This study examined the influence of scaffolding on the development of critical thinking skills in an online course on Instructional Design. Data were collected through interviews and document artifacts from five participants of the online course. Findings indicated that participants' critical thinking moved through three stages from mirroring, to distortion, to re-construction. Engagement in critical thinking was affected by reflection, feedback, project context, self-perceptions as learners, and prior knowledge.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AbelsonR. P. (1986). Beliefs are like possessions. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 16, 223–230.
2.
AndrusyszynM.-A.DavieL. (1997). Facilitating reflection through interactive journal writing in an online graduate course: A qualitative study. Journal of Distance Education, 12(1–2), 103–126.
3.
AngelB. F.DuffeyM.BelyeaM. (2000). An evidence-based project for evaluating strategies to improve knowledge acquisition and critical thinking performance in nursing students. Journal of Nursing Education, 39(5), 219–228.
4.
ApplebeeA. N.LangerJ. A. (1983). Instructional scaffolding: Reading and writing as natural language activities. Language Arts, 60, 168–175.
BeyerB. K. (1997). Improving student thinking: A comprehensive approach. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
11.
BlissJ.AskewM.MacraeS. (1996). Effective teaching and learning: Scaffolding revisited. Oxford Review of Education, 22, 37–61.
12.
BogdanR. C.BiklenS. K. (1992). Qualitative research in education: An introduction to theory and methods. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
13.
BrookfieldS. D. (1986). Developing critical thinkers: Challenging adults to explore alternative ways of thinking and acting. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
14.
BullenM. (1998). Participation and critical thinking in online university distance education. Journal of Distance Education, 13, 1–32.
15.
CandyP. C. (1991). Self-direction for lifelong learning: A comprehensive guide to theory and practice. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
16.
ChurchmanC. W. (1971). The design of inquiring systems: Basic concepts of systems and organizations. New York: Basic Books.
17.
D'AngeloE. (1971). The teaching of critical thinking (Vol. 1). Amsterdam: B. R. Grüner N.V.
18.
DeLoachS. B.GreenlawS. A. (1999). Critical thinking and electronic discussions in upper-level economic courses [on-line]. Available at: 199.111.95.15/econ/www/paper-eea99a.html.
19.
DenzinN. K.LincolnY. S. (Eds.). (1994). Handbook of qualitative research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
20.
EastmondD. V. (1994). Adult distance study through computer conferencing. Distance Education, 15(1), 128–152.
21.
EnnisR. (1985a). Goals for a critical thinking/reasoning curriculum. Champaign: Illinois Critical Thinking Project, University of Illinois.
22.
EnnisR. (1985b). A logical basis for measuring critical thinking skills. Educational Leadership, 43(2), 44–48.
23.
EnnisR. H. (1989). Critical thinking and subject specificity: Clarification and needed research. Educational Researcher, 18(3), 4–10.
24.
EnnisR. H.NorrisS. P. (1990). Critical thinking assessment: Status, issues, needs. In LeggS.AlginaJ. (Eds.), Cognitive assessment of language and math outcomes (pp. 1–42). Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing Corp.
25.
ErtmerP. A.CennamoK. S. (1995). Teaching instructional design: An apprenticeship model. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 8(4), 43–58.
26.
ErtmerP. A.RussellJ. D. (1995). Using case studies to enhance instructional design education. Educational Technology, 35(4), 23–31.
27.
FischerK. W. (1980). A theory of cognitive development: The control and construction of hierarchies of skills. Psychological Review, 87, 477–531.
28.
FisherA.ScrivenM. (1997). Critical thinking: Its definition and assessment. Point Reyes, CA: Edgepress.
29.
FitzgeraldM. A. (1999). The cognitive process of information evaluation: A collective case study. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Georgia, Athens.
30.
GlaserE. M. (1985). Critical thinking: Educating for responsible citizenship in a democracy. National Forum: Phi Kappa Phi Journal, 65, 24–27.
31.
GubaE. G.LincolnY. S. (1982). Epistemological and methodological bases of naturalistic inquiry. Educational Communication and Technology: A Journal of Theory, Research, and Development, 30, 233–252.
32.
HoganK.PressleyM. (1997). Scaffolding scientific competencies within classroom communities of inquiry. In HoganK.PressleyM. (Eds.), Scaffolding student learning: Instructional approaches and issues (pp. 74–107). Cambridge, MA: Brookline Books.
33.
KaoM. T.LehmanJ. D. (1997). Scaffolding in a computer-based constructivist environment for teaching statistics to college learners. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago.
34.
KingP. M.KitchenerK. S. (1994). Developing reflective judment: Understanding and promoting intellectual growth and critical thinking in adolescents and adults. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
35.
KingP. M.WoodP. K.MinesR. A. (1990). Critical thinking among college and graduate students. Review of Higher Education, 13, 167–186.
36.
KlaymanJ.HaY. W. (1987). Confirmation, disconfirmation, and information in hypothesis testing. Psychological Review, 94, 211–228.
37.
KrollB. M. (1992). Teaching hearts and minds: College students reflect on the Vietnam War in literature. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press.
38.
KuhnD. (1999). A developmental model of critical thinking. Educational Researcher, 28(2), 16–26.
39.
