There are always challenges in teaching K-12 students Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics which is called STEM subjects due to the scientific nature of these disciplines that require strong and higher order thinking along with the ability to connect abstract concepts and relate to them. Additionally, there is a decrease in number of…

This thesis examines children's thinking, learning and metacognition when designing their own computer games. The study aims to understand more about what kind of learning takes place, and how it emerges whilst children are authoring their own computer games. The aim is to get an insight into the cognitive processes students exercise that…

Indiana's declining SAT scores prompted the publisher of a statewide magazine covering the literary, performing, and visual arts to take action and create a program to use the magazine as a supplemental resource for students. It was believed that such a supplemental resource could enhance critical thinking and writing skills and help raise SAT…

This report describes a project for increasing student's ability to comprehend and respond in a reflective manner. The targeted population consisted of 2nd, 3rd, and 5th grade classes in a community unit district located in a suburb of a large midwestern city. The problem of a student's inability to comprehend and respond in a reflective manner…

How the use of portfolios in the classroom will influence the higher order thinking skills is the main focus of this project. The introduction of portfolios as assessment tools is rather new to educational research, but does offer a legitimate area for serious study. Portfolios when used by students can offer them not only a way to showcase their…

This report describes a program for enhancing critical thinking skills within the high school English and theatre classrooms. The targeted population consists of high school students in two multicultural middle-class suburbs of Chicago. The lack of critical thinking in the classroom was documented through data garnered from teacher observations,…

This study examined adult educators' perceptions of components related to critical thinking, including definitions of critical thinking, instructional methods used, and methods of measuring students' growth. A self-report survey method elicited responses from adult educators who currently teach or previously taught adult education courses in…

This report investigated to what extent a curriculum designed to actively teach critical thinking skills resulted in students utilizing higher-order thinking skills (e.g., analysis, synthesis and evaluation). An intervention strategy was designed for a sixth grade class located in a diverse suburban community in northern Illinois. The intervention…

This study describes a program designed to increase the communication skills of at-risk students. The targeted population consists of kindergarten through third grade students in two elementary schools in a community in central Illinois. The status of family income ranges from low to high levels. Evidence for the existence of inadequate…

This report describes a program for developing and improving critical thinking skills in adolescents in order to prepare them for life-long learning. The targeted population consisted of high school math and social studies students from two middle-class communities located in northern Illinois. The students' lack of critical thinking skills was…

A study examined the change in the critical thinking skills of associate degree nursing students as they progressed through their educational process at the Reedsburg campus of Madison Area Technical College (MATC) in Wisconsin. The study sample consisted of two cohorts of 24 students each (students entering MATC's associate degree nursing program…

This report describes a program for improving students' mathematical thinking skills through improved use of mathematics vocabulary and numerical operations. The targeted population includes sixth grade general education mathematics students and ninth grade special education mathematics students. The students' inabilities to effectively solve…

The view of the researcher is that students in the upper elementary to middle school range need to increase their problem-solving skills by making logical deductions and organizing and structuring their thoughts through the use of word problems. Giving children a daily word problem challenged and introduced them to the lesson. This activity…

The purpose of this project was to examine the levels of achievement and metacognition in expressing mathematics understanding and problem solving processes by students in a second grade classroom when the students used writing in daily mathematics learning according to their scores on a mathematical problem solving assessment and individual…

A research project implemented a program to increase skills in critiquing art at the elementary level. The targeted population consisted of students in fifth grade in a lower-to-middle-class community located in western Illinois. Evidence used to support the problem's existence included the local visual art assessment test, teacher observations,…