Topic 10

Future Directions

By the end of this topic, you should be able to do the following:

1. Identify some methods of studying the future.
2. Critically evaluate suggestions for retooling schools.

In Topic 1, we have learned the definition of curriculum. Then, in Topics 2 till 4,

we have discussed several factors which influencing curriculum such as
philosophical beliefs, psychological perspectives, societyÊs roles and significant
historical events. After that, in Topics 5 till 8, we have examined the different
phases of the curriculum development process, starting from curriculum
planning, followed by curriculum design, implementation, and evaluation.
On the other hand in Topic 9, we focused on certain curriculum issues such as
some challenges that are impacting curriculum, differentiated curriculum for
the gifted and compensatory education. In this topic, we will discuss the future
direction of education in order to shape children to become morally responsible
and self-disciplined citizens.

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10.1
CHARACTER EDUCATION

Character education (also called moral education or values education) has always
been the concern of educators. The focus is on how the curriculum can be
designed to teach children about basic human values such as honesty, kindness,
generosity, courage, freedom, equality, respect and so forth. Character education
aims to raise children to become morally responsible and self-disciplined citizens.
It is a deliberate and proactive effort to develop good character in students;
or, more simply, to teach students right from wrong. It is assumed that right
and wrong exist and that there are objective moral standards that transcend
individual choice. Moral standards such as respect, responsibility, honesty, and
fairness should be taught directly. Traditionally, good character is shaped by
family and religious institutions. With rising crime rates, violence among
youths, drug addiction, sexual promiscuity, breakdown of the family unit,
disrespect for authority, increasing dishonesty, and drug abuse, schools should
seriously engage in character education.

There is a kind of values vacuum further reinforced by the influence of television,

advertising and movies to the extent that traditional values have been challenged.
Religious instruction, formal or informal, parents and schools have also taken
responsibility for character education. It attempts to teach students right from
wrong and teach them a core set of values that will guide their lives towards
building a decent society. The development of good character is part of every
childÊs birthright. Parents, schools, and the community are obligated to meet
childrenÊs needs. You may have children who have not been brought up in
environments where certain values are stressed. For example, there could be
children who do not believe that honesty is important.

However, Kohn (1997) notes that school character education has tended to be
an exercise in indoctrinating students in the ways of right behaviour. The
curriculum tends to emphasise drilling students on desired behaviours rather
than engaging them in deep, critical reflection on what it means to be a moral
individual or to act morally.

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Hunkins & A person unaware of why he or she believes or behaves even

Ornstein, when such beliefs or behaviours are good is not really a moral
(2016) person. A person of good character knows the difference
between right and wrong, knows the bases for his or her
behaviour, and chooses right over wrong, action that is of
benefit to the person and society over that which is not. There
is a difference between having a person engage in behaving
rightly and behaving morally. The latter implies an awareness
of the bases for action or non-action.

Problem solving, decision making and conflict resolution are important parts
of developing moral character. Through role-playing and discussions, students
can see that their decisions affect other people and other things. Through
such teaching-learning activities, students will understand and internalise
the desired values and habits they will require for living and maintaining their
well-being.

SELF-CHECK 10.1

1. Why should schools engage in character education?

2. What is the main weakness of teaching character education in

schools?
10.2

PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT

An issue that has often been hotly debated relates to how students are assessed.
We have not changed much in how students are assessed in schools. Paper-and-
pencil tests dominate from primary school until secondary school and even
in higher education. Though there is consensus on the need to assess the
individualÊs overall development, assessment continues to be confined to a
segment of learnersÊ abilities. What about the affective or emotional outcomes
of education? What about the problem-solving and critical-thinking skills of
learners? They have been acknowledged as important learning outcomes but
are not adequately assessed. What options do we have?

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One of these options is performance assessment. Performance assessment is an

assessment based on authentic tasks. These tasks are activities, problems or
exercises in which students demonstrate what they can do (McBrien et al., 1997).
Some performance tasks are designed to have students demonstrate their
ability to apply knowledge to a particular situation. For example, in an economic
lesson, students examine the price trends and production figures of petroleum
in the last five years to determine how supply and demand determine the
price per barrel. Performance tasks often have more than one acceptable solution.

Performance assessment is about performing with knowledge in a context

that relates to the real world. Learners are given opportunities to show their
understanding and ability to use knowledge differently. The goal of performance
assessment is not only to determine whether students understand but also
whether they can do what they have learned after having left school. In other
words, have the knowledge learned, skills acquired and values inculcated
have long-lasting or enduring effects.