LandS. M.DornischM. M. (2001). A case study of student use of asynchronous bulletin board systems (BBS) to support reflection and evaluation. Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 30, 365–377.
40.
LinnM. C. (1995). Designing computer learning environments for engineering and computer science: The scaffolded knowledge integration framework. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 4(2), 103–126.
41.
LipmanM. (1988). Critical thinking—What can it be?Educational Leadership, 45(1), 38–43.
42.
LipmanM. (1991). Thinking in education. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
43.
McLoughlinC.LucaJ. (2000). Cognitive engagement and higher order thinking through computer conferencing: We know why but do we know how? [on-line]. Available at: http://lsn.curtin.edu.au/tlf/tlf2000/mcloughlin.html.
44.
McPeckJ. (1981). Critical thinking and education. New York: St. Martin's Press.
45.
McPeckJ. (1990). Teaching critical thinking: Dialogue and dialectic. New York: Routledge.
46.
MuirheadB. D. (2002). Integrating critical thinking into online classes. USDLA Journal, 16(11).
47.
NelsonC. E. (1989). Skewered on the unicorn's horn: The illusion of a tragic tradeoff between content and critical thinking in the teaching of science. In CroweL. W. (Ed.), Enhancing critical thinking in the sciences (pp. 17–25). Washington, DC: Society of College Science Teachers.
48.
NewmanD. R.JohnsonC.CochraneC.WebbB. (1995). A content analysis method to measure critical thinking in face-to-face and computer supported group learning. Interpersonal Computing and Technology, 3(2), 56–77.
49.
NewmanD. R.JohnsonC.CochraneC.WebbB. (1996). An experiment in group learning technology: Evaluating critical thinking in face-to-face and computer-supported seminars. Interpersonal Computing and Technology, 4(1), 57–74.
50.
NorrisS. P.EnnisR. H. (1989). Evaluating critical thinking. Pacific Grove, CA: Critical Thinking Press & Software.
51.
NovakJ. D. (1998). Learning, creating, and using knowledge: Concept Maps™ as facilitative tools in schools and corporations. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
52.
PalincsarA. S. (1986). The role of dialogue in providing scaffolded instruction. Educational Psychologist, 21, 73–98.
PaulR. (1990). Critical thinking: What every person needs to survive in a rapidly changing world. Rohnert Park, CA: Center for Critical Thinking and Moral Critique, Sonoma State University.
55.
PaulR. (1992). Critical thinking: What, why, and how. In BarnesC. A. (Ed.), Critical thinking: Educational imperative (pp. 3–24). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
56.
PerkinsD. N.SalomonG. (1989). Are cognitive skills context-bound?Educational Researcher, 18(1), 16–25.
57.
PerryW. G. (1968). Patterns of development in thought and values of students in a liberal arts college: A validation of a scheme (Final Report No. 5-0825). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.
58.
PerryW. G. (1970). Forms of intellectual and ethical development in the college years: A scheme. Troy, MO: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
59.
PerryW. G. (1981). Cognitive and ethical growth: The making of meaning. In A. W. C. Associates (Ed.), The modern American college: Responding to the new realities of diverse students and a changing society (p. 810). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
60.
PhillipsL. M. (1992). The generalizability of self-regulatory thinking strategies. In NorrisS. P. (Ed.), The generalizability of critical thinking: Multiple perspectives on an educational ideal (pp. 138–156). New York: Teachers College Press.
61.
PittsJ. M. (1994). Personal understandings and mental models of information: A qualitative study of factors associated with information-seeking and use of adolescents. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Florida State University, Tallahassee.
62.
RowlandG. (1992). What do instructional designers actually do? An initial investigation of expert practice. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 5(2), 65–86.
63.
RowlandG.FixlA.YungK. (1992). Educating the reflective designer. Educational Technology, 32(12), 36–44.
64.
SalomonG.GlobersonT.GutermanE. (1989). The computer as a zone of proximal development: Internalizing reading-related metacognitions from a reading partner. Journal of Educational Psychology, 8, 620–627.
65.
ShermanG. P. (1994). The effects of cued interaction and ability grouping during cooperative computer-based science instruction. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Arizona State University.
66.
ShulmanL. S. (1992). Toward a pedagogy of cases. In ShulmanJ. H. (Ed.), Case methods in teacher education (pp. 1–30). New York: Teachers College Press.
67.
SlottaJ. D.LinnM. C. (2000). The knowledge integration environment: Helping students use the Internet effectively. In JacobsonM. J.KozmaR. B. (Eds.), Innovations in science and mathematics education: Advanced designs for technologies of learning (pp. 193–226). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
68.
ThomasL. F.Harri-AugsteinE. S. (1983). The self-organised learner and computer aided learning systems: An exploratory study with the air intercept control skills trainer(Final report No. 2066/020). Uxbridge, England: Centre for the Study of Human Learning, Brunel University.
69.
WillisJ. E. (1995). A recursive, reflective constructional design model based on constructivist-interpretivist theory. Educational Technology, 35(6), 5–23.
70.
WinnW. D. (1991). The assumptions of constructivism and instructional design. Educational Technology, 31(9), 38–40.
71.
WoodD.BrunerJ. S.RossG. (1976). The role of tutoring in problem solving. Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry & Allied Disciplines, 17(2), 89–100.
