Education Commons^™

Reimagining Information Literacy Instruction Through Faculty Development, Erin Mccoy

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

This paper explores a unique approach to information literacy instruction by designing a curriculum map that provides consistent opportunities for faculty to engage with ideas surrounding critical thinking, metacognition, scaffolding instruction, and implementing information literacy teaching tools within their classroom. This map outlines a comprehensive approach to faculty development that addresses the dissatisfaction in information literacy instruction among academic librarians, particularly with the one-shot model and the lack of assessment opportunities of students’ information literacy skills. Using action research, the author explores the reason for this dissatisfaction and how it be addressed. Through interviews with other campus departments like online …

Transformational Leadership For Growth In Changing Times, David Kooharian

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

“Transformational Leadership for Growth in Changing Times” is a personal exploration into a leadership style that is both humanizing and effective. As a parent, artist, teacher, and counselor I have developed a personal form of leading without understanding what I was doing. After researching leadership styles I discovered that what I had been doing was backed by a recognized theory of leadership called Transformational Leadership.

The keys to Transformational Leadership include: Idealized Influence. Leaders behave as role models demonstrating high ethical standards and moral conduct. They are consistent and provide a feeling of confidence that obstacles can be overcome. The …

Revising The Myth Of Normal: Creating A Sustainable Secondary Academic Curriculum Predicated On Learning Diversity, Sara M. Kaplan

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

In recent years, a paradigm of neurodiversity has emerged in secondary schooling that functions as a framework to meet the needs of all types of learners. Accordingly, as our understanding of students who learn differently shifts, we must consider and evaluate pedagogical overhauls that aim to meet the needs of all learners. This synthesis details my experience as a young, fairly inexperienced administrator who has entered into a newworkplace environment and devised a curricular framework with the intention of supporting students with learning differences to become constructive and reflective agents of their own learning. In this narrative, the reader will …

Pedagogy Of Curiosity: Initial Explorations Of Instructional Practice In A Critical Thinking And Curious Classroom, Michael Chalukian

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

Through research on critical thinking, instructional practice, and curiosity I have developed the Pedagogy of Curiosity. This approach is implemented in the Curious classroom and a workshop for secondary teachers. The Curious classroom creates a structure and focus to encourage and develop curiosity and critical thinking of students. A questioning and research design redefines the learning expectations and the corresponding teacher and student roles in the classroom. An environment is constructed for students to take steps to become autonomous reflective learners.

This synthesis identifies two sources that inform my endeavor: 1) The accountability and results driven focus of No Child …

Maximizing The Learning Outcomes Of Cocurricular Civic Engagement In Higher Education, Jeremy Poehnert

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

My experience as an undergraduate college student was marked by many challenges. A constant source of support throughout that time was my participation in cocurricular community service activities – without those experiences I would never have completed my degree. After graduating I pursued a career in which I could continue my involvement with such programs, which, for the purposes of this paper, I will refer to as higher education civic engagement (HECE). There has been one issue that I have been particularly drawn to in HECE work — how to maximize what students learn when they participate in cocurricular civic …

Managing From The Middle, Lisa Williams

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

How can middle managers successfully improve work conditions and performance of their staff as part of becoming a better manager? This synthesis reviews relevant literature to develop five key principles in my argument: Motivation is the key, the change process begins with me, change is an ongoing and fluid process, middle managers have a need for team and middle managers play different roles during team building. I have also developed a handy booklet for the middle manager to use in changing their management style, which is included as Appendix. The booklet first briefly explains the principles. It then discusses four …

First-Generation Students’ Pathways To A Baccalaureate, Yolanda Avidano

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

The pathway to college for most low-income first-generation students can seem impracticable and impossible to achieve. This diverse population has caused much apprehension among educational administrators and practitioners about how to serve these students effectively. As an educational practitioner working with this population I am especially interested in uncovering the “state of affairs” regarding first-generation college students in general, and low income first generation students in particular, and how I might be a catalyst of positive and effective change as I serve them. My synthesis reviews published literature that reveals the “state of affairs” regarding first generation students. I address …

Serendipity And Persistence: A Journey Building A Rich Music-Making Culture In Public Schools, Constance Cook

