Thinking Visualization

This paper explores the significance and application of thinking visualization in junior high school English teaching. Visualization, employing tools like mind maps, pictures, videos, and charts, transforms abstract language concepts and text structures into concrete, visual representations. This approach enhances students’ comprehension of vocabulary and grammar, improves information retention, fosters creativity, and accommodates diverse learning styles. Key classroom strategies include using mind maps to organize texts, multimedia re-sources to aid understanding, and charts to analyze data. Despite challenges like resource constraints, time demands, and assessment difficulties, thinking visu-alization proves effective in stimulating learning interest, developing logical thinking, and improving overall English reading quality and efficiency.

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Under the background of networked education, the subjective behavior in the field of education, the interaction between teachers and students, and the educational environment in which the subject is located have all had a comprehensive impact on the teaching mode of mental health courses in colleges and universities. In recent years, the teaching research and practice related to “action learning” and “thinking visualization” have been deepening, and more papers, monographs, and training activities related to them have been deepened. Thinking is a complex cognitive process, and students' positive and critical thinking attitude plays a crucial role in improving the quality of nursing work in the future. The importance of study, our way of self-cultivation, and the foundation of our destiny is beyond words. This study explores the application and significance of college students' happy learning combined with the visualization of thinking and action learning under the background of “Internet +” from four aspects: curriculum connotation, system construction, effect analysis, and curriculum thinking, so that students can play their subjectivity in education courses and improve. The initiative and interaction of students in the classroom encourages students to not only know, feel, and experience in education courses but also dare to speak, ask, and question and be the leaders of the classroom.

Current educational resources do not maximize energy efficiency, and scientific and proven teaching methods are necessary for today's university education to help achieve the integration of teaching resources and improve teaching quality. This study discusses the application of artificial intelligence and thinking visualization technology in college education and teaching, firstly introduces the advantageous role of genetic algorithm in artificial intelligence and the energy efficiency of thinking visualization technology, then conducts a research analysis, introduces genetic algorithm as technical support in teaching and learning, uses thinking visualization technology as a tool, aims to study the application of thinking visualization technology in college teaching, and expects to use genetic algorithm and thinking visualization techniques to improve teaching effectiveness. The experimental results show that genetic algorithm and thinking visualization technology can effectively optimize the co-giving of educational services, reduce the workload of teachers, while reducing the cost of learning, enhance the learning effect and experience, and improve students' efficient thinking.

: The word "visualization" originates from the English word "visual", which means "visual and intuitive". Generally speaking, visualization is the method by which we can transform abstract things into directly observable graphics and images. In teaching, especially in reading teaching, the use of thinking visualization tools is very helpful to realize the ordering of disordered knowledge and the concretization of abstract knowledge. It can not only improve students' interest in learning, make classroom knowledge more specific, but also improve teaching efficiency and optimize teaching effect

To address the challenges implicit thinking processes, superficial comprehension, and disconnection between linguistic competence and thinking quality cultivation among students in senior high school English reading teaching, thinking visualization provides an effective solution. This method converts abstract information processing, logical connections, and structural analysis in reading comprehension into intuitive graphics via diverse visual tools. Teachers should flexibly apply various visualization tools throughout all stages of reading teaching, guiding students to systematically sort out texts, analyze logical relations, compare viewpoints, and transfer and apply knowledge. Combined with concrete teaching cases, this paper analyzes the feasibility of applying thinking visualization tools to senior high school English reading teaching, aiming to offer a new perspective for reading instruction.

AI thinking visualization tool can express the knowledge in the brain in a graphical way. It can form an external manifestation of knowledge directly affecting the human senses, which is of great help for learners to improve their understanding, memory and thinking skills. In this research, we studied the mind mapping training through AI thinking visualization tool in the reading teaching of foreign language courses. The results indicated that via the independent establishment of a foreign language reading material framework based on AI thinking visualization tool, students’ thinking skills and reading ability have been enhanced, learning enthusiasm has been improved, and good teaching results have been achieved.

