Education Commons^™

Place-Based Education And The Teaching Of Social Studies, Greg A. Smith

Summer Institute June 2019

No abstract provided.

Design For Living Complexities, Peter J. Taylor

Working Papers in Critical, Creative and Reflective Practice

Lectures from a 12-session course that addresses the intersection of design with critical thinking. Design in this course means intentionality in construction, which involves a range of materials, a sequence of steps, and principles that inform the choice of materials and the steps. Design also always involves putting people, as well as materials, into place. This happens by working with the known properties of people, as well as the known properties of material, and trying out new arrangements to work around their constraints (at least temporarily). Critical thinking, as I define it, involves understanding ideas and practices better when we …

Ethn 201: Introduction To Native American Studies--A Benchmark Portfolio, Margaret Huettl

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This portfolio traces the process of the design, teaching methods, and assessment tools I used in reconfiguring ETHN 201: Introduction to Native American Studies. “Introduction to Native American Studies” (INAS) is an introductory survey course taken either as an elective or as the foundation of a Native Studies minor. The class size is relatively small, capped at twenty-four students. Students who take this course come from a broad cross-section of disciplines in the College of Arts and Sciences and beyond, although perhaps the greatest portion comes from the Humanities. The course serves as an introduction to the interdisciplinary field of …

Fren 302: Representative Authors Ii-A Peer Review Of Teaching Benchmark Portfolio, Julia Frengs

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This portfolio traces the process of the design, teaching methods, and assessment tools I used in my first time teaching a survey of French literature course, FREN 302, or “Representative Authors II.” The primary goal of the course is to introduce students to “masterpieces” of French literature spanning from the Middle Ages to the present. The course is certified for the ACE 5 outcome, which emphasizes the use of analysis and interpretation. My own principal objective for the course, developing student autonomy and critical thinking skills, which intersects with this ACE 5 outcome, is the main focus of this study. …

Exploring Teachers’ Perspectives Of Cooperative Learning To Create Music In Orff Schulwerk Classrooms, Nicole A. Chapman

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Creative Work, and Performance

The Framework for 21st Century Learning identifies four learning and innovation skills to prepare students for a changing world. The 4Cs identified are critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity (Framework for 21st Century Learning, 2015). With the adoption of this new teaching framework, it is important that music educators evaluate their own teaching methods to meet the needs of their students in a changing society. The purpose of this study was to examine how cooperative group learning is currently integrated in the Orff-Schulwerk certified teachers’ elementary music classroom as part of the creative music process. In this qualitative study, I …

Critical Thinking And High-Level Discourse In A 1:1 Environment, Ryan G. Zonnefeld, Valorie L. Zonnefeld

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

Learn about our experiences co-teaching a K–8 methods course using 1:1 tablets in a high-tech lab. This innovative course included a move away from a textbook to a dynamic research-based curriculum supported by NCTM resources and CCSSM as well as integral utilization of apps, web 2.0 tools, and professional learning networks.

Teaching Tolkien: Language, Scholarship, And Creativity, Adam Kotlarczyk

Faculty Publications & Research

Why Tolkien?

Let us start with the obvious—if cynical—question, almost certain to come from a skeptical administrator or colleague: why would any serious, self-respecting English teacher want to teach an author whose work is about dragons, fairies, and the fantastic? With all the increased attention to standardized testing and with the demand for rigor in read- ings in the average English curriculum, choosing a popular text might raise eyebrows among critics. The question that an English teacher may be asked (or indeed, may ask him- or herself) is: doesn't teaching Tolkien as "serious" literature just fan those flames?

Hist 208: History Of World War Ii—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Inquiry Portfolio, Thomas Berg

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This Inquiry Portfolio explores the efficacy of the “flipped classroom” format for university-level history courses for students, the professor, and the history department. While creating a clear outline of expectations, readings, examination and quiz requirements will allow the student to better organize their study time, I wanted to know if the “flipped format” would help my students master the knowledge, develop good discussion skills, and practice critical thinking skills learned during classroom discussions. Also, not having taught any flipped courses, I needed the experience to discuss cogently with my peers the desirability and practicality of offering flipped history courses.

Ctips, Issue 2: Close Reading Template, Carolyn G. Hartz

CTips: Newsletter on Critical Thinking

Issue 2 present a template for close reading originally created by Prof. Emily Schultz (Anthropology) and adapted by Kevin Sharpe (Philosophy).

Ctips, Issue 1: What Is Critical Thinking?, Carolyn G. Hartz

CTips: Newsletter on Critical Thinking

The first issue defines critical thinking and provides a case example of critical reasoning.

La Discussió Deliberativa: Usar El Discurs De Classe Per Promoure El Pensament Crític, Mark Felton

Faculty Publications

Per potenciar el pensament creatiu a classe cal comprendre les arrels d’aquest pensament en el raonament argumentatiu. El pensament crític inclou la recerca i l’avaluació de les raons que hi ha darrere d’una afirmació. Per prendre part en aquesta activitat d’investigació, cal entendre els elements sobre els quals es discuteix i com aquests es combinen per justificar una conclusió. Les investigacions es mostren cada vegada més unànimes en el fet que els estudiants experimenten una millora substancial en el desenvolupament del pensament crític (i que aquesta millora es transfereix també a nous temes) a mesura que van adquirint experiència en …