Using Socratic Questioning to Promote Critical Thinking Skills Through Asynchronous Discussion Forums in Distance Learning Environments

2005 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 163-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ya-Ting C. Yang ◽  
Timothy J. Newby ◽  
Robert L. Bill
2005 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 36-48
Author(s):  
Marlene S. Kuhtmann

Nussbaum (1998) proposed that Socratic activity is a worthwhile pursuit with regard to academic advising relationships. While it offers the promise of certain benefits, such as the development of critical thinking skills, Socratic activity arguably cannot be universally applied to all advising relationships. In presenting and analyzing issues related to the Socratic method, I offer support for a model of quasi-Socratic activity in advising as first identified by Hagen (1994). Referred to as “beneficial dialectic,” it can function from a more contextual standpoint than the traditional Socratic questioning method because through it advisors can consider factors such as level of student development, learning environments, and individual proclivities.


Author(s):  
Jianxia Du ◽  
George Pate

Creating quality online instruction is a challenging task for most online instructors, with promoting engaging online discussions being the most difficult part of the instruction. Instructors frequently struggle with creating online discussions that will promote “critical thinking skills” (Toledo, 2006, p. 150) in an asynchronous environment instead of simply presenting dead-end questions that go nowhere. This article will review several suggested variances in online discussions that allow engaged critical thinking, promote subject matter understanding along with group member and individual online discussion participation, and assist instructors in choosing appropriate methods for their particular instructional goals.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (01) ◽  
pp. 87-96
Author(s):  
Mutmainnah

This study aims to look at educators' strategies, ideally in distance learning (online), because when the Covid-19 pandemic appears everything has changed, educators make new strategies in fostering critical thinking in early childhood during a pandemic that hits the whole world, or which is called Covid-19. This research was conducted with a qualitative approach in the form of a case study method to gain knowledge about educators' strategies in developing critical thinking skills in early childhood. Subject selection. Data collection was carried out by using an interactive model with data analysis, namely data reduction, data presentation, drawing conclusions and verification. The results showed that first, during the Covid-19 pandemic children studied at home using distance learning (online); second, there is a strategy from early childhood educators in developing critical thinking skills as long as children learn via long distance (online), that is, children are invited to continue playing while learning even at home, providing an understanding that children are required to wear masks when outside the home, children must use hands sanitizer or washing hands while playing and after playing, explaining to children why they cannot play activities outside home.


2016 ◽  
pp. 27-46
Author(s):  
Howard V. Coleman ◽  
Jeremy Dickerson ◽  
Dennis Dotterer

This chapter presents theories, issues and practices for creating effective, technologically rich learning environments in schools. In the digital age, teachers and school leaders must work together to ensure the development of higher level critical thinking skills for students. Using Bloom's Revised Taxonomy of Knowledge and Webb's Depth of Knowledge as theoretical guides, this chapter discusses how teachers may move towards more flexible, student-centered instructional models rather than traditional teacher-centered methodologies. Guiding questions are presented to assist teachers in determining what to consider when designing technology-enhanced instruction to promote higher level critical thinking skills. Topics include a review of technological factors influencing technology integration, modifications of teacher practices to best match the changing culture in K-12 classrooms, examinations of pedagogical practices in techno-centric classrooms, current and future professional development needs for teachers, and the importance of assessment and evaluation in monitoring the effectiveness of instructional practices in 21st Century learning environments.


2017 ◽  
pp. 1235-1254
Author(s):  
Howard V. Coleman ◽  
Jeremy Dickerson ◽  
Dennis Dotterer

This chapter presents theories, issues and practices for creating effective, technologically rich learning environments in schools. In the digital age, teachers and school leaders must work together to ensure the development of higher level critical thinking skills for students. Using Bloom's Revised Taxonomy of Knowledge and Webb's Depth of Knowledge as theoretical guides, this chapter discusses how teachers may move towards more flexible, student-centered instructional models rather than traditional teacher-centered methodologies. Guiding questions are presented to assist teachers in determining what to consider when designing technology-enhanced instruction to promote higher level critical thinking skills. Topics include a review of technological factors influencing technology integration, modifications of teacher practices to best match the changing culture in K-12 classrooms, examinations of pedagogical practices in techno-centric classrooms, current and future professional development needs for teachers, and the importance of assessment and evaluation in monitoring the effectiveness of instructional practices in 21st Century learning environments.


EAD em FOCO ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fábio Luiz Da Silva ◽  
Fabiane Tais Muzardo ◽  
Juliana Chueire Lyra

