scholarly journals Fostering Sustainability and Critical Thinking through Debate—A Case Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 6397
Author(s):  
Alfonso Rodriguez-Dono ◽  
Antoni Hernández-Fernández

Transversal competences such as sustainability or critical thinking have become more important in the last decades in University teaching. The objective of this article is to assess the effectiveness of debate as a teaching method capable of fostering such competences in engineering students. To do this, a debate activity has been held facing two reasonable positions: Sustainable Development versus Degrowth. The research methodology consisted of performing this activity in the classroom (with 13 students in this particular case study), and conducting some tests before and after the debate that served as feedback to assess the effectiveness of the debate on the learning process. This feedback is composed of different documents, including a pre-post test, a specific survey about the debate, a pre-post knowledge survey and the Student Evaluation of Educational Quality (SEEQ) survey. A methodology for the organization of the debate is proposed and the answers of the students to these feedback documents are analyzed. As it can be inferred from the different surveys, the debate has been an efficient learning tool to acquire knowledge and to develop sustainability and critical thinking competences.

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel Romero Di Biasi ◽  
Guillermo Eliecer Valencia ◽  
Luis Guillermo Obregon

This article presents the application of a new educational thermodynamic software called MOLECULARDISORDER, based on graphical user interfaces created in Matlab® to promote critical thinking in youth engineering students, by means of the energy and entropy balance application in different systems. Statistics of the results obtained by the youth students are shown to determine the influence of the software in a regular course in thermodynamics to promote critical thinking. Two case studies were done by the students, where parameters such as temperature of the fluid and metal surfaces, pressure of the system, mass of the fluid and solid, volume, and velocity of the fluid are used to obtain output variables such as enthalpy, entropy, changes in entropy, entropy production, and energy transfer in the chosen system. Four cognitive skills were considered to evaluate the cognitive competencies of interpreting, arguing and proposing, and interacting with the different graphical user interfaces; these cognitive skills (CS) were argumentative claim (CS1), modeling (CS2), interpreting data/information (CS3), and organization (CS4). Student´s T-test was used to compare the degree of difficulty of each criterion. The case studies were evaluated first without using the software and then with the use of the software to determine the significant effect of the software quantitatively. A population of 130 youth students was taken to perform the statistical analysis with a level of significance of 5%. With the help of the software, the students obtained an improvement when performing case study 1 since the p-value obtained was 0.03, indicating that there are significant differences between the results before and after taking the software. The overall averages of the grades for case study 1 had an increase after using the software from 3.74 to 4.04. The overall averages for case study 2 were also higher after taking the software from 3.44 to 3.75.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 247
Author(s):  
Wan Hu ◽  
Xuquan Wang

This research uses case study research and employs a news translation module to analyse its synergic teaching method which includes a university teacher, an industry insider and translation learners. They, as the key stakeholders of the teaching and learning process, have their specific roles and continuously interact with each other. Through these interactions, actual trans-editing workflow is embedded into the university classroom. In order to examine the teaching effectiveness of such an innovative model, translation learners’ responses and commentaries are carefully taken into consideration. A wider implication of this research is that translator trainers may have their own reflections on innovating teaching strategies via the integration of academia and the professional world.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 01-15
Author(s):  
Asrat Dagnew ◽  
Desta Mekonnen

The main objective of this study was to investigate the effect of using guided inquiry teaching method in improving grade eight students’ conceptual understanding of photosynthesis. The study employed Quasi-experimental research method. The data collection instruments were multiple choice tests, observation, as well as informal assessment. The pre-test and post-test were administered before and after treatment respectively. The informal assessment also administered before and after intervention. Besides, the observation was conducted from the first day up to the last day of the intervention. The pre-test and post-test data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and t-tests quantitatively while; data collected through informal assessment and observation were presented using narration. The finding of pre-test revealed that there was no significant difference between the mean score of the two groups. The post-test result revealed that experimental group students significantly improved their conceptual understanding of the topic photosynthesis compared to the control group students. The study concluded that guided inquiry teaching method is more effective than the lecture method in improving students’ conceptual understanding of photosynthesis. Based on the finding of this study, it was recommended that governments should encourage biology teachers to apply guided inquiry teaching method by providing appropriate instructional material. Keywords: Conceptual understanding Guided inquiry, photosynthesis,


