Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Addressing Conspiracy Theories Through Media And Data Literacy Education. An Exploratory Case Study, Francesco Fabbro, Elena Gabbi

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Lately conspiracy theories (CT) are increasingly hovering over Education Studies, mostly as problems in search of a solution. This paper problematizes this educational solutionist discourse by reflecting critically on different framing of CT (i.e. epistemological and ethico-political) and some related educational responses, ranging from pre/debunking strategies to democratic discussion. In addition, Media Data Literacy Education (MDLE) is presented as a viable educational approach to address CT circulating onlife. The approach is empirically explored through an online workshop with a small group of social workers attending a course for socio-pedagogical educators at the University of Florence. A qualitative mixed methodology is …

Lesson Planning To Active Engagement: Harnessing Ai Tools For Academic Library Instruction, Helen E. Bischoff, Lisa Nichols

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

Love it or hate it, AI is here to stay. So how can librarians embrace AI in the classroom and use it to their advantage when working with students? Drawing from our own experiences in K12 and university settings, we will highlight AI tools instruction librarians can use to support their own teaching and learning in terms of lesson planning, classroom activities, and research consultations. We will demonstrate AI tools we have used such as ChatGPT and Semantic Scholar to engage middle school and undergraduate students and offer tips for promoting thoughtful, ethical use of AI for learning. We will …

Exploring Cultural Stereotypes With A Critical Eye Via Ai-Generated Images., Eric Fournier

Generative AI Teaching Activities

Students will investigate cultural stereotypes by generating images in AI, and then providing a critique of those images. This assignment aims to foster awareness, empathy, and critical thinking. By examining AI-generated images, students can actively challenge stereotypes and develop more informed perspectives about the world.

Learning By Doing: College Students Promoting Children’S Philosophical Inquiry In Schools, Margaret Gichuru, Lin Lin, Mecke E. Nagel

The SUNY Journal of the Scholarship of Engagement: JoSE

This focus group study explores the perceptions and experiences of college students working within an applied learning program during the COVID-19 pandemic. The program engages children from prekindergarten to sixth grade in local schools and early childhood education centers. The college students serve as teaching assistants in the SG Program hosted by an academic department in a northeastern university and lead philosophical inquiries as they read picture books. Informed by philosophical inquiry with children and the applied learning principles as the research framework, this focus group study invites five teaching assistants to three one-hour in-depth semi-structured interviews. The analysis of …

Investigating Faculty Perceptions Of Information Literacy And Instructional Collaboration, Angie Cox, Amandajean Nolte, Angela L. Pratesi

Communications in Information Literacy

This exploratory mixed-methods study investigates faculty perceptions of information literacy (IL), its instruction, and librarian collaboration teaching IL since the adoption of the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education at the authors’ institution. Many previous studies examining these questions were completed when the ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education was the guiding document for the profession. Like earlier studies, findings from this study clearly demonstrate that faculty value IL and that collaborations occur in differing and inconsistent forms. However, at the authors’ institution, there is a misalignment between faculty and librarians in what IL is and …

Truth Or Consequences: Academic Instruction Librarians As Information Literacy And Critical Thinking Activists, Laureen P. Cantwell-Jurkovic, Heather F. Ball

Communications in Information Literacy

The graphic edition of Snyder’s On Tyranny (2021) states "truth dies in four modes," which is a contemporary synthesis connected to Klemperer's Language of the Third Reich (1957). The researchers connected these four modes to information literacy (IL) instruction—but would others? The researchers surveyed academic librarians engaged in IL instruction on whether they felt they addressed any of the modes in their work. The researchers also asked whether they believe the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education works to circumvent any of the four modes. Nearly 150 librarians responded and, while most respondents were unfamiliar with the two …

Teaching To Develop Perspective, Skills, Confidence, And Identity As Problem-Solving Engineers, Russell Kirk Pirlo

Research and Reflection on Learning and Teaching in Higher Education

The “core” of an engineering degree program typically comprises the concepts, equations, and technical skills needed, as well as their practical application to common problems of the profession. This core is then divided into the “content” that must be covered in each course. It is widely recognized, however, that successful individuals do not thrive as professionals on content alone. Thus, there is significant and increasing emphasis across higher education to “educate the whole person.” These efforts aim to develop “deep” qualities like grit, critical thinking, perseverance, learning from failure, valuing diversity, teamwork, leadership, curiosity, recognizing opportunity, creating value, and acting …

Family Theory Framework And Case Analysis Using Ai Tools, Yi-Ping Hsieh

AI Assignment Library

In this assignment, students will utilize AI tools, like ChatGPT, to analyze a case study in social work practice and generate recommendations for intervention strategies and treatment plans based on a selected family theory and framework. Students will critically evaluate the responses provided by ChatGPT, considering its strengths and limitations in addressing the client's needs. This assignment aims to comprehend the knowledge of family theory and framework, and enhance students' critical thinking skills, ethical decision-making, and understanding of the role of AI in social work practice

