This paper discusses the comparative philosophical tenets and practices of Germany's Waldorf and state schools with regard to the creativity thinking ability of students. Waldorf schools, developed some 70 years ago, are based on the philosophy of creative idealism known as anthroposophy. A study of 1165 third through sixth grade children from Germany, Scotland, and England compared Waldorf and public schools. Students took the Torrence Test of Creative Thinking Ability, which includes verbal...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Academic Achievement, Classroom Research, Comparative Analysis, Creativity,...
Reading comprehension--the ability to understand the meaning of text--is a foundational ability that enables children to learn in school and throughout life. Children who struggle with reading comprehension in the third or fourth grade are at high risk for dropping out of school, with detrimental effects on their future employment, income, and participation in the social and political aspects of life. Given the modest and inconsistent effects of existing large-scale early literacy...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Reading Comprehension, Language Acquisition, Preschool Education, Early Childhood...
Only few studies have explicitly attended to the nature of the perceived underlying factors that prompt young adolescents' reflective thinking in association with K-12 learning environment. This paper focuses on an analysis of the factors that are perceived by young students as prompting their reflective thinking and how those factors apply to the practice of design. Given that technology can provide scaffolding for reflection (Lin,X., Hmelo, C., Kinzer K., Secules,T 1999) and given that...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Student Attitudes, Self Evaluation (Individuals), Thinking Skills, Classroom...
This Action Research project and Pilot Study was designed and implemented to improve students' hypothetical thinking abilities by exploring the possibility that learning and playing the computer game Minesweeper may inherently help improve hypothetical thinking. One objective was to use educational tools to make it easier for students to learn the logic of the game Minesweeper. The second objective was to determine if learning Minesweeper would help students to gain the Cognitive Asset of...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Action Research, Pretests Posttests, Program Effectiveness, Correlation, Computer...
To design a series of assessments that could be used to compare the learning gains of high school students studying the cardiopulmonary system using traditional methods to those who used a collaborative computer simulation, called "Mr. Vetro". Five teachers and 264 HS biology students participated in the study. The students were in regular biology, advanced biology, anatomy and physiology or AP biology. One group of teachers taught a 7 day unit on the cardiovascular system using Mr....
Topics: ERIC Archive, Comparative Analysis, Computer Simulation, Cooperative Learning, Human Body, Biology,...
The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) mathematics items measure critical thinking, mathematical reasoning, and the ability to apply skills and knowledge to real-world problems. Students are asked to solve problems involving the key knowledge and skills for their grade level as identified by the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), using mathematical practices, reasoning, and modeling. PARCC assessment is administered in paper-based and computer-based...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Mathematics Instruction, Mathematics Skills, Critical Thinking, Thinking Skills,...
This research was conducted in order to know the effect of Logan Avenue Problem Solving (LAPS)-Heuristic learning model towards critical thinking skills of students of class X Office Administration (APK) in SMK Negeri 1 Ngawi, East Java, Indonesia on material curve and equilibrium of demand and supply, subject Introduction to Economics and Business. This research used a Quasi-Experimental Design. The population of the study was the students of class X-Expertise Business and Management SMK...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Critical Thinking, Thinking Skills, Skill Development, Problem...
The current study aimed to investigate Saudi pre-service teachers' knowledge about the general concepts of critical thinking, as well as its skills. In addition, the study explored their perceptions about critical thinking and its teaching in classrooms with an aim to develop learning and teaching process. The study was conducted with twenty-nine male students at a teacher education program in the College of Education, King Saud University. The quantitative method was used, employing a...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Critical Thinking, Thinking Skills, Statistical Analysis,...
In this paper, lower-order mathematical thinking skills within finance were studied from the viewpoint of financial employees in the Iranian Bank of Industry and Mine. To conduct this research, a questionnaire was developed after reviewing lower-order mathematical thinking skills in finance. In accordance with the revised Bloom's taxonomy, the skills considered in the questionnaire were "remembering mathematics in finance", "understanding mathematics in finance", and...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Mathematical Logic, Mathematics Skills, Thinking Skills, Finance Occupations,...
Classroom teachers' engagement in dialogue with their students develops important skills and attitudes. Drawing from a series of inservice teacher education workshops, this paper addresses the following concerns with respect to acquiring and strengthening questioning techniques: (1) "Should all children be asked a variety of question types, or should one try to match the 'levels' with their abilities?""What are good examples of methods utilizing higher order questioning...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Classroom Techniques, Elementary School Teachers, Elementary Secondary Education,...
