Date of Award
1-1-1992
Document Type
Practicum
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Child and Youth Care Administration
Advisor
Georgianna Lowen
Committee Member
Willie Jo Young
Keywords
analogies, classification, cognitive development, critical thinking, deductive reasoning, fourth grade, inference, intermediate education, learning disabilities, mathematics, problem solving, sequencing, worksheets
Abstract
This practicum was designed to incorporate critical thinking skills instruction and practice into fourth-grade curriculum to increase fourth-grade students’ ability to recognize and apply crucial thinking strategies to appropriate situations. This program concentrated on the increasing of six critical thinking skills: classification, sequence identification, inference, analogies, deductive reasoning, and math problem solving.
The writer developed a series of multi-objective worksheets that provided practice in each skill on a daily basis. The problem solving workbook, a supplement to the basal math text, provided daily problem solving activities. The writer administered pre and pos tests for both critical thinking skills and math problem solving and pre and post checklists.
Analysis of the data revealed that the students improved in both critical thinking skills and math problem solving. The students achieved the objective for critical thinking skills, but did not achieve the math problem solving skill.