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Abstract— Data visualization is a powerful tool for communicating complex and multidimensional information in an effective and engaging way. However, creating effective data visualizations requires not only technical skills, but also critical thinking skills to select, analyze, and interpret data. In this paper, we propose an inquiry-based active learning pedagogy approach to heighten learners’ critical thinking skills for the course Data Visualization Analytics. We describe the design and implementation of a series of learning activities that involve learners in posing questions, collecting and exploring data, creating and presenting visualizations, and reflecting on their learning outcomes by collecting survey questions from 76 students. We also present the results of a mixed-methods evaluation of the approach, which involved all 76 undergraduate students from Kalasalingam Academy of Research and Education (Deemed to be University) in Tamilnadu, India. The evaluation showed that the approach improved learners’ critical thinking skills, as measured by a pre-and post-test, and enhanced their engagement and satisfaction with the course, as indicated by a survey and interviews with four input parameters and one output parameter. We discuss the implications of our findings for the data visualization analytics course and suggest directions for students' efficacy by applying regression and correlation analysis. Keywords—Active Learning, Inquiry Learning, Pedagogy, Critical Thinking, Data Visualization, Data Analytics.

Finding teaching methods that foster students' development of geometric thinking and visualization skills is still a current challenge. This study analyses the effects of the combined use of paper folding and dynamic geometry on high school students’ geometric thinking and visualization skills. A quasi-experimental study pre-test/post-test design was conducted in distance learning in Italy. The instruments employed were van Hiele Geometry Test (VHGT) and the Visual Test (VT) before and after the treatment. The data were analysed using statistical tests according their nature. The results revealed that both groups have improved in the post-tests compared to their respective pre-tests. However, the students in the experimental group achieved better geometric thinking scores and performed better in three out of four sections of the visual test compared to the students in the control group. Thus, the proposed combination of instruments may be suggested in high school to make geometry teaching more effective, even with distance learning.

This paper aims to build a conceptual framework that addresses spatial geometric thinking and the respective visualization skills required at different levels of the schooling process. Studies indicate that spatial geometric sills are essential for scientific thinking. It encompasses a set of cognitive processes through which humans can construct and manipulate mental representations of objects in space and is a skill directed towards understanding objects and their relations in the 2D and 3D worlds.  The use of these spatial reasoning skills involves drawing, manipulating, and explaining objects and their relationships and should be developed from the first years of schooling. Based on this theoretical context, partial research results on surface representations that can be manipulated in three dimensions (3D) and obtained through GeoGebra will be presented in this paper. The underlying theory was Duval's Theory of Registers of Semiotic Representation, which allowed the analysis of activities developed by graduate students in Mathematics Education by observing and physically manipulating such representations to obtain the respective graphic and algebraic records. The conceptual framework constructed and presented in this article contributed to identifying other skills required in this study for the development of spatial geometric thinking.

With the exposure of the mechanical engineering undergraduate students to the concepts of spatial visualization, this work assesses the effect of spatial visualization skills on the visual thinking abilities. Influence of spatial visualization on visual thinking and cognitive abilities like reasoning, abstract thinking, planning, comprehension of complex ideas, quick learning and learning from experience, is analysed through FMEA (failure modes and effects analysis). The RPNs (risk-priority-numbers) have been calculated and priority is set for proposing the corrective actions. Further to this, case studies in tool design have been picked for exhibition of spatial visualization skill set. Influence of tool design on visual thinking capability of the students is understood through various case-studies. Thus, tool, die and mold design ideation is used as a platform for the proposing improvements in visual thinking and cognitive abilities among mechanical engineering students.

Widely employed by innovative organizations, a well-designed simple data visualization has been shown to enhance user experience and aid in decision making; while a more embellished visualization may cause overload, it has the potential to create deeper processing and learning. Furthermore, individual characteristics may impact on how users seek information on these different types of visualization. This study proposes that thinking styles (analytical vs holistic) and domain expertise moderate the effects of data visualization types on decision performances in terms of decision accuracy, decision confidence, memory recall, and cognitive load. To test our hypotheses, an experimental study involving visual manipulations in the context of personal finance was conducted on two types of visualizations (simple and clutter). Results suggest that simple visualizations enhance decision accuracy and reduce cognitive load. We also find that cognitive load is further reduced when analytical thinkers are presented with simple visualizations. These findings can help designers understand how user characteristics may be considered when designing and evaluating visualizations for decision makers.

