Dissertations / Theses: 'Young children's critical thinking'

1

id, julia suleeman@ui ac, and Julia Suleeman Chandra. "A Vygotskian perspective on promoting critical thinking in young children through mother-child interactions." Murdoch University, 2008. http://wwwlib.murdoch.edu.au/adt/browse/view/adt-MU20090209.101855.

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This thesis examines how mothers, as primary caretakers, might promote the development of critical thinking of their 4- and 5-year-olds. Interest in critical thinking in very young children can be traced back to the early years of the 20th century with views expressed by philosophers such as John Dewey and John Stuart Mill that were in favour of giving young children opportunities that might encourage their free expression and inquiring, critical nature in the school context. Educators like Frobel and Montessori who developed programs for kindergartens worked on similar assumptions. However, how the home environment especially maternal support might foster the development of critical thinking in young children has received only minimal attention. The rise of the critical thinking movement in the 1970s enhanced the conceptualization of critical thinking, and how to assess the critical thinking ability. But studies of the precursors of critical thinking in young children received only minimal attention. Two theoretical perspectives, the constructivist and the socio-cultural, represented by their most authoritative figures, Piaget and Vygotsky, respectively, have provided the conceptual basis for this research. While Piaget viewed childrens cognition as developing through active construction while dealing with concrete, practical problems, Vygotsky considered childrens cognitive development as evolving through the internalization of interactions with more able people in their immediate environment. In this thesis, Piagets approach to investigating childrens higher thinking processes was applied to the design of tasks that assessed critical thinking features in very young children whilst Vygotskys notion of the zone of proximal development was used to design the overall intervention program to develop very young childrens critical thinking through meaningful interactions with their mothers. How critical thinking in young children might develop through mothers interaction strategies was investigated in the context of Indonesian participants in their home settings. In that cultural context, critical thinking is not nurtured, and even childrens curiosity is often regarded as irritating by adults. The challenge for this study, therefore, was to design a program that would challenge the mothers personal and cultural assumptions and to empower them to support the development of critical thinking in their young children. The effectiveness of the intervention was evaluated against whether and, if so, how the childrens precursors of critical thinking improved across the intervention period. The main contributions this study was expected to make are: (1) advance the conceptualization of the nature of critical thinking in very young children (2) develop and test innovative methods to identify the features of critical thinking in very young children; and (3) identifying how mothers, having been empowered through the metacognitive program, may promote the development of critical thinking in very young children. The nature of critical thinking in very young children was operationalised through two different assessment methods specifically developed for this purpose. One was a dynamic qualitative assessment where each child interacted with his or her mother in a teaching-learning setting. The other consisted of a series of quantitative, Piagetian-like assessments, using play settings. The research used a pre- and post-intervention control group design in order to allow for comparisons both within-subjects, across the intervention period, and between-subjects as another group of mother-child pairs served as control receiving no intervention. The findings revealed that very young children are able to show precursors of critical thinking consisting of both cognitive and affective elements, such as questioning, authentication, moral reasoning, and appropriate emotion. Features indicating inhibitors of critical thinking (such as passivity and over-compliance) were also found. Through the intervention program, the experimental group mothers learned to notice, encourage and support children's attempts at inquiry as the children grappled with making sense of their environment. Although the precursors of critical thinking identified before the intervention continued to develop over time due to maturation (as shown by the performance of the control group children), the experimental group children performed even better over time. In addition, the mothers of children with better performance in critical thinking tasks were observed to emphasize informing and reasoning, and to enjoy interacting with their children, rather than pressuring or commanding them. This research has highlighted conceptual and methodological issues in identifying and assessing very young childrens critical thinking, as well as the educational implications for the promotion of childrens critical thinking at home and in schools through similar metacognitive programs for parents and teachers. More research into the assessment of very young childrens critical thinking in different settings and with persons other than mothers is indicated, as is a focus on other factors that may influence the development of critical thinking.

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2

Chandra, Julia Suleeman. "A Vygotskian perspective on promoting critical thinking in young children through mother-child interactions." Chandra, Julia Suleeman (2008) A Vygotskian perspective on promoting critical thinking in young children through mother-child interactions. PhD thesis, Murdoch University, 2008. http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/713/.

