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Full-Text Articles in Education

Community-Based Inquiry Improves Critical Thinking In General Education Biology, Ian J. Quitadamo, Celia L. Faiola, James E. Johnson, Martha J. Kurtz Oct 2008

Community-Based Inquiry Improves Critical Thinking In General Education Biology, Ian J. Quitadamo, Celia L. Faiola, James E. Johnson, Martha J. Kurtz

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

National stakeholders are becoming increasingly concerned about the inability of college graduates to think critically. Research shows that, while both faculty and students deem critical thinking essential, only a small fraction of graduates can demonstrate the thinking skills necessary for academic and professional success. Many faculty are considering nontraditional teaching methods that incorporate undergraduate research because they more closely align with the process of doing investigative science. This study compared a research-focused teaching method called community-based inquiry (CBI) with traditional lecture/laboratory in general education biology to discover which method would elicit greater gains in critical thinking. Results showed significant critical-thinking …


Georgia Public School Board Members Beliefs Concerning The Inclusion Of Creationism In The Science Curriculum, Karen S. Cook, Steve Deckard, Kathie C. Morgan Aug 2008

Georgia Public School Board Members Beliefs Concerning The Inclusion Of Creationism In The Science Curriculum, Karen S. Cook, Steve Deckard, Kathie C. Morgan

Faculty Publications and Presentations

Data analysis indicated that School Board Members’ beliefs regarding school board members in YEC had a positive correlation and beliefs in OEC had a negative correlation with the permitted inclusion of creationism in the district science curriculum. However, no correlation was found between school board member beliefs in YEC/OEC and the required inclusion of creationism. The results of this study provide insight into connections between beliefs of board members and the science/creationism issue which may translate into enlightened voting decisions.


Analysis Of The Psychometric Properties Of Two Different Concept-Map Assessment Tasks, Kenneth James Plummer Mar 2008

Analysis Of The Psychometric Properties Of Two Different Concept-Map Assessment Tasks, Kenneth James Plummer

Theses and Dissertations

The ability to make sense of a wide array of stimuli presupposes the human tendency to organize information in a meaningful way. Efforts to assess the degree to which students organize information meaningfully have been hampered by several factors including the idiosyncratic way in which individuals represent their knowledge either with words or visually. Concept maps have been used as tools by researchers and educators alike to assist students in understanding the conceptual interrelationships within a subject domain. One concept-map assessment in particular known as the construct-a-map task has shown great promise in facilitating reliable and valid inferences from student …


Ua1c7 Departmental Photos, Wku Archives Jan 2008

Ua1c7 Departmental Photos, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Images showing everyday activities of university departments.