This article speaks on a critical component of independent learning is to cultivate the habit of self-study, which is an effective way of improving students' grades, material understanding, class participation, and confidence. Self-study also enables students to be independent learners, which not only hones their critical and reasoning skills but…

This study focused on comparing the effects on 32 students' argumentative writing qualities when they worked alone or collaborated in pairs and groups and explored the students' opinions towards critical thinking across different writing activities. The 32 students were divided into groups of four (n=8), pairs (n=16) and individuals (n=32). Their…

This exploratory case study focuses on the development and implementation of a task called the Inventive English Word Formation in Public Spaces for an undergraduate English Morphology course within the English Language Education program of a university in Indonesia. This task was created based on students' feedback that they disliked the typical…

It is commonly accepted in the academy that developing a critical thinking capacity and related capabilities will make students more effective thinkers and writers, and that these are desirable traits for graduates to have no matter what path they take after graduation. While most academics agree that critical thinking is an essential component of…

One of the challenges that many gender studies instructors face is making complex topics--such as gender identities, political theory, and media criticism--current, interesting, and relevant to students' lives. In order to help students connect feminist theory to their own experiences, the author suggest incorporating "zines" into gender…

Due to a rapid development and expansion of technology and, as a result, Web 2.0 technologies are providing both teachers and learners with new solutions to the limitations of traditional method in the field of language teaching and learning. The research compared students' writing ability before and after they were taught through blog, a new…

Increasingly, national stakeholders express concern that U.S. college graduates cannot adequately solve problems and think critically. As a set of cognitive abilities, critical thinking skills provide students with tangible academic, personal, and professional benefits that may ultimately address these concerns. As an instructional method, writing…

The use of critical thinking and collaborative learning enhances the research process by establishing a disciplined yet supportive research and publication procedure. In addition, these methods provide common assumptions about the validity and reliability of research findings, while encouraging diverse points of view. Critical thinking helps…

Primary sources in religion and history enable first year university students to connect "content-based" linked courses in the core curriculum. Fifty-four first year university students in three separate pairs of courses worked in teams to present oral critical reports on texts related to the Reformation, the Enlightenment, and the…

A technique for starting college students on research paper projects is outlined. The approach, requiring students to begin with a five-minute writing exercise that can form the nucleus of a longer, more intellectually demanding paper involving library work, is felt to stimulate critical thinking and minimize plagiarism. Phased report development…

Describes exercises in which students create a fictional character from history and write a journal entry in a cooperative group activity. Discusses further assignments in which individual students create additional characters descended from the original for study of later historical periods. Suggests that the project demonstrates how historical…

Suggests that defining critical thinking as assessing authenticity, accuracy, and worth of knowledge claims and arguments also describes the historian's role. Recommends teaching students history in such a way as to necessitate higher level thinking skills. Argues that the writing process helps because it requires evaluation of existing data and…

Argues that effective history instruction requires students to think about content rather than merely reproduce it. Contends that this can be achieved best through peer interaction based on student research papers that require students to state opinions or positions. Provides an assignment example and a evaluation handout. (CFR)