Thinking Beyond the Text: Examining Teachers’ Dispositions of Critical Thinking in Elementary Social Studies Classrooms Through the Use of Socratic Seminars

Research shows that students need opportunities to engage in strategies that will enhance their critical thinking skills. With pressure on teachers to prepare students for state assessments, teachers teach to the test, not giving students chances to dialogue with their peers. To produce citizens in a genuinely democratic world, the voices of students is crucial. Socratic Seminar is a classroom methodology that can foster critical thinking skills and cultivate a democratic learning environment. The purpose of this participatory action research study is to examine teachers’ dispositions of critical thinking in elementary social studies classrooms as students think beyond the text. This research also examines coaching considerations, teachers’ provisions of coaching, and challenges faced when executing Socratic Seminars

The Socratic seminar\u27s effect on reading comprehension

In today’s modern educational community, teachers, paraprofessionals, and administrators alike have consistently been exposed to Bloom’s Taxonomy (1956) of Higher Order Thinking. These six levels of intellectual thinking are used as a model for effective teacher practice, learning objectives and outcomes, as well as a standard for students to practice and achieve higher-level critical thinking skills. The six original levels are as follows: Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Evaluating, and Creating. These domains are ordered from the least intuitive to the most advanced level of thinking skills, working from the ground up. When professionals in the field refer to High Level Bloom’s, they are typically referring to the top three domains: Analyze, Evaluate, and Create. It is common practice when educators are instructed to create their daily learning objectives using High Level Bloom’s, they typically utilize key words within the “Analyze” domain, such as compare/contrast, examine, or classify, and then make the claim that they have utilized “High Level Blooms.” This study focused on the top two domains, Evaluate and Create, and explored how these two areas of higher order thinking skills influenced a student’s reading comprehension. The purpose of this action research project was to investigate the effect of Socratic Seminars and their use of higher order thinking skills, specifically Bloom’s Domain Levels of Evaluating and Creating, on a student’s overall reading comprehension. The Socratic Seminar was the vehicle to which these higher order-thinking skills were implemented and utilized by two students within in a four-week literacy program. Data were collected to explore the effects of the Socratic Seminar on a student’s overall reading comprehension within two isolated case studies. Chapter 2 will provide a more detailed discussion concerning the clarification of the Socratic Seminar strategy in connection with relevant and important research that supports this study

AVID leadership: a skills approach to transformational change

This quantitative study investigated a cross population of active Elementary Leaders (Kindergarten-8th grade) of AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) Center, a non-profit international educational organization. This dissertation\u27s primary purpose was to explore the phenomenon of AVID Leadership as it related to individual\u27s perspectives of their leadership traits. After attending skills-based sessions designed to enhance transformational leadership mindsets and transformational change skillsets, participants were invited to engage in an online survey. This survey contained both the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) and researcher developed demographic questions. The study explored the similarities, differences, and impact of exposure to AVID Professional Learning, the relationship to participants credential preparation programs, education levels of individual participants and their perspectives on their leadership style. Prior elementary focused education and prior experience were significant independent variables in this study. Participant perspectives of AVID Elementary Professional Learning were significantly influential on individual leadership styles. The participants ranked high on subscales on the MLQ that align with transformational leadership. The findings and trends suggest a relationship between professional learning and transformational leadership warranting further study

Investigating the Effects of Active Learning Strategies on Problem Solving.: A Quasi-Experimental Study in Cycle Two

