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Critical thinking strategies implemented by classroom teachers and their effect on student achievement

Posted on:2000-11-12Degree:Ed.DType:Dissertation
University:South Carolina State UniversityCandidate:Hales, Rufus GeneFull Text:PDF
GTID:1467390014465516Subject:Education
Abstract/Summary:
This study examined the effects of critical thinking strategies implemented by classroom teachers on student achievement. The subjects who participated in this study were from two high schools: approximately three thousand students in grades nine through twelve and sixty-four teachers. This study compared the control school where teachers had not been trained in critical thinking to the experimental school where teachers had formal training in this area. A comparison was made using five End-of-Course (EOC) test results to determine if students in the experimental school had significant achievement. These results were compared at the end of a four-year period. These comparisons indicated students in the experimental group who took End-of-Course tests did out perform students in the school where no training had taken place in US History and Political, Economic and Legal Systems. However, a trend analysis by the use of line graphs of the experimental school was constructed and indicated that improvements were made in the five End-of-Course tested areas mandated by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. The researcher concluded that a Within-Subjects design rather than a Between-Subjects design would more effectively investigate improvement in student achievement following training in critical thinking. In addition, ancillary results of increased SAT scores during the four years of the study in the experimental school revealed that SAT, a reasoning test may be a more sensitive dependent measure than EOC achievement tests.;It is difficult to conclude that critical thinking and questioning strategies are solely responsible for the increases, but one would have to surmise from the data that the use of these strategies played an important role in student performance at the experimental school.;Recommendations for future study include a focus on other secondary variables within the schools that could have a significant impact on student learning. These variables may include other staff development opportunities that have been presented, teacher mobility, the demographics of the schools, and site-based decision-making processes.
Keywords/Search Tags:Critical thinking, Teachers, Student, Strategies, Achievement, School
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