Background: The use of participatory visual methods in humanities, health, education and social science research to study 'sensitive' subject matter with children and young people is growing. Such approaches have been widely -- though sometimes uncritically -- celebrated for contributing to safe data elicitation, promoting participant influence…

In our ever-changing and complex world, we encounter difficult problems that demand sophisticated solutions. Critical thinking, a vital skill for modern survival, lies at the heart of higher education. It is what we should develop in students, arguably a concept that defines higher education. Critical thinking, however, is subject to wide…

Is it possible to measure how critical soft skills like leadership or teamwork are from the viewpoint of graduate studies offerings? This paper provides a conceptual and methodological framework that introduces the concept of a bipartite network as a practical way to estimate the importance of soft skills as socio-emotional abilities trained in…

AI-generative tools, such as ChatGPT, are argued to hold the potential to contribute to creative thinking in education broadly and second language education specifically. Nonetheless, existing literature underscores a critical requirement to elucidate the specific nature of this contribution among English as a Foreign Language (EFL) undergraduates…

Factors of Critical Spatial Thinking for a geography metacognition assessment are a moot point among experts and practitioners. This study aims to develop an understanding about such factors by using a structural equation model to generate a comprehensive and accurate assessment instrument for metacognition in geography. The study is a research…

This article describes the author's experience using SCAMPER, a creativity-building technique, in a creative problem-solving session that was conducted in an environmental conflict course to generate ideas for managing postconflict stability. SCAMPER relies on cues to help students connect ideas from different domains of knowledge, explore random…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand the usefulness of an agile social learning method in higher education to build capacity for sustainable development at the community level. Social learning methods intend to empower students (and instructors) to work together in connection with real-life issues -- combined with acquiring a…

Reasoning about graphical representations representing dynamic data (e.g., distance changing over time), including interpreting, creating, changing, combining, and comparing graphs, can be considered a domain-specific operationalization of the general twenty-first century skills of creative, critical thinking and solving problems. This paper…

Despite over 10 years of reform efforts, research still shows that students typically have inadequate conceptions of what science is and what scientists do. Many science students, as well as some teachers, use a single "scientific method" that, "proves a hypothesis" by systematic data collection. By following a prescribed set of steps, and writing…

Presents a brief but pertinent reminder that many of the so-called "basic" concepts in art education are value-laden and articulated with different degrees of evidential support. (Editor/RK)

Posters are commonly used as tools for disseminating information at scientific meetings, but many students lack an understanding of "good" poster characteristics. We present a set of characteristics for use in constructing posters for scientific meetings and classroom presentations along with tips on critiquing posters to enhance their…

The factor-referenced kits developed by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) are assessed. With support from the National Science Foundation, the researcher surveyed the total range of research done over the past 65 years on the identification of cognitive abilities, principally through factor analysis. From a corpus of an estimated 2,000 data…

CREATIVE READING IS DEFINED AS READING FOR IMPLIED AND INFERRED MEANINGS, APPRECIATIVE REACTIONS, AND CRITICAL EVALUATION. THE ACT OF CRITICAL READING GOES BEYOND LITERAL COMPREHENSION TO DEMAND THAT THE READER PRODUCE FRESH, ORIGINAL IDEAS NOT EXPLICITLY STATED IN THE READING MATERIAL. THE READER BECOMES AN ACTIVE PARTICIPANT AND ADDS TO WHAT THE…