scholarly journals Critical Thinking and Its Relevant Factors among Undergraduates

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 23
Author(s):  
Hou Yongmei

To explore the present status of Critical thinking and its relevant factors among undergraduates.A stratified random sampling was used to select 1013 undergraduates from 7 full-time colleges in Guangdong province. They were investigated with California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory-Chinese Version (CTDI-CV) and a Self-Compiled Personal General Information Questionnaire. ⑴ The total score of CTDI-CV was (254.16±38.80). The undergraduates in the four levels of critical thinking of comprehensive strong, relatively strong, contradictory scope and serious opposition accounted for 1.78%, 5.31%, 87.4% and 5.51% of this group, respectively. (2) Multiple stepwise linear regression showed that the total score of CTDI-CV was positively correlated with the following 10 factors such as grade, family economic status, part-time experience, the teaching method used most commonly, like reading logic books, like reading reviews or essays, father’s warmth, mother’s warmth, openness and responsibility (β=.142 to .701,all P<.05). The following 5 factors such as father’s negation, father’s overprotection, mother’s negation, mother’s overprotection and neuroticism were negatively correlated with the total score of CTDI-CV (β=-.381 to -. 616, all P < 0.05). The overall level of critical thinking among undergraduates is relatively low. College Students' critical thinking may be related to many factors such as family rearing, school education and personal characteristics.

Author(s):  
Reingard Seibt ◽  
Steffi Kreuzfeld

Teachers are at increased risk of stress-related illnesses and burnout symptoms. Thus, a cross-sectional study involving 6109 full-time and 5905 part-time teachers at upper-level secondary schools examined the influence of presumed work-related and personal characteristics on burnout risk between January and April 2018. Burnout was recorded using the Maslach Burnout Inventory—General Survey (MBI-GS). Work-related characteristics were weekly working hours and work stress, operationalized with the effort-reward imbalance (ERI) model. Overcommitment and the inability to recover were determined as personal characteristics. Multiple linear regression analyses were performed, adjusted for age and gender. Overall, 47% of the teachers reported burnout symptoms and 3% had an indication of burnout. Full-time and part-time teachers did not differ in their risk of burnout. ERI, overcommitment, and inability to recover were identified as predictors of burnout risk (explained variance: 29%), whereby the inability to recover was the strongest predictor. In contrast, weekly working hours, extent of employment, gender and age were not related to the burnout risk. ERI was found in 33%, inability to recover in 36% and overcommitment in 39% of all the teachers studied. In particular, the inability to recover should be taken into account as an early indicator of burnout.


2015 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 261-282
Author(s):  
Joelle Zimmermann ◽  
Stuart B Kamenetsky ◽  
Syb Pongracic

This study examined trends in the practice of granting special consideration for missed tests and late papers in colleges and universities. We analyzed a database of 4,183 special consideration requests at a large Canadian university between 1998 and 2008. Results show a growing rate of requests per enrolment between 2001 and 2007. Although university officials and faculty are concerned that request making is excessive, an in-depth investigation of request making by the number of requests per student, request rate by course difficulty, grade point average, and illness-related work absences in the general population fails to support suspicions of dishonest behaviour. Furthermore, demographic variables—aside from part-time versus full-time student status, and to a lesser degree socio-economic status—do not distinguish students who made frequent requests from those who made few. We discuss potential explanations for the increase in requests for special consideration.  


2017 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
pp. 181-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grit Tanner ◽  
Eva Bamberg ◽  
Maren Kersten ◽  
Agnessa Kozak ◽  
Albert Nienhaus

Abstract: Several studies have investigated the relationship between working time and health; however, an adequate comparison of this relationship among full-time and part-time workers is still missing. Therefore, this study aimed to fill this gap in the literature. We investigated several aspects of working time: weekly overtime, monthly on-call duties, monthly shift work, and adherence to breaks. To assess health, we investigated sleeping problems, cognitive irritation, and emotional exhaustion. Data were collected from 812 hospital physicians. We tested our assumptions with a group comparison using structural equation modeling. Overtime and adherence to breaks were shown to be health-relevant factors, particularly for full-time workers, whereas night and weekend shifts were more relevant for part-time workers’ health. On-call duties were less relevant for both groups. The inclusion of time pressure and autonomy caused different changes. The results of this study illustrate that personal needs should be considered when scheduling working time to promote health.