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

I am a music teacher in the public schools. This synthesis project presents a Practitioner’s Portfolio to convey my efforts over the last decade and more in pursuit of a rich culture of music in public schools. Readers should see someone who persists when faced with personal, pedagogical, intellectual, and institutional challenges. Moreover, that persistence is conducive of the serendipity through which opportunities open up to be an agent of change. What is also evident to me as I assembled the Portfolio was that the Kodály model of artist, scholar, and pedagogue seems to have been the underpinning for much …

Building A Learning Community For Dental Hygiene Faculty, Nancy Baccari

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

Have you ever felt isolated in your work environment that left you feeling perplexed and stuck only to find out that colleagues felt the same way you did but had no idea to work around it? Through this practioner’s narrative, I journey through my struggle of teacher isolation to my action plan to make it better. Finding a way to identify my feelings, strengths and weaknesses and move towards change to improve my own work environment describes my experience in the Critical and Creative Thinking (CCT) graduate program. This new awareness changed the way I see myself as a leader …

Applying Critical And Creative Thinking In Teaching Buddhism, Doan Van Thua

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

This synthesis describes my journey preparing myself for teaching Buddhism in a way that moves beyond traditional approaches of transmitting information to students. I describe learning, teaching activities, tools, and methodologies using critical and creative thinking that can be applicable to Buddhist education. I describe some changes towards more interactive modes of teaching and progress in teaching I have made so far in my teaching Sunday school for children, in public teaching, and in giving instruction to Buddhist groups. Some further expectations and some defects in my teaching that need improvement are noted. A Buddhist is not a blind follower, …

Navigating The Complexities In Teaching, Marie Levey-Pabst

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

As a student in the Critical and Creative Thinking Program I have learned about ways of thinking that have greatly impacted how I teach my high school students as well as how I think about my own teaching. Over the past year I have sought out teachers to interview to help me expand my understanding about how teachers make thoughtful decisions given the complex realities they face. Through analyzing these teachers' reflections on their thoughts and experiences I have discovered ways of opening my own thinking as well as patterns in productive teacher thinking that could help many other teachers …

Bringing Community College Students And Employers Together: A Guide For Employers And Career Centers In An Economic Decline, Jeffrey Craig

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

This paper emerges from my work as Coordinator of Job Placement at Bristol Community College over the last 19 months, in which I have had the opportunity to try new approaches to problem-solving and pursue professional growth as I serve students in higher education. The recent economic crisis has left millions of Americans out of work across most sectors. Displaced workers are flocking to community colleges to upgrade and learn new skills with the goal of becoming more marketable to potential employers. Enrollments have soared, while costs have risen and budgets cut. These conditions place an undue burden on these …

Social Action Teaching: Engaging Middle School Students In Knowing And Doing In The Social Studies Classroom, Alyssa Hinkell

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

For the past three years I have had countless opportunities to engage in rich thinking around teaching and learning. As a member of the Critical and Creative Thinking Program (CCT) at the University of Massachusetts, Boston I have been able to reflect on these experiences in the context of my own teaching, applying what I have learned to enrich my own craft. Over the past eight months I have devoted this thinking to a teaching method I call Social Action Teaching. This method has helped to engage and motivate my seventh grade students and I believe, if applied elsewhere, can …

Incorporating Service-Learning Into The Esl Curriculum: What Aspiring Practitioners Need To Know, Andres R. Reyes

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

As an ESL teacher at a community college, my constant goal is to synergize teaching approaches and strategies so that in addition to maximizing students' language learning, their critical thinking skills, cultural competence, and reflectivity - as members of an increasingly growing multicultural society - are heightened. Most recently, I have been pursuing service-learning as a philosophy, pedagogy, and practice that can help students connect their classroom learning to concrete, exciting, and challenging learning situations beyond the classroom. This paper is an attempt to highlight service-learning as a powerful tool that can make a difference in students' lives as they …

Children's Story: Per-Se-Vere, Virginia De La Garza

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

We constantly come across problems or challenges that have no predetermined answer or solution. Perseverance is a very important disposition that makes us persist in the search of something we have started. I believe that people who want to persevere not only need to be motivated but, more importantly, they need to understand what it takes to persevere or, in other words, know how to persevere. Developing strategies to face and overcome confusion, obstacles, and frustrations is needed for learning. The teaching of Intellectual Perseverance is frequently taken for granted or not taught appropriately. Attitudes, dispositions, and habits of mind …

