ENHANCING INTERACTIVITY IN GEOGRAPHY CLASS: FOSTERING CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS THROUGH TECHNOLOGY

Journal Title: Problems of Education in the 21st Century - Year 2012, Vol 50, Issue 1

Abstract

To develop students’ critical thinking abilities, teachers must lead students to engage in discussions and to reason within various points of view, while employing evidence to draw conclusions, make decisions or seek solutions. Computer mediates learning by providing students with visualizations of relevant subject content to facilitate their reflection on these experiences. The purpose of this study is to investigate how technology can enable students to develop critical thinking through technology-enhanced interactivity. A geography teacher and 62 grade seven students from two classes participated in the experiment. One class was taught using traditional methods whereas the instructional strategy of computer-mediated learning was adopted in the other. The findings showed that computer media designed for enhancing interactivity would facilitate teacher-pupil interaction and peer discussion, and consequently contributed to improve students’ comprehension of the geography curriculum content. In addition, the critical thinking ability of the high-achievement students was significantly improved.

Authors and Affiliations

Kuo-Hung Huang, Kai-Chi Hung, Ching-Ching Cheng

Keywords

Related Articles

A CRITICAL REFLECTION OF BRONFENBRENNER´S DEVELOPMENT ECOLOGY MODEL

This analysis is a theory based reflection out of the development ecology. When studying an organisation, transformation and spheres of influence of professions and in education, the Development Ecology model provides a...

THE OPINIONS OF PRE-PRIMARY EDUCATION TEACHERS ON THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF HETEROGENEOUS AGE GROUPS

The research focuses on the issue of mixed-aged children in nursery schools. The aim of the research was to find out the opinions of the nursery school teachers on the advantages and disadvantages of a heterogeneous age...

ASSESSMENT OF EDUCATION POLICY THRUST OF THE NATIONAL ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT AND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY (NEEDS) IN NIGERIA

The National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) is Nigeria’s plan for prosperity. The plan focuses on four key strategies: reorienting values, reducing poverty, creating wealth and generating employmen...

COMPARISON OF SPECIAL EDUCATION PRESCHOOL PROGRAM AND INCLUSIVE PRESCHOOL PROGRAM FOR MATH ACHIEVEMENT

Transition period from preschool years to school years is a time of rapid changes in children’s development. Children with intellectual disability lag behind their peers without disabilities in their school readiness ski...

THE PARADOX OF THE FLIPPED CLASSROOM: ONE METHOD, MANY INTENTIONS

The Flipped Classroom is a teaching model where content attainment is shifted forward to outside of class, to be followed up by the teacher in class. In Sweden this way of teaching has become very popular during recent y...

Download PDF file
  • EP ID EP453195
  • DOI -
  • Views 128
  • Downloads 0

How To Cite

Kuo-Hung Huang, Kai-Chi Hung, Ching-Ching Cheng (2012). ENHANCING INTERACTIVITY IN GEOGRAPHY CLASS: FOSTERING CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS THROUGH TECHNOLOGY. Problems of Education in the 21st Century, 50(1), 32-45. https://www.europub.co.uk/articles/-A-453195