Widely appealing, the phrase "teaching for social justice" masks contested definitions, which, if left unaddressed, can undermine efforts to translate concern for social justice into practice. Yet there is little research recording and analyzing what teachers are actually saying and doing when teaching for social justice. The study described in this article--interviews with 20 veteran high school English and social studies teachers committed to teaching for social justice--aims to...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Educational Strategies, Social Justice, Secondary School Teachers, Teaching Methods,...
In the 21st century, students are required to master thinking skills in order to deal with many situations that arise in the tertiary environment which later would translate into the workplace. Nowadays, thinking skills play a vital role in tertiary education. To provide an approach for teachers, this paper identifies a 4-step model that can be implemented in test design with reference to Bloom's Taxonomy for thinking skills. This model illustrates a feasible procedure of test construction...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Thinking Skills, Teaching Methods, Taxonomy, Models, Test Construction, Skill...
In this article, the author suggests that children's natural inclination to explore nature, or biophilia, can be explored as a factor that encourages both cognitive engagement and language development. The author summarizes the types of scientific inquiries that bilingual elementary students and their university partners engaged in when guided to design their own projects at a predominantly Mexican-American school. Children inquiries took place at a "La Clase Mágica" site, an after...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Hispanic American Students, Bilingual Students, Science Instruction, Elementary...
In 1999, things were dismal at Lebanon, Pennsylvania's Harding Elementary School. Many kids in this former coal town started at a disadvantage and never seemed to catch up. They were bored with books about "frogs on logs," says then-new principal Cheryl Champion. Since they were not engaged, they acted out. Harding's classroom life--and its test scores--had to improve. So Champion and her teachers began to look for ways to turn their school around. They had two ambitious aims: to...
Topics: ERIC Archive, School Culture, Personality, Reading, Reading Programs, Writing Tests, Values...
The importance of feedback as an aid to self-assessment is widely acknowledged. A common form of feedback that is used widely in e-learning is the use of model answers. However, model answers are deficient in many respects. In particular, the notion of a "model" answer implies the existence of a single correct answer applicable across multiple contexts with no scope for permissible variation. This reductive assumption is rarely the case with complex problems that are supposed to test...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Feedback (Response), Adult Learning, Adult Students, Management Development, Thinking...
This paper reports on a case study that evaluates the validity of assessing students via a computerized peer-marking process, rather than on their production of an essay in a particular subject area. The study assesses the higher-order skills shown by a student in marking and providing consistent feedback on an essay. In order to evaluate the suitability of this method of assessment in judging a student's ability, their results in performing this peer-marking process are correlated against...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Essays, Peer Evaluation, Evaluation Methods, Student Evaluation, Computer Assisted...
Three of the national health education standards include decision-making, accessing information and analyzing influences. WebQuests are a popular inquiry-oriented method used by secondary teachers to help students achieve these content standards. While WebQuests support higher level thinking skills, the readability level of the information on the website is often overlooked. Readability refers to the ease with which a text can be read and understood. If an individual's reading skill level is...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Readability, Health Education, Risk, Grade 11, Reading Skills, Language Skills,...
Many studies and papers have explored and critiqued the "what" and the "why" of working at the cultural interface of mainstream curricula and local Indigenous knowledge, but this project sought to understand the "how". Participants went beyond explorations of "cultural items" and worked in the overlap between the New South Wales Department's Quality Teaching Framework and Indigenous Pedagogies drawn from local lore, language and the sentient landscape....
Topics: ERIC Archive, Indigenous Knowledge, Indigenous Populations, Action Research, Foreign Countries,...
With the current curriculum focus on correlating classroom problem solving lessons to real-world contexts, are LEGO robotics an effective problem solving tool? This present study was designed to investigate this question and to ascertain what problem solving strategies primary students engaged with when working with LEGO robotics and whether the students were able to effectively relate their problem solving strategies to real-world contexts. The qualitative study involved 23 Grade 6 students...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Problem Solving, Grade 6, Relevance (Education), Elementary School...
This document summarizes five studies that offer insight into the nature of higher-order thinking skills and the most effective methods for teaching them to students. The reviews outline the conclusions, definitions, recommendations, specific methods of teaching, instructional strategies, and programs detailed in the documents themselves. Strategies mentioned include the Concept Attainment Model, the Inductive Thinking Model, the Group Investigation Model, a continuum of teaching styles,...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Creative Thinking, Critical Thinking, Educational Strategies, Elementary Secondary...