Disaster mitigation material in geography learning requires not only critical thinking skills but also independence and optimism from students. In this regard, the effective approach needed relies not only on theory but also on practice in independent assignments and exercises. It makes limited face-to-face learning, which has been applied recently, unable to optimize learning outcomes. This study aims to analyze the impact of flipped classroom learning based on disaster map visualization on students' self-efficacy and critical thinking skills in disaster mitigation materials. The study used a quasi-experimental design with a pretest-posttest control group design. The research sample consisted of the experimental class (30 students) and the control class (30 students), which were determined randomly after the equivalence test. Data on critical thinking skills were collected using a test method in 10 description items, and self-efficacy data were collected using a questionnaire consisting of 30 statements. The data were analyzed using quantitative descriptive and inferential statistical analysis with MANOVA. The results show a significant effect simultaneously or partially with the sig value. 0.05, so it can be concluded that there is an effect of flipped classroom learning based on disaster map visualization on students' self-efficacy and critical thinking skills in disaster mitigation materials. 

Abstract This study examines the relationship between physical education (PE) and critical thinking. The main goal is to determine the impact of collaborative learning and visualization on students’ critical thinking in PE. The sample is represented by 430 student athletes (average age - 20.5 years; average sports experience - 7.4 years). For the team-based learning, basketball was chosen. Bloom's taxonomy was used as a planning tool for the inclusion of critical thinking in PE. Applied learning style "Understanding by Design" was used to develop "thinking players". A planning matrix was used to develop approaches to problem solving. For visualization, the Dartfish EasyTag-Note platform, an application for video game analytics, was used. The measurement of critical thinking skills (CTS) before and after the experiment was carried out using the theory of five components: hypothesis, induction, deduction, and arguments’ interpretation and evaluation. The average discrimination index (0.48), the average difficulty index (0.62), and the general Cronbach's α (0.78) indicate the average complexity of the instrument, its ability to distinguish well between different answers, and acceptable reliability. To determine different teaching methods’ effects, the study used ANOVA (Analysis of variance). CTS scores were selected as the dependent variable. Univariate tests showed that the experimental group had significantly higher CTS scores than the control group in posttest. According to the analysis results, a significant difference was revealed in the rate of change in the assessment of CTS from the preliminary test to the post-experimental testing, therefore, experimental group students improved their CTS to a greater extent than control group students. The study complements and builds on previous literature on CTS in PE. The conclusions obtained in the study can be addressed to teachers and administrators of educational institutions in which PE lessons are held, as well as to representatives of educational institutions that specialize in sports pedagogy. The use of the proposed approach will allow one to teach physical culture and sports from the point of view of enhancing cognitive skills.

This research aims to model the process of data visualization (DV) and design to facilitate computational thinking (CT) of secondary-level students. As an interdisciplinary method for visualizing complex data, creating data visualizations requires learners to analyze data from knowledge of pure and applied science. This study investigates creating DV to facilitate CT as an interdisciplinary method which combines mathematics and information technology. The study was carried out using synthesised design-based research (DBR) method by conducting two cycles comprised of five phases: problem analysis within real-life context, design solution, develop solution, evaluate in practice and reflection. CT dimensions (decomposition, pattern recognition, abstraction, and algorithm design) were tested by using the Computational Thinking through Data Visualization Rubric and reflection form acquired during implementation. The sample consisted of secondary school students in the data visualization creation process with 27 in the first cycle and 31 in the second cycle. This research proposes a model to facilitate development of CT by DV with the analysis of complex data, creating an effective method by enabling analytics and visualizing data. The proposed DV development process facilitating CT has the potential to inform research on interdisciplinary learning environments.

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Abstract Computer-supported argument visualization (CSAV) is an educational technology that has been identified in many studies to be effective in stimulating university students' critical thinking (CT) skills. However, the instructional design principles and strategies that are effective in enhancing students' CT with CSAV have not been sufficiently explored. This study investigated the effectiveness of a systematic and model-based design of CSAV-based CT instruction on the enhancement of university students' CT skills. Two groups of students (experimental and comparison) were recruited at a Chinese university to participate in a preparatory course, Modern Education Technology (MET). The experimental group, which comprised 39 students, was fully engaged with CSAV cooperative activities designed systematically based on the First Principles of Instruction model. The comparison group, which comprised 31 students received a regular instruction designed by the subject teacher. Participants in both groups were pre- and post-tested with the Halpern Critical Thinking Assessment (HCTA) test. Findings disclosed that participants in the experimental group significantly outperformed the comparison group in overall CT performance, and especially in hypothesis testing, problem-solving, and argument analysis sub-skills of the HCTA test. This result suggests that a systematic and model-based approach of designing CSAV-based CT instruction is effective in developing university students' CT skills. Implications of the findings for designing CT-supportive subject-matter instruction in line with the CSAV strategy are discussed.

