Infusing Critical and Creative Thinking and Metacognition in ICT Education: A Classroom Study

Enormous student motivation and perseverance are required for Traditional IT courses. To overcome these problems, IT lecturers at UAE University’s University General Requirements Program have promoted a natural way of infusing creative and critical thinking in the classroom by structuring lessons in which students manage their own thinking, not a physical performance in the class. Three main critical and creative thinking methodologies (Open Compare and Contrast, Focused Compare and Contrast, and Determining Parts-Whole Relationships) were used with five ICT sections (about 100 students). This paper describes the new lesson plans, their overall effectiveness, and future plans. It also discusses the impact of these lessons on student learning and comprehension and also in terms of educational goals, contents, and assessment. The outcome of this research indicates that ICT classroom teaching methods changes will help students to become critical thinkers, able to search out, understand, analyze, and synthesize information

Learning to Think while Thinking to Learn: Promoting the Infusion of Critical and Creative Thinking in Today\u27s ICT Classrooms

Traditional IT courses usually require enormous student motivation and perseverance with varying results. IT lecturers at UAE University’s University General Requirements Program tackled these problems by promoting a natural way of infusing creative and critical thinking in the classroom by structuring lessons where students manage their own thinking. Three main critical and creative thinking methodologies (Open Compare and Contrast, Focused Compare and Contrast, and Determining Parts-Whole Relationships) were used with five ICT sections (about 100 students). This paper describes the new lesson plans, their overall effectiveness, and future plans. It also discusses the impact of these lessons on student learning and also in terms of educational goals, contents, and assessment (periodic and terminal). The outcome of this research indicates that changes in ICT classroom teaching methods can help students become critical thinkers, able to search out, understand, analyze, and synthesize information

How Professors Infuse Critical Thinking into College Courses

Abstract The purpose of this case study was to explore professors’ understandings about how they infuse critical thinking within Signature courses in one private Catholic university, where a strong commitment exists to develop students’ critical thinking skills through the Core Curriculum. This qualitative study investigated the views of 12 professors in 6 disciplines as to how they approach the teaching and assessment of critical thinking skills within three Signature courses of the Core Curriculum. Data collection included documentation and one-on-one interviews with the professors, who taught Signature courses during the Spring 2011 semester. Through a cross analysis of the data,the professors’ perceptions about how they understood and defined critical thinking, their teaching and assessment practices, the challenges of infusing critical thinking as one of the core proficiencies, and their views about critical thinking professional development programs were examined. The results from this study generated further insights about the challenges professors confront when they focus on infusing critical thinking into core curriculum courses. These major challenges are related to a number of complex factors, such as overcoming faculty resistance, a lack of a common understanding and definition about critical thinking, and the need for more effective professional development opportunities. Given the complexity of attempting to align all of these various factors together in one institution, this case study examined the understandings of how professors implemented critical thinking as a valued curricular goal

How Professors Infuse Critical Thinking into College Courses

Abstract The purpose of this case study was to explore professors’ understandings about how they infuse critical thinking within Signature courses in one private Catholic university, where a strong commitment exists to develop students’ critical thinking skills through the Core Curriculum. This qualitative study investigated the views of 12 professors in 6 disciplines as to how they approach the teaching and assessment of critical thinking skills within three Signature courses of the Core Curriculum. Data collection included documentation and one-on-one interviews with the professors, who taught Signature courses during the Spring 2011 semester. Through a cross analysis of the data,the professors’ perceptions about how they understood and defined critical thinking, their teaching and assessment practices, the challenges of infusing critical thinking as one of the core proficiencies, and their views about critical thinking professional development programs were examined. The results from this study generated further insights about the challenges professors confront when they focus on infusing critical thinking into core curriculum courses. These major challenges are related to a number of complex factors, such as overcoming faculty resistance, a lack of a common understanding and definition about critical thinking, and the need for more effective professional development opportunities. Given the complexity of attempting to align all of these various factors together in one institution, this case study examined the understandings of how professors implemented critical thinking as a valued curricular goal

Teachers\u27 Perceptions of an Integrated Third Grade Curriculum\u27s Effects on Students\u27 Reading Achievement

School leaders in a Virginia urban school district designed and implemented a reading-infused integrated curriculum to address Grade 3 students\u27 struggles to read and comprehend grade-level text. Informed via a constructivist approach, the curriculum integrated the core subjects, reading, and service learning for developing competent readers, thinkers, and problem solvers. This instrumental case study focused on 13 Grade 3 teachers\u27 perceptions of the integrated curriculum in regards to their students\u27 reading achievement. Qualitative data were collected from face-to-face interviews, students\u27 progress of work documents, and the district\u27s integrated curriculum unit. Open coding was employed to analyze the data. Inductively, triangulated data sources were analyzed. Findings indicated that teachers perceived the integrated theme unit, teacher collaboration, and training in the area of reading to be beneficial, but that they found trainings on pedagogical practices of content integration and service learning to be lacking. Based on these findings, a project was developed to support the district\u27s integrated curriculum program by providing a professional development program to Grade 3 teachers on pedagogical practices for implementing a constructivist-integrated curriculum. This project study can contribute to positive social change by providing the district\u27s Grade 3 teachers with an integrated curriculum for students struggling to read and comprehend grade level text, which prepares students for school success, college, and the global work force