2020 ◽  
Vol 210 ◽  
pp. 18075
Author(s):  
Anna Sheveleva

The article’s purpose is to describe some results of the research of students’ representations about the professional ethics of University teachers. The sample includes full-time and part-time students of psychological and pedagogical education. The diagnostic instrument was questionnaire “Customer Perceptions of professional ethics of the specialist”. It was revealed that students mainly note the orientation of the teachers’ professional ethics standards to their own professional interests, note the compliance of teachers’ personal characteristics with ethical requirements, and consider the job instructions to be the basis for the content of ethical standards in the teacher’s activity. Differences in the views of full-time and part-time students were found. Full-time students pay more attention to teachers’ personal characteristics as proof of compliance with ethical standards. Part-time students give a higher evaluation of teachers’ orientation to the professional community interests and needs of other ethic application objects (not only professional and client), as well as give a higher evaluation of law and universal values and culture as origins of teachers’ professional ethics.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-7
Author(s):  
Azizeh Barry ◽  
Kobra Parvan ◽  
faranak Jabbarzadeh Tabrizi ◽  
Parvin Sarbakhsh ◽  
Bagher Safa ◽  
...  

Background: The proper levels of critical thinking (CT) and professional self-concept (PSC) both have key roles in the academic achievements of nursing students. The present study was conducted to examine a possible correlation between PSC and CT. Methods: This descriptive-correlational study was conducted on 154 eligible nursing students, selected through the stratified random sampling technique. For this purpose, two instruments were utilized: the Persian version of nurses’ self-concept questionnaire and Ricketts’ Critical Thinking Disposition Assessment Scale. Pearson’s correlation coefficient was employed to analyze data using SPSS 16. Results: Although levels of CT vary in different semesters, the correlation coefficient between CT and PSC among nursing students was -0.46 (P<0.001). Therefore, there was a significant, inverse, moderate correlation between these two variables. Conclusion: The correlation between the total scores of PSC and CT was significant and negative, indicating increasing professional self-concept in students decreases their levels of CT. It seems that modern teaching methods based on problem-solving are less used in nursing students’ education, which leads to greater development of CT. It is believed that other underlying factors may have contributed to the negative correlation between PSC and CT. Further studies in this regard are recommended.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (6) ◽  
pp. 1552-1563
Author(s):  
Denise A. Tucker ◽  
Mary V. Compton ◽  
Sarah J. Allen ◽  
Robert Mayo ◽  
Celia Hooper ◽  
...  

Purpose The intended purpose of this research note is to share the findings of a needs assessment online survey of speech and hearing professionals practicing in North Carolina to explore their interest in pursuing a research-focused PhD in Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD) and to document their perceptions of barriers to pursing a PhD in CSD. In view of the well-documented shortage of doctor of philosophy (PhD) faculty to attract, retain, and mentor doctoral students to advance research and to prepare future speech and hearing professionals, CSD faculty must assess the needs, perceptions, and barriers prospective students encounter when considering pursuing a doctoral research degree in CSD. Method The article describes the results of a survey of 242 speech and hearing professionals to investigate their interest in obtaining an academic research-focused PhD in CSD and to solicit their perceived barriers to pursuing a research doctoral degree in CSD. Results Two thirds of the respondents (63.6%) reported that they had considered pursuing a PhD in CSD. Desire for knowledge, desire to teach, and work advancement were the top reasons given for pursuing a PhD in CSD. Eighty-two percent of respondents had no interest in traditional full-time study. Forty-two percent of respondents indicated that they would be interested in part-time and distance doctoral study. The barriers of time, distance, and money emerged as those most frequently identified barriers by respondents. Conclusion The implications inform higher education faculty on how they can best address the needs of an untapped pool of prospective doctoral students in CSD.


