Facilitating Critical Thinking In Asynchronous Problem Solving Sessions : A Study Of First Year University Engineering Mathematics

Higher education is failing in its goal of teaching Critical Thinking skills to undergraduate students. The influence of Critical Thinking skills on mathematical problem solving has attracted research. In contrast to the traditional text book dominated approach, the mathematics classrooms of the pr...

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Main Author:	Seibu Mary, Jacob
Format:	Thesis
Language:	English
Published:	2010
Subjects:	TA Engineering (General) Civil engineering (General)
Online Access:	http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/26833/1/Seibu.pdf
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id	my-unimas-ir.26833
record_format	uketd_dc
spelling	my-unimas-ir.268332023-08-08T07:48:21Z Facilitating Critical Thinking In Asynchronous Problem Solving Sessions : A Study Of First Year University Engineering Mathematics 2010 Seibu Mary, Jacob TA Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General) Higher education is failing in its goal of teaching Critical Thinking skills to undergraduate students. The influence of Critical Thinking skills on mathematical problem solving has attracted research. In contrast to the traditional text book dominated approach, the mathematics classrooms of the present were encouraged to be places where discussion and collaboration were valued in building a climate of intellectual challenge. This research study set out to investigate the occurrence, progress and effects of Critical Thinking skills during mathematics problem solving sessions activated through online Discussion Forums. The objectives were to: (1) Investigate the level and progress of Critical Thinking of individuals and groups from the postings in the online Discussion Forums using an adapted model, called the CAIS model, called after the phases of Classification, Assessment, Inference and Strategies; (2) Determine the effect of moderation technique (Socratic questioning and reflection scaffolds) in guiding and promoting Critical Thinking; (3) Determine participants' perceptions about Critical Thinking and satisfaction with the online Discussion Forums; (4 ) Investigate the changes in learners' general Critical Thinking skills (CCTST scores) using the California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST) instrument; (5) Investigate changes in attitudes toward mathematics; and, (6) Determine the relationship between the level of Critical Thinking in the online Discussion Forums and (a) initial mathematics ability; (b) general Critical Thinking ability (CCTST scores); (c) mathematical achievement; and (d) attitudes toward mathematics. A first year Engineering Mathematics unit of the Malaysian campus of an Australian University, conducted over 14 weeks was used as a platform to investigate how Critical Thinking could be facilitated using online asynchronous discussions. The sample of the study consisted of 43 and 60 participants respectively of two batches (year 2008 and year 2009) of the unit, and who were divided into small collaborative groups of four to six. These were formed over the Blackboard Learning System of the unit. Problem solving sessions, consisting of ill-structured problems from engineering contexts were activated over the online Discussion Forums of the collaborative groups twice during the semester of 14 weeks. Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) 2010 Thesis http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/26833/ http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/26833/1/Seibu.pdf text en validuser phd doctoral Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) Faculty of Cognitive Sciences and Human Development
institution	Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
collection	UNIMAS Institutional Repository
language	English
topic	TA Engineering (General) Civil engineering (General)
spellingShingle	TA Engineering (General) Civil engineering (General) Seibu Mary, Jacob Facilitating Critical Thinking In Asynchronous Problem Solving Sessions : A Study Of First Year University Engineering Mathematics
description	Higher education is failing in its goal of teaching Critical Thinking skills to undergraduate students. The influence of Critical Thinking skills on mathematical problem solving has attracted research. In contrast to the traditional text book dominated approach, the mathematics classrooms of the present were encouraged to be places where discussion and collaboration were valued in building a climate of intellectual challenge. This research study set out to investigate the occurrence, progress and effects of Critical Thinking skills during mathematics problem solving sessions activated through online Discussion Forums. The objectives were to: (1) Investigate the level and progress of Critical Thinking of individuals and groups from the postings in the online Discussion Forums using an adapted model, called the CAIS model, called after the phases of Classification, Assessment, Inference and Strategies; (2) Determine the effect of moderation technique (Socratic questioning and reflection scaffolds) in guiding and promoting Critical Thinking; (3) Determine participants' perceptions about Critical Thinking and satisfaction with the online Discussion Forums; (4 ) Investigate the changes in learners' general Critical Thinking skills (CCTST scores) using the California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST) instrument; (5) Investigate changes in attitudes toward mathematics; and, (6) Determine the relationship between the level of Critical Thinking in the online Discussion Forums and (a) initial mathematics ability; (b) general Critical Thinking ability (CCTST scores); (c) mathematical achievement; and (d) attitudes toward mathematics. A first year Engineering Mathematics unit of the Malaysian campus of an Australian University, conducted over 14 weeks was used as a platform to investigate how Critical Thinking could be facilitated using online asynchronous discussions. The sample of the study consisted of 43 and 60 participants respectively of two batches (year 2008 and year 2009) of the unit, and who were divided into small collaborative groups of four to six. These were formed over the Blackboard Learning System of the unit. Problem solving sessions, consisting of ill-structured problems from engineering contexts were activated over the online Discussion Forums of the collaborative groups twice during the semester of 14 weeks.
format	Thesis
qualification_name	Doctor of Philosophy (PhD.)
qualification_level	Doctorate
author	Seibu Mary, Jacob
author_facet	Seibu Mary, Jacob
author_sort	Seibu Mary, Jacob
title	Facilitating Critical Thinking In Asynchronous Problem Solving Sessions : A Study Of First Year University Engineering Mathematics
title_short	Facilitating Critical Thinking In Asynchronous Problem Solving Sessions : A Study Of First Year University Engineering Mathematics
title_full	Facilitating Critical Thinking In Asynchronous Problem Solving Sessions : A Study Of First Year University Engineering Mathematics
title_fullStr	Facilitating Critical Thinking In Asynchronous Problem Solving Sessions : A Study Of First Year University Engineering Mathematics
title_full_unstemmed	Facilitating Critical Thinking In Asynchronous Problem Solving Sessions : A Study Of First Year University Engineering Mathematics
title_sort	facilitating critical thinking in asynchronous problem solving sessions : a study of first year university engineering mathematics
granting_institution	Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS)
granting_department	Faculty of Cognitive Sciences and Human Development
publishDate	2010
url	http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/26833/1/Seibu.pdf
_version_	1783728328656551936

Facilitating Critical Thinking In Asynchronous Problem Solving Sessions : A Study Of First Year University Engineering Mathematics

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