatively than home-raised mothers, expressed higher separation anxiety with regard to an alternative caregiver, but were not different in their views of their child's sleep difficulties. For infants, it was maternal separation anxiety that contributed uniquely to the explained variance in maternal view of sleep regulation difficulties. For preschool children, it was maternal evaluation of own childhood ecology and child's temperament that contributed uniquely to the explained variance in maternal view of sleep regulation difficulties. These findings suggest that mothers’ representations of their sleep-related early experiences, rather than their childhood ecology in and of itself, influenced their perceptions about their child's sleep, which, in turn, affect child's sleep patterns. Implications to caregiving are discussed.