The Use of Decision Cases to Foster Critical Thinking in Social Work Students

This article discusses the vital importance of developing critical thinking skills in social work students and explores the use of case-based instruction as a means of fostering those skills. The challenges inherent in the teaching and assessment of critical thinking are addressed. The history and theoretical underpinnings for the use of decision cases as a valid and efficacious teaching tool are presented. Literature evaluating the outcomes of the case method and related strategies is reviewed.     

Preparation for Social Service Leadership: Field Work and Virtual Organizations That Promote Critical Thinking in Administration Practice

This article examines how to prepare professional social workers for real-world nonprofit leadership roles. A pilot course assignment that incorporates a quasi-organization fieldwork simulation developed by the author is described. Development and application of critical thinking skills are reviewed, the course objective is explained, and methods and content that evolved during a three-semester trial are outlined. Student assignments and evaluation results indicate that a virtual asynchronous classroom experience is beneficial for students and faculty and that MSW administration students studying advanced generalist practice are an under-recognized potential source of nonprofit leadership.     

Blending Voices: Autoethnography as a Vehicle for Critical Reflection in Social Work

Critical reflection is important to vital process issues within social work practice; thus, it warrants attention in teaching and supervisory contexts. Autoethnography is a newer qualitative research methodology that uses the experiences of the author/researcher to extend social science understanding (Sparkes, 2000). In this article, the authors use autoethnography to frame critical reflection as a process of exploring social work knowledge and its potential implications, given that such knowledge is situated within fragmented and diverse selves and identities. Thus, good autoethnography is a unique way of accessing knowledge within intersubjective realities, which simultaneously generates a form of critical reflection (the comparison and assessment of emergent knowledge situated within selves and identities). Purposely incorporating an autoethnographic strategy, the authors draw from their experiences to show how personal narratives, the core of autoethnography, might be used to infuse critical reflection into social work education and practice.     

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.     

Beyond "cool" and "hip:" engaging the question of research and writing as academic Self-woman of color Other

This article presents a self-reflexive analysis of the situatedness of the author and her work - research and writing - as a woman of color in the academy. The author critically examines self-reflexivity in relation to her research by drawing on her lived experiences as academic Self-woman of color Other, first as an international doctoral student and now as a junior faculty member. Drawing on critical and feminist perspectives, she argues that such self-reflexivity allows for an openness which eliminates the apparent dichotomy of Self-Other and offers new spaces for re-presenting difference(s). In particular, she construes her writing as a self-renewing site of activism and resistance to Othering and her teaching as praxis and self-assessment. She concludes that cutting-edge research and writing, when rigorously self-reflexive, are beyond "cool" and "hip," allowing us to maintain integrity and agency as educators and researchers.     

Popularity versus respect: school structure,peer groups and Latino academic achievement

This article begins with a discussion of recent critiques of Fordham and Ogbu’s argument on the ‘burden of acting white’. These critiques point to the stereotypical and homogeneous characterization of the black peer group by Fordham and Ogbu, as well as their inattention to the ways in which schools relegate into the lower tracks those students who behave too ethnically and who do not demonstrate proficiency with dominant cultural attributes. The second half of the article presents data showing that academic achievement is related to peer‐group membership and that schools are largely responsible for which peer group students join. Based on an ethnographic study at a predominantly Latino urban high school, I argue that Latino high achievers do not necessarily experience the ‘burden of acting white’ as Fordham and Ogbu suggest. This was due to the institutional practices at Hernandez High School, which ensured that high achievers and low achievers occupied different academic and social spaces, resulting in little interaction between the groups, and to the very different culture that prescribed the ways in which members of each group could achieve status.     

Exploring the policy implementation paradox: using the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (fCUBE) policy in Ghana as an exemplar

This paper uses the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (fCUBE) policy implementation in Ghana as an exemplar to explore the apparent disjuncture between policy intentions in theory and outcomes of implementation tasks in practice. Through the critical discourse analysis of a range of policy documents complemented by the analysis of interviews with Ghanaian education officials, the paper investigates the extent to which the ‘free’, ‘compulsory’, ‘universal’ and ‘basic education’ components claimed in the fCUBE policy title are reflected in the implementation process. Owing to its commitment to enhancing the educational opportunities and outcomes of the educationally disadvantaged, the fCUBE policy is viewed as a ‘rights-based policy’ deeply rooted in social democratic values. However, the advent of neo-liberal ideological rhetoric of ‘skills for the world of work’ has triggered the neutralisation of these progressive ideals. This, the paper argues, has led to a significant discursive shift in policy direction and language of implementing the policy.     

Navigating the complexity of qualitative research in postmodern contexts: assemblage,critical reflexivity,and communion as guides

For graduate students and other emerging qualitative researchers, the ever-evolving and sometimes conflicting perspectives, methodologies, and practices within various post-positivist frameworks (e.g. feminist, critical, Indigenous, participatory) can be overwhelming. Qualitative researchers working within postmodern contexts of multiplicity and ambiguity are tasked with working through challenges – related to methods, interpretation, and representation – throughout the research process. Through examining related literature and incorporating my own experiences, I explore ethical dilemmas that social justice-oriented qualitative researchers may encounter as a result of conflicting multiplicities of difference among researcher(s), participants, and readers. Such dilemmas include incongruent interpretations between participants and researchers, and participants’ and researchers’ conflicting desires about what should be shared, intercultural (mis)interpretations, rapport issues, and conflicts between research life and home life. I consider how combining the practices of attending to assemblages, engaging in critical reflexivity, and centralizing communion may be useful in navigating relationships and ethical dilemmas in qualitative research.