This report summarizes a project in which a number of new approaches were taken to improve learning in undergraduate basic music instruction for music majors. The basic viewpoint proposed was that music activities can be seen as skilled problem solving in the areas of aural analysis, visual analysis, and understanding of compositional processes. Computer software was developed for each of these areas using visual representations of musical scores, compositional programs controlling MIDI...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Computer Uses in Education, Courseware, Educational Research, Higher Education,...
One of the five goals proposed in the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics' (NCTM) "Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics" is for students to become "mathematical problem solvers." To achieve this goal, the NCTM proposes fundamental changes in both the content of mathematics curricula and the pedagogy of the mathematics classroom that outline a broad role for problem solving. Textbooks and other published curricula are believed to play a...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Content Analysis, Curriculum Evaluation, Elementary Education, Elementary School...
To suggest that activity in the classroom shift from a focus on memorizing procedures to using mathematical reasoning is to suggest a shift in the classroom environment accompanied by shifts in teacher talk. The task of this report was to introduce the idea of teachers' orienting behaviors aimed at facilitating student cognition, and to suggest that these behaviors might indicate cognitive goals that guide the teacher's decision making. To accomplish this task, results of an exploratory study...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Bilingual Teachers, Classroom Communication, Cognitive Processes, Decision Making,...
The Ocean Drilling Project brings together scientists and governments from 20 countries to explore the earth's structure and history as it is revealed beneath the oceans' basins. Scientific expeditions examine rock and sediment cores obtained from the ocean floor to learn about the earth's basic processes. The series of activities in this curriculum plan is to simulate some of the activities that would be involved in a scientific expedition. Through cooperative learning groups, students plan...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Class Activities, Cooperative Learning, Environmental Education, Geology, Grade 8,...
The use of a visual representation in learning about proportional relations was studied, examining students' understandings of the invariance of a multiplicative relation on both sides of a proportion equation and the invariance of the structural relations that exist in different semantic types of proportion problems. Subjects were 49 high-ability sixth-grade mathematics students using the Jasper Adventure Series of problems. The first research question was whether the provided visual...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Elementary School Students, Grade 6, Intermediate Grades, Mathematics, Problem...
Key elements of information literacy are identified, and a rationale is presented for the integration of information literacy in all aspects of the kindergarten through grade 12 and postsecondary curricula. Many aspects of the school restructuring movement and library media programs relate directly to information literacy and its impact on student learning. The basic elements in an information literacy curriculum are: (1) defining the need for information; (2) initiating the search strategy;...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Communication Skills, Curriculum Development, Educational Media, Elementary Secondary...
This article describes an extensive literature review on metacognition which examined the problems and promise that metacognition presents to educators (e.g., why metacognition has not overcome school administrative barriers and why there has been no widespread utilization of learning techniques that have been proven successful). The article defines metacognition, discussing several examples of successful models for teaching metacognition (process-oriented instruction, information-processing...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Cognitive Ability, Cognitive Development, Elementary Secondary Education,...
This study analyzes examination questions and papers in 12 academic departments and seven faculties at a Kenyan (Africa) state university between the 1989-1990 and the 1994-1995 academic years, charging that the findings reveal impoverished university training. The paper argues that the emphasis in most examinations is on the lower mental skills, as defined by Bloom's taxonomy, and is evidence that university training is little more than a four-year rote learning program. It charges that the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Academic Achievement, Cognitive Processes, Course Evaluation, Critical Thinking,...
This 1996 technical report looks at California Early Literacy Learning (CELL), a staff development program designed to help elementary teachers strengthen their teaching of reading and writing. Reading Recovery and other research-based teaching methodologies have been organized into a framework for classroom instruction, and training in the framework is provided in a two-year format that includes participation by the entire instructional team. The report is divided into the following sections:...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Childrens Literature, Emergent Literacy, Faculty Development, Instructional...
The transitions that occur throughout elementary, middle school/junior high and the world of high school require significant growth and change for learners. Throughout students' educations, literature and writing processes introduce them to an increased demand for mature thinking skills. Involvement with literature builds upon previous reading experiences, but emphasizes a new set of life issues. Thematic years address relationships, beliefs and values, responsibility, and self-identity....