#Goals: Library Partnerships For Instruction Strategic Planning Success, Melissa Dennis

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

The Research and Instruction Department of UM Libraries has worked closely with campus units to create a longstanding partnership of library skills embedded into first year classes called the First Year Instruction Initiative (FYII). Incorporating information literacy and critical thinking skills into these curriculums has allowed us to expand our reach to teaching students, both synchronously and asynchronously. In particular, the Center for Student Success and First Year Experience and the campus Qualitative Enhancement Plan became library partners for inclusion in the classroom. Through academic advising, academic support services, first-year initiatives, military and veteran support and all things student success …

Developing Critical Thinking And Effective Communication Skills In The Future Aviation Workforce, Cihan Aydiner, Tanya Buhler Corbin, Courtney Tan

National Training Aircraft Symposium (NTAS)

Critical thinking and effective communication are among the top skills necessary for developing a resilient future workforce across professional areas. Recent world events have led to an increase in the demand for these skills in disaster and emergency management professions, especially those in and adjacent to the aviation industry. As such, the importance of higher education settings in teaching the skills needed to equip the workforce to face future challenges cannot be overstated. However, there are gaps in how these skills are taught in higher education to meet the needs of aviation employers seeking disaster and emergency professionals. This paper …

Media Literacy In Public Education: A Mixed-Method Exploration, Jessica Wyers

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

You have to know where you are to know where you’re going. This is the approach I attempt to take to understand next steps in media literacy education and policy. Little research has been done to understand the current state of media literacy education, what is actually happening in the classrooms and education system, to better judge more intentional interventions in the future.

This dissertation explores the current issues in media literacy education in our public schools. I combine the strengths of a qualitative investigation of published public school media literacy curricula with survey data measuring the perceptions of students’ …

Security Analysis: A Critical Thinking Approach, Michael W. Collier

EKUOPEN: Open Textbooks

Security Analysis: A Critical-Thinking Approach is for anyone desiring to learn techniques for generating the best answers to complex questions and best solutions to complex problems. It furnishes current and future analysts in national security, homeland security, law enforcement, and corporate security an alternative, comprehensive process for conducting both intelligence analysis and policy analysis. The target audience is upper-division undergraduate students and new graduate students, along with entry-level practitioner trainees. The book centers on a Security Analysis Critical-Thinking Framework that synthesizes critical-thinking and existing analytic techniques. Ample examples are provided to assist readers in comprehending the material. Newly created material …

Using Historical Thinking Strategies For Improving Elementary Students’ Content Knowledge And Attitudes Towards Social Studies, Lydia Burnett, Joshua Cuevas Dr.

Georgia Educational Researcher

Instructional time spent on elementary social studies is often marginalized due to the emphasis placed on other content areas. Therefore, social studies teachers must employ meaningful instructional strategies that will engage students while promoting content acquisition. This quasi-experimental study responds to this challenge by guiding a sample of 44 fifth grade students to use the historical thinking skills of sourcing, contextualizing, and corroborating that encourage engagement with a variety of primary sources through the lens of Jerome Bruner’s learning theories. The control group used traditional instructional methods including close-note taking, vocabulary review, and independent reading from social studies texts. Both …

Psycho-Spiritual Counselling To Enhance Resiliency As Transformative Education: An Auto/Ethnographic Inquiry Of The Interface Between Spirituality And Positive Psychology, Dominic Savio

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis attempts to capture my lived experiences of psychospiritual counselling and to describe how my research journey has shaped me personally and professionally. As a priest engaged in psychospiritual counselling internationally for nearly three decades in diverse settings, I attempt to seek further clarity and make sense of my rich experiences in this research. Therefore, I endeavoured to investigate if and how building resiliency through psychospiritual counselling can be comprehended as transformative education.

Experientially speaking, as a priest and psychospiritual counsellor, I recognised that people leaned on their moral vulnerabilities and were blinded to spirituality as a source of …

Nursing Students Doing Gender: Implications For Higher Education And The Nursing Profession, Lesley J. Andrew, Ken Robinson, Julie Dare, Leesa N. Costello

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The average age of women nursing students in Australia is rising. With this comes the likelihood that more now begin university with family responsibilities, and with their lives structured by the roles of mother and partner. Women with more traditionally gendered ideas of these roles, such as nurturing others and self-sacrifice, are known to be attracted to nursing as a profession; once at university, however, these students can be vulnerable to gender role stress from the competing demands of study. A qualitative research design, guided by Gadamer's hermeneutic philosophy, explored the gendered behaviours and experiences of 22 women nursing students, …