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This thesis examines how mothers, as primary caretakers, might promote the development of critical thinking of their 4- and 5-year-olds. Interest in critical thinking in very young children can be traced back to the early years of the 20th century with views expressed by philosophers such as John Dewey and John Stuart Mill that were in favour of giving young children opportunities that might encourage their free expression and inquiring, critical nature in the school context. Educators like Frobel and Montessori who developed programs for kindergartens worked on similar assumptions. However, how the home environment especially maternal support might foster the development of critical thinking in young children has received only minimal attention. The rise of the critical thinking movement in the 1970s enhanced the conceptualization of critical thinking, and how to assess the critical thinking ability. But studies of the precursors of critical thinking in young children received only minimal attention. Two theoretical perspectives, the constructivist and the socio-cultural, represented by their most authoritative figures, Piaget and Vygotsky, respectively, have provided the conceptual basis for this research. While Piaget viewed children’s cognition as developing through active construction while dealing with concrete, practical problems, Vygotsky considered children’s cognitive development as evolving through the internalization of interactions with more able people in their immediate environment. In this thesis, Piaget’s approach to investigating children’s higher thinking processes was applied to the design of tasks that assessed critical thinking features in very young children whilst Vygotsky’s notion of the zone of proximal development was used to design the overall intervention program to develop very young children’s critical thinking through meaningful interactions with their mothers. How critical thinking in young children might develop through mothers’ interaction strategies was investigated in the context of Indonesian participants in their home settings. In that cultural context, critical thinking is not nurtured, and even children’s curiosity is often regarded as irritating by adults. The challenge for this study, therefore, was to design a program that would challenge the mothers’ personal and cultural assumptions and to empower them to support the development of critical thinking in their young children. The effectiveness of the intervention was evaluated against whether and, if so, how the children’s precursors of critical thinking improved across the intervention period. The main contributions this study was expected to make are: (1) advance the conceptualization of the nature of critical thinking in very young children (2) develop and test innovative methods to identify the features of critical thinking in very young children; and (3) identifying how mothers, having been empowered through the metacognitive program, may promote the development of critical thinking in very young children. The nature of critical thinking in very young children was operationalised through two different assessment methods specifically developed for this purpose. One was a dynamic qualitative assessment where each child interacted with his or her mother in a teaching-learning setting. The other consisted of a series of quantitative, Piagetian-like assessments, using play settings. The research used a pre- and post-intervention control group design in order to allow for comparisons both within-subjects, across the intervention period, and between-subjects as another group of mother-child pairs served as control receiving no intervention. The findings revealed that very young children are able to show precursors of critical thinking consisting of both cognitive and affective elements, such as questioning, authentication, moral reasoning, and appropriate emotion. Features indicating inhibitors of critical thinking (such as passivity and over-compliance) were also found. Through the intervention program, the experimental group mothers learned to notice, encourage and support children's attempts at inquiry as the children grappled with making sense of their environment. Although the precursors of critical thinking identified before the intervention continued to develop over time due to maturation (as shown by the performance of the control group children), the experimental group children performed even better over time. In addition, the mothers of children with better performance in critical thinking tasks were observed to emphasize informing and reasoning, and to enjoy interacting with their children, rather than pressuring or commanding them. This research has highlighted conceptual and methodological issues in identifying and assessing very young children’s critical thinking, as well as the educational implications for the promotion of children’s critical thinking at home and in schools through similar metacognitive programs for parents and teachers. More research into the assessment of very young children’s critical thinking in different settings and with persons other than mothers is indicated, as is a focus on other factors that may influence the development of critical thinking.

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3

Vance, Emily Diane. "Class Meetings: Teachers and Young Children Co-Constructing Problem Solving." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/195029.

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Class Meetings with a teacher and group of young children (ages 3-5) provide a forum for creative group problem solving, both establishing a community of learners and developing oral language skills. The construction of a child's oral language and problem-solving skills is far reaching and is an underlying theme in many areas of social and emotional growth including moral development, character development, conflict resolution, identification of values, self esteem, and academic improvement. The theoretical framework for this study is based on various scholarly sources including those concerned with early childhood group learning, oral language, and problem solving.During this 12 week action research study, both teacher-talk and children's problem solving strategies were addressed to answer the following research questions: What roles do teachers play in Class Meetings? What types of teacher talk are used to influence student thinking and talk within Class Meetings? What problems are identified in a Class Meeting with young children? What problem-solving strategies do young children develop within Class Meetings? The research design and methodology include videotaping, audio taping Class Meetings and transcribing these interactions with preschool children in an early childhood classroom setting.Results indicate that during this study, attendance at the Class Meetings increased, and that young children, when given the opportunity to self-select, chose to attend the Class Meetings over other available activities. Also, this study suggests that the Class Meeting model and effective teacher-talk support student oral language, the use of positive communication, problem identification, and the development of problem solving strategies. Implications for early childhood educators, teacher educators, policymakers and researchers are discussed.

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4

Pletz, Janet, and University of Lethbridge Faculty of Education. "Literature-as-lived in practice : young children's sense of voice." Thesis, Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Faculty of Education, 2008, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10133/730.

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This study, situated in classroom practice and grounded in pedagogic wakefulness (Clandinin and Connelly, 2000), explores the nature of young children’s sense of voice as indicated through sustained interactions and representations of experiences with picturebook literature. The naturalistic research site was a grade one classroom setting in a large urban school. Student engagement and interactions with read-aloud events and responses to literature through multi-modal representations perpetuated meaning making and personal relevance. Coding procedures exemplified the nature of young children’s sense of voice as falling into two broad conceptual categories: (1) Situated Nature and (2) Experiential Nature. The Situated Nature of young children’s sense of voice revealed developmental, exploratory, and social sites of student engagement to literature. The Experiential Nature of young children’s sense of voice described three specificities of narrativity in their responses to picturebook literature: Young children’s multi-modal responses were interpreted as representative of Self- Narrativity, Interpretive-Narrativity, and Aesthetic-Narrativity. The findings contribute to a reconceptualized literacy curriculum which illuminates personal, social, and cultural identities, especially young children’s awareness of their individual sense of voice, developed through picturebook literature in primary classrooms.
xii, 151 leaves : col. ill. ; 29 cm.

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5

Cooper, Hilary Jacquelyn. "Young children's thinking in history." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 1991. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/10019081/.

