Proceedings ICPW'07: 2nd International Conference on the Pragmatic Web, 22-23 Oct. 2007, Tilburg: NL

Proceedings ICPW'07: 2nd International Conference on the Pragmatic Web, 22-23 Oct. 2007, Tilburg: N

Cognitive load of critical thinking strategies

Critical thinking is important for today\u27s life, where individuals daily face unlimited amounts of information, complex problems, and rapid technological and social changes. Therefore, critical thinking should be the focus of general education and educators\u27 efforts (Angeli & Valanides, 2009; Oliver & Utermohlen, 1995). Despite passively agreeing or disagreeing with a line of reasoning, critical thinkers use analytical skills to comprehend and evaluate its merits, considering strengths and weaknesses. Critical thinkers also analyze arguments, recognizing the essentiality of asking for reasons and considering alternative views and developing their own point of view (Paul, 1990). Kuhn and Udell (2007) emphasize that the ability to participate in sound argument is central to critical thinking and is essential to skilled decision making. Nussbaum and Schraw (2007) emphasized that effective argumentation includes not only considering counterarguments but also evaluating, weighing, and combining the arguments and counterarguments into support for a final conclusion. Nussbaum and Schraw called this process argument-counterargument integration. The authors identified three strategies that could be used to construct an integrative argument in the context of writing reflective essays: a refutation, weighing, and design claim strategy. They also developed a graphic organizer called the argumentation vee diagram (AVD) for helping students write reflective essay. This study focuses on the weighing and design claim strategies. In the weighing strategy, an arguer can argue that the weight of reasons and evidence on one side of the issue is stronger than that on the other side. In a design claim strategy, a reasoner tends to form her opinion or conclusion based on supporting an argument side (by taking its advantages) and eliminating or reducing the disadvantages of the counterargument side. Based on learning other definitions for argumentation, I define argumentation in this study as a reasoning tool of evaluation through giving reasons and evidence for one\u27s own positions, and evaluating counterarguments of different ideas for different views. In cognitive psychology, cognitive load theory seems to provide a promising framework for studying and increasing our knowledge about cognitive functioning and learning activities. Cognitive load theory contributes to education and learning by using human cognitive architecture to understand the design of instruction. CLT assumes limited working memory resources when information is being processed (Sweller & Chandler, 1994; Sweller, Van Merriënboer & Paas, 1998; Van Merriënboer & Sweller, 2005). The Present Research Study Research Questions 1- What is the cognitive load imposed by two different argument-counterargument integration strategies (weighing, and constructing a design claim)? 2- What is the impact of using the AVDs on amount of cognitive load, compared to using a less diagrammatic structure (linear list)? It is hypothesized that the weighing strategy would impose greater cognitive load, as measured by mental effort rating scale and time, than constructing a design claim strategy. As proposed by Nussbaum (2008), in using weighing strategy a larger number of disparate (non-integrative) elements must be coordinated and maintained in working memory. It is also hypothesized that the AVDs would reduce cognitive load, compared to a linear list, By helping individuals better connect, organize, and remember information (various arguments) (Rulea, Baldwin & Schell, 2008), and therefore freeing up processing capacity for essential cognitive processing (Stull & Mayer, 2007). The experimental design of the study consisted of four experimental groups that used strategies and two control groups. I tested the hypotheses of the study by using a randomized 2x3 factorial design ANOVA (two strategies prompt x AVD and non- AVD) with a control group included in each factor. Need for cognition (NFC), a construct reflecting the tendency to enjoy and engage in effortful cognitive processing (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986), was measured and used as an indication of participants\u27 tendency to put forth cognitive effort. Thinking and argument-counterargument integration processes took place through electronic discussion board (WebCampus), considering analysis questions about grading issue Should students be graded on class participation? I chose that analysis question as it represents an issue that is meaningful and important for college students, in that they can relate and engage easily in thinking about it. The results of the first research question pointed to a significant relationship between the complexity of an essay, as measured by complexity of weighing refutation, and cognitive load as measured by time and cognitive load scale. Weighing refutations also involved more mental effort than design claims even when controlling for the complexity of the arguments. The results also revealed that there was a significant interaction effect for NFC. The results of the second research question were non-significant. The results showed that the linear list that was used by the control group was as productive as the AVDs. There was no difference between the control and experimental groups in the amount of cognitive load that they reported in terms of mental effort and time spent on the thinking and integration process. Measuring the cognitive load of different argument-counterargument integration strategies will help inform instructional efforts on how best to teach these strategies, design effective instructional techniques for teaching critical thinking, and will also help provide theoretical insight in the cognitive processes involved in using these strategies

a Review of Instructional Approaches

UIDB/00183/2020 UIDP/00183/2020 DL 57/2016/CP1453/CT0066 PTDC/FER-FIL/28278/2017Over the past 20 years, a broad and diverse research literature has emerged to address how students learn to argue through dialogue in educational contexts. However, the variety of approaches used to study this phenomenon makes it challenging to find coherence in what may otherwise seem to be disparate fields of study. In this integrative review, we propose looking at how learning to argue (LTA) has been operationalized thus far in educational research, focusing on how different scholars have framed and fostered argumentative dialogue, assessed its gains, and applied it in different learning contexts. In total, 143 studies from the broad literature on educational dialogue and argumentation were analysed, including all educational levels (from primary to university). The following patterns for studying how dialogue fosters LTA emerged: whole-class ‘low structure’ framing with a goal of dialogue, small-group ‘high structure’ framing with varied argumentative goals, and studies with one-to-one dialectic framing with a goal of persuasive deliberation. The affordances and limitations of these different instructional approaches to LTA research and practice are discussed. We conclude with a discussion of complementarity of the approaches that emerged from our analysis in terms of the pedagogical methods and conditions that promote productive and/or constructive classroom interactions.publishersversionepub_ahead_of_prin