ABSTRACT This study aimed to develop and evaluate a blended learning program titled ‘Making Creativity Instruction Visible’ (MCIV) to enrich the professional development of preservice teachers in creativity instruction. Leveraging technology, the MCIV comprises three modules – mind reset, self-empowerment and instruction refinement, and internalization and reflection. These modules incorporate four categories of visible thinking routines that encompass diverse pedagogies for fostering creative thinking. Fifty preservice teachers in Taiwan participated in the 8-week MCIV. The findings indicate that the MCIV effectively enhanced preservice teachers’ self-efficacy in creativity, as well as their professional knowledge and teaching efficacy in creativity instruction. The results also highlight specific mechanisms contributing to the success of this teacher training. Notably, this study offers a robust training framework for making creativity instruction visible and viable.

Thinking is greatly valued across many educational contexts and in Malaysia, the development of critical thinking, reasoning, creative thinking, and innovative thinking is strongly featured in the Malaysian Education Blueprint (MEB). While there is a prominent focus on the development of thinking skills within the blueprint, thinking skills are rather weakly embedded in classroom practice, particularly in the teaching of literature in English. It is within this context that we call for the integration of Visible Thinking (VT) Routines through a reader response informed approach to the teaching of literature in English. We believe that utilising VT Routines can enhance critical engagement with literary texts and promote deep learning experiences for students. In this conceptual paper, we present how selected VT Routines can be used to support the development of two important dimensions of a reader response approach which are: (a) transacting with texts; and (b) developing criticality. We provide specific examples of how these routines can be used and illustrate what learning gains may be expected. By using VT Routines, English language teachers are provided with a systematic way to engage with a reader response approach to teaching literature in English. By using structures, routines, probing questions, and documentation, English language teachers can create opportunities for students to transact with texts and to develop criticality. Students’ thinking is made more visible and this inadvertently leads to better thinking and learning experiences for students.

The research aims to evaluate the effectiveness of implementing VT (Visible Thinking) routines in the EFL classroom for 8th-grade students to develop their critical and creative thinking skills. The objectives include defining VT, examining its impact on critical thinking, identifying thinking practices that support language learning, assessing its effectiveness in learner engagement, exploring its role in fostering creativity, and analyzing the teacher's role in activating VT skills. The study's theoretical value lies in synthesizing research on VT routines and providing recommendations for their implementation in EFL classrooms. It explores ways to enhance learning, improve competencies, and promote mindful critical and creative thinking. The practical value involves assessing the impact of VT routines on language acquisition and cognitive skill development. The quasi-experimental design offers insights into the benefits and challenges of integrating VT strategies into EFL teaching.

Integrated STEM education has been widely promoted to cultivate students’ competencies to solve real-world problems. To promote STEM education, it is crucial to design high-quality STEM curricula. However, STEM curriculum design is a complex task involving multiple components and complicated processes to coordinate the components into a coherent design. Existing STEM teacher training programs lack sufficient guidance on how to deal with the complexity in STEM curriculum design, posing challenges to STEM teachers. To address the gap, this study proposed a conceptual framework that visualizes the complex process of STEM curriculum design. The conceptual framework includes (a) a process model for STEM curriculum design, with key strategies and guidelines for each step, and (b) a scaffold for designing STEM teaching and learning activities. An example is presented for illustration. Using the proposed approach, a training program on STEM curriculum design was provided to 27 pre-service teachers. After the training, the participants made a significant improvement in their STEM curriculum design performance, especially in the design of teaching and learning activities. Participants’ comments highlight the benefits of the proposed approach, in particular its provision of a systematic framework and clear guidelines for STEM curriculum design. The study demonstrates the feasibility and promising potential of the visible thinking approach in supporting teacher learning of integrated STEM curriculum design.