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Theories of cognitive development relevant to children's thinking in history are examined and previous research relating these to history is discussed. No agreed patterns of development in historical thinking which are based on cognitive psychology have so far been found, and the early stages of children's historical thinking have not been adequately examined. An experiment was set up to investigate young children's ability to develop arguments about a variety of historical evidence. Two groups of twenty eight-year-old children were taught four periods of history over two terms, as part of an integrated curriculum, by the researcher who was their class teacher. Teaching strategies were based on experience (visits to sites and museums), and discussion of key evidence using taught concepts. These experimental groups were compared with a control group in another school, taught the same four periods as the experimental groups, by an experienced teacher, using his siwn methods. At the end of each unit, the control and experimental groups were given a written test to assess their ability to make deductions about evidence related to the period but previously unseen. The first experimental group also made tape-recordings of discussions of the evidence, led by the teacher. In the second experimental group discussions, no adult was present. The experimental groups were also tested on their ability to write stories based on their knowledge of this period. Assessment scales based on cognitive psychology and previous research were devised. Findings suggested that children were able to make a range of valid deductions about pictures, artefacts, diagrams, maps and writing, using learned vocabulary, and that they could recognise a distinction between certainty and probability. Discussions were more wide-ranging than written answers, whether an adult was present or not. It was suggested that through learning to make a range of valid suppositions about evidence, children begin to consider the attitudes and ideas of other societies. Teaching strategies are significant in developing children's historical understanding.

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6

Florek, Kristin A. Newhard. "An exploration of children's solution-thinking abilities." Thesis, This resource online, 1996. http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-11182008-063151/.

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7

Pendergrass, Lynne M. "Shifting Their Thinking: Using Visual Images to Encourage Critical Thinking in Young Learners." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2020. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1707300/.

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The purpose of this qualitative inquiry is to explore critical visual literacy in a first grade classroom at a private school. This case study design focuses on students learning how to take a critical stance by focusing on the visual images, children's picture books, and visual arts masterpieces. The research question guiding this study is: How does a visual literacy approach using inferential and critical questioning support first graders' development of critical literacy? Four social issue topics were discussed which were exploring difference, bullying, poverty and global issues. The students engaged in conversations on each topic that were prompted by a specific set of questions to invite a critical stance. This study encouraged multimodality as it opened up a space to make thought visible in ways that go beyond printed words. The students were able to demonstrate their thinking and understanding by sharing their voice on the various topics through writing, art, music or acting. The inclusion of art was a valuable tool for building a deep understanding of self and others. Findings from this study support the development of social empathy in students and can be linked to morality theory and moral education. The study points to the significance of visual images and art in the development of agency in students while also initiating a change in how students approach all texts. Additionally, this study supports the use of inference as a tool for critical literacy with visual images. This approach to the curriculum encouraged students to become critically aware of the messages in their everyday worlds. The goal was for the students to develop a confident voice that can speak back to a text.

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8

Fung, Tak-fong Agnes, and 馮德芳. "An investigation of young children's thinking processes on solving practical mathematics tasks." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1998. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31960091.

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9

Fung, Tak-fong Agnes. "An investigation of young children's thinking processes on solving practical mathematics tasks." Hong Kong : University of Hong Kong, 1998. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record.jsp?B20057854.

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10

Schmid, Silvia. "The role of critical thinking in the young adult developmental stage and implications for ministry to them." Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN), 1994. http://www.tren.com.

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11

Castrodad, Rodriguez Patricia M. "Young Puerto Rican Children's Exploration of Racial Discourses Within the Figured World of Literature Circles." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/195418.

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This study examines the racial discourses of six and seven year old Puerto Rican children participating in small group literature circles over one academic year. The main research question is "How do Puerto Rican young children in a multiage classroom construct race through dialogue within the figured worlds of literature circles?"This study is based on teacher research qualitative research design, using methods and techniques from ethnography and case study research. This study describes the dialogue of 20 Puerto Rican children, during 4 literature circles. These were chosen as case studies to examine in depth student's racial ideological explorations. Data gathering methods included field notes from participant observation, audiotapes, videotapes, and transcripts.A detailed description and analysis of children's responses to literature, this study documents how young Puerto Rican children's ambiguity and inconsistent usages and meanings of racial terminologies to signify their worlds. Through emerging ideological discourses such as colorblindness and esentializing discourses, young children explore discomfort instead of neutral, inclusive and unifying racial constructions, along with racial harmony that celebrates goodwill and benevolence. Literature circles as figured worlds informed by Rosenblatt's reader-response theory and Holland, Lachicotte, Skinner and Cain (2003) social practice theory of identity, are proposed to be a space were racial identities form and reform, facilitating variable forms of racial talk.The findings of this research illustrate the importance of teacher research as one form of qualitative research to illustrate the complexity of children's racial talk aimed toward educational racial understandings and change. The importance of racial discourses in young children's racial explorations to signify their worlds.

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Puchyr, Donna Conklin. "The effectiveness of art criticism on pre-school children's art vocabulary." Instructions for remote access. Click here to access this electronic resource. Access available to Kutztown University faculty, staff, and students only, 1991. http://www.kutztown.edu/library/services/remote_access.asp.

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Thesis (M. Ed.)--Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, 1991.
Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 45-06, page: 2751. Abstract precedes thesis as [3] preliminary leaves. Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 39-45).

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13

Mosborg, Susan. "Bridging past and present : how young people use history in reading the daily news /." Thesis, Connect to this title online; UW restricted, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/1773/7748.

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14

Milburn-Curtis, Coral J. "Is this the right room for an argument? : the effects of an internet-based argumentation intervention on aspects of self-regulated learning and critical thinking in young adolescents." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2014. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:37503ca0-69f3-4bfa-b38f-247856f62bcb.