Topics: ERIC Archive, State Standards, Academic Achievement, Achievement Tests, Grade 9, Literature,...
In this article, we studied the paradigm of observation which has been restructured since the beginning of modern sciences. In order to interpret this observation paradigm, an expression, "observation without seeing" was formulated. It was noticed that our interpretation of the observation depends on our knowledge and experiences. Finally, it was emphasized that the coincidence between our intellectual structure and the structure of the scientific knowledge and scientific thinking...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Observation, Models, Science Education, Knowledge Level, Thinking Skills, Cognitive...
"The Condition of Education" is a congressionally mandated report that provides an annual portrait of education in the United States. This document includes information from "The Condition of Education 2009" about knowledge and skills of young children. A smaller percentage of children born in 2001 who were in poverty demonstrated proficiency in various cognitive skills at about 2 years old and at about 4 years old than did their peers who were at or above poverty. Overall...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Educational Indicators, Young Children, Thinking Skills, Knowledge Level, Poverty,...
The article analyzes the results of the international survey "Synthesis of Media Literacy Education and Media Criticism in the Modern World," conducted by the authors in May-July 2014. 64 media educators, media critics, and researchers in the field of media education and media culture participated in the survey, representing 18 countries: the USA, the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Finland, Greece, Cyprus, Hungary, Ukraine, Serbia,...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Media Literacy, Journalism Education, Criticism, Surveys,...
Educators are beginning to look at authentic assessment as a valid alternative to standardized tests and traditional objective tests. Although authentic assessment means different things to different people, it is understood to focus on whether or not students can use the skills and strategies they have learned and apply them in appropriate situations. Two important tools for authentic assessment are learning logs and reflective journals kept by students. To use these tools appropriately,...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Check Lists, Critical Thinking, Educational Assessment, Elementary Secondary...
This report includes papers from a 1998 symposium to promote the professional sharing of current educational issues. The papers are: "A Tapestry of Authors" (Maurine Richardson and Margaret Miller); "Critical Thinking Strategies Across the Curriculum" (Constance L. Hoag and Sharon Andrews); "The Effect of Journal Writing on Teachers' Theory Development" (Lana Danielson); "School Subject Teaching Preferences Held by Elementary Teachers" (Robert W. Wood and...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Authors, Child Development, Children, Computer Uses in Education, Critical Thinking,...
The United States Census Bureau's mission is to be the preeminent collector and provider of timely, relevant, and quality data about the nation's people and economy. The Census 2000 teaching guide aims to help teachers bring the census to life for students. The guide outlines skills that correlate with national standards; fulfills curriculum requirements; demonstrates the importance and the many benefits of the census; and shows how to navigate the U.S. Census Bureau Web site. A model census...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Census Figures, Curriculum Enrichment, Demography, Elementary Secondary Education,...
A study focused on the relationship between instructional strategies and students' reported meta-skill attainment in an adult education context. Using the data collected from 2,507 end-of-course surveys of students in the Graduate Studies in Education program at Indiana Wesleyan University, analyses were run to test for correlations between the independent variables (19 instructional strategies) and each of 10 dependent variables (10 meta-skills). The three key findings of the study were the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Adult Students, Cognitive Processes, Curriculum Development, Educational Strategies,...
Self-regulated learning is a relatively new construct in the domain of educational psychology but its theoretical relevance and important practical implications have already been well established. The study explored the extent to which the self-regulated learning strategies of metacognition, elaboration, critical thinking, organization, rehearsal, time and effort management, help seeking and peer learning vary with gender. The Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) was...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Critical Thinking, Undergraduate Students, Thinking Skills, Time Management,...
A 2003 survey of principals found that middle and high schools were more likely to increase social studies and science instruction than decrease it. This suggests that districts are not cutting social studies and sciences entirely but merely "deferring" those subjects until the secondary grades. This strategy provides more time for reading during the elementary grades and more time for other subjects in higher grades, especially as states move to increase high school course-taking...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Educational Strategies, Thinking Skills, Reading Comprehension, Science Instruction,...
During several years of experimentation, we accumulated a large collection of data on the analysis of problems generally encountered in algebra and on the reasoning developed by students at different levels when confronted with these problems. Analysis of this data led us to a new way of looking at differences among word problems, and to the development of a new theoretical approach to classify them with respect to their complexity and their structure. The aim of this paper is to extend this...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Textbooks, Problem Solving, Word Problems (Mathematics), Algebra, Mathematics...
