Exploration in teaching strategies that foster creative thinking and problem solving in a community college /
How can teachers foster learning environments that promote creative thinking and problem solving skills in students? What types of methods, instructions, interactions, communications, and climate do these teachers need so they may promote creative thinking in students? Moreover, how will students r...
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| Format: | Thesis Book |
| Language: | English |
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[Place of publication not identified] :
[publisher not identified] ;
1996.
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://proxy.library.tamu.edu/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=739653421&sid=1&Fmt=2&clientId=2945&RQT=309&VName=PQD |
| Summary: | How can teachers foster learning environments that promote creative thinking and problem solving skills in students? What types of methods, instructions, interactions, communications, and climate do these teachers need so they may promote creative thinking in students? Moreover, how will students react to such classroom environments? Available research, life experiences, and work experiences reveal a deficiency in creative educational methods that lack essential climates necessary to promote creative thinking and problem solving skills in their students. Educators and administrators at Lone Star College (LSC) sensed that such an obligation was unfulfilled in the optimum and that such deficiencies have an impact on students' productivity. Therefore, the researcher conducted this study to explore and to investigate teaching methods and those environments created by teachers who demonstrated exemplary instructional approaches that nurture creative thinking and problem solving in students. This study began during the Spring 1996 semester and concluded at the beginning of the Fall 1996 semester. During thatperiod, the researcher conducted data collection from student interviews, teacher interviews, classroom observations, data analysis, and data dissemination. The researcher followed the guidelines of naturalistic inquiry in conducting ethnographic interviews with students, teachers, and other college employees to obtain qualitative data for exploration of the proposed research problem. The data that the researcher collected from classroom observations, exploration, investigation, and surveys of student attitudes toward such classroom environments assisted in preparing the analysis of findings. Constructions that emerged from the study showed the notability of the following factors vital to promoting a creative classroom environment:1) teacher's knowledge; 2) teacher character traits; 3) teaching style; 4) teacher's passion and attitude toward students, subject, and teaching; 5) classroom management-, 6) climate; 7) teacher-student interaction; and 8) student attitudes. During this study, the researcher observed that students favored creative, open, and non-threatening climates over learning only by authority and conformity; furthermore, students supported such change. |
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| Item Description: | Vita. "Major Subject: Educational Psychology". |
| Physical Description: | xii, 335 leaves : illustrations ; 28 cm. Issued also on microfiche from University Microfilms Inc. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references: pages 307-314. |