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The importance of developing learners’ self-regulated learning and critical thinking has captured the attention of researchers in recent decades. But interventions that are effective in developing such skills are scarce in the English school context. This study reports on the creation, design, implementation, piloting and evaluation of such an intervention - a four-week internet-based extra-curricular critical thinking course, Is this the right room for an argument? Designed by the researcher as a University of Oxford outreach course, it was provided, for the purposes of this study, to a group (N = 617) of eleven and twelve year old state-school students in England. Based upon self-regulated learning (SRL) and critical thinking (CT) research literature, the intervention comprised four elements which have been linked to progress in both SRL and CT: dialogic argumentation, written counterargumentation, self-reflection in a learning journal and critical thinking tests. The effectiveness of the intervention was evaluated by constructing three experimental conditions and one control condition, which isolated the effects of different combinations of the intervention activities. Structural equation modelling, regression techniques and repeated measures analysis of variance were used to detect main and experimental effects on change in SRL and CT over time, whilst autoregressive cross-lagged path analysis models were specified to explore the process of SRL in action over the course of four learning events. There was an anticipated overall main effect of the intervention, on change in aspects of SRL, with small and medium effect sizes, and on CT, with a medium effect size. It was hypothesised that the use of the learning journal would promote change in SRL and that participation in argumentation would promote progress in CT. Both hypotheses were supported. Participants who self-monitored their learning experience in a learning journal reported significantly more gains in aspects of their SRL, compared with those who did not, with small and medium effect sizes. The extent of participation in dialogic argumentation predicted change over time in CT, with a small effect size, in metacognitive knowledge, with a large effect size and in motivational beliefs and efficacy for learning, with medium effect sizes. Repeated measures analyses detected significant and positive trends over time in metacognitive activity (elaboration strategies, volitional strategies, critical thinking and metacognitive experiences), with effect sizes ranging from small (volitional strategies) to large (elaboration strategies). A process analysis tracked metacognitive activity over four learning events, detecting statistically significant reciprocal relationships between observed critical thinking and self-reported elaboration strategies, and between volitional strategies and metacognitive experiences. Findings suggest that this intervention had a positive effect on change in both self-regulated learning and critical thinking. Specifically, the more participants engaged in dialogic argumentation the more the change in both outcomes. The effects of the intervention, on change in self-regulated learning, were significantly enhanced when the critical thinking activity (argumentation) was accompanied by the self-regulatory activity (the learning journal).

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Lee, Elsa. "How might participation in primary school eco clubs in England contribute to children's developing action-competence-associated attributes?" Thesis, University of Bath, 2014. https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.619152.

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The literature pertaining to action competence in the field of environmental education (EE), and active citizenship in the field of citizenship education (CE), were reviewed for this research. This review reveals an indeterminate collection of attributes that are associated with both action competence and active citizenship. This research introduces the term action-competence-associated attributes to refer to them. The purpose of this research is to explore how children’s participation in primary school eco clubs might afford opportunities for the development of these attributes. The justifications for this purpose are founded in the literature in the fields of environmental and citizenship education, in current educational policy in England, in practice in primary schools in England and in my personal research interests and philosophical principles. A transactional methodology frames the research, which comprises a multiple case study using participant observation and interviews. The data gathered from the two cases of primary school eco clubs, were subjected to both theory- and data-led thematic analysis. The emergent themes suggest how participation in eco clubs affords opportunities that contribute to the on-going development of children’s action-competence-associated attributes. This research makes three distinct contributions to knowledge. The first concerns the potential for eco clubs to enable primary schools to address the non-statutory framework for CE. A variety of different contextual factors influence how this takes place. The second contribution is the development of an analytical framework from action competence that may be useful for other researchers seeking to use action competence research to interrogate their own data .The third is the application of Biesta’s (2011) concept of the ignorant citizen to the school teachers in this research. The ignorant school teacher, by her/his very ignorance, is shown to influence the development of particular action-competence-associated attributes that might otherwise not be effected.

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16

Huang, Jui-Yi. "An artist of Tai Chi : a critical study of the life, art and culutral philosophy of the children's literature artist Ed Young /." The Ohio State University, 1998. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1487953204281593.

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17

Benjamin, Louis. "The development and evaluation of a metacognitive programme for young learners in the South African context." Thesis, University of the Western Cape, 2005. http://etd.uwc.ac.za/index.php?module=etd&amp.

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The Basic Concepts Mediated Learning Programme (BCMLP) was developed to enhance the cognitive and scholastic functioning of learners who experience barriers to learning in the early years of schooling in the South African context. The study aimed to initiate a process of evaluation of the efficacy of this metacognitive programme with Grade 2 learners from the &lsquo
Cape Flats&rsquo
, an historically disadvantaged community in Cape Town. The study was conducted simultaneously in two local education authorities by independent teams of fieldworkers in each of the education authorities. This quantitative, quasi-experimental, non-equivalent comparison group design study was implemented with learners who were equally assigned to an Experimental group (N=54) or Comparison group (N=55). English home-language and Bilingual (English and Afrikaans) learners made up a majority of the study sample. The study was conducted in English.

Extensive pre-test and post-test batteries consisting of cognitive (information-processing), cognitive modifiability (dynamic assessment), and scholastic tests were used to collect data. A number of structured interview schedules including post-intervention teacher rating scales were also used for the purpose of data gathering. The results from the parametric and non-parametric methods of data analysis selected, revealed a pattern of significant pre- to post-study cognitive and scholastic gains in scores for learners in both the Experimental and Comparison groups (p<
0.05). In addition, it was found that the study participants, irrespective of their designation to the Experimental or Comparison group became more modifiable and demonstrated enhanced information-processing abilities at the end of the study. Significantly greater gains were, however, attained by learners in the Experimental group in a majority of the areas assessed (7 out of 12) (p<
0.05). Learners in the Experimental group were also found to be more responsive to instruction and modifiable than learners in the Comparison group.