• The implementation of performance assessment requires that one works

backwards. In other words, think first about the purpose of the assessment
and about the performances you want students to be able to do, and then
work backwards. For example, you want primary school students to be
able to write creatively. What concepts and skills do I want students to
know? At what level should my students be performing?

• Having agreed upon what you want students to perform and intend to
measure than you decide what knowledge is to be emphasised and what
skills need to be cultivated. In other words, what activities should be
introduced to provide opportunities for students to show what they can do?
For example, suppose you want primary school students to show their
creative writing skills. In that case, you should provide a topic, time and
resources that allow them to show their creative writing skills.

• After determining the activity, you need to set the criteria to indicate
whether students have acquired the knowledge and skills.

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Why is performance assessment given importance? The reason is simple. It is what

people want from students in the real world; the ability to use wisely and
effectively what they know. We often hear society complaining that students
cannot „apply‰ their knowledge and skills in authentic situations. Society
complains because students are not provided with settings where they can
apply such knowledge and be assessed accordingly. For example, in a language
test, students may indicate that they know a story has an introduction, body
and conclusion. However, we cannot be sure that students can write a story
with these criteria. Performance assessment is vital to link school and the real
world; and give students the confidence to bridge the gap. From the studentsÊ
point of view, there is no guessing in performance assessment. Teachers
and students work together and state what needs to be improved. The role of the
teacher is more of a coach.

While there are many benefits of performance assessment, some teachers

are hesitant to implement it in the classrooms. One reason is that teachers
are not confident enough to adopt this assessment approach. The second reason
is that earlier failure with the approach have prompted some teachers to reject
the approach and to implement performance assessments in the classroom.

SELF-CHECK 10.2

1. What is performance assessment?

2. What is the rationale for encouraging the widespread use of

performance assessment in the classroom?

3. Briefly describe how performance assessment can be implemented

in the classroom.

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ACTIVITY 10.1

Read the following text and answers the questions.

Critical Issues in Science Curriculum

The science curriculum has remained largely unchanged for decades.

Often, the natural curiosity of children, eager to understand their
surroundings, is diminished by instruction that discourages inquiry
and discovery. Science instruction has become increasingly textbook-
centred. Even though laboratory experiences are included, students
are rarely encouraged to use scientific methods to solve problems
relevant to their world perception.

A new vision of science learning is needed, calling for instructional

strategies far different from most traditional approaches. The new
paradigm for science learning should emphasise engagement
and meaning in ways that are inconsistent with past practices. The
constructivist teaching and learning models call for learning that is:

• Hands-on: Students can perform science as they construct meaning

and acquire understanding.

• Minds-on: Activities focus on core concepts, allowing students to

develop thinking processes and encouraging them to question
and seek answers that enhance their knowledge.

• Authentic: Students are presented with problem-solving activities

that incorporate authentic, real-life issues in a format that
encourages collaborative effort, dialogue with informed expert
sources, and generalisations to broader ideas and applications.

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This approach to teaching and learning will enable students to

participate fully in a learning community where the teacher is not
the only source of knowledge and information. Technology (the
Internet) becomes a tool, supporting the learning process as students
seek new knowledge and understanding. Accordingly, teachers will
use a variety of alternative assessment (e.g. performance assessment,
portfolio assessment) tools to allow students to demonstrate their
understanding of science by solving authentic, real-life problems.

Source: Adaptation from Christensen (1995)

(a) What are the critical issues with regard to the science curriculum?

(b) Are these issues similar to the science curriculum in your school
system? Justify.

Share your answers with your coursemates in the myINSPIRE

online forum.
10.3

RETOOLING SCHOOLS FOR THE FUTURE

Mental models are how one views the world and makes decisions, which often
go unrecognised as one of the main obstacles in bringing about change in an
organisation (Senge, 1999). In education, they refer to the invisible assumptions
or beliefs educators have about their studentÊs ability to learn. According
to Senge (2000), current school systems evolved on a set of beliefs or „theories
in use‰ that (refer to Figure 10.1):

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Figure 10.1: School Systems' Beliefs According to Senge (2000)

These are mental models that influence almost everything that is done in
schools today. For instance, knowledge is divided into sensitive topics ranging
from the Melaka Sultanate to NewtonÊs laws of motion. Each topic is taught at
appropriate time slots to learners sitting in rows listening passively, monitored
and motivated by grades. While this approach is not necessarily wrong, research
in cognitive science reveals that this approach is not compatible with how
humans learn best. Retooling schools to meet the challenges of the knowledge
economy does not mean replacing existing mental models with new ones but
rather recognising the power of mental models in limiting an educator from
thinking differently about their educational practice. More important is for
educators to suspend their mental models long enough to seek new knowledge
and to reconsider some of their beliefs about learning, thinking, and the role
of technology.

