Bryce B. Hudgins

Chlldren’s Self-Directed Critical Thinking

AbstractFourth- and fifth-grade children were assigned either to the experimental or control condition on the basis of a critical thinking test score. All 39 children were given a problem to solve in an individual interview setting. Children in the experiment group participated subsequently in eight small-group discussions in which they learned and applied “self-directed critical thinking” skills. After the small group discussions, all the children were again tested individually on a problem comparable to the first. Children in the experimental group were significantly higher than those in the control group when scored for (a) application of the thinking skills, (b) amount of relevant information used to solve the problem, and (c) quality of answer.

Some Effects of Adjunct Questions on Intermediate Grade Children with Differing Reading Comprehension Abilities

AbstractIntermediate grade children read a text about knighthood. Factual questions, either singly or in blocks, were interspersed before or after parts of the text. A criterion test contained those questions and new ones. Children scored better on the criterion test if questions had been interspersed with parts of the text. For repeated questions, scores were higher if children had answered questions one at a time instead of in blocks during reading. High comprehenders scored significantly higher on repeated questions if initially they had seen the questions just after reading the passage, but the difference for low comprehenders in this respect was not significant.

Problem-Solving Processes of Fifth Grade Arithmetic Pupils.

AbstractTwo groups of fifth grade arithmetic problem solvers, some better and some poorer, were identified. Differences in processes used by the groups were revealed by having each child solve several problems individually in the presence of the experimenter. These data were used to develop an instructional program that was studied by several of the poor problem solvers. Despite the extensiveness of the training, significant effects did not occur for the trained children compared to a control group when measures were taken under conditions similar to those of the training. The results of a more general test of arithmetic problems administered under normal classroom conditions make it clear that the group of trained poor problem solvers remained similar to the untrained poor solvers in performance.

Improving Word Comprehension of Remedial Readers

AbstractAn instructional program was developed to teach elementary pupils how to parapluase dictionary defmitions into meaningful sentences. Theoretically, the learner processes the meaning of the new words, thereby improving comprehension. Children who were given the instructional program scored higher on a test of word meaning and received better rating of the sentences they composed, following a series of t1uee study-test trials, than control subjects. A second experimental group that practiced composing parapluased sentences, but who received no special training in how to do so, did not score significantly higher than control subjects, nor significantly lower than members of the instruction group.

Concepts in the Pedagogical Domain of Teacher Education.

TITLE A Catalogue of Concepts in the Pedagogical Domain of Teacher. Education. INSTITUTION Multi-State Consortium on Performance-Based Teacher Education, Albany, N.Y.; University of South Florida, Tampa. Leadership Training Inst. for Protocol Materials. SPONS AGENCY National Center for Improvement of Educational Systems (DHEW/OE), Washington, D. C.; Office of Education OHM, Washington, D.C. Teacher Corps.