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: This study aimed to investigate the effect of using the visible thinking approach on developing persuasive writing organization skills. Participants of the study were 30 pupils chosen randomly from first grade prep at Sawada Preparatory School during the first term of the 2023-2024 academic year. They represented the study experimental group which was instructed through using the visible thinking-based activities. The researcher's instruments included a checklist, a rubric and a pre/post persuasive writing organization test. Participants were taught through using some relevant visible thinking activities designed by the researcher that included "generate-sort-connect-elaborate; concept maps and headlines". Participants’ scores on the pre and posttest were statistically analyzed using T-test and effect size. Results of the study revealed the positive effect of using visible thinking activities on enhancing first year preparatory pupils' persuasive writing organization skills. That's why the visible thinking approach is recommended to be applied to various instructional situations.

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In recent years, critical thinking (CT) has become a key factor in promoting language learning, especially in Chinese international schools. However, there is limited research about the approaches to develop CT within this context. Therefore, this paper focuses on the ways in which English language teachers engage with Visible Thinking (VT) routines to develop students’ CT ability among students in an international school in Fujian, China. Also covered in this paper are suggestions on how to overcome certain challenges that result from the use of these routines. In this qualitative study, data were obtained through semi-structured interviews with four EFL teachers and data were analysed thematically. The results show that English teachers utilized VT routines as a lead-in and a text-based discuss tool to improve students’ CT skills. Additionally, six challenges were identified and these related to the complexity level of VT routines and teachers’ understanding of the these routines, students’ difficulty in providing critical answers, lack of motivation, internet dependence issues and students’ language proficiency level. To overcome these difficulties, teachers should devote more time to lesson-planning and problem-prediction, recognize the value of content knowledge, encourage motivation through peer-support and reward-systems, encourage discussion. Implications for teaching include gaining familiarity with VT routines which can be done through informal conversations with colleagues and also through professional development activities.

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We share two examples of student engagement in visible, mathematical thinking through a Chalk Talk within the four walls of the classroom, as well as the connected spaces of online learning. Five steps for facilitating the Chalk Talk are outlined, with descriptions of teacher moves for each step.

Introduction. The term escape room has undergone a notable evolution in recent years, extending its presence to areas not only recreational but also business or educational. The defining traits (overcoming obstacles, problem-solving, teamwork, time management...) have proven to be valid in business and education. This study presents the pedagogical design of an escape room based on visible thinking and analyses its effect on the motivation and cognitive processes of higher education students. Method. For this purpose, a quasi-experimental research with pretest/post-test was conducted, and it was evaluated whether the instructional design of the escape room was adequate to enhance the learning of the 238 students, whether it was motivating, and whether it contributed to the development of cognitive processes. We used two structured questionnaires with multiple-choice questions and one questionnaire with open-ended questions. We also applied a mixed method for quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis. Results. The results show that the students consider the characteristics of the escape room and the organization of its elements to be of high quality; they also show that the curricular design of the escape room enhances students’ learning. In particular, the students consider that they have developed group thinking, critical thinking, and the activation of prior knowledge through the escape room and have found it a motivating experience. Conclusions. The use of the escape room in educational environments has a high educational potential. This is not only because it encourages the development of higher-order cognitive processes but also because it contributes to teamwork, self-regulation, and student motivation. However, it must be designed as a significant part of the didactic program, taking special care in the development of competences and thinking.

A competence-based education model for 21st century requires to develop critical thinking, problem solving and creativity. A principal objective of a quality curriculum is teaching to think effectively to develop deep learnings. Several methodologies and strategies can promote deeper learnings in schools, as the visible thinking approach. In light of this, the present study aims to explore teachers’ perceptions of the promotion and teaching of thinking in Physical Education (PE) in Primary Education. The research involved a qualitative phenomenological design that employed semi-structured interviews with a purposeful sample of experienced teachers linked to Primary Education level. Overall, teachers consider it necessary to strengthen the thinking of the students in EF, although sometimes it is not given much importance due to the negative legacy of the area, the lack of teacher training and the insecurity of the teaching staff. The majority of teachers reported that they were unaware of the visible thinking approach. This approach could become a global framework to promote a culture of thinking in EF. Therefore, the article finishes with recommendations to introduce the visible thinking approach into EF sessions.