Problem-solving, being one major aspect of our daily activities, is often considered by students worldwide as the most difficult domains in mathematics. In Lebanon, like many other countries, problem-solving is a major aspect in the mathematics curriculum which requires students to apply and to integrate many mathematical concepts and skills as well as making decisions. However, the absence of national and international statistics of Lebanese elementary students’ performance in problem solving (PS) challenged the researchers to consider teaching strategies that give the students the chance to play an active role in their learning, and thus improve their performance in PS. Therefore, this article reports on a part of a larger mixed-methods, quasi-experimental study which investigated the effect of implementing Active Learning Strategies (ALS) mainly Think/Pair /Share (TPS), Socratic Questioning (SQ), and Inquiry based Learning (IBL) on students’ performance in problem solving (PS) in Grade 4, 5, and 6. (n=454) in three private schools in Tripoli- Lebanon. After assigning students and teachers to experimental and control groups, teachers in the experimental group participated in an intensive training on the use of ALS and implemented them over a three months period. The researcher used the t-test to compare the pre- and post-scores of both groups on mathematics PS. Findings indicated that experimental group students outperformed control group students on problem solving. Recommendations for continuous professional development for educators and for further research were also provided. Keywords: Active learning strategies, Mathematics problem-solving, Elementary, IBL, TPS, SQ DOI: 10.7176/JEP/12-17-05 Publication date:June 30th 202

Principals’ Definition and Identification Of Critical Thinking In Teacher Practices

Principals are teacher evaluators and, therefore, need a clear definition and identification of critical thinking in teacher practices to increase their impact on teacher effectiveness and student critical thinking outcomes. Beyond teacher evaluations, principals are responsible for supporting and developing teachers in their instructional practices (Davis et al., 2005) and for enhancing teachers’ pedagogical skills (Marzano et al., 2011). This instrumental case study explored how 12 principals, who use the Colorado State Model Evaluation System (CSMES) to evaluate critical thinking teacher practices, define critical thinking, and identify critical thinking utilized in teacher practices. Participants were purposefully selected from this Colorado district due to the district strategic action plan that focuses on the traits of a graduate that includes being a critical thinker as one of the top five competencies. Two research questions guided this inquiry: Q1 How do Colorado principals who use the Colorado State Model Evaluation System define critical thinking? Q2 How do Colorado principals who use the Colorado State Model Evaluation System identify the use of critical thinking in teacher practices in the general education classroom? The data collection process included semi-structured interviews that ranged from 15 minutes to 1 hour. Overall, three themes emerged from Research Question Q1. Theme one was critical thinking has many interpretations. Next, theme two was critical thinking includes a wide variety of skills. Lastly, theme three was critical thinking is embedded in education programs. Two themes emerged from Research Question Q2. Theme one was principals identify critical thinking through student engagement; in other words, the level at which students are engaged in student-talk, academic discourse, and critical thinking processes was key to the identification of critical thinking in teacher practices. The second theme in relation to Research Question Q2 was principals identify critical thinking through the teacher’s intentional instructional design of learning. An expanded discussion of the findings, recommendations for practice, policy, and recommendations for further research offer insight unique to this inquiry

Reciprocal teaching and its effect on inference skills to enhance reading comprehension

The purpose of this study is to determine how the use of reciprocal teaching affects the learning of inference skills in four, 4th grade excel readers. By utilizing reciprocal teaching as the instructional component and incorporating engaging read alouds, this study seeks to determine how these effect the development of inference skills. The students in this study received explicit instruction about inference skills and the reciprocal teaching model. Students participated in daily read alouds and reciprocal teaching for twenty minutes over the period of four weeks. Through teacher observations, focus group discussions, excerpts from teacher research journal, and video clips the study showed some increase in inference making among focus group participants. Out of four focus group participants, all participants increased their ability to make inferences in reading. The findings of this study suggest that read alouds along with reciprocal teaching, teacher questioning, and reader\u27s schema effect students\u27 development of inference skills in reading

Analysis of McCarthy Learning Styles and Integration of Critical and Creative Thinking

