Assessment Of Cognitive Discourse: A Study Of Thinking Opportunities Provided By Professors

Abstract

The American higher education system has been under close scrutiny for more than a decade. The cause is clear: a lack of correspondence between that which is believed to be requiredfor critical thinking in adulthood and that which universities are teaching. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to describe the opportunities given to students to reach higher cognitive levels through professors " classroom discourse. The researchers sought to explore relationships between classroom discourse and class size, course level, and progression across the semester. Sixteen College of Agricultural Sciences faculty were purposeJully selected. Researchers observed and recorded their teaching four times during the semester. Classroom discourse waspresentedpredominately at lower cognitive levels. No statistically significant relationship existed between frequency of opportunities given students to think at higher cognitive levels, class size, course level, nor progression across semester. Teacher educators in agricultural education must prepare and present seminars and workshops designed to assist faculty in Colleges of Agriculture in learning techniques for increasing the frequency of opportunities given to students to think at higher cognitive levels, thereby enhancing the cognitive processing skills of students. The American higher education system has been under close scrutiny for more than a decade. Reports conveying the message that undergraduate education has become incoherent and ineffective has sparked this intense surveillance (Reagan et al., 1987). Specifically, there exists a lack of correspondence between that which is believed to be required for critical thinking in adulthood and that which universities are teaching (Stemberg, 1985). Are graduates leaving universities without a necessary survival skill: the ability to think critically? Research on Critical Thinking "Recently, researchers have begun to investigate how the ability and the propensity to think well are acquired and maintained" (Resnick, 1987). Resnick reported that, when two or more cognitive abilities were tested, there was almost always a positive correlation between the measures. Thus, people who did well on one ability test were, on the average, likely to do well on the others. She also found that grades were only indirect indicators of changed cognitive abilities. Grades did not reveal the quality of thinking, and offered no indications of transfer beyond purely academic settings. Simon (1976) wrote, "When cognitive scientists do information-processing analyses of complex skills, they find the same kinds of basic problemsolving processes used in task after task. These "metacognitive skills" have been shown by Brown et. al (1983) to be characteristic of effective

Modeling Higher Order Thinking: The Alignment Between Objectives, Classroom Discourse, And Assessment

“…This is consistent with previous research indicating that teacher discourse in college classrooms occurs primarily at the knowledge and comprehension levels of cognition. The knowledge and comprehension levels were represented in 73% (Whittington, Lopez, Schley, & Fisher, 2001), 80% (Whittington, Stup, Bish, & Allen, 1997), 85% (Miller & Newcomb, 1990), and 98% (Whittington, 1995) of instructor discourse in previous studies.…”

A Comparison Of The Cognitive Behaviors Exhibited By Secondary Agriculture And Science Teachers

“…This conclusion is consistent with Cano and Metzger (1995) who found secondary horticulture teachers taught at lower-levels of cognition 84% of the time. At the college level, lower-order behavior was found 61% (Ball & Garton, 2005), 98% (Whittington, 1995), and 80% (Whittington, et al 1997).…”

“…Whittington (1995) recommended the exploration of "barriers to teaching at higher cognitive levels" (p. 37). Also, research (Whittington, Stup, Bish, & Allen, 1997) found that instructors were the most influential factor in creating the opportunities for students to think at higher levels of cognition. However, instructors' cognitive behavior was not found to be associated with their attitude toward teaching at higher cognitive levels (Whittington, 1991).…”

Analyzing Student Teacher Critical Thinking through Blogs in an Electronic Community of Practice

“…Whittington and Newcomb (1993) and Whittington, Stup, Bish, and Allen (1997) recommend higher education students perform at higher levels of cognition -considering other related factors -but do not recommend a specific critical thinking level which students should achieve. We recommend that a goal for student teacher critical thinking is necessary, before analysis or assessment of critical thinking, in order to determine if online technologies can be used to enhance student teachers' critical thinking skills and abilities.…”