Search

Critical thinking skills are essential for success in life and work, and it is essential that learning strategies enable the development of critical thinking skills from the early years of schooling. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of cooperative learning using the RoundTable and Think-Pair-Share methods in the development of critical thinking skills such as observation, inference making, interpretation, analysis, and argumentation, in 4th graders students. The study employed a quasi-experimental design with a pretest and posttest using equivalent experimental and control groups. Results show that the use of cooperative learning, compared to a more traditional teaching methodology, was more effective in developing the critical thinking skills under study.

Even though Critical Thinking (CT) is an important goal for higher education institutions and labour market professionals, studies dealing with employers’ perceptions on CT meaning and envisioning ...

Developing optimum solutions to engineering problems typically relies on structured and complex thought processes that require evaluation, interpretation and opinion. Well-developed critical thinking (CT) skills are essential for dealing with the multi-dimensional nature of these problems. CT in an engineering context is well reported in teaching and learning academic literature. However, much of this is framed within theoretical and conceptual frameworks. Practical approaches of how CT skills are best promoted in engineering curricula are less common. A state-of-art review of practical interventions that target the development of CT in engineering students is presented. The review draws on 25 selected peer-reviewed journal articles in established engineering databases and focusses on teaching strategies where their effects in promoting CT skills in students are measured. Considerable variability in the reviewed literature was apparent. CT interventions and strategies are often reported, but metrics of their success in enhancing students’ CT is often limited to qualitative, subjective inferences. To more robustly and holistically ensure that CT is clearly embedded in university curricula, there needs to be well-funded research programmes that allow different methods to be developed and trialled over extended periods in higher education engineering programmes. European Commission The Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA)

This study examines the effects of cooperative learning interventions on college students’ critical thinking (CT) development. It presents the results of an investigation in which 19 students were assigned to work in a cooperative learning (experimental group) context, and 22 other students (control group) followed a lecture-based learning process. The development of the students’ critical thinking skills was subsequently assessed with a pre- and post-test. The results showed greater improvements in critical thinking skills among the students of the intervention group suggesting clearly that the effects of cooperative learning are very positive.

