Faculty of Education - Theses

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Multidimensional thinking

Prior, Selena ( 2008)

Thinking permeates our lives. Yet it remains mostly invisible and difficult to describe what we mean by it. This thesis clarifies the main schools of thought on thinking in education and proposes a framework which accurately describes the experience of thinking. As educators, our understanding of thinking influences not only the way we teach it but also how we assess and evaluate it. A disparate definition of thinking means disparate outcomes both in the context of education and the wider society. This thesis provides a clearer way forward by describing thinking as Multidimensional, consisting of three dimensions (critical, creative and positive affective) and one meta-dimension (metacognitive thinking). Extracts from idea centred dialogues will be analysed to illustrate Multidimensional thinking. The Community of Inquiry will be proposed as the ideal environment for the development of Multidimensional thinking because it makes thinking visible. Understanding thinking as Multidimensional is just as complex as conceiving of thinking in a critical thinking framework but it is far more accurate in describing the experience of thinking. The Multidimensional thinking framework encourages changes in teacher pedagogy and the thinking oriented curriculum.