Historical Inquiry: Who Has The Power? Using Film To Introduce Students To Medieval Social Class Structures, Megan Todd, Janie Hubbard

The Councilor: A National Journal of the Social Studies

Using film in the classroom to teach history has long been endorsed as an effective pedagogical method when the lessons’ purposes and goals are clearly supported with facts. This article, which includes a National Council for the Social Studies C3 inquiry-based lesson plan, is targeted for educators who aspire to help students understand basic European Medieval history and engage in critical thinking. Medieval history is listed in many U.S. state curriculum standards and international teaching benchmarks; thus, this lesson contributes a teaching-ready source, particularly to introduce students to historical concepts, geographies, and politics (i.e., power structures). Clips from A Knight’s …

A Pedagogy Of Consilience And Renewal, Carolyn Calloway-Thomas

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

This essay calls for a pedagogy of consilience and renewal as a dynamic fusion of research and practices in order to provide a more coherent way of examining some of the keen, interlaced variables that trouble the academy and society. The project challenges scholars to study five key scholarship of learning variables that should help transform the way we look at pedagogy for the betterment of North American society and beyond. The variables—a quintile—are knowledge, geography, critical thinking, civic engagement, and empathy.

Filling The Third Circle With Interdisciplinary Lesson Planning: A Case Study Of Pre-Service Teachers, Garrett Steede, Rebecca D. Swenson, Troy D. Mckay

Journal of Human Sciences and Extension

The three-circle model of agricultural education focuses on the importance of in-class instruction, supervised agricultural experiences, and FFA involvement. The agricultural communications career pathway is available to students through agricultural communications supervised agricultural experiences (SAE) programs and career development events within FFA. However, specific curriculum that teaches agricultural communications in the classroom is not readily available. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine the interdisciplinary lesson planning and integration process of pre-service teachers with focus on opportunities and limitations to teaching communication in the agriculture, food, and natural resources (AFNR) curriculum. In this case study, four pre-service …

Implementing Undergraduate Research In An Online Gateway Political Science Course (Dataset), Rebecca Lefebvre

Datasets

Introductory political science courses are usually considered Gateway courses to student success in college, yet those courses often use minimal high impact practices. This study investigates a Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) as a means to increase students’ self-assessed learning gains and motivation to acquire critical thinking skills. This study used a quasi-experiment across two online sections of POLS 1101, American Government, taught at a large public Southeastern university. The experimental section made use of a CURE, and the control section did not. Pre- and post- surveys indicated significant differences in self-assessed learning gains. The section with the CURE showed …

Critical Analysis Of Critical Thinking, Jim Potter

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This study provides an analysis of how the term “critical thinking” has been defined by authors of articles published in the Journal of Media Literacy Education. It provides answers to three questions: (1) How frequently is the term “critical thinking” mentioned by scholars who write about media literacy?; (2) In what ways do scholars convey the meaning of the term?; and (3) To what extent is the term presented with a consistent meaning? While the term “critical thinking” appeared in more than half of the articles examined, there was a great variety in the way authors presented their meanings …

Information Literacy Instruction In Asynchronous Online Courses: Which Approaches Work Best?, Elizabeth F. Pickard, Sarah L. Sterling

Library Faculty Publications and Presentations

Which modes of information literacy instruction (ILI) work best in asynchronous online courses? Recent national trends and COVID-19 have made it critical to answer this question, but there is little research comparing different modes of ILI specifically in asynchronous contexts. This multi-year study employed 5 different modes of ILI in different sections of an asynchronous online anthropology course and compared the modes' effects on students' coursework. Ethnographic analysis of students' bibliographies revealed nuanced changes to students' approaches to searching and source-selection. These findings can inform librarians' development of ILI curricula and pedagogy for the unique circumstances asynchronous instruction presents.

Plea To Professors: A Passionate Approach To Controversy In The Classroom, Adrianna Meredith

Intuition: The BYU Undergraduate Journal of Psychology

Scholars have warned of a student-driven movement to turn campuses into comfort zones free from any material that may be seen as controversial (Lukianoff & Haidt, 2015). Despite this movement, the notion that professors ought to shelter their students as opposed to exposing them to challenging ideas is anti-intellectual and counterproductive to the development of critical thinking (American Association of University Professors, 2014). If the goal of education is indeed to foster critical thinking, it is crucial for professors to be willing to discuss controversial subjects (Schneider, 2013). Such openness in the classroom requires students to analyze the origin and …

Fostering Critical Thinking In First-Year Students Through Information Literacy Instruction, Mandi Goodsett, Hanna Schmillen