Critical Thinking (CT) education has been a field of growing concern within the Portuguese Higher Education (HE) context, in an attempt to meet the labour market needs and the most demanding and complex societal challenges. However, there is a lack of systematic literature review studies characterizing the different CT educational practices adopted by faculty teachers. Thus, this review intends to understand to what extent the Portuguese teachers in HE have been developing CT skills and dispositions in their students, in a continuous, explicit and effective way. Following the steps of review methods, 27 empirical studies complying with the inclusion criteria were analysed. Results show that CT educational practices are gradually increasing over the years, but they tend to be developed with an implicit, non-intentional and short-term basis, neglecting the development of CT dispositions in the classroom. Studies from different nature are needed (experimental, longitudinal) in order to assess the permanency or generalization of CT in students. Several difficulties were found and future work should stimulate the discussion on the ways to overcome them, guiding HE teachers and institutions in the development, support and evaluation of CT practices., A educação do Pensamento Crítico (PC) tem sido uma preocupação crescente no contexto do Ensino Superior (ES) português, tanto para satisfazer as necessidades do mercado de trabalho, como para responder aos desafios societais cada vez mais complexos. No entanto, há ainda uma carência de estudos sistemáticos de revisão da literatura que caracterizem as diferentes práticas educativas de PC adotadas pelos docentes universitários. Assim, a presente revisão pretende compreender em que sentido os docentes portugueses do ES têm desenvolvido competências e disposições de PC nos seus alunos, de forma contínua, explícita e eficaz. Seguindo as etapas de métodos de revisão da literatura, foram analisados 27 estudos empíricos. Os resultados mostram que, embora as práticas educativas de PC tenham aumentado gradualmente ao longo dos anos, as mesmas tendem a ser adotadas de forma implícita, não-intencional e em curtos períodos de tempo, desvalorizando o desenvolvimento de disposições de PC em sala de aula. Verifica-se a necessidade da existência de estudos complementares (experimentais, longitudinais), a fim de avaliar a permanência ou generalização do PC nos estudantes. Trabalhos futuros deverão estimular uma discussão mais aprofundada sobre como superar as dificuldades encontradas, orientando docentes e instituições de ES no desenvolvimento, suporte e avaliação de práticas educativas de PC., L’éducation à la Pensée Critique (PC) est un domaine de préoccupation croissante dans le contexte de l’Enseignement Supérieur (ES) portugais, pour répondre soit aux besoins du marché de travail, soit aux défis de plus en plus complexes de la société. Il existe cependant un manque d’études systématiques de révision de littérature qui caractérisent les différentes pratiques éducatives de la PC adoptées par les facultés. Ainsi, ce travail a l’intention de comprendre dans quelle mesure les enseignants portugais de l’ES développent des compétences et des dispositions de la PC chez leurs étudiants, d’une manière continue, intentionnelle et efficace. En suivant les étapes des méthodes de révision de littérature, 27 études empiriques ont été analysées. Les résultats montrent que, bien que les pratiques pédagogiques de la PC se développent, elles tendent à être adoptées implicitement, de manière non-intencionelle et sur des périodes de courte durée, minimisant le potentiel de développement de la PC. Il existe un besoin de plus d’études complèmentaires (expérimentales, longitudinales) afin d’évaluer la permanence ou généralisation de la PC chez les étudiants. Les travaux futurs devraient stimuler une discussion approfondie sur la manière de surmonter les difficultés rencontrées, orienter les enseignants et les établissements de l’ES dans le développement, le soutien et l’évaluation des pratiques éducatives de la PC., La educación en Pensamiento Crítico (PC) ha sido un campo de creciente preocupación dentro del contexto de la Educación Superior (ES) portuguesa, en un intento de satisfacer las necesidades del mercado de trabajo, y atender a los complejos desafíos sociales. Sin embargo, existe una carencia de estudios sistemáticos de revisión bibliográfica que caracterizan las diferentes prácticas educativas adoptadas por el profesorado. Por lo tanto, esta revisión intenta comprender en qué medida los profesores portugueses de ES han estado desarrollando habilidades y disposiciones de PC en sus alumnos, de manera continua, explícita y efectiva. Siguiendo los pasos de los métodos de revisión, se analizaron 27 estudios empíricos. Los resultados muestran que, aunque las prácticas educativas de PC han aumentado gradualmente, las mismas tienden a ser adoptadas de forma implícita, no intencional y de corta duración, desvalorizando el desarrollo de disposiciones de PC. Se observa la necesidad de más estudios complementares (experimentales, longitudinales), a fin de evaluar la permanencia o generalización del PC en los estudiantes. Los trabajos futuros deberán estimular una discusión más detallada sobre cómo superar las dificultades encontradas, orientando docentes e instituciones de ES en el desarrollo, soporte y evaluación de prácticas educativas de PC.

The use of argumentative strategies that promote the defense of well-grounded personal arguments contributes to the development of a critical, ethical and political thought that leads to responsible and socially committed people. Based on the quality of the produced arguments in philosophical essays, this work evaluates the potential application of a cooperative learning method – the constructive controversy – for the development of argumentative skills in secondary school students in philosophy. The quality of the arguments was evaluated through the analysis of a total of 144 philosophical essays produced by the students over a school year. The results point to the advantages of using this method over more traditional ones in the acquisition of argumentative skills.

Considering the results of research on the benefits and difficulties of peer review, this paper describes how teaching faculty, interested in endorsing the acquisition of communication and critical thinking (CT) skills among engineering students, has been implementing a learning methodology throughout online peer review activities. While introducing a new methodology, it is important to weight the advantages found and the conditions that might have restrained the activity outcomes, thereby modulating its overall efficiency. Our results show that several factors are decisive for the success of the methodology: the use of specific and detailed orientation guidelines for CT skills, the students’ training on how to deliver a meaningful feedback, the opportunity to counter-argument, the selection of good assignments’ examples, and the constant teacher's monitoring of the activity. Results also tackle other aspects of the methodology such as the thinking skills evaluation tools (grades and tests) that most suit...

Peer-assessed online collaborative writing is of growing importance for higher education. Based on the quantitative and qualitative analysis of collected data, this work presents the results of a case study in a graduate civil engineering course at the University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal. After an overall presentation of the learning activity, it examines students’ attitudes towards web-based peer assessment and identifies which factors are related to students’ use and appreciation of feedback. In addition, an analysis of the type of feedback is presented in an attempt to evaluate students’ written communication skills. The results of this study provide indications on how to improve the design and implementation of future web-based peer assessment tasks and raise questions on the effectiveness of peer/teacher grading in the use of feedback.