2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-60
Author(s):  
Treinienė Daiva

Abstract Nontraditional student is understood as one of the older students enrolled in formal or informal studies. In the literature, there is no detailed generalisation of nontraditional student. This article aims to reveal the concept of this particular group of students. Analysing the definition of nontraditional students, researchers identify the main criteria that allow to provide a more comprehensive concept of the nontraditional student. The main one is the age of these atypical students coming to study at the university, their selected form of studies, adult social roles status characteristics, such as family, parenting and financial independence as well as the nature of work. The described features of the nontraditional student demonstrate how the unconventional nontraditional student is different from the traditional one, which features are characteristic for them and how they reflect the nontraditional student’s maturity and experience in comparison with younger, traditional students. Key features - independence, internal motivation, experience, responsibility, determination. They allow nontraditional students to pursue their life goals, learn and move towards their set goals. University student identity is determined on the basis of the three positions: on the age suitability by social norms, the learning outcomes incorporated with age, on the creation of student’s ideal image. There are four students’ biographical profiles distinguished: wandering type, seeking a degree, intergrative and emancipatory type. They allow to see the biographical origin of nontraditional students, their social status as well as educational features. Biographical profiles presented allow to comprise the nontraditional student’s portrait of different countries. Traditional and nontraditional students’ learning differences are revealed by analysing their need for knowledge, independence, experience, skill to learn, orientation and motivation aspects. To sum up, the analysis of the scientific literature can formulate the concept of the nontraditional student. Nontraditional student refers to the category of 20-65 years of age who enrolls into higher education studies in a nontraditional way, is financially independent, with several social roles of life, studying full-time or part-time, and working full-time or part-time, or not working at all.


2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 249
Author(s):  
Anna Xheka

Women’s entrepreneurship is a powerful source, regarding to the women’s economic independence and empowerment, as well as regarding employment generation, economic growth and innovation, development and the reduction of poverty as well as one of the terms of gender equality. This poster presents the situation of women's entrepreneurship in Europe in comparative terms, with special focus in Albania. The paper has a descriptive nature. Describes three different plans in comparative terms; the representation of men and women in entrepreneurship, the representation of women in entrepreneurship in different countries of Europe and of Europe as a whole, as well as compare to gender quota. Through the processing of secondary data from various reports and studies, this poster concludes that although that the gender equality goal is the equal participation of men and women in all sectors, including the entrepreneurship, in this sector, gender gap it is still deep. Another significant comparative aspect, it is the difference between full and part –time women entrepreneurship. While in full time entrepreneurship in a convince way, men are those that dominate, in part time entrepreneurship clearly it’s evident the opposite trend, women's representation is much higher. It’s very interesting the fact, that the women’s entrepreneurship in Albania, presented in a significant optimistic situation, ranking in the second place, after Greece in the European level


Author(s):  
Almaziya G. Kataeva ◽  
◽  
Sergei D. Kataev ◽  

The modern development of society determines the forms and content of the process of teaching foreign languages. The quantity and quality of information in the field of mastering a foreign language is constantly growing as a means of sociocultural, linguistic and cultural and professional development of an individual. A foreign language is currently considered as an integral part of intercultural communication in various fields of objective reality and the development of a culture of interethnic communication. In the process of teaching a foreign language, technologies are becoming increasingly important which makes it possible to achieve the required level of communicative competence in speaking and writing in a shorter time frame and to recreate a virtual spatial temporal communication environment with native speakers. In this regard, the form of distance learning can be more and more prospective, being psychologically more comfortable for students and teachers; many of its elements can be integrated into other forms of training. The article exposes certain information technologies, the use of which increases the effectiveness of teaching a foreign language in distance, part-time and full-time courses. On the example of specific interactive multimedia Internet resources in the field of learning the German language, the urgent importance of using computerized teaching methods for acquiring and enhancing pronunciation, lexical and grammatical skills and knowledge with the aim of forming linguistic and cultural and professional competence of students is emphasized. At the same time, the article highlights importance of non-verbal forms of communication for achieving the desired effect of verbal communication, while relying on relevant audiovisual Internet resources.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document