Exploring The Teaching Mind: Extending Participation In Lifelong Learning Through Engagement With A Supportive Community, Jeremy Szteiter

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

This paper extends the notion of lifelong learning beyond gaining knowledge over a lifetime to preparing oneself to teach what has been learned to others. The "Teaching Mind," as I define the idea, involves thinking about what has been learned and what one knows by reconsidering that knowledge through the eyes of self as a teacher. The Teaching Mind assumes a broad notion of teaching that relates to informal and community learning across all areas of life and culture, beyond professional teaching in formal schools. The pursuit of the Teaching Mind is highly accessible to all those who wish to …

Original Curriculum For Encouraging Meaningful Community Service In High School Students, Elizabeth H. Naylor

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

In this paper I have explored the importance of community service experiences and ultimately created a guide for implementing a high quality and meaningful community service program at the high school level. This paper begins with an initial discussion of my personal experiences in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, when I discovered firsthand the importance of personal reflection and sharing. I have defined community as a group of people with common place and common interest. Community service is an action within the community that betters the community in some way. The reader will find examples of communities coming together to …

My Search For A Meaningful Information Literacy Course: A Drama In Three Acts, Jan Coe

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

My synthesis project began as a personal and professional mission to help students decipher their library assignments and learn how to do research in general. In pursuing this goal, I learned a lot about 'information literacy' but I also learned about the reasons being information literate is important to me: it is a gestalt of a critical thinker. I discovered that - beyond becoming adept in the mechanics of information retrieval - what I really wanted for my students are the very things I value and enjoy doing myself: learning about communities of discourse; mulling over and asking questions about …

Rationale And Provisional Lesson Plans For Learning High School Science Through Discovering Dialectically And Creatively, Jean Rene

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

A host of studies on students' understanding of science has revealed that persistent topic-specific misconceptions loom over wide groups of learners. However, in the literature, scant consideration is given to high school students' over-arching misconceptions. Those are erroneous conceptions about the nature of science that tend to be resistant even after traditional instruction. Those large-scale misconceptions lay at the frontier of philosophical standpoints and are likely to inhibit students' ability to construct conceptions aligned with accepted scientific views. This synthesis contends that educators can better address high school students' large scale misconceptions at the conjunction of interconnected scientific notions and …

Web-Based Transitioning For Students With Disabilities: Learning From Existing Limitations To Design A Process That Leaves No Child Behind, Kevin Johnson

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

Students with disabilities face numerous obstacles. This is especially true while in the process of postsecondary transitioning, moving from secondary (K-12) to Post-secondary schooling (College, University or Community College). The transitioning process poses obstacles to all students however students with disabilities confront additional obstacles unique to having a disability. Federal law mandates public secondary schools design transition plans, a written plan detailing students transition from secondary to postsecondary school. Secondary schools must also create opportunities for students to develop both academic and life skills critical to successfully take the postsecondary leap and remain successful at the postsecondary level. The need …

Have Your Π And Eat It Too! Using A Course Website To Facilitate Student-Centered Learning And Improve The Effectiveness Of The High School Mathematics Experience, Jeffrey Bretsch

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics recommends that teachers provide their students with opportunities for student-centered learning. This often occurs in the form of discovery learning, hands-on learning, and interdisciplinary learning. These types of learning experiences fall under the umbrella of the educational theory of constructivism. Constructivism, in short, asserts that meaningful learning occurs when students actively construct their own understanding, making connections and drawing their own conclusions in response to genuine experiences. Many educators would agree that this type of learning is the ideal, but is not generally feasible due to the broad nature of the mathematics curriculum …

Whatever Happened To Lisa Simpson? An Exploration Of Female Adolescent Development Through Problem Based Learning, Amy Perrault

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

As a teacher for the past six years in a girls’ school, I have met and had the chance to interact with hundreds of adolescent girls. Over time I have come to realize how much adolescence seems to have changed since I was in their shoes. The media inundates them with messages about what is cool, hip, and acceptable—music videos, fashion, and the internet provide the frame of reference against which today’s young woman compares her own self worth. While girls have always looked to society’s standards to help them develop as individuals, at no time in history have the …