Learners who participated in the BCMLP were found to benefit with respect to their knowledge of basic concepts, cognitive and scholastic functioning. However, it was not possible to infer from the current study that findings were attributable to any one specific procedure (mediational teaching, concept teaching, vocabulary teaching and teaching to enhance information-processing) or process (Basic Concept Teaching Model) of this metacognitive programme. Furthermore, the study had a number of limitations and findings should be regarded with some caution until replication studies can be completed and the long-term effects of the study can be evaluated.

The study provides some evidence for the efficacy of short-term, small group intervention programmes implemented by Learning Support Teachers within disadvantaged communities. The study also provides some initial evidence for the efficacy of the BCMLP (a specially designed metacognitive programme). The BCMLP was found to be both appropriate and manageable for Learning Support Teachers to implement in the South African context.

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18

Panlay, Suriyan. "I crying for me who no one never hold before : critical race theory and internalised racism in contemporary African American children's and young adult literature." Thesis, University of Warwick, 2014. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/67569/.

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This study focuses on the issue of internalised racism depicted in contemporary African American children’s and young adult literature, utilising Critical Race Theory (CRT) as its key theoretical framework. The study addresses three main thesis questions: (i) What effects does internalised racism have on the marginalised characters, and what are its manifestations? (ii) What narrative strategies have been utilised by the authors to help the characters regain and reclaim their sense of self? (iii) What is the contribution of CRT to children’s and young adult literature? Through critical analyses of the following texts-Tanita S Davis’s (2009) Mare’s War, Jacqueline Woodson’s (2007) Feathers and her 1994’s I Hadn’t Meanto Tell You This, Sharon G Flake’s (2005) Who Am I Without Him and her 1998’s The Skin I’m In, and Sapphire’s (1996) Push—the study examines the effects of internalised racism and offers the young characters the way forward. From a CRT standpoint, it is argued that the study shifts the boundary of literary landscape and enriches both race and literary scholarships by offering new messages, viewpoints and positions, and, crucially, developing a new critical discourse regarding the issue of internalised racism, particularly in critical literary research representing children’s and young adult literature. It defamiliarises the very issue that otherwise has become normalised in American racial discourse, and reaffirms the relevance of ‘race, racism, and racialisation’ in the American landscape. It also argues that literary texts included in this study are a consequential chapter of African American history, or “a new collective history”, which can be used to heal both the individual and the collective, balance the stories, and alter the dominant discourse. The study also analyses the concept of paradigmatic optimism typically found in children’s and young adult literature, and argues that this generic feature is not a flaw but is rather a different trait.

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19

Duggins, Angela. "Thinking Before You Act: A Constructive Logic Approach to Crafting Performance-for- Development Narrative." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2017. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/3342.

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The intent of this thesis was to test the feasibility of constructing performance-for-development narrative using a constructive logic approach. I created an equation which expressed the sum of non-human-elements as the sum of a narrative with each element serving as a variable. I used a review of persuasion literature to provide insight into the selection and manipulation of each variable. I provided my family as a hypothetical example and used my knowledge of their preferences and communication styles in conjunction with the literature and the equation to craft a narrative which might increase pro-school attitudes in other families like my own. I found that there exists a narrative comprised of only non-human elements that are likely to yield change in an audience given a specific situation, and that a constructive logic approach can be used to craft performance-for-development narrative.

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20

Rosas, Blanch Faye, and faye blanch@flinders edu au. "Nunga rappin: talkin the talk, walkin the walk: Young Nunga males and Education." Flinders University. Yunggorendi First Nations Centre, 2009. http://catalogue.flinders.edu.au./local/adt/public/adt-SFU20090226.102604.

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Abstract This thesis acknowledges the social and cultural importance of education and the role the institution plays in the construction of knowledge in this case of young Nunga males. It also recognizes that education is a contested field. I have disrupted constructions of knowledge about young Nunga males in mainstream education by mapping and rapping - or mappin and rappin Aboriginal English - the theories of race, masculinity, performance, cultural capital, body and desire and space and place through the use of Nunga time-space pathways. Through disruption I have shown how the theories of race and masculinity underpin ways in which Blackness and Indignity are played out within the racialisation of education and how the process of racialisation informs young Nunga males experiences of schooling. The cultural capital that young Nunga males bring to the classroom and schooling environment must be acknowledged to enable performance of agency in contested time, space and knowledge paradigms. Agency privileges their understanding and desire for change and encourages them to apply strategies that contribute to their own journeys home through time-space pathways that are (at least in part) of their own choosing.

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21

Esterhuizen, Stefanie-Marié. "An intervention programme to optimise the cognitive development of grade R-learners :|ba bounded pilot study / Stefani-Marié Esterhuizen." Thesis, North-West University, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10394/10431.