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (44) ◽  
pp. 95-110
Author(s):  
Mohd Shafie Mohamad ◽  
Rozita Radhiah Said ◽  
Azhar Md. Sabil ◽  
Mohd Mursyid Arshad

The Bahasa Melayu question paper is divided into two papers ( Paper 1 and Paper 2), with both papers require written essay responses. The literature section is the part of the questions that students are required to answer in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) exam. There are 13 marks awarded for 4 questions, two of them are questions in the form of KBAT. The aim of this study was to improve secondary school students' skills in writing KBAT answers using drill method. In addition, the researchers compared students' responses to four parts of the questions in the literature section of Bahasa Melayu Paper 2 (1103/2) before and after the drilling method. This study used a qualitative approach in the form of a case study (document analysis). In data collection, 5 classes in Maahad Control were subjected to pre-test and post-test. The study revealed that the pre-test scores of 10 students randomly taken from 5 classes, 3 of them were at the weak level and 7 students were at intermediate level. However, after 6 drilling sessions, the researcher found that the performance of the students improved in the post-test. 2 students reached an intermediate level and 8 students reached a good level in answering literature questions. This proves that students trained with drill method mastered the techniques of answer writing due to the influence of answer discussion which highlights the key words in each question. Meanwhile, teachers still need to guide students on punctuation and the use of appropriate cohesive devices in each part of the answer.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 398
Author(s):  
Sirlene Siqueira Alves ◽  
Armando Paulo da Silva ◽  
Eduardo Filgueiras Damasceno

The accounting higher education has techniques of knowledge transfer for the professional formation of the academic, therefore, most of the teaching techniques are focused on the disclosure of the laws due to the financial movement of the organizations. Knowing this, much of the advancement in teaching is due to the transmission of the experience of the accounting professor and the student facing the labor market operations. There are other methods of teaching accounting such as lecture, case study, seminars, discussion and debate, however they are still focused on the transmission of experiences or the fictional representation of teaching. This article aims to highlight the use of board games in the Accounting Science course, the teaching based on game fiction, as a way of fixing the content in the teaching of cost accounting, compared to traditional teaching methods. To prove the hypothesis, a board game was created, focused on promoting student engagement and favored the transmission of course content. For research observation and control, questionnaires based research methods were used before and after the use of the game in specific classes of the Accounting Science course. The results were demonstrated through graphs for better visualization. Thus, it was possible to conclude that there was a significant difference in the results before and after the application of this teaching method. In addition, students interacted and became cooperatively involved, which proved the effectiveness of the method in motivating and engaging students in the teaching-learning process.


Author(s):  
Faiz Hasyim ◽  
Tjipto Prastowo ◽  
Budi Jatmiko

<p class="16">Covid-19 spurs teachers to carry out online learning. This study aimed to analyze the improvement of students' critical thinking skills through online learning based on Android-based PhET Simulation. This research was Quasi-Experimental using one group pre-test and post-test design involving 27 students of class VIII who program science subjects at MTs Alif Laam Miim Surabaya, Indonesia. The research instrument used critical thinking skills tests that have met valid and reliable requirements. Before and after learning activities, students were given a pre-test and a post-test. The data collected was analyzed descriptively quantitatively. The results showed that there was an increase in students' critical thinking skills with an average N-gain of 0.57, in the medium category. The highest N-gain was achieved in the "interpretation" indicator, which is 0.83 in the high category and the lowest in the "analysis" indicator, which is 0.39 in the moderate category. This study concluded that learning science by using an Android-based PhET Simulation can improve the critical thinking skills of junior high school students.</p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Muflichatu Nur Fita ◽  
Budi Jatmiko ◽  
Elok Sudibyo

