This study describes the thinking strategies and epistemological stances of two Bible experts, who applied a literary and historical interpretive approach, respectively. A thinking-aloud protocols methodology was used as the two scholars read the same biblical story and verbalized their thoughts. The findings reveal intricate relationships between…

Recent scholarship in multiliteracies-oriented pedagogies has advocated for greater attention to fostering 'textual thinking', understood as forms of literacy that consider the complexities of semiotic choices made by authors, and their underlying meanings, rhetorical purposes, and cultural contexts. This kind of engagement with texts calls upon…

Stimulating thinking related to mathematical content is the focus of many tasks in the mathematics classroom. Beyond such content-related thinking, promoting forms of higher order thinking is among the goals of mathematics instruction as well. So-called hybrid tasks focus on combining both goals: they aim at fostering mathematical thinking and…

This paper marks the second in a series of five reports detailing the work of the Optimizing Assessment for All (OAA) project at Brookings to strengthen education systems capacity to integrate 21st century skills into teaching and learning, using assessment as a lever for changing classroom practices. Twenty-first century skills (21CS) are now…

The examination of problem-solving processes continues to be a current research topic in education. Knowing how to solve problems is not only a key aspect of learning mathematics but is also at the heart of cognitive theories, linguistics, artificial intelligence, and computers sciences. Problem solving is a multistep, higher-order cognitive task…

The need to cultivate students' use of metacognitive strategies in critical thinking has been emphasized in the related literature. The present study aimed at examining the role of metacognitive strategies in critical thinking. Ten university students with comparable cognitive ability, thinking disposition and academic achievement but with…

The purpose of this research was to investigate instructional conditions aimed at improving future teachers' reflective thinking, to systematically trace how features of a guided instructional procedure influenced these teachers' pedagogical reasoning. The reflective thinking protocol that formed the basis of the instructional approach was built…

This study was conducted to examine the statistical relationship between problem solving and critical thinking to guide future teaching and research for agricultural educators using the problem-solving approach. Students enrolled in an undergraduate genetics course in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Florida were…

This article investigates the critical thinking difficulties of finance majors when asked to address ill-structured finance problems. The authors build on previous research in which they asked students to analyze an ill-structured investment problem and recommend a course of action. The results revealed numerous critical thinking weaknesses,…

Through an examination of one undergraduate American history course at a large university in the southeastern United States via interview, observation and content analysis, we attempted to discern if the pedagogical methodology was relating to the students in such a way as to foster students' ability to construct meaning beyond simply…

Discusses ways in which talk during writing and group discussion can help children's writing, including (1) helping teachers learn to listen, (2) teaching children to elaborate and clarify, (3) giving children experience with an audience and reasons for writing, (4) helping children gather ideas and assistance, and (5) teaching children to be…

This study examines the effect of training in think alouds on literal and higher-order reading comprehension. Thirty-two (n = 32) eighth grade students of English as a foreign language (EFL) participated in the study. The participants were randomly assigned to control and experimental conditions. Descriptive statistics, correlation coefficients,…

In a study to evaluate an approach for improving the critical thinking skills of middle school science students, 60 students were given the assignment of completing three guided laboratory activities and writing a report for each. In writing their reports, students were expected to identify the manipulated variable, identify the responding…