Abstract Health sciences librarians are increasingly assuming the role of instructional partners, with a core responsibility to teach evidence-based practice (EBP) skills that go beyond basic information retrieval. Like information literacy, EBP skills are built on critical thinking. This column explains how health science librarians can use thinking routines to enhance critical thinking abilities. Thinking routines are simple, adaptable strategies created by Harvard University’s Project Zero as part of the Visible Thinking initiative. These routines provide structured yet flexible methods to support essential EBP, information literacy, and critical thinking skills.

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A natural concern in the field of computer‐supported collaborative learning is how participants in collaborative learning project attain individual deep understanding through pedagogical or technological support. This study explores such individual outcomes as influenced by designing a collaborative learning project supported with a diagram‐based thinking tool based on cognitive load theory (CLT). A comparative experiment was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of the diagram‐based thinking tool. A total of 49 first‐year graduate students were recruited and assigned to two conditions. In the experiment condition, the group students completed the collaborative learning project through a diagram‐based thinking tool, while the group students in the control condition completed the same project through an alternative text‐based thinking tool. Pre‐and posttesting of the domain knowledge was employed to evaluate each individual's learning outcome. Group discourse was employed to evaluate how group students actively engage during collaboration. Results show that the support of diagram‐based thinking tool integrated in collaborative learning can facilitate individual understanding intensively. Moreover, diagram‐based thinking tool can engage group students into cognitively demanding learning activities actively. Findings demonstrate that the semantic diagram tool provides promising technological support when designing collaborative learning project based on CLT. This study serves as a foundation to the design of technological support for future classroom‐based collaborative learning project. Practitioner NotesWhat is already known about this topic According to cognitive load theory, the construction of shared knowledge and also the benefit of communication and coordination during social interaction should be optimized when design the collaborative learning.To help learners benefit from social interaction during collaborative learning project, technological support should be carefully designed.External representations have been recognized as one kind of suitable technological affordance for learners' cognitive and social development.What this paper adds The diagram‐based visible thinking tool with conceptual and socio‐cognitive support integrated in collaborative learning can facilitate individual understanding intensively.The diagram‐based thinking tool with conceptual and socio‐cognitive support can actively engage group students into cognitively demanding learning activities.Implications for practice and/or policy The idea of semantic diagram tool with conceptual and socio‐cognitive support is suitable technological support for effective collaborative learning from the perspective of cognitive load theory.The idea of semantic diagram tool with conceptual and socio‐cognitive support provide teachers with more understandable guidance to design and conduct the collaborative learning project in the classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] uracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

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ABSTRACT Computer programming is essential nowadays but still challenging to learn due to its invisible thinking. Current programming environments are mostly designed for operating on computers directly to learn concrete programming, but this approach lacks the support for clarifying learners’ thinking processes. On the other hand, using paper and pens shows usability in developing creative thinking, but it cannot help verify learners’ thinking results due to its nature. To benefit from both paper and computers, we developed an interactive programming learning environment consisting of a paper board game, a computer system, and a digitalization mechanism. Learners can use the learning environment to draw down their thinking results and verify them by comparing them with the evaluation on the computer system immediately. Two experiments were conducted to compare this learning environment with paper board games and computer programming environments, respectively. The experimental results show that the subjects who learn in our environment can learn to program better than those who learn with the other two. The proposed environment is easy to prepare for learners in a classroom as their first step to programming learning. It can help learners cross over from paper board games for computational thinking to computer programming environments.

Teachers play a critical role in ensuring their pupils succeed in their studies. Educators must select acceptable teaching methods to ensure an effective learning experience. By applying the t-test statistical analysis, this research aimed to evaluate the efficiency of the thinking maps approach with traditional ways in increasing student achievement for a number base topic. This study involved 120 Form 4 pupils from 4 schools in Pahang. This research implemented a quantitative approach (quasi-experimental method). The research featured an experimental group (n = 60) and a control group (n = 60). As research tools, a set of pre-test and post-test inquiries were used. The application of thinking maps improved student achievement in mathematics subjects. There was a substantial difference in mean scores between the control and experimental groups, where the mean score of the experimental group seemed to be higher than that of the control group. Additionally, mean scores before and after the teaching and learning sessions showed a positive increase in both categories. Nevertheless, compared to the control group, the experimental group that utilised thinking maps showed a higher ascent in the mean score. The findings of this study can assist teachers to develop a thinking map as one of the teaching approaches for improving pupils' knowledge of a topic and, therefore, indirectly improving pupil academic achievement.

