Purpose – The aim of this paper is to define health literacy as a learning outcome in schools, and to describe the learning conditions that are relevant for targeting health literacy.Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on theoretical and empirical educational literature, and also the experiences of the authors.Findings – Health literacy is defined as consisting of five core components: theoretical knowledge, practical knowledge, critical thinking, self‐awareness, and citizenship. The first three components are rather similar to the commonly‐accepted health literacy concept, but the definition given in this paper expands the concept via two additional – but essential – components. It is emphasized that when one is aiming to develop students' internal capacity to construct their own meanings regarding health topics, these two additional components are called for. The paper argues that one of the main aims of health teaching in schools should be to foster students' ability to define their own belie...

/pdf/health-literacy-as-a-learning-outcome-in-schools-2ssco5s4zu.pdf

Health literacy as a learning outcome in schools

Although higher education understands the need to develop critical thinkers, it has not lived up to the task consistently. Students are graduating deficient in these skills, unprepared to think critically once in the workforce. Limited development of cognitive processing skills leads to less effective leaders. Various definitions of critical thinking are examined to develop a general construct to guide the discussion as critical thinking is linked to constructivism, leadership, and education. Most pedagogy is content‐based built on deep knowledge. Successful critical thinking pedagogy is moving away from this paradigm, teaching students to think complexly. Some of the challenges faced by higher education moving to a critical thinking curricula are discussed, and recommendations are offered for improving outcomes.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1469-5812.2010.00672.x

Deficient Critical Thinking Skills among College Graduates: Implications for leadership

Dynamic inquiry learning emphasizes aspects of change, intellectual flexibility, and critical thinking. Dynamic inquiry learning is characterized by the following criteria: learning as a process, changes during the inquiry, procedural understanding, and affective points of view. This study compared the influence of open versus guided inquiry learning approaches on dynamic inquiry performances among high-school biology students. We hypothesized that open inquiry students who engage in the inquiry process from its initial stage, participating in the decision making process of asking inquiry questions and planning all aspects of the inquiry, will outperform students who experienced guided inquiry, in terms of developing dynamic inquiry performances. Students were divided into two groups: guided and open inquiry learning approaches. Both groups were followed throughout their 2-year inquiry learning process. The data sources included interviews, students' inquiry summary papers, logbooks, and reflections. A quantitative content analysis of the two groups, using a dynamic inquiry performances index, revealed that open inquiry students used significantly higher levels of performances in the criteria ''changes during inquiry'' and ''procedural understanding.'' However, the study's results indicated no significant differences in the criteria ''learning as a process'' and ''affective points of view.'' The implementation of dynamic inquiry performances during inquiry learning may shed light on the procedural and epistemological scientific understanding of students conducting inquiries. 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 46: 1137-1160, 2009

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/tea.20310

The Development of Dynamic Inquiry Performances within an Open Inquiry Setting: A Comparison to Guided Inquiry Setting

Higher order thinking skills (HOTS) is one of important aspects in education. Students with high level of higher order thinking skills tend to be more successful. However, do this phenomenon also happen in the learning of Mathematics? To answer this question, this research aims to study the relationship between HOTS and students' academic performance in Mathematics instruction. The research is conducted by occupying correlation research method on 41 students of mathematics education in university of Papua who had already completed 120 credits. The instrument in a test format for HOTS measurement has two main indicators; the critical thinking skill and creative thinking skill. Students are selected as research subjects, and are asked to do 9 questions of HOTS test in 60 minutes. The holistic rubric is used to assess the higher order thinking skills of students. The results of research show that these two variables have a high value of correlation (r = 0.814) and the regression equation is grade point average = 2,105 + 0,017 HOTS. Both of statistics show that there is a significant relationship between HOTS and students' academic achievement.

/pdf/the-relationship-between-higher-order-thinking-skills-and-2i5kkaww5i.pdf

The Relationship between Higher Order Thinking Skills and Academic Performance of Student in Mathematics Instruction

Changes in our global world have shifted the skill demands from acquisition of structured knowledge to mastery of skills, often referred to as twenty-first century competencies. Given these changes, a sequential explanatory mixed methods study was undertaken to (a) examine predominant instructional methods and technologies used by teacher educators, (b) identify attributes for learning and teaching in the twenty-first century, and (c) develop a pedagogical framework for promoting meaningful usage of advanced technologies. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected via an online survey, personal interviews, and written reflections with science teacher educators and student teachers. Findings indicated that teacher educators do not provide sufficient models for the promotion of reform-based practice via web 2.0 environments, such as Wikis, blogs, social networks, or other cloud technologies. Findings also indicated four attributes for teaching and learning in the twenty-first century: (a) adapting to frequent changes and uncertain situations, (b) collaborating and communicating in decentralized environments, (c) generating data and managing information, and (d) releasing control by encouraging exploration. Guided by social constructivist paradigms and twenty-first century teaching attributes, this study suggests a pedagogical framework for fostering meaningful usage of advanced technologies in science teacher education courses.

Science Teacher Education in the Twenty-First Century: a Pedagogical Framework for Technology-Integrated Social Constructivism

This longitudinal case-study aimed at examining whether purposely teaching for the promotion of higher order thinking skills enhances students’ critical thinking (CT), within the framework of science education. Within a pre-, post-, and post–post experimental design, high school students, were divided into three research groups. The experimental group (n = 57) consisted of science students who were exposed to teaching strategies designed for enhancing higher order thinking skills. Two other groups: science (n = 41) and non-science majors (n = 79), were taught traditionally, and acted as control. By using critical thinking assessment instruments, we have found that the experimental group showed a statistically significant improvement on critical thinking skills components and disposition towards critical thinking subscales, such as truth-seeking, open-mindedness, self-confidence, and maturity, compared with the control groups. Our findings suggest that if teachers purposely and persistently practice higher order thinking strategies for example, dealing in class with real-world problems, encouraging open-ended class discussions, and fostering inquiry-oriented experiments, there is a good chance for a consequent development of critical thinking capabilities.

Zoller Uri

Papers

Purposely Teaching for the Promotion of Higher-order Thinking Skills: A Case of Critical Thinking