Michael Schwartz Library Publications

As students encounter high volumes of misinformation in online environments, cultivating critical thinking is an important goal of information literacy instruction, especially for first-year college students, who are just beginning to develop cognitive habits in their early years of postsecondary schooling. However, this study demonstrates that the relationship between critical thinking and information literacy is not obvious, and relatively little has been recently studied regarding how academic librarians incorporate critical thinking into their library instruction. Through a series of in-depth interviews, the researchers sought to understand how academic librarians who primarily instruct first-year college students conceive of, teach, and assess …

Student Reflections On Information Literacy Experiences In School Settings, Hope Y. Kelly Phd

VCU Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

During an undergraduate “Digital Technology & Communication” class offered for three years, students engaged in a discussion forum where they reflected on how information literacy skills were developed in K-12 settings. Using a content analysis protocol developed for online discussion forums, an analysis of critical thinking on the topic is presented.

Objectives/Takeaways

• Examine the application of a content analysis protocol as applied to online discussion forums to evaluate indicators of critical thinking among students.

• Review the perceptions of K-12 information literacy instruction amongst students that attended Fluvanna, Goochland, Greene, Louisa, Madison, Nelson and Orange public schools in Virginia.

Additional Information: …

Using Sociological Images To Develop The Sociological Imagination, Georgiana Bostean, Lisa A. Leitz

Sociology Faculty Articles and Research

We present a two-assignment series that developed students’ sociological imaginations and that could be done in a face-to-face or online course. The series used the Sociological Images blog and students’ own visual images (e.g., photographs) to meet course learning goals: (1) link sociological theories and concepts to social events/trends, (2) apply these ideas to real life by identifying sociologically relevant images in daily life, and (3) communicate sociological analysis in academic and popular written forms. The use of a blog encourages students to embrace public sociology. We present faculty and student assessment data (pretest from nonequivalent comparisons group) from six …

An Introduction To Calling Bullshit: Learning To Think Outside The Black Box, Jevin D. West, Carl T. Bergstrom

Numeracy

Bergstrom, Carl T. and Jevin D. West. 2020. Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World. (New York: Random House) 336 pp. ISBN 978-0525509202.

While statistical methods receive greater attention, the art of critically evaluating information in everyday life more commonly depends on thinking outside the black box of the algorithm. In this piece we introduce readers to our book and associated online teaching materials—for readers who want to more capably call “bullshit” or to teach their students to do the same.

Critical Thinking In Law Enforcement Training Academies: A Phenomenological Study Of Officer Experiences, Billy J. Spruill

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recently, law enforcement officer use of force incidents resulting in death has seemingly become more prevalent. Generally, the educational requirement for a law enforcement officer is a high school diploma or general education development degree. One must question if this requirement is sufficient for a law enforcement officer to be successful in a modern world as the law enforcement training academy may be the law enforcement officer’s only postsecondary education. Critical thinking is a needed skill identified by high-stress professions such as the military, nursing, and disaster management, yet there is limited study regarding critical thinking in law enforcement. The …

Critical Thinking As A Pedagogical Approach: Using Critical/Cultural Studies To Analyze Music Videos, Lukas John Pelliccio, Timothy Brown

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

Teaching undergraduate students how to critically analyze a text is an important experience. However, it is not easy to do this because readings are often dense, and the process of writing and presenting a critique can be challenging for some students. In light of this, we have developed an assignment where students critically analyze music videos for their ideologies. In the assignment, students select three specific overt or latent content pieces from a music video and explain how those manifestations influence a particular ideology in a paper. Then they are asked to show the music video to their peers and …

Exploring Adolescents’ Critical Thinking Aptitudes When Reading About Science In The News, Marianne Bissonnette, Pierre Chastenay, Chantal Francoeur

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This research studies the critical thinking skills of six teenagers in their final years of high school. It looks at the way those students use a set of cognitive skills in order to analyze scientific and pseudoscientific information available in online news articles. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six students chosen according to their results in a questionnaire about interest in science topics. Results show a large gap between participants’ use of critical thinking skills. Most of these skills were mainly used for text comprehension, evoking general knowledge, numeracy, arguments assessment and production, and life skills (open-mindedness and metacognition). The …

Information Literacy In A Post-Truth Era, Catherine Baird, Jonathan Howell

Sprague Library Scholarship and Creative Works

The founders of American democracy believed it could not survive without an “informed citizenry”. What does an informed citizenry look like in today’s world? And what role do we have as educators and students to support it?

First, we look at the significant challenges to institutional and media legitimacy that emerged in the second half of the 20th century, which rightfully called attention to the ways longstanding Western knowledge practices excluded marginalized communities and silenced important histories. We ask about the status of norms and mores in the aftermath of this challenge, in an era often called “post-truth.”

Second, we …