Bernice McCarthy has devised an instructional and organizational model that has been used in the United States since 1979. The model addresses an experiential cycle of learning that takes one from personal meaning to creativity. The use of this model helps people to understand and respect others, to communicate, and to think at higher levels. This thesis offers the McCarthy model as a foundation for structuring learning experiences. It begins with a literature review which discusses the theoretical origins of McCarthy\u27s model. In evaluating this model for its inherent critical and creative thinking skills, however, the author finds several areas that could be improved. These areas are designing activities which intentionally teach specific thinking skills along with subject content and providing more opportunities for student metacognition along with identification of the thinking skills and processes. The author further recommends that the use of free/open ended exploration in the start of any activity or exercise, would improve self directed learning along with critical and creative thinking skills and organizational skills. This may lead to greater student interest and learning. Attention to these ideas is found in the author\u27s restructuring of a McCarthy sample lesson. The author also fashions general guidelines for the further integration of thinking skill practices concerning individual styles of learning. Further application is provided for the reader in the author\u27s development of one critical and creative thinking skills lesson that is imbedded in learning about chicken feathers. Lesson activities incorporate cooperative learning strategies that foster group decision making skills. The fundamental requirements of our democratic society provide an effective rationale for focusing on thinking. Democracy, rests on informed, thoughtful, creative citizens. Teaching for thinking and creativity is essential and must include all learning styles. Teaching to this end can result with skilled thinkers, who are able to cope better with personal and societal problems, and furthermore, live as innovative lifelong learners who remain open to new experiences and ideas throughout life

A Study of Rigor, Teacher Self-Efficacy, and Student Achievement in Three High Schools in a Rural School District in Eastern North Carolina

This study investigated the importance of rigor and teacher efficacy in relation to student achievement. There are several definitions of the word rigor. Blackburn (2008) defined rigor as “An environment in which each student is expected to learn at high levels, each student is supported so he or she can learn at high levels, and each student demonstrates learning at high levels” (p. 16). ACT/SAT data, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the High School Survey of Student Engagement (HSSSE), and the High School Reform and Work all conclude that students who are college and career ready have graduated high school successfully, completing rigorous courses throughout their high school experience. Several strategies to increase rigor have been defined in this study: questioning (convergent and divergent), Bloom’s Taxonomy, Depth of Knowledge, International Baccalaureate (IB) program, the Advanced Placement (AP) program, Worksheets Don’t Grow Dendrites, and AVID (WICOR, Cornell Notes, Socratic Seminar, Philosophical Chairs, and Costa’s Levels of Inquiry). ”Self-efficacy is the optimistic self-belief in our competence or chances of successfully accomplishing a task and producing a favorable outcome” (Akhtar, 2008, para. 1). Self-efficacy leads to teacher efficacy, which is the teachers’ own belief of their “ability to plan instruction and accomplish instructional objectives” (Gavora, 2010, p. 2). This study analyzed one rural school district in eastern North Carolina, focusing on the three comprehensive high schools through surveys and interviews. The findings in this study indicated that teachers were incorporating rigor into their classrooms using several research-based strategies: differentiation, WICOR, higher order thinking questions, AVID strategies, and inquiry-based learning. Teachers need professional development with content knowledge, standards, lesson plan components, and strategies to meet the needs of all students. Teachers have an array of comfort levels with rigor in their classroom. The following recommendations focus on improving rigor in the school system by creating a budget for the sole purpose to assist with increasing rigor. Remote teaching, where students would meet in the library and sign on to their computers to stream the class. Provide professional development for teachers that focuses on content, how to implement rigor into their content, providing alternative strategies, student creativity and how to have students think critically. Provide all teachers with intense professional development on how to use and implement the Learning Focus Lesson Plan and train all teachers on AVID strategies (WICOR, Socratic Seminars, Cornell Notes, and Philosophical Chairs)

Critical thinking in education: What can the matter be?

The paper presents expert commentary on this issue, where informal logic and philosophy are found to be the favored approaches to the teaching of critical thinking, followed by the interpretation and evaluation of the two major types of programs used to teach critical thinking skills; Lipman\u27s Philosophy for Children program is explained as a specific class intended to teach children to reason by means of a dialogical, philosophical approach; Thoughtful teaching or the across-the-curriculum approach will be explained as to its basic parts, which are a selection of skills and a teaching method to introduce them. There is no universally accepted way of doing this plan, but Richard Paul\u27s successful approach is presented; The history of the Clark County School District (CCSD)\u27s critical thinking plan is detailed, followed by an analysis of its current status and contents. The CCSD Teaching Strategies for Thinking manual is evaluated. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.)