Original scientific paper
THE IMPACT OF TEACHING TECHNOLOGY ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF CRITICAL THINKING
Hatixhe Ismajli
; Faculty of Education, University of Prishtina
Abstract
Living in an era of dynamic technical and technological development,
the need to apply teaching tools in the process of teaching represents
a challenge for teachers and schools nowadays. The acquisition of teaching content aided by teaching technology increases the level of knowledge and critical thinking, decreasing at the same time the mechanical reproduction of facts. The application of such technology in the learning process motivates learners to refl ect, to think sharply and to integrate intellectual skills. The principal aim of this research is to study the effects of the application of teaching technology on the development of critical thinking in pupils. The research has been undertaken in the school subject of nature and society,
the teaching content of which, by synthesising knowledge on nature and society, motivates pupils to ask questions, draw logical conclusions, to make judgments and evaluate various matters of objective reality. Participants in the research were 720 pupils and 24 teachers of several education centres of Kosovo who were trained in the programme “Reading and Writing for Critical Thinking”.
The data were collected from pupils and teachers by testing and through surveys conducted during the initial and fi nal research.
The fi ndings show that teaching aided by the use of the overhead projector, CDs and DVDs with teaching content, and computers, has a considerable influence on critical refl ection on knowledge, which integrates logical abilities such as evaluation, development of imagination, and the generation of new ideas. The effects of its application in the experimental group were observed in the fulfillment of high level tasks in Bloom’s taxonomy, which require analysis, synthesis and evaluation of information. The experimental group achieved 71% of points. Compared to the control group that attained 56.77%, the experimental group attainment is 14.23% higher. The difference in favour of the experimental group is attributed to the effects achieved by the application of
teaching tools, which stimulated active learning and the development of critical thinking, an important premise in enhancing the quality of learning and in transforming the teaching process.
Keywords
teaching technology; critical thinking, the subject of nature and society
Hrčak ID:
28679
URI
Publication date:
25.6.2008.
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