The American higher education system has been under close scrutiny for more than a decade .The cause is clear: a lack of correspondence between that which is believed to be requiredfor critical thinking in adulthood and that which universities are teaching .The purpose of this study, therefore, was to describe the opportunities given to students to reach higher cognitive levels through professors " classroom discourse. The researchers sought to explore relationships between classroom discourse and class size, course level, and progression across the semester .Sixteen College of Agricultural Sciences faculty were purposeJully selected .Researchers observed and recorded their teaching four times during the semester .Classroom discourse waspresentedpredominately at lower cognitive levels .No statistically significant relationship existed between frequency of opportunities given students to think at higher cognitive levels, class size, course level, nor progression across semester .Teacher educators in agricultural education must prepare and present seminars and workshops designed to assist faculty in Colleges of Agriculture in learning techniques for increasing the frequency of opportunities given to students to think at higher cognitive levels, thereby enhancing the cognitive processing skills of students. The American higher education system has been under close scrutiny for more than a decade. Reports conveying the message that undergraduate education has become incoherent and ineffective has sparked this intense surveillance (Reagan et al., 1987). Specifically, there exists a lack of correspondence between that which is believed to be required for critical thinking in adulthood and that which universities are teaching (Stemberg, 1985). Are graduates leaving universities without a necessary survival skill: the ability to think critically?
[1]
Michael P. Ryan.
Conceptions of Prose Coherence: Individual Differences in Epistemological Standards.
,
1984
.
[2]
M. Davison,et al.
Helping Students Think
,
1983
.
[3]
L. H. Newcomb,et al.
Aspired Cognitive Level of Instruction, Assessed Cognitive Level of Instruction and Attitude toward Teaching at Higher Cognitive Levels. Summary of Research SR 70.
,
1993
.
[4]
Michael P. Ryan.
Monitoring Text Comprehension: Individual Differences in Epistemological Standards
,
1984
.
[5]
L. Resnick.
Education and Learning to Think
,
1987
.
[6]
W. G. Perry.
Forms of Intellectual and Ethical Development in the College Years: A Scheme. Jossey-Bass Higher and Adult Education Series.
,
1970
.
[7]
J. Touchton,et al.
Career Planning and Decision-Making: A Developmental Approach to the Classroom
,
1977
.
[8]
B. W. Stephenson,et al.
Intellectual and Ethical Development: A Dualistic Curriculum Intervention for College Students
,
1977
.
[9]
R. Sternberg.
Teaching Critical Thinking, Part 1: Are We Making Critical Mistakes?.
,
1985
.
[10]
Ann L. Brown.
Learning, remembering, and understanding
,
1982
.
[11]
B. Clinchy,et al.
Epistemological and Moral Development in Girls from a Traditional and a Progressive High School.
,
1977
.