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Bransford, Human learning is a multifaceted process that invokes

Brown and the prior knowledge of learners, is innately motivated by
Cocking(1999) the search for meaning, is influenced by emotions, is
reinforced by social negotiation, is regulated by knowledge
of cognition, is led by the construction of reality and is
enhanced in authentic situations.

In other words, learning is dynamic, and the role of educators is to facilitate

the making of dynamic knowledge. Learners need to be introduced to a world
beset with uncertainty, multiple answers and infinite possibilities involving
trial and error because that is reality. Emanating from these revised beliefs
about learning, thinking, and the role of technology, it is argued that retooling
schools be based on four guiding principles (refer to Figure 10.2):

Figure 10.2: Retooling Malaysian Schools Based on

Revised Mental Models about Learning, Thinking, and Technology

10.3.1 Schools for All

Malaysia can be proud of having made schooling accessible to most children.
Still, there is increasing awareness that it is not working for all children and
is ironically acknowledged as normal. The bell curve has made it legitimate
to say, „we canÊt educate all children because not all children are educable.‰
The tests pinned to a bell curve allow us to say that some will fail, some will
succeed, and the majority will fall in the middle. Few people realise that the
tool was designed for inanimate objects and low-level organisms and may not
necessarily apply to human beings engaged in learning. It is common practice
in our schools to label children early on. It responds to them according to the

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labels created because of the belief that there is a certain percentage of gifted,
average, and low achievers in any classroom. Throughout the year, newspapers,
radio and television stations proudly announce schools that have obtained near-
perfect scores in national examinations.

High scorers are given extensive media coverage, but there is no mention of the
number of adolescents deficient in language, quantitative and scientific literacy
skills. There is less concern with „Why Ahmad canÊt read?‰ and a decade later
„Why Ahmad still canÊt read?‰ One can only imagine how Ahmad feels being
in a class of low achievers throughout his schooling and repeatedly told he is
not good enough. Theoretically, Ahmad should be taught by the best teachers
in the system. Still, unfortunately, the Matthew effect prevails, that can be loosely
interpreted as „those who need it donÊt get it and those who need it donÊt get.‰
It is common knowledge that learners do not do as well in environments
where adults are continually critical, constantly accentuating the negative and
not accepting them for who they are. On the contrary, students learn and thrive
in a nurturing environment. Schools must foster a warm and caring environment
in which children will bloom. From this realisation, the impetus comes to
creating schools that work for all children.

Malaysian society is rapidly changing, so educational beliefs underlie the goals

of schooling. For example, it is time that tribute is given to schools that record
the lowest number of students who cannot read and write. Schools can ill-afford
to educate just some students and ignore the rest because of examination priorities.
„No child left behind‰ (Education Act, 2001) should be the slogan for all
schools in Malaysia to ensure that schools work for all students, not just for some.
Schools should set high expectations for all students as students have a natural
inclination to rise to the level of expectation held of them (Edmonds, 1986).
Students immediately feel expectations communicated overtly or subtly by
educators. Unfortunately, many educators and schools do not effectively
communicate high expectations to all students, either because they do not have
them or because they do not believe that all children can learn. Some believe
that not all students need to realise their full potential as there are always jobs on
the farms, in the factories and low-level jobs in the service sector.

These beliefs must be revised, and educators need to believe in the incredible
potential to learn in all children and that it can be realised in all children in
any school and any classroom if the conditions are right. From the onset, students
from disadvantaged backgrounds who are at risk should be identified and
given all the cognitive coaching to succeed and not be left behind. Cognitive
strategy instruction (CSI) should be given to all academically weak students,
where „learning how to learn‰ is embedded in all instructional practices
(Phillips, 1993). In addition, schools for all must also be grounded in a value

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system of cooperation and relationships, in contrast to the ethic of competition

and individualism. The value system of cooperation and relationship does not
discard competition, but puts it in the context of cooperation and how people
get along. Reaching goals is important, but how they are reached and with
whom is just as important.