O desenvolvimento do pensamento crítico é um dos objetivos do ensino, tanto no presencial quanto na modalidade a distância (EaD). No ensino a distância, o contato face a face entre professor e aluno é substituído pela interação por meio de ferramentas virtuais de aprendizagem, com destaque para os fóruns de discussão on-line. Esta pesquisa buscou refletir sobre a possibilidade de os fóruns desenvolverem o pensamento crítico dos alunos. Para isso realizou-se um estudo de caso com 28 alunos que cursavam licenciatura na modalidade a distância. Os participantes foram divididos em grupo de controle e grupo experimental; este foi submetido a intervenções no fórum baseadas na Taxionomia de Bloom revisada. O desempenho dos alunos foi analisado por meio da aplicação de pré-teste e pós-teste. Os resultados obtidos indicam que, no caso estudado, não houve diferença significativa entre os dois grupos. Apesar disso, acreditamos que o fórum pode colaborar para o desenvolvimento do pensamento crítico caso faça parte de uma remodelagem dos ciclos de formação dos cursos.Palavras-chave: Pensamento crítico, Fórum de discussão on-line, Taxionomia de Bloom.Development of Critical Thinking in College Students: the Usage of On-line Discussion ForumsAbstract The development of critical thinking is one of the objectives of education, as much on classroom education as in distance education (Ead). In distance education, the face to face contact between professor and student is replaced byvirtual tools for learning, with emphasis on the online discussion forums. This research seeks to reflect about the possibility that the forums develop the students critical thinking skills. For that, a case study was carried out with 28 students who attended to licentiate degree classes on the distance education mode. The participants were divided in Control Group and Study Group, being the latter one submitted to interventions on the forum based on revised Blooms taxonomy. The students performance was analyzed by means of usage of pre-test and post-test. The results obtained indicate that, in the case studied, there wasnt any substantial difference between the two groups.Despite this, we believe that the forum can contribute to the development of critical thinking if it is part of a reshaping of the course cycles.Keywords: Critical thinking, Online discussion forums, Blooms taxonomy.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moosa Ahmed Ali Sulaiman

With the premise that effective use of Socratic Questioning in instructional practices is of vital importance in EFL/ESL classrooms, this study was undertaken to investigate application of Omani EFL teachers’ knowledge of Socratic Questioning (SQ) on Students’ Critical thinking (CT) in post basic schools. This study is conducted in two phases of investigation. Phase I examined the correlation between teachers’ knowledge and actual use of SQ. Phase II study investigated the application of Omani EFL teachers’ knowledge of SQ on students’ CT in post-basic schools. The present study made an attempt to (a) Determine the relationship between teachers’ knowledge of SQ and their actual use of SQ. (b) Ascertain whether there is any statistically significant difference between mean scores of those who are taught through SQ and those who are taught CT skills in a normal setting. (c) Identify CT strategies, the students were able to develop and apply at the end of the intervention phase. A total of 230 EFL teachers, which comprises a 100% of the total population of all EFL post-basic female teachers in Dhofar region of Oman, participated in this study. The multi-method procedures and data analyses showed that (a) There is a strong positive relationship between teachers’ perceived knowledge and their actual use of SQ; (b) There are significant differences between mean scores of those who were taught CT through SQ and those who were taught CT skills in a normal setting; (c) There is a clear evidence to suggest that students in the experimental group were able to develop effective CT strategies during the intervention phase. The findings of this study offer a number of implications: (a) For instructional practice that involves the teachers and students; (b) For policy and decision makers; and (c) For syllabus designers and testing and evaluation. In addition, it identifies and proposes certain areas related to pedagogy for future research.


Author(s):  
Howard V. Coleman ◽  
Jeremy Dickerson ◽  
Dennis Dotterer

This chapter presents theories, issues and practices for creating effective, technologically rich learning environments in schools. In the digital age, teachers and school leaders must work together to ensure the development of higher level critical thinking skills for students. Using Bloom's Revised Taxonomy of Knowledge and Webb's Depth of Knowledge as theoretical guides, this chapter discusses how teachers may move towards more flexible, student-centered instructional models rather than traditional teacher-centered methodologies. Guiding questions are presented to assist teachers in determining what to consider when designing technology-enhanced instruction to promote higher level critical thinking skills. Topics include a review of technological factors influencing technology integration, modifications of teacher practices to best match the changing culture in K-12 classrooms, examinations of pedagogical practices in techno-centric classrooms, current and future professional development needs for teachers, and the importance of assessment and evaluation in monitoring the effectiveness of instructional practices in 21st Century learning environments.


Assessing student understanding and extending student learning beyond the face-to-face or synchronous online lesson is commonly done with the use of online discussion forums. However, the challenge reported by tutors of higher education has always been the lack of active participation and critical engagement by students unless the task is graded formally. Researchers have been investigating various approaches to facilitate effective learning experiences such that students are motivated to engage others when they are tasked to partake in such asynchronous discussions. This paper explores how I sought to engage my Engineering undergraduate students, reading a critical thinking and writing module taught in a blended learning environment, in online discussion forums with the adoption of the Paul-Elder critical thinking framework. The aim was to develop higher levels of criticality in thought in students’ forum responses, while demonstrating the application of the critical thinking tools, such that they were able to collaboratively construct knowledge and deepen their conceptual understanding of Engineering leadership. Results of the analysis found that students were engaged in spontaneous dialogic discussions in the form of repeated extended posts published in the online discussion forums. Furthermore, analysis of student critical reflection essays also confirmed that the online discussion forums, with a deliberate use of the tools of the framework, had contributed to their development of critical thinking skills to deepen their understanding. This paper concludes with a recommendation for tutors of higher education to make the assessment of students’ critical reflection or critical thinking skills visible for students with a proposed conceptual framework for online discussion forums.


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