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It is imperative to prepare South African learners to participate and function confidently within the context of a rapidly changing world. The curriculum of the South African Education System emphasises the significance of optimising learners‟ cognitive development as early as pre-school age to enable them to become creative and critical citizens who lead purposeful lives in a safe and prejudice-free environment. Despite continuous efforts by educators to optimise cognitive development, recently executed research studies indicate that cognitive development has not been adequately optimised in South African schools. This study was undertaken to establish the cognitive development level (cognitive and meta-cognitive skills and strategies, cognitive functions and non-intellective factors) of Grade R-learners and to determine the effect of an intervention programme, the Cognitive Enhancement Programme for Pre-schoolers (CEPP), on their cognitive development. By means of a literature study, I investigated whether, to what extent the cognitive development of Grade R-learners was taking place, and established which cognitive and meta-cognitive thinking skills and strategies, cognitive functions and non-intellective factors are required for effective cognitive development among Grade R-learners. In addition to this, the role of mediation for optimising cognitive development was investigated. A concurrent embedded mixed methods design was conducted in the implementation of the research. Intervention research within a quasi-experimental research design was applied. The data collection by means of a quantitative strategy (quasi-experimental research) and qualitative strategy (observation study) was executed simultaneously. By means of convenient sampling, one Grade R-class with twenty learners was subjected to a pre-test to establish their cognitive developmental level. The test results as well as the observations conducted during the pre-test revealed that the learners experienced problems related to their cognitive development. Ten of the twenty learners were then divided purposively based on their test performance into two experimental groups, Experimental Group A and Experimental Group B consisting of five participants each. Experimental group A and Experimental Group B took part in the CEPP intervention based on the principles of mediation on a rotational basis over a period of twelve weeks, during which intentional attempts were made to optimise their cognitive development. Both groups completed a post-test and delayed post-test (retention) to determine the effect of the CEPP intervention on their cognitive development. In addition to the test results, observations in the form of structured running and anecdotal records and reflective notes were utilised to understand the nature and quality of the cognitive development of the learners better. Furthermore, the effect of the intervention on their cognitive development was established. The cognitive development of Grade R-learners who participated in this study was optimised, which is a clear indication that cognitive capacity can be optimised when instruction is based on the principles of mediation
PhD, Teaching and Learning, North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2012

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Borgström, Rebecca. ""Systerskap, Självkänsla och Självförtroende" : En studie av empowerment vid en tjejjour." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Sociologiska institutionen, 2013. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-194283.

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Ahmed, Farah. "Pedagogy as dialogue between cultures : exploring halaqah : an Islamic dialogic pedagogy that acts as a vehicle for developing Muslim children's shakhsiyah (personhood, autonomy, identity) in a pluralist society." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2018. https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/278513.

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This thesis presents an argument for the use of dialogic halaqah to develop the personal autonomy of young Muslims in twenty-first century Britain. It begins by developing a theoretical grounding for Islamic conceptualisations of personal autonomy and dialogic pedagogy. In doing so, it aims to generate dialogue between Islamic and ‘western’ educational traditions, and to clarify the theoretical foundation of halaqah, a traditional Islamic oral pedagogy, that has been adapted to meet the educational needs of Muslim children in contemporary Britain. Dialogic halaqah is daily practice in two independent British Muslim faith-schools, providing a safe space for young Muslims to cumulatively explore challenging issues, in order to facilitate the development of selfhood, hybrid identity and personal autonomy, theorised as shakhsiyah Islamiyah. This thesis examines the relationship between thought, language, and the development of personal autonomy in neo-Ghazalian, Vygotskian and Bakhtinian traditions, and suggests the possibility of understanding shakhsiyah Islamiyah as a dialogical Muslim-self. This theoretical work underpins an empirical study of data generated through dialogic halaqah held with groups of schoolchildren and young people. Using established analytic schemes, data from these sessions are subjected to both thematic and dialogue analyses. Emergent themes relating to autonomy and choice, independent and critical thinking, navigating authority, peer pressure, and choosing to be Muslim are explored. Themes related to halaqah as dialogic pedagogy, whether and how it supports the development of agency, resilience and independent thinking, and teacher and learner roles in halaqah, are examined. Moreover, findings from dialogue analysis, which evaluates the quality of educational dialogue generated within halaqah, that is, participants’ capacity to engage in dialogue with each other, as well as with an imagined secular other, are presented. The quality of the dialogic interactions is evaluated, as is evidence of individual participant’s autonomy in their communicative actions.

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Talero, Álvarez Paula. "WHY KATNISS EVERDEEN IS OUR FAVORITE FEMINIST – AN ANALYSIS OF THE HEROINE OF THE HUNGER GAMES FILM SAGA AND HER RECEPTION BY YOUNG FEMALE SPECTATORS." VCU Scholars Compass, 2018. https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/5583.

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THROUGH THE FIGURE OF FICTIONAL CHARACTER KATNISS EVERDEEN, THIS DISSERTATION STUDIES HOW THE FILM INDUSTRY SIMULTANEOUSLY ENTRENCHES AND DISRUPTS GENDER, SEXUAL, AND RACIAL NORMATIVITIES. THE PROJECT USES TEXTUAL ANALYSIS AND PARTICIPANT RESEARCH TO ANALYZE HOW THE FILMS AND NOVELS OF THE HUNGER GAMES SAGA ENCAPSULATE BOTH DOMINANT AND ALTERNATIVE CONCEPTIONS RELATED TO FEMININITY, MASCULINITY, WOMANHOOD, AND MOTHERHOOD. IT ALSO EXPLORES IF AND HOW THE FEMALE HEROINE CAN BE READ AS FEMINIST AND PRODUCES A SENSE OF EMPOWERMENT. I CONCLUDE THAT ALTHOUGH THE INDUSTRY IS PRODUCING NEW MODELS OF WOMANHOOD THAT CHALLENGE TRADITIONAL GENDER ROLES, IT STILL PERPETUATES ROMANTIC IDEALS AND IDEALIZES THE HETEROSEXUAL NUCLEAR FAMILY AS THE ULTIMATE PATH TO FULFILLMENT FOR WOMEN. THE RESULTS OF THE PARTICIPANT RESEARCH SHOW THAT WHILE YOUNG WOMEN ARE CRITICAL OF CERTAIN ASPECTS OF THE SAGA, OVERALL THEY VALUE HAVING STRONG FEMALE CHARACTERS IN FICTION TO WHOM THEY CAN RELATE.