In our increasingly diverse world, creating schools for all children is the right
thing to do, while acknowledging it is not easy. It means a major rethinking of
the core values upon which schools are built. It means focusing on both equity
and excellence in the same classroom in the same school for all children.

ACTIVITY 10.2

1. Do you agree with „the school of all‰ concept? Why?

2. To what extent is the Matthew effect common in your school?

3. „When it comes to the education of our children, failure is not

an option.‰ Do you agree with this statement?

Justify your answers to your coursemates in the myINSPIRE online

forum.

10.3.2 Thinking Goes to School

While some people would agree that developing studentsÊ thinking skills is
the main aim of education, there is less agreement on what is thinking. Over the
decades, a range of terms and definitions have been proposed, leading to further
confusion. Among the common terms used to describe thinking are reflective
thinking, critical thinking, creative thinking, lateral thinking, whole-brain
thinking, analytical thinking, mechanical reasoning, spatial thinking, logical
thinking, deductive thinking, inductive thinking, and analogical thinking to
name a few.

Fraenkel (1992) defines thinking as forming ideas, reorganising oneÊs experience

and organising information in a particular form. Chafee (1992) characterises
thinking as an unusual process for making decisions and solving problems.
According to Bourne et al. (1971), thinking is a complex, multifaceted process;
it is essentially internal, involving symbolic representation of events and objects
not immediately present but initiated by some external event. Its function is
to generate and control overt behaviour. Nickerson et al. (2014) look upon

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thinking as a collection of skills or mental operations used by individuals.

Since thinking is a collection of mental skills, it can be performed well or poorly.
In other words,

Nickerson All people classify, but not equally perceptively,

et al.
All people make estimates, but not equally accurately,
(2014)
All people use analogies, but not equally appropriate,
All people draw conclusions, but not with equal care,
All people construct arguments, but not with equal cogency.

A synthesis of the various definitions reveals certain common threads running

through these descriptions. Thinking is a process that requires knowledge because
it is quite impossible to think in a vacuum. Thinking involves the manipulation
of mental skills; is targeted at the solution of a problem; is manifested in an
overt behaviour or ability; and is also reflected in certain attitudes or dispositions
that are indicative of good and poor thinking.

For example, a good thinker welcomes problematic situations, is open to multiple

possibilities, uses evidence skilfully, makes judgement after considering all
angles, listens to other peopleÊs views, is reflective and perseveres in searching
for information (Barron, 1987; Nickerson et al., 2014).

(a) Why has Thinking Not Been Widely Emphasised in Schools?

First, there is the belief among some educators that the development of
thinking skills should be confined to academically superior students
because they „can think‰. Teaching thinking to weak learners would be
futile and even frustrating because it is a serious mental activity
involving philosophising, deep thought, contemplation and deliberation
that would be too arduous for low achievers.

Second is the belief that students should have a complete understanding

of a subject area before they can deliberate and think about the facts,
concepts and principles. Understanding is the consequence of thinking
and if learners are taught to think about the content, then understanding
is enhanced. Educators who subscribe to this belief are preoccupied with
coverage of course content rather than ensuring understanding.

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Third, it relates to assessment and, in particular public examinations,

which tend to test the acquisition of facts and how well learners can
remember the facts. There are few questions that demand higher-order
thinking, so schools are reluctant to venture into teaching for higher-order
outcomes.

(b) What is a „Culture of Thinking‰?

„Thinking goes to schools‰ is the title of a book by Furth et al. (1975), which
reports on a project aimed at developing the thinking ability of primary
and secondary school students based on Piagetian principles. „Thinking
will go to school‰ to when a culture of thinking permeates all Malaysian
schools where language, values, expectations, habits, and behaviour
reflect the enterprise of good thinking.

Tishman et al. (1995) identified four ways of bringing the culture of

thinking to the classroom.

• First is to have models or people who demonstrate good thinking

practices and exhibit behaviours of good thinking, such as checking
the credibility of sources or suspending judgement until all information
is available or tolerating ambiguity.

• The second is to develop thinking through explanation, whereby

teachers explicitly explain why a particular thinking skill needs to be
used, when it is to be used, and how it is to be used.

