Critical thinking (CT) in the new nursing graduate continues to be a topic of concern in the academic and acute care settings. While research studies have analyzed critical thinking skills (CTS) at the beginning and end of nursing programs, few have focused on early program evaluation of CT. In this non-experimental, explanatory, quantitative…

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships between students' perceptions of online discussions, participation and e-moderation behaviours in peer-moderated asynchronous online discussions. Using survey data, the learning system's activity log and discussion transcripts, the authors analysed how 84 learners' perceptions of online…

Literacy scholar Alfred Tatum has argued for a model for literacy with African-American male adolescents that includes the particular needs and contexts of this population. He describes this as an "anatomically complete" model and bases his model on a set of four "vital signs" that, combined, help increase student achievement.…

One way that universities assess teaching effectiveness is by eliciting student feedback. However, what standards do students themselves use to judge whether a lecturer is a 'good' teacher? As part of a study carried out at a Hong Kong university, students were interviewed about their first-year learning experience and asked what they felt…

In recent years, there has been much interest in the development of thinking skills in the education circles in Malaysia. Nevertheless, more effort needs to be placed on providing skills in developing the critical thinking literacy level of English as a second language (ESL) secondary school students, and its implication on the practice of…

The Science Writing Heuristic (SWH) laboratory approach is a teaching and learning tool which combines writing, inquiry, collaboration and reflection, and provides scaffolding for the development of critical thinking skills. In this study, the California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST) was used to measure the critical thinking skills of…

This paper intends to investigate the effectiveness of a new course pattern--TED-motivated English Public Speaking Course in EFL teaching in China. This class framework adopts TED videos as the learning materials to stimulate students to be a better speaker. Meanwhile, it aims to examine to what extent the five aspects of language skills are…

The present study aimed to determine critical thinking dispositions of pre-service Turkish language and primary teachers in terms of several variables by employing descriptive survey design. The study group consisted of 215 senior students attending Turkish Language Teaching and Primary Education Departments of Necatibey Faculty of Education at…

How school librarians focus on activating critical thinking through traditional literacy development can proactively set the stage for the deep thinking that occurs in all literacy development. The critical-thinking skills students build while becoming accomplished readers and writers provide the foundation for learning in a variety of…

In this article I first discuss how in Singapore the concept of meritocracy captures both elitist and egalitarian aspirations, and the ways in which its education policies have for a long time vacillated between these conflicting dimensions. I then argue that critical studies of meritocracy need to go beyond an understanding of the term as an…

This paper explores the transitions that a group of students, admitted from further education colleges as part of broader widening access initiative at a Scottish research-intensive university, made across the lifetime of their degrees. It investigates how they negotiate their learning careers beyond the first year, and how they (re)define their…

This research examines how the use of the CAT (Critical thinking Assessment Test) and involvement in CAT-Apps (CAT Applications within the discipline) training can serve as an important part of a faculty development model that assists faculty in the assessment of students' critical thinking skills and in the development of these skills within…

In theory, engaging students in discussion helps them learn how to understand and think critically about texts. Researchers have sought to identify effective features of teacher-led text-based discussions by designing specific discussion-group programs and investigating their influence on students' comprehension in upper elementary classrooms.…

In this article, the author considers the place of drama in the formal curriculum in Ontario, Canada by considering its position in relation to curriculum theory and the texts that formally articulate it as a discipline to be taught in schools. The drama curriculum in Ontario aims to engage young people in activities and experiences that invite…

Numerous studies have investigated the changing patterns of immigration, the growth of multicultural-multilingual societies, and the important role of language in identity construction. Unfortunately, the issue of identity construction is affected by a variety of factors such as language learning and acquisition underlying different contexts and…