The purpose of this research was to see how effective the Problem Based Learning (PBL) based Socioscientific Issues (SSI) is at improving critical thinking skills. The sample used was grade seven in SMPN 4 Lamongan with 2 classes and each class contains 15 students. The design of the learning materials trial used  One-Group pre-test post-test design. Tests of critical thinking skills and student answer sheets were used to collect data. Techniques of data analysis used N-gain, paired t-test, and independent t-test. The result of this research is as follows: The effectiveness in terms of the critical thinking skills test the category increase is high, there is a significant difference between the test before and after learning with PBL based SSI and there is no difference N-gain in the two group classes and students' responses are classified as very good. Based on data analysis, it can be concluded that PBL with SSI is effective to improve critical thinking skills. The implications of this study are PBL-based SSI has the potential to be an innovative solution and alternative for improving critical thinking skills.


2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Andi Ayu Lestari

This research is aimed to investigate the effectiveness of reciprocal teaching strategy embedding critical thinking for students’ reading comprehension at the second grade of MIA at MAN 1 Kendari. Quantitative and qualitative approaches were employed to investigate the effectiveness of the method, as well as students’ perception. The study was guided by two research questions: (a) does reciprocal teaching method embedding critical thinking (RTT+) affect MIA second graders’ reading comprehension; (b) how do students perceive RTT+? Ninety-seven students participated in the present study.    The instruments   of   the   study   were   reading   comprehension   test   and questionnaires. Reading comprehension test was administered on two different occasions; before and after treatment, whereas questionnaires were administered prior to the end of the study. Paired sample t-test was employed to examine possible differences in students’ pre- and post- test  scores. The  results  show  significant  improvement  in  students’  post-test  scores. Implications of the study will be critically discussed in this paper. Key words: Reciprocal Teaching Method, Critical Thinking, RTT+, Reading Comprehension.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nurul Asyikin Mohamed Radzi ◽  
Suhaila Sulaiman

Estimating from the steady declining rate of engineering students in Malaysia, the country is predicted to be short of 236,000 engineers and technical personnel to achieve its 2020 Mission. Hence, it has built the first technical MARA Junior Science College that introduced engineering to lower secondary students. However, there is yet a study on whether or not it helps the students to increase their interests in engineering. Therefore, in this paper, a survey has been conducted to first and foremost investigate the technical students’ interests in engineering as well as finding out the reasoning from those who are not interested in engineering. After that, a half day engineering program is introduced with a measurement on the interest in engineering before and after the intervention is held. Finally, the survey studies which field of engineering the students are most interested in. The results show that, before the program is introduced, only 8.47% of the technical students have shown high interests in engineering field with only 7.5% female students are interested in engineering compared to 18.42% for male students. After the program is introduced, as high as 33.05% students rated their interest in engineering field as ‘most interested’, with 39.47% in male students and 30% in female students. It proves that an engineering event is crucial in increasing students’ interests in engineering. It also concludes that EE is the most favourite field of engineering with percentage score of 38.98%, while EP being the least.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 266-279
Author(s):  
Mohammed Alwaleedi

This study investigated how ASL learners interact during the OCW tasks, how ASL learners perceive the implementation of OCW, and whether or not there is a difference in students’ ASL writing performance before and after the implementation of OCW. This study employed a mixed-method study, a qualitative case study and a one-group experimental with pre-and-posttest design, involving 16 students who participated in the ASL writing class. The collected data included observations, document analysis, in-depth interviews, questionnaires, and tests. Pre- and post-test results were compared to analyze whether or not there is a statistically significant difference in students’ ASL writing skills before and after the implementation of OCW. The findings showed variations in interaction patterns during online collaborative writing activities. The students also had a positive perception of the implementation of OCW. The results also indicated a statistically significant difference in students’ ASL writing skills before and after the implementation of OCW.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document