The purpose of this study is to provide conceptual order and a tool for the use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) and computer conferencing in supporting an educational experience. Central to the study introduced here is a model of community inquiry that constitutes three elements essential to an educational transaction—cognitive presence, social presence, and teaching presence. Indicators (key words/phrases) for each of the three elements emerged from the analysis of computer-conferencing transcripts. The indicators described represent a template or tool for researchers to analyze written transcripts, as well as a guide to educators for the optimal use of computer conferencing as a medium to facilitate an educational transaction. This research would suggest that computer conferencing has considerable potential to create a community of inquiry for educational purposes.

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Critical Inquiry in a Text-Based Environment: Computer Conferencing in Higher Education

How we Think

Much research in the last two decades has demon- strated that human responses deviate from the performance deemed normative according to various models of decision mak- ing and rational judgment (e.g., the basic axioms of utility theory). This gap between the normative and the descriptive can be inter- preted as indicating systematic irrationalities in human cognition. However, four alternative interpretations preserve the assumption that human behavior and cognition is largely rational. These posit that the gap is due to (1) performance errors, (2) computational limitations, (3) the wrong norm being applied by the experi- menter, and (4) a different construal of the task by the subject. In the debates about the viability of these alternative explanations, attention has been focused too narrowly on the modal response. In a series of experiments involving most of the classic tasks in the heuristics and biases literature, we have examined the implica- tions of individual differences in performance for each of the four explanations of the normative/descriptive gap. Performance er- rors are a minor factor in the gap; computational limitations un- derlie non-normative responding on several tasks, particularly those that involve some type of cognitive decontextualization. Un- expected patterns of covariance can suggest when the wrong norm is being applied to a task or when an alternative construal of the task should be considered appropriate.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0140525X00003435

Individual differences in reasoning: Implications for the rationality debate?

LIST OF FIGURES PREFACE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 1 Philosophy of Education Before the Twentieth Century Socrates and Plato Aristotle Rousseau Pestalozzi, Herbart, and Froebel Summary Questions Introduction to the Literature 2 The Philosophical and Educational Thought of John Dewey Dewey's Philosophical Orientation The Meaning and Aims of Education Dewey's Psychology Dewey's Theory of Knowledge Democracy and Education The Place of Subject Matter Dewey Today: An Assessment Summary Questions Introduction to the Literature 3 Analytic Philosophy Philosophical Analysis in Education The Analysis of Teaching Current Analyses of Teaching Summary Questions Introduction to the Literature 4 Continental Philosophy Existentialism Phenomenology Critical Theory Hermeneutics Postmodernism Summary Questions Introduction to the Literature 5 Logic and Critical Thinking Formal Logic Informal Logic McPeck's View of Critical Thinking An Alternative Approach Summary Questions Introduction to the Literature 6 Epistemology and Education Justified True Belief Foundationalism Truth Nonfoundational Theories of Knowledge Epistemology and Education Constructivism Summary Questions Introduction to the Literature 7 Philosophy of Social Science and Educational Research How Does Science Grow? A Debate in Educational Research Some Examples Summary Questions Introduction to the Literature 8 Ethics and Moral Education Pre-Enlightenment Ethics Enlightenment Ethics Utilitarianism Deweyan Ethics Moral Education Cognitive Developmentalism Summary Questions Introduction to the Literature 9 Social and Political Philosophy The Current Debate Justice and Equality in Education Summary Questions Introduction to the Literature 10 Problems of School Reform Equality Accountability Standards Testing Summary Questions Introduction to the Literature 11 Multiculturalism and Cosmopolitanism Multiculturalism Cosmopolitanism The Educator's Dilemma Summary Questions Introduction to the Literature 12 Feminism, Philosophy, and Education Feminist Critiques of Philosophy Epistemology Philosophy of Social Science Ethics Care and Education Summary Questions Introduction to the Literature NOTES BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX

Philosophy of Education

This study examined the outcomes of a unit that integrates explicit teaching of general reasoning patterns into the teaching of a specific science content. Specifically, this article examined the teaching of argumentation skills in the context of dilemmas in human genetics. Before instruction only a minority (16.2%) of the students referred to correct, specific biological knowledge in constructing arguments in the context of dilemmas in genetics. Approximately 90% of the students were successful in formulating simple arguments. An assessment that took place following instruction supported the conclusion that integrating explicit teaching of argumentation into the teaching of dilemmas in human genetics enhances performance in both biological knowledge and argumentation. An increase was found in the frequency of students who referred to correct, specific biological knowledge in constructing arguments. Students in the experimental group scored significantly higher than students in the comparison group in a test of genetics knowledge. An increase was also found in the quality of students' argumentation. Students were able to transfer the reasoning abilities taught in the context of genetics to the context of dilemmas taken from everyday life. The effects of metacognitive thinking and of changing students' thinking dispositions by modifying what is considered valuable in the class culture are discussed. © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 39: 35–62, 2002

Fostering students' knowledge and argumentation skills through dilemmas in human genetics

The claim that critical thinking is subject specific appears, to be of practical importance and theoretical interest. Its meaning is unclear, however, and discussions of its are often confusing and at cross purposes. In an attempt to clarify the topic, Ennis offers a number of distinctions, including a distinction among three versions of subject specificity: domain, epistemological, and conceptual subject specificity. He holds that the first two versions contain valuable insights, but that all three suffer from excessive vagueness of their basic concept (domain, field, and subject, respectively). If the proposed clarification and critique are appropriate, then a number of avenues of research—at both practical and theoretical levels—need to be pursued, some of which are outlined in this essay

Critical Thinking and Subject Specificity: Clarification and Needed Research:

A Logical Basis for Measuring Critical Thinking Skills.

(1993). Critical thinking assessment. Theory Into Practice: Vol. 32, Teaching for Higher Order Thinking, pp. 179-186.

Robert H. Ennis

Papers

Critical Thinking and Subject Specificity: Clarification and Needed Research:

A Logical Basis for Measuring Critical Thinking Skills.

Critical thinking assessment

A taxonomy of critical thinking dispositions and abilities.

A Concept of Critical Thinking.