Dewey Jessica, Bento Janet
Harrow Educational Psychology Service, Educational Psychology Group, University College London, London, UK.
Br J Educ Psychol. 2009 Jun;79(Pt 2):329-51. doi: 10.1348/000709908X344754. Epub 2009 Feb 17.
Recent interest in the teaching of thinking skills within education has led to an increase in thinking skills packages available to schools. However many of these are not based on scientific evaluation (DfEE, 1999). This paper endeavours to examine the effectiveness of one approach, that of infusion, to teaching thinking.
To investigate the impact of an infusion methodology, activating children's thinking skills (ACTS), on the cognitive, social, and emotional development of children in Year 4-6 in primary schools. This is a sister project to research being conducted in Northern Ireland (McGuinness, 2006).
The study involved 404 children from 8 primary schools in one local authority. These were divided into 160 in the experimental group and 244 in the waiting list control group.
A quasi-experimental design was used with pre-, post-, and delayed post-tests to ascertain changes in children's cognitive abilities, self-perceptions, and social/behavioural skills using quantitative measures. In addition qualitative techniques were used with pupils and teachers to evaluate effectiveness.
The experimental group made significantly greater gains in cognitive ability skills over a 2 year period compared to the waiting list control. Qualitative data demonstrated a positive impact on children's social and emotional development. In addition teacher professional development was reported to be enhanced.
This research indicated that children's cognitive abilities can be developed following a 2 year period of the ACTS infusion intervention. While some positive effects were evidenced on the social and emotional development of children, further study will be necessary to examine these in more detail.
近期教育领域对思维技能教学的关注促使学校可获得的思维技能教学包有所增加。然而，其中许多并非基于科学评估（英国教育与就业部，1999年）。本文致力于探讨一种教学方法——渗透式教学法在思维教学方面的有效性。
研究渗透式教学法，即激活儿童思维技能（ACTS），对小学四至六年级儿童认知、社交和情感发展的影响。这是与北爱尔兰正在进行的一项研究相关的姊妹项目（麦吉尼斯，2006年）。
该研究涉及来自一个地方教育当局8所小学的404名儿童。他们被分为实验组160名和候补对照组244名。
采用准实验设计，通过前测、后测和延迟后测，使用定量测量方法确定儿童认知能力、自我认知和社交/行为技能方面的变化。此外，还对学生和教师采用定性技术来评估有效性。
与候补对照组相比，实验组在两年时间里认知能力技能有显著更大的提高。定性数据表明对儿童的社交和情感发展有积极影响。此外，教师的专业发展也有提升。
这项研究表明，经过两年的ACTS渗透干预，可以提高儿童的认知能力。虽然在儿童的社交和情感发展方面有一些积极影响，但需要进一步研究以更详细地考察这些影响。
