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Full Issue: Journal On Empowering Teaching Excellence, Volume 1, Issue 2, Usu Center For Innovative Design And Instruction

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

Volume 1, Issue 2 of the Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence, a publication of Utah State University focused on providing a forum for instructors in higher education to share best practices and ideas related to effective teaching.

Promoting Critical Thinking In General Biology Courses: The Case Of The White Widow Spider, Joseph S. Wilson

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

It is generally accepted that critical thinking is an important and, likely, essential, component of success in college and beyond. Despite the unanimity, only a low percentage of students in the U.S. can demonstrate critical thinking proficiency on standardized exams. This phenomenon may result from instructors using a reductionist view of critical thinking and focusing on learning processes rather than on evaluation of intellectual resources. In general biology courses, I use a non-threatening, active-learning, group activities to promote critical thinking. For example, students are presented with an email from a member of the community and asked to formulate a response …

How Do Teachers Challenge Neoliberalism Through Critical Pedagogy Within And Outside Of The Classroom?, Rezvan Shahsavari-Googhari

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis uses the qualitative case study approach to investigate current strategies and skills four Ontario public secondary school teachers apply both within and outside of the classroom to enhance students’ critical consciousness. The focus is on teachers’ pedagogical work in the era of neoliberal restructuring in order to provide a rich account of how neoliberalism challenges and affects their teaching. Existing literature shows a crisis of identity and political agency among youth in many Western societies, characterized by individuals’ inability to think critically about social, political and economic issues, which is rooted in neoliberal education reforms. Adopting a critical …

Addressing Religious Issues And Power In Elt Classrooms: Voices From English Teachers In Indonesia, Joseph E. Mambu

International Journal of Christianity and English Language Teaching

Drawing on insights from the ELT literature on values, power (relations), and dialogues on faith, this article will explore how EFL teachers reflected on their attempts to communicate their religious views to students. Data was acquired from three Christian English teachers. One was from the USA and the other two were Indonesian nationals. They participated in a larger case study project in an undergraduate English Language Teacher Education program at a university in Indonesia. In interviews teachers demonstrated the enactment of interfaith dialogues, critical thinking, respect, and religious reflexivity. This exploratory study concludes that religious values can be incorporated into …

What About The Little People?: Empowering Middle School Students To Discard The Great Man Theory, Sarah Straub

MLET: The Journal of Middle Level Education in Texas

This paper attempts to address the promotion of critical thinking in our middle school students as they reflect on the widely-accepted White Eurocentric perspective of history that has been traditionally taught in school. In this article, the incomplete treatment of history is identified as Carlyle’s Great Man Theory. The hope is that educators can be critical of the curriculum they are teaching so as to promote critical perspectives in their own students. History is not just the story of Great Men – it is a collective story of which many of us have a partial understanding. Specifically, this article addresses …

A Study Of Student Attitudes And Dispositions Toward The Use Of The Inquiry Method In Teaching Eighth-Grade Social Studies, Michael George Bolling

Education Dissertations and Projects

Despite a recent emphasis on instruction that utilizes higher level critical thinking skills in middle schools, too many history teachers rely primarily on rote memorization due to state standards that place an emphasis on teaching to a multiple choice standardized test. The difficulty of having to teach copious amounts of information is that it can give rise to the problem of coverage. Teachers feel they must cover massive amounts of material so their students will do well on the standardized test at the end of the school year. This leaves little time for engaging the students in higher level critical …

Writing Renewal Retreats: The Scholarly Writer, Contemplative Practice, And Scholarly Productivity, Edward Brantmeier, Cathryn Molloy, Jennifer Byrne

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This article offers an exploratory case study of a program for faculty that blends contemplative practices, scholarly productivity, and renewal of faculty as writers at a retreat in a natural setting. We share faculty learning outcomes, logistics, a retreat agenda, and evaluation data from four writing renewal retreats conducted over two years to present initial insight into a contemplative approach to writing retreats that fosters a connection to self, to scholarship, and to a community of writers—key elements of a successful writing life. Through critical reflection on the role of contemplative practices, scholarly productivity, and faculty well-being, we offer a …

Classroom Approaches And Japanese College Students' Intercultural Competence, Joan Elizabeth Gilbert

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Preparing college students to be contributing members of local and global societies requires educators to analyze the capabilities and needs of their students and to adjust instructional content and practice. The purpose of this mixed-methods study was twofold: (a) to explore how classroom approaches designed to facilitate students' questioning of assumptions and beliefs regarding different cultural beliefs, social structures, and practices might influence Japanese college students' self-reported development of intercultural competence, and (b) to investigate whether or not the students developed their potential for intercultural competence. Mezirow's transformative learning theory informed this study. Archival qualitative data were from 137 Japanese …

Questioning For Critical Thinking, Karen Conner, Ashton Coppley, Betsy Furr

Instructional Modules for Professional learning Responding to Opportunities and Valuing Educators (IMPROVE)

Effective questioning is essential for learning. This module will explore questioning for learning and critical thinking. This module was designed for use by teachers of all grade levels. It is intended for the benefit of teachers in designing their instruction and for the benefit of the students they teach. Participants in this PLM will consider the importance of which questions are asked, who gets to ask them, and what role they play in student achievement.

Visit professional learning module.