Education Commons^™

Instructional Strategies To Prepare Students For Success In Informal Learning Environments: Leveraging Metacognition And Critical Thinking To Develop Self-Regulated Learning Skills, Carolyn P. Commiso

Instructional Design Capstones Collection

This paper looks at how learning is evolving in the 21st century and what skills learners need to be successful in that environment. Based on existing research into the topic, this paper focuses on how learning is increasingly taking place in informal settings, through the lens of the Social Cognitive Learning and Cognitive Constructivism theories. The hypothesis is that students can be successful in these settings by mastering self-regulated learning strategies which can be developed through critical thinking and meta-cognitive skills. It assesses what instructional strategies can be used to develop these skills and enable continued learner success. In addition, …

Journeys: Changing Our Schools, Workplaces, And Lives Works-In-Progress From A Conference-Workshop To Mark 40 Years Of The Graduate Program In Critical & Creative Thinking, Peter J. Taylor

Working Papers in Critical, Creative and Reflective Practice

A compilation of works-in-progress prepared for or during a conference-workshop to mark 40 years of the Graduate Program in Critical & Creative Thinking at the University of Massachusetts Boston. The contributions illustrate how preparing for and participating in the conference-workshop provided an opportunity to reflect on ways that developing as a critical, creative, and reflective practitioner is like a journey into unfamiliar areas—journeying involves risk, opens up questions, creates more experiences than can be integrated at first, requires support, and yields personal and professional change.

The Social Construction Of Life: Critical Thinking About Biology In Society, Peter J. Taylor

Working Papers on Science in a Changing World

This book aims to expand the boundaries of the influences that readers consider when interpreting the practices and products of the life sciences ("biology") and their impact on society. The chapter topics include: Interpreting Ideas of Nature; The structure of origin stories; Multiple layers in influencing an audience: The case of Darwin's On the Origin of Species; Metaphors of coordination and development; What causes a disease?—the consequences of hereditarianism in the case of pellagra; How changeable are IQ test scores?; Social negotiations around genetic screening; Intersecting processes involving genes and environment.

Each chapter consists of 5 parts:

1. Introduce simple …

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 …