• Third is through interaction with other students, where opportunities

are given to work in groups when solving a problem, brainstorming,
and exchanging and accepting ideas.

• Fourth is feedback when teachers provide evaluative or corrective

information about studentsÊ thinking processes. For instance, a teacher
may praise students for how they arrived at a particular conclusion or
for the views expressed. Such feedback provides students with
information about their thinking behaviours which helps them become
better thinkers.

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(c) What is the Role of Teachers?

Teachers play a crucial role in the creation of a thinking culture as they are
the ones who establish the educational climate, structure learning
experiences and have almost complete power over the processes that take
place in the classroom. In students from more affluent homes where the
parentÊs level of education is higher, questions are more frequently asked,
and the language used is relatively more complex (Sternberg & Caruso,
1985). However, students coming to school lacking the experiences of their
more affluent counterparts „succeed because of teachers who serve as
mediators of their environment; by discussing, asking questions, modelling
and teaching (Swartz and Lowery, 1989, p. 4).

Teachers have at their disposal a variety of ways to organise their classrooms

to stimulate thinking. Students need to be involved, which might take the
form of teacher-led Socratic-type discussions and cooperative small-group
or total-group investigations (Fisher, 1995). The underlying principle of
classroom organisation is to encourage greater participation of learners in
the teaching-learning process; it would be quite impossible to develop
studentsÊ thinking skills if the teacher did most of the talking.

The teacherÊs response to behaviours has a significant effect on stimulating

thinking. Most important is how teachers or even parents react to answers
given by students and whether these behaviours extend or terminate
thinking. For example, what would happen when a teacher or parent
responds to a childÊs idea with such statements as „What a dumb idea‰
or „YouÊre not good enough‰? The child might later on be reluctant to
give ideas in the future, for fear of being ridiculed or humiliated.
The language of thinking is important in encouraging thinking in the
classroom. Using specific thinking terminologies will show learners how
to perform particular skills. When used repeatedly, chances are they will
become part of their repertoire of vocabulary (Costa & Marzano, 1987).
For example, instead of saying, „LetÊs look at these two pictures‰, it would
be more precise to say, „LetÊs compare these two pictures‰.

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SELF-CHECK 10.3

1. What is thinking?

2. Why has development thinking not been emphasised in schools?

3. How does one create a culture of thinking?

4. What is the role of teachers in developing thinking among

students?

10.3.3 Personalised Schools

Many schools have become too large and impersonal, and students are just
statistics. This observation is especially evident in urban areas where schools
have an enrolment of 1,000 to 2,000 students and some with as many as 2,500
students, which inadvertently disconnects most learners from teachers and other
adults, possibly leading to alienation, boredom and even conflict. Why should
a teenager respect a teacher who knows nothing about them? Personalised
schools are schools with a smaller student enrolment. Research is inconclusive
as to the appropriate size of such schools. Still, there is some consensus that
a primary school should not exceed 400 students and not more than 800 students
for secondary schools (Cotton, 1996). In smaller schools, teachers and students
build strong relationships. Teachers can help students learn more effectively
because they know their students as individuals. „Everybody knows your name‰.
There is also greater bonding among students as they get to know and learn
from each other.

However, even though a school may be small, it need not necessarily be

„personalised‰. Personalised schools are learning communities where students,
teachers and parents know each other personally and work together to help
young people learn and succeed. In personalised schools, students are cared for,
nurtured, and supported. This idea is significant given the increasing number
of students experiencing a lack of relationships with caring, attentive, engaged
adults when parents are working full-time. Partnerships between parents,
teachers, and administrators tend to be stronger because the opportunity to
communicate and understand each other is enhanced.

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Generally, personalised schools have lower rates of negative social behaviour

such as classroom disruptions, vandalism, fights, thefts, substance abuse or gang
membership (Cotton, 1996). Such schools report higher school attendance and
lower dropout rates compared to larger impersonal schools. Students in smaller
schools have a greater sense of belonging, and relationship tends to be more
cordial. With the decline of the extended family and parents having to work full
time, students turn to teachers for advice and role models, which may be more
readily available in personalised schools.

