Higher Order Thinking in Science Classrooms: Students’ Learning and Teachers’ Professional Development

✍ Scribed by Anat Zohar (auth.)

• Publisher: Springer Netherlands
• Year: 2004
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 252
• Series: Science & Technology Education Library 22
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

How can educators bridge the gap between "big" ideas about teaching students to think and educational practice? This book addresses this question by a unique combination of theory, field experience and elaborate educational research. Its basic idea is to look at science instruction with regard to two sets of explicit goals: one set refers to teaching science concepts and the second set refers to teaching higher order thinking.

This book tells about how thinking can be taught not only in the rare and unique conditions that are so typical of affluent experimental educational projects but also in the less privileged but much more common conditions of educational practice that most schools have to endure. It provides empirical evidence showing that students from all academic levels actually improve their thinking and their scientific knowledge following the thinking curricula, and discusses specific means for teaching higher order thinking to students with low academic achievements. The second part of the book addresses issues that pertain to teachers' professional development and to their knowledge and beliefs regarding the teaching of higher order thinking.

This book is intended for a very large audience: researchers (including graduate students), curricular designers, practicing and pre-service teachers, college students, teacher educators and those interested in educational reform. Although the book is primarily about the development of thinking in science classrooms, most of it chapters may be of interest to educators from all disciplines.

✦ Table of Contents

Front Matter....Pages i-xvi
Front Matter....Pages xvii-xvii
Description of the TSC Project....Pages 1-11
Pedagogical Considerations in Teaching a Thinking Strategy as an Explicit Educational Goal....Pages 13-27
“To Know or Not to Know” — The Elusive Nature of Learning a Thinking Strategy....Pages 29-40
Teaching Thinking Skills and Science Knowledge: Two Competing or Two Complementary Goals?....Pages 41-54
Assessing Students’ Reasoning Abilities Following the Implementation of the TSC Project....Pages 55-79
Front Matter....Pages 81-84
Teachers’ Thinking in Previous Studies....Pages 85-98
Educational Context and Research Methodology....Pages 99-119
Two Possible Pedagogies for Teaching Higher Order Thinking: Transmission of Information Versus Knowledge Construction....Pages 121-137
Teachers’ Knowledge about the Treatment of Students’ Wrong Answers....Pages 139-156
Teachers’ Beliefs About Low Achieving Students and Higher Order Thinking....Pages 157-175
Teachers’ Metacognitive Declarative Knowledge and the Teaching of Higher Order Thinking....Pages 177-196
Assessing Professional Development Following Pre-Service and In-Service Courses....Pages 197-210
What did We Learn?....Pages 211-219
Back Matter....Pages 221-246

✦ Subjects

Education (general); Learning & Instruction; Teaching and Teacher Education; Science Education; Curriculum Studies