Educational policies keep stressing the importance of critical thinking skills for promotion of academic success in Higher Education, to facilitate transition into the labour market and to foster livelong learning. Curricula in Higher Education Institutions gradually meet this necessity, integrating strategies foreseeing the development of critical thought in students. However, at this level, we still commonly found teaching and learning strategies emphasizing a more or less passive knowledge transfer, focusing on the student’s ability to memorize information. Peer review and feedback, allied to cooperative work, are important components of active learning and development of critical thinking skills process. It is therefore important to understand the role and influence of feedback provision in peer review activities between cooperative groups. This study analyses the perceptions and attitudes of 27 students in two Masters Courses on the feedback given in peer review activities (between groups), based on their responses to a survey. Results showed, among other aspects, that collaborative work and feedback exchange between groups fostered the contact with different perspectives towards the same situation, and that its critical analysis allowed the students to enhance different skills, the most referred one being the critical thinking., As políticas educacionais têm vindo a enfatizar a importância do desenvolvimento de competências de pensamento crítico. Estas competências são cruciais para a promoção do sucesso escolar no Ensino Superior, para facilitar a entrada no mercado de trabalho e para apoiar a aprendizagem permanente. Os currículos das instituições de ensino superior têm vindo a responder a esta necessidade, contemplando estratégias para desenvolver nos estudantes a capacidade de pensar criticamente. Contudo, neste nível de ensino continuam a privilegiar-se estratégias que enfatizam a transferência de conhecimento mais ou menos passiva, com foco na capacidade do estudante memorizar informações. A revisão entre pares e o feedback aliados ao trabalho cooperativo são componentes importantes para uma aprendizagem ativa e para o desenvolvimento das competências de pensamento crítico. Por isso, é importante compreender o papel e a influência de dar feedback em atividades de revisão entre grupos cooperativos. Neste estudo analisam-se as perceções e atitudes de 27 alunos de dois cursos de mestrado sobre o feedback dado em atividades de revisão entre grupos de pares, com base nas suas respostas a um questionário. Os resultados mostraram, entre outros aspetos, que o trabalho colaborativo e o feedback entre os grupos promoveram o contacto com diferentes perspetivas em relação à mesma situação, e que a sua análise crítica permitiu aos alunos, no seu entender, melhorar diferentes competências, sendo a mais referida a do pensamento crítico., Les politiques éducatives récentes soulignent l’importance de développer des compétences de pensée critique. Ces compétences sont essentielles pour favoriser la réussite scolaire dans l’enseignement supérieur, faciliter l’entrée des étudiants dans le marché du travail et soutenir l’apprentissage continu. Les programmes des établissements d’enseignement supérieur essayent de répondre à ce besoin, en contemplant des stratégies éducatives qui visent à développer chez les élèves la capacité de penser de façon critique. Toutefois, à ce niveau d’éducation, on continue de donner la priorité à des stratégies qui mettent l’accent sur le transfert des connaissances, en privilégiant la capacité des élèves à mémoriser des informations. La révision par les pairs et la rétroaction (feedback) alliées au travail coopératif sont des éléments importants d›apprentissage et de développement actif des compétences de la pensée critique. Il est donc indispensable de comprendre le rôle et l’influence de l’apport du feedback aux activités de révision entre groupes coopératifs. Cette étude analyse les perceptions et les attitudes de 27 élèves de deux masters sur le feedback donné lors d’activités de révision par de groupes de pairs, issues de leurs réponses à un questionnaire. Les résultats ont montré, entre autres aspects, que le travail et le feedback collaboratifs entre les groupes ont favorisé le contact avec des perspectives différentes à l’égard de la même situation, et que son analyse critique a permis aux étudiants d’améliorer certaines de leurs compétences, la plus soulignée étant la pensée critique.

Acquisition of clinical skills is of upmost importance for health sciences professionals, and a guarantee that safe and effective patient care will be provided. Clinical competencies may encompass a series of skills that are introduced through graduation and developed during professional activity, namely the technical skills, communication skills, clinical reasoning and reflexion in daily practice. Therefore, clinical competence is not a static skill, but it grows with practice and is lifelong learning. Case-based learning is frequently used to enhance learning in clinical reasoning and judgment for rational decision-making, competencies that are also associated to critical thinking. To be effective, casebased activities need to be structured, the learning objectives adjusted to each situation and students sought to be guided throughout the activity, so that they are actively engaged in the learning process bridging learning to professional environments. In this paper the authors present a model for a case-based activity aiming to enhance clinical competency in health science students. Framed by the application of the FRISCO guidelines adapted in previous work, the authors illustrate, by an example, how, in the proposed activity, congruence may be achieved among intended learning, instructional activities, and assessment methods while teaching diagnostic reasoning to health sciences students.