Cognitive Preferences and Critical Thinking Skill of 11 th Grade Biology Students Anton Caesar & Lazarowitz Reuven Bairuni Arab High School, Judaida Maker, Galilee, ISRAEL. Technion - Israel Institute of Technology. Israel Paper presented at EAPRIL Conference 2010 Challenges in Professional Learning across the Disciplines Lisbon, Portugal. 24-26, November, 2010.
ABSTRACT Developing critical thinking ability is one of the main goal in science education. This acquired ability recognized as a metacognitive skill requires students to be at the formal cognitive stage. The purpose of this study was to investigate if there is a relationship between two domains: students' cognitive preferences as it was described by Heath (1964): R Recall, P Principle, Q Critical Questioning, A Application, and their critical thinking skill. The research sample included 331, 11 th grade students and 11 biology teachers.
ABSTRACT cont. Two instruments were used in the study: Biological Cognitive Preferences Inventory (BCPI); and a learning task to examine students mastery of critical thinking. The results analysis of BCPI reveals that Principle (P) and Critical Questioning (Q) were the most preferred modes by students and their teachers. However no relationship on cognitive preferences was found between students and their teachers. The relationship between students achievements on critical thinking task was found positive with Q mode and negative with R and A modes. This research may serve as a model of instructional mode, so students will practice higher order thinking skills.
Theoretical background The purpose of encouraging students to develop higher order thinking skills directs teachers and curriculum developers in science (Zohar, 2004). Scientific education is a fertile ground to develop higher order thinking (Zohar & Dori, 2003), particularly critical thinking among students (Pizzini et al., 1988). In the recent years there has been an emphasis on activities such as learning tasks that aim to accelerate higher order thinking skills as critical thinking, especially in Biology, Chemistry and Science for all. Studies have shown that cognitive preferences, learning achievements, and students' creative thinking ability are interrelated (Tamir, 1985).
Cognitive Preferences Is an individual's stable mode of perceptual organization and conceptual categorization of information (Tamir, 1985) or an information processing strategy that characterized a person usual way of perceiving, remembering, thinking and problem solving (Okebukola & Jegede, 1988). The construct of cognitive preferences was proposed by Heath (1964) and investigated by Tamir (1988) and Lazarowitz & Penso (1992) Heath suggested the following modes of cognitive preferences:
Cognitive Preferences Modes: 1. Recall (R): Acceptance of information without consideration of implications, applications or limitations. 2. Principles (P): Acceptance of information because it exemplifies or illuminates a fundamental scientific principle, concept, or relationship. 3. Questioning (Q): Critical questioning of information regarding its completeness, generalization or limitations. 4. Application (A): Emphasis on the usefulness and applicability of information in a general, social, or scientific context.
Critical thinking "Critical thinking is reasonable, reflective thinking that is focused on deciding what to believe and do." (Ennis, 1987) Development of critical thinking is set as one of the major goals of education since the days of Socrates (Resnick, 1987). However, students often do not succeed in tasks that require critical thinking skills, including students who have studied by programs which tend to develop higher order thinking (Jungwirth & Dreyfus, 1990). The teachers responsibility is to develop a clear and intended educational workshops activities to achieve this goal (Zohar, Weinberger& Tamir, 1994). But the question arises whether the goal is to develop critical thinking as a separate or integrated with the learning subjects.
Methodology Sample In this study 331, 11 th grade students (16 to17 years old) and 11 biology teachers from 11 Arab high schools in Israel were involved. All students studied biology at the five points study level for matriculation exams according to the biology curriculum.
Research Questions Is there a correlation between the cognitive preferences of 11 th grade biology students and their teachers cognitive preferences? Is there a correlation between students' cognitive preferences and their achievements in learning task for assessing critical thinking skill?
INSTRUMENTS Two instruments were used in this study: 1. The Biology Cognitive Preferences Inventory (BCPI), included 28-items. Every item begins with an introductory statement that is followed by extension statements, each of which corresponds to one of the four modes described, and all of them are correct, but differ on their cognitive preference mode. Students and their teachers were asked to rank the four statements within each item in order of preference by assigning 4 to the most preferred, and 1 to the least preferred statement.
INSTRUMENTS cont. An example item in BCPI According to the biogenesis theory it is not conceivable that living organisms have been generated spontaneously: The above mentioned theory has been suggested on the basis of the studies of Redi, Pasteur and the like. (R-mode) To propagate certain fungus variety, last year spores of the same variety should be used. (A- mode) Living organisms are descendants of living organisms belonging to the same species. (P mode) I wonder whether the biogenesis theory has actually contributed to the advancement of Biology. (Q mode)
INSTRUMENTS cont. 2. Critical thinking Task The learning biology task The influence of vitamin B on heart rate, for assessing critical thinking skill. This task displays scientific experiment and three questions related to the experiment. The first question was classified to knowledge level, while the second and the third questions examined critical thinking. In order to test the students' ability to identify deficiencies in planning the scientific experiment, the task included the experimental group of rats which their diet did not contain vitamin B.
PROCEDURE The study was conducted in 11 Arab Israeli high school classes during the last trimester of the academic year. Students learned Ecology and Cell Biology. The BCPI instrument was administered to students and teachers at the second week of the third term of the academic year, and the second instrument was answered by students in the third week. The instruments answered by students and teachers, were coded and analyzed in a non-parametric analysis. The results are displayed in Figure 1 and Table 1.
Cognitive Preferences Mean Scores Figure 1: Mean scores of students and their teachers on cognitive preferences. 3,5 3 STUDENTS TEACHERS 2,5 2 1,5 1 0,5 0 Cognitive Preferences Modes R P Q A
Figure 1 The results analysis of BCPI revealed that Principle (P) was the most preferred mode by students ( and teachers ( followed by Critical Questioning (Q) mode, while Recall (R) and Application (A) were the lowest preferred modes for students and teachers.
No correlation was found between students' and teachers' cognitive preferences.
Table 1: Correlations between students' cognitive preferences and their achievements on the critical thinking task (N=214). Critical Thinking Question 3 Question 2 Knowledge Question 1 Cognitive Preferences Modes -.29 *** -.30 *** -.21 ** R.16 *.16 *.16 * P Q -.25 ***.32 ***.32 *** -.22 ** A.15 * -.11 * P <.05, ** P <.01, *** P >.001
Table 1 The preference of critical questioning (mode Q) was correlated with student achievement on critical thinking task (r =.32, p <.001(. However, the correlation between A mode and critical thinking was found significantly negative (r = -.25, p <.001(.
DISSCUSION Principle (P) mode was found dominant in this research and in curricula, which emphasizes teaching principles of scientific research, such as in Chemistry and Physics (Tamir & Kempa, 1978). The lack of correlation found between students cognitive preferences and their teachers, give a possible explanation to the lower achievements of students in science. Previous studies in science education have shown that when there is a positive correlation between the students and their teachers on cognitive preferences, may improve the quality of instruction and integration of students in the classroom.
DISSCUSION cont. The correlation between students' achievement in critical thinking task and Q mode, contributed to the construct validity of BCPI. The relationship between Q mode and achievements on critical thinking task emphasizes the importance of planning a lesson, based on higher order thinking, encouraging posing questions, identifying the limitations of the research and planning a scientific experiment.
RECOMMENDATION This study may contribute to the developers of curricula, textbooks writers and teachers on adapting learning material and instructional strategies to students' cognitive preferences, so they will acquire higher order thinking skill. This research may contribute to the theoretical body of curricula assessment, learning and cognitive theories, especially critical thinking and cognitive preferences of students population.
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