Critical thinking in Norwegian upper secondary biology education: The cases of complementary-alternative-medicine and health claims in the media

Abstract

Sverre Pettersen was a laboratory researcher in the field of coronary heart diseases before he in 1992 became an associate professor at Akershus University College, Lillestrøm, where he teaches biological sciences for nursing students, as well as being supervisor for students attending the college's master programme. He has also taught biology, chemistry and mathematics in Norwegian upper secondary school for 12 years. From the year of 2000 he has followed the doctoral programme in science education at the Institute of teacher training and school development, University of Oslo. In his present research project, he mainly explores the "status" of science and scientific knowledge among students and teachers of Norwegian health sciences. AbstractBy definition, complementary alternative medicine (CAM) treatments are not scientifically proven. Scientific deficient health claiming news seems to flourish in the media. The aims of this questionnaire study was to explore: (1) attitudes towards CAM among 3 rd year students of the health sciences in Norway, who either have immersed themselves in the 2 nd and 3 rd year upper secondary biology courses, or taken the 1 st year compulsory natural science course, exclusively, and (2) these students' skills in requesting for scientific information in highly deficient health news briefs. There were no significant differences in the frequencies of positive attitude towards the use of CAM treatments between the two health sciences student categories, and most students in both categories "failed" in the test set out to measure their skills in requesting for scientific information in four highly scientific deficient health news briefs. The results suggest that teaching of the Norwegian upper secondary biology courses does probably not contribute extensively to pupils' development of scepticism towards CAM, and skills in evaluating health claims, scientifically. [62] 2/05 engage in or think about science (Kuhn, 2001). Intrinsic to epistemic understanding is knowledge of the criteria by which scientific knowledge is evaluated. Such criteria include plausible causal mechanisms, parsimony, consistency with observed data, and consistency with current theories (Lederman, 1992).

Lower secondary school students’ scientific literacy and their proficiency in identifying and appraising health claims in news media: a secondary analysis using large-scale survey data

“…Previous studies of students’ evaluations of scientific claims have mostly been conducted at upper secondary school level and above, and on smaller, mostly self-selected samples of students 24 25 27 37 39 40. Thus, to our knowledge, this is the first study investigating students’ critical appraisal of science-based health claims in the context of a large student sample at lower secondary school level.…”

“…This prohibited us from evaluating whether variations in text dimensions (eg, the claim’s plausibility and how familiar the students were with the health topic) could have influenced students’ information request—dimensions previously reported to impact on students’ critical engagement with news reports 37 39. For the same reason, and because the news item did not include any embedded attitudinal items, we were unable to assess whether important personal factors (eg, interest in the health topic, belief in the claim, scientific attitude)24 25 37 39 40 could have affected students’ requests. Third, to make students respond shortly and ‘on task’, they were encouraged to write only two brief sentences.…”

“…Without appropriate training, adolescents find it difficult to engage critically with media reports containing scientific content, and this challenge continues as they move from compulsory to higher education 19–27. Studies indicate that students tend to overestimate the certainty of scientific claims and accept them at face value 19–21 23 25–27.…”

“…Hence, they can most likely request further evidence when encountering unsupported science-based claims, a hallmark of critical appraisal 38. Previous studies suggest that students, if they request information, usually emphasise methodological aspects of the reported research, the findings as such, and theoretical explanations of the findings 24 25 27 37 39 40…”

Berpikir Dalam Pendidikan: (Suatu Tinjauan Filsafat Tentang Pendidikan Untuk Berpikir Kritis)

“…Temuan penelitian ini juga memperlihatkan bahwa mahasiswa yang terlibat dan ikut melaksanakan kebijakan, akan mampu bersikap ilmiah jika didukung dengan semua perangkat kebijakan dan sistem di departemen tersebut (Abel et al, 2006). Hasil penelitian lain yang menggambarkan pendidikan secara luas mampu meningkatkan kemampuan berpikir adalah penggunaan problem solving dalam mata kuliah perkembangan hewan (Lufri, 2004), berpikir kritis dalam pendidikan biologi (Pettersen, 1992), berpikir kritis dalam membangun kepemimpinan (Ricketts, 2004), metodemetode penentuan kemampuan berpikir kritis (Stein et.al, 2003), peningkatan kemampuan berpikir di dalam kelas (Irfaner, 2006), keterpaduan sistem berpikir di dalam pendidikan teknologi sistem informasi (Vo et. al, 2006), pengembangan kemampuan berpikir dalam pendidikan kejuruan (Levin dan Lieberman, 2008;Al-Jayyousi, 1999).…”