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Artero, Paola. "The Chronicles of Narnia de C. S. Lewis : idéologie(s) et point(s) de vue dans les traductions françaises." Thesis, Montpellier 3, 2018. http://www.theses.fr/2018MON30063/document.

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The Chronicles of Narnia (1950-1956) est un célèbre recueil de sept romans, traditionnellement reconnus comme des œuvres de littérature de jeunesse et à l’origine du genre fantasy. L’un des intérêts majeurs de ces livres réside dans leur substrat symbolique, exprimé dans le texte par un double niveau de lecture qui évoque la tradition chrétienne. Notre thèse consiste en l’analyse d’un corpus incluant les originaux en anglais et les traductions françaises, publiées sous le titre de Le Monde de Narnia (2005)Sous l’égide de la traductologie de corpus (Corpus-based Translation Studies) et par une démarche interdisciplinaire empruntant des outils à la pragmatique, à l’analyse critique du discours (Critical Discourse Analysis, CDA) et à la narratologie, notre étude vise à mettre en évidence les marqueurs du point de vue idéologique, à travers une analyse semi-automatique, qualitative et quantitative. Parmi ces marqueurs sont notamment analysés les déictiques, la modalité, la transitivité, les choix lexicaux et la prosodie sémantique. Les parties du discours correspondant à ces marqueurs sont analysées notamment en lien avec l’instance du narrateur, de par son rôle clé pour l’idéologie dans le texte, et de régie dans la focalisation. Notre analyse porte une attention particulière à la dimension du sacré et aux thèmes de la violence, de la mort et du genre en traduction de littérature de jeunesse.La littérature de jeunesse, toujours plus ou moins caractérisée par un but éducatif, tout comme les livres qui constituent notre corpus, s’avère un véhicule axiologique puissant, qui reflète les valeurs qu’une société défend et transmet à un moment donné. L’instance du narrateur est au cœur de cette négociation entre systèmes linguistiques, culturels et axiologiques, qui s’exprime dans une dynamique dialogique impliquant tous les acteurs de la chaîne du livre. Notre travail a montré notamment que les traductions françaises ont tendance à affaiblir le message religieux, éloignant le regard du lecteur ou rendant flous les contours de l’espace. Dans l’ensemble, l’idéologie du texte cible est caractérisée par un certain nombre d’écarts par rapport au texte source et met en avant d’autres valeurs, pourtant présentes, elles aussi, dans l’original.Ce travail de recherche montre une méthode permettant d’aborder le texte dans le but d’une meilleure compréhension des enjeux qui sous-tendent la traduction, et en particulier la traduction de l’idéologie et du point de vue dans les livres pour enfants
The Chronicles of Narnia (1950-1956) is a well-known collection of seven novels, usually seen as belonging to the genre of Children’s literature and Fantasy. One of the main characteristics of the novels lies in their symbolic dimension, which evokes the Christian tradition and is expressed in the text through a second layer of meaning. Our thesis involves the analysis of a corpus including the English originals of The Chronicles of Narnia and their respective French translations, entitled Le Monde de Narnia (2005).The study draws on corpus-based translation studies and uses an interdisciplinary approach, in particular pragmatics, Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and narratology. Through a combination of qualitative analysis and semi-automatic, quantitative analysis, it explores the ways in which a number of markers of ideological point of view are used in the translations by comparison with the initial texts. The main markers which make the object of discussion are: deictics, modality, transitivity, lexical choice and semantic prosody. The discourse features related to these markers are analysed with respect to the narrative instance of the narrator, which has a key role in conveying the ideology of the text and which controls the focalization process. Our analysis draws particular attention to the sacred dimension in the texts, as well as to the themes of violence, death and gender in children’s literature.Children’s literature is usually characterised by an educational goal, and the Narnia books prove to be a powerful means to convey values within society, at a given moment in time. The narrator is at the centre of a negotiation between two linguistic, cultural and axiological systems. This negotiation is expressed by a dialogical dynamics involving all the actors taking part in the publication process. Our research reveals that the French translations tend to weaken the religious message of the original texts, distancing the reader or blurring space boundaries. Moreover, the ideology in the target texts is characterised by a number of discrepancies by comparison with the source texts; different values are given prominence, among those already present in the Narnia books.Using a method of analysis of translated texts, the thesis brings a contribution to the understanding of the challenges a translator may face when confronted with the task of translating ideology and point of view in books for children

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Greenstein, Steven Baron. "Developing a qualitative geometry from the conceptions of young children." Thesis, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/2152/ETD-UT-2010-05-1021.

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More than half a century ago, Piaget concluded from an investigation of children’s representational thinking about the nature of space that the development of children’s representational thought is topological before it is Euclidean. This conclusion, commonly referred to as the “topological primacy thesis,” has essentially been rejected. By giving emphasis to the ideas that develop rather than the order in which they develop, this work set out to develop a new form of non-metric geometry from young children’s early and intuitive topological, or at least non-metric, ideas. I conducted an eighteen-week teaching experiment with two children, ages six and seven. I developed a new dynamic geometry environment called Configure that I used in tandem with clinical interviews in each of the episodes of the experiment to elicit these children’s non-metric conceptions and subsequently support their development. I found that these children developed significant and authentic forms of geometric reasoning. It is these findings, which I refer to as qualitative geometry, that have implications for the teaching of geometry and for research into students’ mathematical reasoning.
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Bonk, Curtis J. "The effects of convergent and divergent computer software on children's critical and creative thinking." 1987. http://catalog.hathitrust.org/api/volumes/oclc/17430048.html.