Incorporating Scripts with Cooperative Learning to Promote Critical Thinking Skills in Secondary Science

A drastic growth of scientific and technological advancements in the 21st century have allowed for new jobs with innovative processes that require individuals who possess the ability to think deductively, reason through problems, and obtain information that can support the potential solutions to these problems. Many of the technological advancements have reduced the necessity to only memorize rote facts; rather, much of this information can be found through a quick internet search. What is needed, therefore, is education which requires students to think deeper than before – to examine new information through a more critical lens. The purpose of this research study is to investigate how the introduction of collaborative scripts into the cooperative learning of students in a secondary science classroom impacts critical thinking skills. A quasi-experimental non-equivalent control-group design was implemented. The sample was drawn from eight sections of ninth grade science at a secondary public school in a northeastern state. Students engaged in project-based learning with cooperation with peers on an inquiry-based science lesson with phenomena. The experimental group was presented with scripts to begin asking thoughtful questions of peers about the phenomena being studied. The control group was instructed to engage in peer discourse as they normally would. The CCT-X was administered to all participants as a pretest and posttest. The data was analyzed via ANCOVA testing. Although a greater improvement in scores can be seen in the group that was exposed to the cooperative scripts, the results were not statistically significant. Future recommendations were identified, such as recruiting a larger sample size, implementing a longer duration for the intervention of collaborative scripts, and considering a new instrument for measuring critical thinking skills

Understanding collaborative creativity: An observational study of the effects of the social and educational context on the processes of young children's joint creative writing

Drawing on socio-cultural theory, the research presented here examines the nature of productive group work in the context of children's collaborative creative writing. The thesis explores the role of friendship in mediating the processes of joint creative writing, and examines the effects of other contextual features in the classroom-context - task design, instructions and writing medium - in structuring and supporting shared creativity. The study draws on preliminary observations of Year 5-Year 6 classrooms (children aged 9-11) and longitudinal observational data of ongoing classroom activities in Year 3 and Year 4 classrooms (children aged 7-9) in England. It offers a contextualised, qualitative analysis of the social and cognitive processes linked to shared creative text composition via the in-depth study of verbal interaction. For the analysis of joint creative writing discourse a functional model was developed. The research study contributes to the theoretical debate on collaborative learning by studying peer processes in the context of creative writing and by exploring the mediational role of friends and features in the learning context in influencing classroom-based collaboration. The findings show that the pairs' discourse varied in the level of collectivity and individualism they displayed and that, for most part, the variations can be explained by the differences in their relationships. Thus the study demonstrates the potential affordances of friendship pairing for shared creativity. Furthermore, the research presented in the thesis shows the mediating effects of task design, instructions and the writing medium, highlighting the inextricably linked nature of contextual features in structuring shared work in the classroom

Designing Asynchronous Online Discussion Environments: Recent Progress and Possible Future Directions

Asynchronous online discussion environments are important platforms to support learning. Research suggests, however, threaded forums, one of the most popular asynchronous discussion environments, do not often foster productive online discussions naturally. This paper explores how certain properties of threaded forums have affected or constrained the quality of discussions, and argues that developing alternative discussion environments is highly needed to offer better support for asynchronous online communication. Using the Productive Discussion Model developed by Gao, Wang & Sun (2009), we analyzed current work on four types of asynchronous discussion environments that have been developed and researched: constrained environments, visualized environments, anchored environments and combined environments. The paper has implications for developing future asynchronous discussion environments. More specifically, future work should aim at (a) exploring new environments that support varied goals of learning; (b) integrating emerging technologies to address the constraints of current environments; (c) designing multi-functional environments to facilitate complex learning, and (d) developing appropriate instructional activities and strategies for these environments

Computers, talk and learning : using computers to help coach reasoning through talk across the curriculum

The main theme of this thesis is the role of computers as a support for reasoning through talk in the classroom. A second, closely linked, theme is the role of reasoning through talk in general intellectual development.In the first part of the thesis the two areas of the teaching of thinking skills and the use of computers as a support for cooperative work in classrooms are explored through critical reviews of the literature and through two empirical studies. The findings of this exploratory research lead to the development of a theoretical framework for the use of computers in classrooms. This theoretical framework consists of the characterisation of a type of talk that is effective in promoting general intellectual development, a model of the structure of educational activities in which groups of children work with computers and a set of principles for the design of software to support reasoned discussion.In the second part of the thesis the theoretical framework is explored and tested through the development and implementation of an intervention programme. A new methodology is developed to evaluate this intervention programme integrating a quasi-experimental method with both qualitative discourse analysis and computer-based discourse analysis. The findings of the evaluation support four key hypotheses which emerge from the theoretical framework. First, that there is a link between the coaching of reasoning through talk and performance on tests of general reasoning ability. Second, that the quality of computer-supported collaborative learning can be enhanced through the off-computer coaching of exploratory talk. Third, that group work at computers can in turn be used effectively to extend an educational programme designed to coach exploratory talk across the curriculum. Fourth, that computer-based collaborative learning can - be used to integrate active peer-learning with directed teaching. These findings have significant implications for educational theory and practice