This study aimed to determine the effect of mastery learning model supported with reflective thinking activities on the fifth grade medical students' academic achievement. Mixed methods approach was applied in two samples (n = 64 and n = 6). Quantitative part of the study was based on a pre-test-post-test control group design with an experiment group (32 students) and a control group (32 students) selected among the fifth grade students starting their internship training in Infectious Diseases...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Mastery Learning, Models, Reflection, Thinking Skills, Medical...
Why is hope such an important concept for schools to consider? Research has clearly demonstrated that more hopeful students perform better in school and in life than less hopeful students. Hopeful thought reflects the belief that one can find pathways to desired goals and become motivated to use those pathways. As a result, hope drives the emotions and well-being of people, which are essential components of one's happiness and success in life. Hope is positively associated with the following...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Psychological Patterns, Student Attitudes, Positive Attitudes, Well Being, Self...
Can music help students become better thinkers and writers? Over the past three years, the author has incorporated some basic music training techniques in her classrooms to help her teach the writing process to students who would otherwise click her off. The students have developed clearer thinking and organizational skills, and have increased their collaborative and communication abilities as a result. This article briefly overviews basic research on the effects of music listening, the role of...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Writing Processes, Teaching Methods, Music Education, Writing Instruction, English...
Mathematical teaching in Thai tertiary education still employs traditional methods of explanation and the use of rules, formulae, and theories in order for students to memorize and apply to their mathematical learning. This results in students' inability to concretely learn, fully comprehend and understand mathematical concepts and practice. In order to overcome this learning deficit, it is necessary that the concept of "reflection" be implemented in the teaching of this subject. It...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Mathematics, Mathematics Instruction, Mathematics Education, Teaching Methods,...
A game is a set of activities involving one or more players. It has goals, constraints, payoffs, and consequences. A game is rule-guided and artificial in some respects. (Richard Wilson, 2010). According to Garris et al. (2002), define educational game play as "voluntary, nonproductive, and separate from the real world"; and they found that the fantasy, goals, sensory stimuli, challenge, mystery, and control are the six features that characterize games. Generally, a game an activity...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Educational Games, Learning Activities, Thinking Skills, Skill Development, Problem...
This study was conducted with 93 freshmen and 82 senior prospective mathematicians and mathematics teachers in order to investigate how they construct and evaluate proofs and whether there are any significant differences in their proof construction (with respect to department and grade) and proof evaluation (with respect to department) performances. Instruments developed for this purpose are Proof Exam (PE) and Proof Evaluation Exam (PEE). While no significant differences were observed among...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Mathematics Teachers, Mathematical Logic, Validity, Preservice Teachers, Mathematics...
Community colleges currently enroll about 44% of the undergraduate students in the United States and are rapidly expanding. It is of critical importance to obtain direct evidence of student learning to see if students receive adequate training at community colleges. This study investigated the 10-year trends of community college students' (n = 46,403) performance in reading, writing, mathematics, and critical thinking, as assessed by the ETS[TM] Proficiency Profile (EPP), an assessment of...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Community Colleges, Two Year College Students, Trend Analysis, Reading Achievement,...
In order to estimate the likely effects on item difficulty when a calculator becomes available on the quantitative section of the Graduate Record Examinations® (GRE®-Q), 168 items (in six 28-item forms) were administered either with or without access to an on-screen four-function calculator. The forms were administered as a special research section at the end of operational tests, with student volunteers randomly assigned to the calculator or no-calculator groups. Usable data were obtained...
Topics: ERIC Archive, College Entrance Examinations, Graduate Study, Calculators, Test Items, Effect Size,...
In April 1989, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics issued a major report which presented 13 standards for elementary school mathematics. Among the most important and wide reaching of the Standards are those stating that the study of mathematics should emphasize problem solving, mathematical reasoning, and number sense. The project described in this report used Eisenhower funds to provide inservice training for 131 elementary school teachers and 19 principals and focused on the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Elementary Education, Elementary School Mathematics, Inservice Teacher Education,...
Data from 20 years (1970-90) of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) are summarized. The NAEP represents the nation's only ongoing assessment of the academic achievement of American students. Its assessments of educational achievement of students in grades 4, 8, and 12 are presented as "The Nation's Report Card". Chapter 1 of this report contains information about the students' competency in subject matter across the curriculum and their ability to use their minds...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Academic Achievement, Competence, Educational Assessment, Educational Change,...