A Study of the Impact of a School-Based, Job-Embedded Professional Development Program on Elementary and Middle School Teacher Efficacy for Technology Integration

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of a school-based, jobembedded professional development program on elementary and middle school teacher efficacy for technology integration. Teacher efficacy has been identified as a strong predictor of whether the content of professional development will transfer to classroom practice (Bandura, 1997). Using a conversion mixed methods quasi-experimental research design, qualitative data were collected from the experimental groups’ journal postings. Grappling’s Technology and Learning Spectrum (Porter, 2002) was used to convert this qualitative data into quantitative data to determine the change in levels of technology integration in classroom practice. The Computer Technology Integration Survey (Wang, 2004) was used to determine differences in efficacy levels for technology integration between the experimental and comparison groups. Study findings indicated there was no statistically significant change in teachers’levels of technology integration after participation in a school-based, job-embedded professional development program. However, statistically significant differences in levels of efficacy for technology integration between teachers who participated in a school-based, job-embedded professional development program and those who had notwere found. Additionally, study findings indicated statistically significant differences in the experimental group’s levels of efficacy for technology integration based on whether teachers taught in an elementary or middle school and whether teachers taught multisubjects or a single subject. Finally, there was no statistically significant relationship between efficacy for technology integration and technology integration in classroom practice for those teachers who participated in the professional development program

Infusing the Multiple Intelligences into Fifth Grade Curriculum

Howard Gardner\u27s theory of Multiple Intelligences involves eight different ways to learn (linguistic, logical-mathematical, visual-spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, naturalistic, interpersonal and intrapersonal). These categories of intelligence, along with the guidelines of Washington State\u27s Essential Academic Leaming Requirements, were applied to thirty lessons that were derived from the fifth grade curriculum at Tieton Middle School in Tieton, Washington. The lessons reflect the fields of reading, writing, mathematics, science, social studies and health/fitness

Can Sexuality Education Advance Gender Equality and Strengthen Education Overall? Learning from Nigeria's Family Life and HIV Education Program

The imperative to prepare the largest generation of young people in history for adulthood has driven a search for fresh approaches to educating adolescents about their bodies and sexuality. Recently, there have been calls among health experts and educators for a comprehensive, integrated approach to sexuality education that addresses not only health issues such as HIV and pregnancy, but also helps to achieve broader outcomes such as ensuring gender equality, increasing access to education for girls, and improving the quality of education overall. Considerable international attention has been paid to the Family Life and HIV Education (FLHE) program in Nigeria. While the program does not formally aim to achieve broader development goals, nongovernmental organizations in some states have effectively brought a strong commitment to gender equality into local FLHE programs.This report synthesizes a two-tiered review of the FLHE program. It draws both on a formal case study examining effects of the training on teacher attitudes and practices and on a wider, more informal program analysis. The findings from both resonate with each other and are synthesized in this report

Engaged in Learning: The ArtsSmarts Model

Approximately a dozen internal research studies into student learning and program effectiveness were conducted during ArtsSmarts' first eight years. In the spring of 2006, we compiled the results of those studies, along with a like number of reports by outside researchers, to create a synthesis of possible directions for future work. Although we used a small sample of available outside studies, it was immediately and glaringly evident that the arts and educational communities are hungering for research that will "help us understand what the arts learning experience is for children, and what characteristics of that experience are likely to travel across domains of learning" (Deasy, 2002:99). It was equally evident to all ArtsSmarts partners that, while future ArtsSmarts research could be taken in any number of directions, it made the most sense to identify and build from ArtsSmarts' own strengths and successes. We also felt the need to align the research direction and the methods of data collection with our intended audiences.Different groups would find different aspects of ArtsSmarts compelling, and distinctly different types of data would be required for each. Partners identified educators (teachers, administrators, and senior Board office personnel) as the audience they most wanted to reach.With that in mind, the decision was made to develop a theory of learning that would serve the dual purposes of explaining ArtsSmarts' impact in Canadian classrooms and framing the research work of the next few years. We felt that establishing an ArtsSmarts theory of learning would help to answer the question, "If ArtsSmarts didn't exist, what would be lost?" Further, a theory of learning would assist teachers, artists and partners in identifying key, essential components of the ArtsSmarts experience, and would also prevent ArtsSmarts from being viewed as a pleasant but unnecessary add-on to classroom activity. The paper that follows develops an ArtsSmarts theory of learning centred on the concept of student engagement

Year Five Annual Report: Activities, Findings and Evaluators\u27 Reports

The National Center for Engineering and Technology Education (NCETE) received funding from the National Science Foundation on September 15, 2004. Originally NCETE proposed the following goals for the Center: • To build capacity in graduate education and develop a new cadre of leaders who are engaged in research, teacher preparation, and professional development with the knowledge and skill to integrate engineering into technology education • To conduct research in how students learn engineering and technological concepts; how students learn design and problem solving, assessment and evaluation strategies; and how best to prepare technology teachers • To refocus technology teacher education (TTE) to prepare increasing numbers of new teachers, representing the diversity of the nation, who can infuse engineering principles, predictive analytical methods, and design into the K-12 schools • To design and deliver professional development for practicing K-12 teachers and TTE faculty to enhance their knowledge and skills so they can infuse engineering principles, predictive analytical methods, and design into the curriculum, thereby enhancing problem solving abilities in students. • To develop methods for encouraging a diverse array of K-12 students to choose science, technology engineering and mathematics careers