scholarly journals Using Asynchronous, Online Discussion Forums to Explore How Life Sciences Students Approach an Ill-Structured Problem

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 138-160
Author(s):  
Foong May Yeong
Keyword(s):  
Online Discussion ◽  
Life Sciences ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Discussion Forums ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Online Discussion Forums ◽  
Asynchronous Online Discussion ◽  
Domain Specific Knowledge ◽  
General Skills

To foster students’ learning of critical-thinking skills, I previously introduced ill-structured problems to provide students opportunities to apply content knowledge and thinking skills. However, I noted that my third-year, life sciences students were not solving such problems effectively. Therefore, I used a grounded approach and conducted content analysis of students’ forum discussions to understand their problem-solving approaches. The students worked in small groups using asynchronous, online discussion forums (AODFs) to discuss their approaches to solving an ill-structured problem posed. Each group submitted their solution to the problem in an essay. From my analysis of students’ posts at AODFs, students seemed fairly competent in using domain-specific knowledge and certain domain-general skills in scientific argumentation. However, they lacked the ability to properly define the problem scope and, consequently, failed to address the problem adequately. The study illuminated students’ challenges and provided me possible ways to plan relevant scaffolds in subsequent iterations of the activity.

scholarly journals Using Asynchronous, Online Discussion Forums to Explore How Life Sciences Students Approach an Ill-Structured Problem

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 138-160
Author(s):  
Foong May Yeong
Keyword(s):  
Online Discussion ◽  
Life Sciences ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Discussion Forums ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Online Discussion Forums ◽  
Asynchronous Online Discussion ◽  
Domain Specific Knowledge ◽  
General Skills

To foster students’ learning of critical-thinking skills, I previously introduced ill-structured problems to provide students opportunities to apply content knowledge and thinking skills. However, I noted that my third-year, life sciences students were not solving such problems effectively. Therefore, I used a grounded approach and conducted content analysis of students’ forum discussions to understand their problem-solving approaches. The students worked in small groups using asynchronous, online discussion forums (AODFs) to discuss their approaches to solving an ill-structured problem posed. Each group submitted their solution to the problem in an essay. From my analysis of students’ posts at AODFs, students seemed fairly competent in using domain-specific knowledge and certain domain-general skills in scientific argumentation. However, they lacked the ability to properly define the problem scope and, consequently, failed to address the problem adequately. The study illuminated students’ challenges and provided me possible ways to plan relevant scaffolds in subsequent iterations of the activity.

scholarly journals Promoção do Pensamento Crítico em Alunos Universitários: o Uso do Fórum de Discussão no Ensino a Distância

EAD em FOCO ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fábio Luiz Da Silva ◽  
Fabiane Tais Muzardo ◽  
Juliana Chueire Lyra
Keyword(s):  
Distance Education ◽  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Online Discussion ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Discussion Forums ◽  
Online Discussion Forums ◽  
On Line ◽  
Blooms Taxonomy

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.

scholarly journals Development of Criticality in Thought: A Conceptual Framework for Online Student Discussion Forums in Higher Education

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Critical Reflection ◽  
Online Discussion ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Discussion Forums ◽  
Online Discussion Forums

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.

(Re)Assessing Student Thinking in Online Threaded Discussions

2013 ◽  
pp. 265-280
Author(s):  
Felicia Saffold
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Online Discussion ◽  
Teacher Educator ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Student Thinking ◽  
Online Discussions ◽  
Discussion Forums ◽  
Threaded Discussions ◽  
Online Discussion Forums

A teacher educator examines the level of critical thinking of her preservice teachers participating in an urban education course through online discussions. The objective was to see if online discussions, which were the heart of the learning process, could be an effective strategy to promote critical thinking skills. Using the revised version of Bloom’s Taxonomy (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001) as a guide, participants’ posts and responses were assessed to determine the quality of thinking that occurred in the online discussion forum. Results show that utilizing online discussion forums can be an effective pedagogy for classes where complex, often controversial issues such as social justice, equity, and white privilege are discussed.

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