Developing formal thinking skills in upper middle grades students / by Phyllis L. Wooten.
| Author/creator | Wooten, Phyllis L. author. |
| Other author | Spence, Don, degree supervisor. |
| Other author | East Carolina University. Department of Middle Grades Education. |
| Format | Theses and dissertations |
| Production | 1989. |
| Description | 33 leaves ; 28 cm |
| Subjects |
| Summary | The purpose of this study was to determine if by providing instruction and the opportunity to apply creative problem solving, the teacher could enhance the transition from concrete to formal thinking in middle grades students. More specifically, could students who had been taught to apply logical thinking skills to mathematical problems synthesize this know!ege to general situations requiring the application of formal thinking skills. A review of 1iterature indicates a general agreement among educational researchers that there does exist a series of developmental levels through which a person moves in their learning process. A lack of agreement exists as to when the stages develop, but the identity and order of appearance is well documented. The Group Assessment of Logical Thinking (GALT) and the Test of Integrated Process Skills (TIPS) were administered before the study and a follow-up testing During the study, the experimental group was given enrichment activities from various sources to enhance their problem-solving strategies. The control group was taught the curriculum based objectives with no special emphasis on problem solving, inductive or deductive reasoning , and 1ogical thinking skills. This study provides tentative evidence that there is a significant correlation between a student's level of cognitive thought and their ability to master abstract concepts such as those presented in an algebra class. The study also indicated that logical thinking skills in the form of problem solving strategies can be "taught" through repetitive opportunities to use these skills within a good role model. If our educational system is to continue to provide for suitable curriculum articulation the prerequisite skills for courses must be thoroughly evaluated. The question of how to best provide challenging, educationally honest instruction which does not overly burden the student must continue to be asked. With the ever increasing desire to accelerate students, at times the education system and parents lose sight of how the child should be progressed. They see the end without enough thought to the processes necessary to reach that end. Instructional content to prepare students to meet this acceleration must be provided at the appropriate time within the curriculum. This study would indicate that accelerating the students' developmental thinking skills can be done and should be considered a priority item in the over-all plan for curriculum articulation. |
| General note | Submitted to the faculty of the School of Education. |
| General note | Advisor: Don Spence |
| Dissertation note | M.A. East Carolina University 1989 |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (leaves 32-33). |
| Genre/form | dissertations. |
| Genre/form | Academic theses. |
| Genre/form | Academic theses. |
| Genre/form | Thèses et écrits académiques. |
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