Pomp In Circumstance: Paradox, Oppositions, Metaphors And Philosophy In The Context Of Adult Basic Education, Matt Puma

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

The ability to think fluidly with a variety of oppositional forms is essential to both critical and creative thinking. Loaded oppositions such as science vs. humanities, reason vs. emotion, male vs. female and good vs. evil become hindrances to thought when they are held too rigidly as dichotomies. Learning to work with the rich flow of oppositions involves patient exploration and an openness to the emergence of paradoxical truths rooted in the opposition. However, paradoxical thinking is not the only method for flexing fixed oppositions; there are many other types of "moves" that one can make when thinking creatively with …

Teaching Economics In United States History: One Teacher Shares Some Lessons, Kathleen S. Bullock

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

This paper addresses the value and benefits of teaching economics in U.S. History at the high school level. Some of the challenges it presents such as curriculum style, teacher qualifications, assessment and accountability, pacing, and developing thinking skills for a theory-based course are discussed. I also offer activities with accompanying worksheets and graphic organizers that may assist teachers in meeting these challenges. The activities include tariffs, a run on the bank, monopolies, and recessions as an introduction to basic economic principles that are important in teaching U.S. History. A set of graphic organizers on The Civil War demonstrates how economics …

Geometry In Action: A Curriculum Unit Utilizing Dynamic Geometry Software To Enhance Students’ Comprehension, Cynthia A. Mignini

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

The paper identifies two critical obstacles to student success in a traditional geometry classroom and examines the role dynamic geometry software can play in overcoming these obstacles.

Verifying The Teaching Of Analogies To Fourth Grade Students, Terese A. Byrne

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

The proliferation of technology and the information it makes available to all has forced education to realign itself to meet the changing needs of today's students. A shift away from amassing information, toward the development of critical thinking skills, presents teachers with new questions. What skills are appropriate to teach at a given age or level, and how can those skills be developed? This project takes one of those skills, analogies, and investigates the degree of success a teacher might expect in teaching them to fourth grade students. The project was designed as a data generating study. Fifty-seven fourth grade …

Critical Thinking Dispositions: The Need For A Balanced Curriculum In Collegiate Critical Thinking Courses, Bayse E. Hendrix

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

The aim of this synthesis is to argue that students cannot become effective thinkers simply by being taught the analytical skills of critical reading, writing, and thinking. Without learning the necessary dispositions of critical thinking students will not develop into well-rounded, effective thinkers. The study is focused on an already existing course at Mass Bay Community College. The present curriculum is based on the fundamental skills of determining the soundness and validity of an argument. Assisting and encouraging the obtainment of critical thinking dispositions will inspire students to become more aware of the role their listening and communicating skills and …

Inviting Critical And Creative Thinking Into The Classroom, Kelley A. Freeman

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

In the field of education, there is much discussion around the subtleties of teaching critical and creative thinking. Surrounding the controversy are questions such as, are certain skills are subordinate to others, and can best practices be fully described. Amidst this continuing discussion, most students are not being taught the necessary, fundamental skills that will allow them to become good thinkers; nor is curriculum being aligned to explicitly and systematically include thinking skills. In the interim however, teachers can become aware of what is involved in critical and creative thinking and the dispositions, skills, strategies and environment that foster good …

The Cultivation Of Thinking Dispositions In Grades Three And Four, Linda L. Taylor

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

Thinking dispositions are the internal motivation for thinking critically and creatively. Successful critical thinkers use theirs without another person directing them to use the skills. Many individuals, having acquired these skills, fail to use them. Tishman and Perkins suggest that inadequate development of the dispositions necessary to invoke the thinking skills account for the second behavior. In my work as an enrichment specialist, I have found support for this view. In this paper I present a case study of my work with third and fourth grade students, which focuses on developing the attitudes and dispositions needed for successful critical and …

The Leaders Of The Future: A Call To Action For Higher Education, Deirdre L. Hennessey

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

The purpose of this thesis is to create a plan for a college or university to use in designing a program of leadership development for students. The study begins at the first stages, discussing the role of higher education as a producer of leaders. It is argued that it is the responsibility of higher education to promote leadership and actively cultivate leaders as part of its mission. Leadeship is defined and the fundamentals of the thesis are explained. Personal and creative potential are explained as the foundation of any leadership program. These qualities are discussed, and methods of teaching these …