The influence of high- and low-level questions on critical thinking ability and the retention of gains in critical thinking ability effected by question types

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of low- and high-level questions on critical thinking ability and the retention of gains in critical thinking ability effected by question types. -- In cooperation with the principal and staff of Ascension Collegiate, Bay Roberts, Newfoundland, and by permission of the Avalon North Integrated School Board, five grade ten classes in social studies, comprising 155 students, were made available for the experimental group. -- Following random assignment of students to treatments, each class used the same material but differed with respect to teaching procedure. Treatment material consisted of two sets of questions as determined by the criteria for high-level and low-level types identified in Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: Cognitive Domains. Treatment 1 used a teaching procedure which stressed low-level questions emphasizing responses indicative of learning outcomes representative of the lowest level of understanding. Treatment 2 employed a teaching procedure which stressed high-level questions and emphasized learning outcomes as defined for analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Treatment 3 consisted of a control group which received no supporting learning experiences based on questioning strategy. -- The Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal, Form Ym, was used on two occasions: as a post-test immediately following the experimental procedure of 21 days, and as a delayed post-test one month after the post-test. A one-way ANOVA with two measures of effect was used to analyze the data. Anticipated use of the Scheffe Method of Multiple Comparisons intended for further interpretation of data, was not conducted since no significant differences between treatments were found. -- Analysis of the data revealed that low- and high-level questions had no influence on critical thinking ability of students in social studies at the grade ten level

Measurements of Rate Coefficients for Reactions of OH with Ethanol and Propan-2-ol at Very Low Temperatures.

The low temperature kinetics of the reactions of OH with ethanol and propan-2-ol have been studied using a pulsed Laval nozzle apparatus coupled with pulsed laser photolysis-laser-induced fluorescence (PLP-LIF) spectroscopy. The rate coefficients for both reactions have been found to increase significantly as the temperature is lowered, by approximately a factor of 18 between 293 and 54 K for ethanol, and by ∼10 between 298 and 88 K for OH + propan-2-ol. The pressure dependence of the rate coefficients provides evidence for two reaction channels: a zero pressure bimolecular abstraction channel leading to products and collisional stabilization of a weakly bound OH-alcohol complex. The presence of the abstraction channel at low temperatures is rationalized by a quantum mechanical tunneling mechanism, most likely through the barrier to hydrogen abstraction from the OH moiety on the alcohol