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Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1987.
Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 53-57).

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Roberts, Nicky. "Telling and illustrating additive relations stories: a classroom-based design experiment on young children's use of narrative in mathematics." Thesis, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10539/23036.

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Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for Doctor of Philosophy, University of the Witwatersrand.
In South Africa, difficulties with learners solving word problems has been a recurrent problem identified through national standardised assessments extending from Foundation Phase into the Senior Phase. As is evident globally, particular difficulties have been identified with young children solving ‘compare-type problems’ where the numbers of objects in two disjoined sets are compared. This design experiment provides empirical data of young South African learners trying to make sense of compare-type problems. The task design from this design experiment suggested that engaging learners in narrative processes where they are expected to model the problem situations and then retell and vary the word problems, to become fluent in using the sematic schemata may assist them to become more experienced and better able to make sense of compare-type problems. This finding contradicts the advice offered in official South African government documentation. The study was a three-cycle classroom-based design experiment which took place over 10 consecutive school days with Foundation Phase learners in a full service township school where the majority of learners were English Language Learners (ELLs), learning mathematics in English when their home language has not English. This study set out to research a ‘narrative teaching approach’ for a specific mathematics topic: additive relation word problems. At the heart of the study therefore, was a question relating to the efficacy of a teaching strategy: To what extent do young children’s example space of additive relations expand to include compare type word problems? This design experiment reveals that when adequately supported with careful task design and effort in monitoring and responding to learner activity, Grade 2 ELL children in a township school can improve their additive relations problem solving, in a relatively short time frame. The majority of the learners in this design experiment were able to solve compare-type problems at the end of the 10-day intervention. These learners were also able to produce evidence of movements towards more structured representations, and towards better learner explanation and problem posing using storytelling. III The design experiment intervention showed promise in expanding young children’s example space for additive relations word problems. In both cycles the mean results improved from pre-test to post-test. The gains evident immediately after the intervention were retained in a delayed post-test administered for the third cycle which showed further improvements in the mean with a reduced standard deviation. The effect sizes of the shifts in means from pre-test to post-test was 0.7 (medium) in both cycles, while the effect size of shifts in the mean from pre-test to delayed post-test was 1.3 (large). T-tests established that these shifts in means were statistically significant. The core group showed the greatest learning gains, suggesting that the intervention was most successful in ‘raising the middle’ of the class. Particular patterns of children’s reasoning about additive relations word problems are documented from the South African ELL children in this design experiment. For example many ELLs in this design experiment initially responded to compare word problems like ‘Mahlodi has 12 sweets. Moeketsi has 8 sweets. How many more sweets does Mahlodi have than Moeketsi?’ with: ‘Mahlodi has 12 sweets’. New actions and contrasts relating to additive relations are brought into focus. For example the empirical results indicated that inserting attention to 1:1 matching actions was found to be useful to helping learners to deal with static compare situations. This study has helped to extend the theoretical foundations of what is meant by a ‘narrative approach’ as the theoretical features of the narrative approach are now situated within a broader theoretical framework of orienting theories, domain specific instructional theories, and related frameworks for action. The findings of this design experiment have been promising in the local context of the focal school. Should the intervention task design be found to yield similar results in other South African Foundation Phase contexts, when implemented by teachers other than the researcher, then it may be appropriate to use the research findings to improve the guidance provided to Foundation phase teachers (in curriculum documentation and through professional development offerings).
MT2017

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Conrady, Lara Lee 1977. "A phenomenological case study of mentoring outcomes : benefiting the mentor in student development, self-esteem, and identity formation." 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/2152/15892.

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This qualitative study sought to provide a list of outcomes that mentors have as a result of being involved in a service-learning course over the course of one academic semester. The service learning course, Leadership in the Community, requires the enrollees to serve as a mentor to a local middle school student. Specifically, this study examined the mentoring outcomes of student development, self-esteem, and personal reflection. Data included semistructured interviews, researcher observations, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSE), mentor journals, and personal reflection papers. Twenty-one participants were included in this study. An analysis of the data sources illustrated how each participant experiences mentoring and its outcomes and was informed using literature on mentoring, self-esteem, student development, and service-learning including: Maslow (1976), Chickering and Reisser (1993), Boyer (1990), Kram (1985), and Rosenberg (1965). In summary, this study's purpose was to identify mentoring outcomes and how participation in a service- learning course can contribute to changes in student development, self-esteem levels, and personal reflection. This study found that participants enrolled in the course for specific reasons, which included (a) forming relationships, (b) providing hope and promoting personal development, and (c) modeling goal setting. In regards to self-esteem development, the Leadership in the Community course provided the participants with a positive support system, a forum for sharing personal accomplishments, and an outlet to serve the local community by serving as a mentor. The participants displayed the ability to personally reflect about themselves and their mentoring experience in classroom interactions, mentor journals, interviews, and personal reflection papers. Themes and patterns noted in the participants' personal reflection were reflections about (a) personal growth, (b) identity formation, (c) past experiences, and (d) experiences with their classmates. This study suggests that service-learning courses that require mentoring as an enrollment requirement provides participants with an opportunity to develop as a student and as a person by contributing to the local community, increasing self-esteem, and reflecting upon one's past experiences. This study also makes a contribution to the literature by examining the mentoring relationship from the mentor's perspective. This departure from the existing literature on the mentoring relationship provides a new perspective for future research.
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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Young children's critical thinking'

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