10.3.4 Technology-based Schools

The unprecedented advances in internet interactivity and multimedia capabilities
are seeing the emergence of the technology-based learning environment, which
has given a new perspective to classroom learning. According to Phillips et al.
(2010), the technology-based learning environment based on a cognitive-
constructivist theoretical perspective emphasises the following seven processes
(refer to Table 10.1):

Table 10.1: Processes Implemented in Technology-based Learning Environment

Process Description

Situated Learning certain knowledge and skills is best done in situations

cognition or contexts that reflect how the knowledge will be useful in real
life. In other words, students are introduced to authentic tasks, and
the many technology tools enable the creation of microworlds
(Jonassen et al., 1998).

These are miniature environments that mimic real-world situations,

providing learners with the opportunity to apply concepts,
principles, and skills learned. For example, telecommunications
and the Internet provide access to emerging disciplinary and
interdisciplinary databases, real-time phenomena, and social
communities not accessible through print-based curricula.

Cognitive The ability to represent knowledge from different perspectives

flexibility tailored to the needs and levels of the learner. Multimedia
technology, such as virtual reality, permits knowledge and skills
to be presented in various ways, adapting content to individual
student learning styles.

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Exploration Learners try out different hypotheses, methods and strategies to

see their effects. Computers and ancillary electronic devices
facilitate the manipulation of data and visualisation which assists
with experimenting and understanding actual, futuristic, and
hypothetical concepts, principles, relationships and probabilities.
The resources of the web and the related internet tools allow
learners to make these discoveries on their own.

Cooperative Learners work in groups by questioning each other, discussing and

learning sharing information towards the solution of a problem using
communication tools such as e-mail and chat rooms.

Collaborative Learners or groups discuss and try out their ideas and challenge the
learning ideas of others across state and international borders. For example,
a group of learners in Malaysia could be working on a project in
cyberspace on „what teenagers do besides schooling‰ with a group
of learners in Canada or Kuwait using both asynchronous and
synchronous tools. Cooperative and collaborative learning practice
are skills required in the workplace.

Articulation Getting learners to make their tacit knowledge explicit through

websites and electronic portfolios. When learners make available
to others (even across long distances) what they have done, learners
can compare strategies and provide insight into alternative
perspectives.

Reflection Learners looking back over what they have done and analysing
their performance. It enables them to see the thinking processes they
used in solving problems based on the product and determine
if their strategies were appropriate.

Technology integration into teaching and learning has not been widespread
because of defective equipment and internet connection, inadequate training of
teachers and, more importantly, a lack of understanding on how to use the
new technologies. As more schools are wired with the relevant hardware and
software, the technology-based learning environment provides a convenient
framework with a theoretical basis for the realisation of technology-based schools.

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SELF-CHECK 10.4

1. What do you understand by personalised schools?

2. What are the processes emphasised in a technology-based learning

environment?

ACTIVITY 10.3

1. To what extent is performance assessment practised in your school?

2. Do you agree that students lack sufficient opportunities to develop

their thinking skills?

3. What do you think the curriculum of the future should be?

Explain your answers to your coursemates in the myINSPIRE online

forum.

• Character education is designed to teach children about basic human values

to raise children to become morally responsible and self-disciplined citizens.

• Performance assessment is an assessment based on authentic tasks. These tasks

are activities, problems or exercises in which students demonstrate what
they can do.

• Schools for all emphasise that an environment should be provided for all
students to realise their potential and set high expectations so that all
students will be encouraged to excel.

• A culture of thinking has to be created to encourage students to think.

• A technology-based learning environment has to be developed in as many

schools as possible in order to provide a more convenient learning
environment then the present.

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Character education Schools for all

Culture of thinking Technology-based learning
environment
Performance assessment
Personalised schools

Barron, C. T. (1987). The process behind the process: A writing curriculum

based on theories of cognitive development.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5246&conte
xt=dissertations_1

Bourne, L. E., Ekstrand, B. R., & Dominowski, R. L. (1971). The psychology of

thinking. Prentice Hall.

Bransford, J. D., Brown, A. L., & Cocking, R. R. (1999). The design of learning
environments. How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school,
117–142.

Chafee, J. (1992). Critical thinking skills: The cornerstone of developmental

education. Journal of Developmental Education, 15(3), 2.

Christensen, M. (1995). Critical issue: Providing hands-on, minds-on, and

authentic learning experiences in science. North Central Regional
Educational Laboratory. [On-line] Available: info@ ncrel. org. Retrieved on
January, 3, 2006.

Costa, A. L., & Marzano, R. (1987). Teaching the Language of

Thinking. Educational Leadership, 45(2), 29–33.

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