The purpose of this study was to evaluate high school students' performance in analyzing complex arguments with the support of an off-the-shelf argument mapping software, Rationale™, which provides diagramming tools with guided prompts. This study attempts to: (1) evaluate the quality of student's argument maps in terms of structural…

Research shows that using computer-aided mapping tools improves critical thinking skills, but prior research provides limited evidence to show how the use of specific critical thinking skills increases map quality. This qualitative study observed 4 experts and 5 novices use a computer-aided mapping tool to construct argument maps. The analysis of…

The purpose of this study is to examine secondary school students' mathematical reasoning about the area of the circle. Mathematical tasks designed using GeoGebra were performed within the context of the 5E-based flipped classroom approach. The participants of the study are 13 secondary school students. The tasks, video and audio recordings…

In this paper, we describe the design for PurpleState, an internship simulation that applies the epistemic game model for informed civic learning. PurpleState places students in the role of interns at a political media firm and asks them to design a media campaign on a state level policy issue. Unlike the use of these models in STEM education,…

In this paper, we propose a pedagogical approach for teaching and learning multimodal literacy, specifically, the application of multimodal discourse analysis for genre awareness. The mastery of specific oral genres is seen as desirable to help students become competent professionals. This is the case of Product Pitches (PPs) in the business field…

Developing higher-order critical thinking skills as one of the central objectives of education has been recently facilitated via software packages. Whereas one such technology as computer-aided argument mapping is reported to enhance levels of critical thinking (van Gelder 2001), its application as a pedagogical tool in English as a Foreign…

Our main goal in this study is to exemplify that a meticulous design can lead pre-service teachers to engage in productive unguided peer argumentation. By productivity, we mean here a shift from reasoning based on intuitions to reasoning moved by logical necessity. As a subsidiary goal, we aimed at identifying the kinds of reasoning processes…

An argument map visually represents the structure of an argument, outlining its informal logical connections and informing judgments as to its worthiness. Argument mapping can be augmented with dedicated software that aids the mapping process. Empirical evidence suggests that semester-length subjects using argument mapping along with dedicated…

In this paper we describe a simple software system that allows students to practise their critical thinking skills by constructing argument maps of natural language arguments. As the students construct their maps of an argument, the system provides automatic, real time feedback on their progress. We outline the background and theoretical framework…

Relational thinking plays a central role in human cognition. However, it is not known how children and adults acquire relational concepts and come to represent them in a form that is useful for the purposes of relational thinking (i.e., as structures that can be dynamically bound to arguments). The authors present a theory of how a psychologically…

We examine the effect of online Argumentation Vee Diagrams (AVDs) on the quality of students' argumentation during asynchronous, online discussions. With AVDs, students develop arguments on both sides of a controversial issue and then develop an integrated, overall final conclusion. In this study, students used AVDs individually before composing…

Thinking skills are important and education is expected to develop them. Empirical results suggest that formal education makes a modest and largely indirect difference. This paper will describe the early stages of an ongoing curriculum initiative in the teaching of critical reasoning skills in the philosophy curriculum on the Howard College Campus…