Study on Critical Thinking of South Korean High School Students in Science Learning

This study intended to clarify the realities of critical thinking of South Korean high school students in science learning. A 42-question survey was conducted on 156 1st-year South Korean high school students to achieve this end. The results indicated that, as well as having a strong curiosity about phenomena, students collect as much experimental data as possible, carefully ascertain cause and thoroughly examine and interpret results. The results also showed that students tend to focus on the collection of experimental data and its interpretation more so than the validity and reproducibility of the experiment and that there is an issue in that they lack a healthy skepticism for things. In addition, the causal relationship of “the deeper a student thinks about things and the more they ascertain the significance and essence, the more carefully they collect experimental data and examine its interpretation” was also clarified as a factor structure that influences the critical thinking of students. At the same time, the causal relationship of “the more inquisitive the student, the more they think about things with a healthy skepticism and without blindly accepting external information, focus on the validity and reproducibility of the experiment and reflect on their own ideas and actions” was also clarified

The TAO-Gen Algorithm for Identifying Gene Interaction Networks with Application to SOS Repair in E. coli

One major unresolved issue in the analysis of gene expression data is the identification and quantification of gene regulatory networks. Several methods have been proposed for identifying gene regulatory networks, but these methods predominantly focus on the use of multiple pairwise comparisons to identify the network structure. In this article, we describe a method for analyzing gene expression data to determine a regulatory structure consistent with an observed set of expression profiles. Unlike other methods this method goes beyond pairwise evaluations by using likelihood-based statistical methods to obtain the network that is most consistent with the complete data set. The proposed algorithm performs accurately for moderate-sized networks with most errors being minor additions of linkages. However, the analysis also indicates that sample sizes may need to be increased to uniquely identify even moderate-sized networks. The method is used to evaluate interactions between genes in the SOS signaling pathway in Escherichia coli using gene expression data where each gene in the network is over-expressed using plasmids inserts

A Research Study on the Critical Thinking of Junior High School Students in Science

This study intended to clarify the realities of critical thinking of junior high school students in science learning as well as the factor structure influencing it. A 35-question survey was conducted on 663 1st- to 3rd-year junior high school students to achieve this end. 　 The results indicated that although there were no differences observed in "exploratory and rational thinking", "multi-faceted thinking" and "a feeling of healthy skepticism" as the realities of critical thinking, "reflective thinking" is not working as compared to the others. In addition, the causal relationship of "the more a student engages in exploratory and rational thinking, the more they engage in reflective thinking" was also clarified as a factor structure that influences the critical thinking of students. At the same time, the causal relationship of "the more a student engages in multi-faceted thinking, the more they engage in reflective thinking" was also clarified

A Research Study on the Critical Thinking of University Students in Science

This study was intended to clarify the reality of critical thinking of university students in science and the structure of factors that affect it. A questionnaire consisting of 25 items was administered to 213 first-year university students aspiring to be teachers of elementary, junior high and senior high schools to achieve this end. The results indicated the following characteristics of the reality of critical thinking: (a) "emphasis on rationale" and "emphasis on evidence" is significantly lower than "reflective thinking" and "curiosity", and (b) "healthy skepticism" is significantly lower than all factors other than "emphasis on evidence." In addition, the results revealed the following as the structure of factors that affect critical thinking: (c) "emphasis on rationale" and "emphasis on evidence" affects "reflective thinking", (d) "healthy skepticism" affects both "emphasis on rationale" and "emphasis on evidence", which are keys to "reflective thinking", and (e) "curiosity" affects "emphasis on evidence"

The Case Study of the Instructional Method to Develop Critical Thinking in Junior High School Science

In this study, we propose an instructional method to develop "the critical thinking in science" for junior high school students. In the method students will sketch "causal relation map" which illustrates reasoning processes of causal relations. The maps are examined by students to make own reasoning process explicit. In order to investigate effectiveness of the method, we conducted a class in which 81 students take a science course at an affiliated junior high school. Based on their writings on questionnaires and worksheets for the class, we conclude that our method can improve their circumspection which is a part of the critical thinking attitude of science

Differences between bipolar and unipolar depression on Rorschach testing

Background: The bipolar-unipolar distinction in patients with a major depressive episode is the most important issue related to the diagnosis and treatment of mood disorders, but remains unresolved. This study was undertaken to compare bipolar and unipolar depression on Rorschach testing using the Comprehensive System with reference to healthy Japanese controls. Methods: Patients with bipolar or unipolar depression who had undergone the Rorschach test for routine clinical purposes were followed up naturalistically for a long period. Based on diagnostic confirmation after long-term follow-up, scores on this test for patients with bipolar and unipolar depression were compared with those published elsewhere for healthy Japanese controls. Results: The bipolar depression group showed significantly higher scores or positive findings in five variables of the Rorschach test, ie, WSum6, DR2 > 0, (CF + C) > FC + 2, PureC > 1, and Populars > 7, as assessed using the Comprehensive System, than did the unipolar depression group and healthy controls. These scores did not differ between the unipolar depression and control groups. Conclusion: The results of this study show thought disorder or cognitive slippage and marked laxness in modulating emotion in bipolar depression, indicating the psychopathological characteristics of bipolar disorder