The study involved using thinking maps to develop higher order thinking skills (HOTS) of fifth-grade science students in Starline Elementary School. It utilized the quasi-experimental design to assess the effects of Thinking Maps on the development of higher order thinking skills (HOTS) through a pretest and a posttest. The descriptive- correlational design was used to describe the students’ profiles, examine their perceptions of the effect of using Thinking Maps on learning science, and investigate the relationship between profile variables and achievement in science. This study was conducted from April through May during the school year 2021-2022. Purposive sampling was used to determine the number of respondents. Students’ achievement in science was determined from the Individual Student Performance on class tests for CKLA Science based on Parent Vue (Synergy) and DnA Illuminate District Assessment. Results showed a significant correlation of the students’ profile variables such as sex, age, and economic status to their achievement in science using Thinking Maps. Results also indicated a significant difference between the respondents’ pretest and posttest scores after using Thinking Maps. There was a significant difference in terms of developing higher order thinking skills, organizing, providing evidence, reasoning, and clarity. As to their perceptions about Thinking Maps, the students generally strongly agree that using them has improved their essay-writing skills and their interest in learning science. However, there was no significant relationship between the academic achievement of the respondents and their perception of Thinking Maps.

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This study emphasized the challenges in teaching and learning fundamentals of programming as a consequence of the lack of metacognitive awareness, which is associated with problem-solving abilities. These abilities can be enhanced through the use of thinking maps, but they are typically used only in school and under the supervision of a teacher. Additionally, the practice is conducted in a typical manner, with no interesting features incorporated into the process, and it does not promote the development of metacognitive awareness. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to produce a learning tool to train computing students using thinking maps in the multimedia environment to enhance their metacognitive awareness. The developed tool called Motivated Strategies Thinking Maps Tool (MoSTMaT) embeds multimedia principles as well as motivated strategies for learning theory to keep students motivated and able to learn in the self-regulated learning environment. The tool was developed using ADDIE instructional design model and was evaluated by the end user namely computing students. A set of questionnaires containing three parts was applied to measure the acceptance of students; 1) multimedia principles, 2) post-study system usability, and 3) motivated strategies for learning was applied to measure the acceptance of students. The result of this study indicated that students agreed that the multimedia application in the tool is suited for students’ usage, has adequate information on thinking maps, a user-friendly interface, and is suitable to be used in the self-regulated mood. The implication of this study is the conceptual framework for developing MoSTMaT can be a guide for developing instructional tools in self-regulated learning. Furthermore, this study demonstrated that multimedia principles and elements had a beneficial impact on motivation and self-regulation among computing students.

This study was conducted to examine the effects of the socio-scientific issue (SSI) approach assisted by the future thinking map (FTM) on five constructs of future thinking, namely i) understanding the current situation, ii) identifying the trends, iii) analyzing the relevant drivers, iv) synthesizing the possibilities or needs of the future and v) choosing with the justification of the desired future. The future-thinking test instrument was developed to measure the level of future thinking. A quasi-experimental pre-test and post-test control group design was employed. A total of 255 form four students (age 16) from three randomly selected rural secondary schools in Tawau District, Malaysia were assigned to i) SSI-FTM (n = 85), ii) SSI (n = 85), and iii) conventional (CV, n = 85) teaching and learning (TL) strategies. The results of the MANCOVA analysis showed that there was a statistically significant effect across all three groups of TL strategies. The ANCOVA analysis showed that there was a statistically significant effect of the SSI-FTM TL strategies compared to the SSI and CV TL strategies on the five future thinking constructs. The quasi-experimental study proves that the SSI-FTM TL strategy is effective in nurturing future thinking among form four students in science lessons. Keywords: future thinking, future thinking map, secondary schools, socio-scientific issue

Aim/Purpose: This research aimed to measure the effectiveness of using thinking maps through the Edmodo network to develop achievement and mathematical connections skills among middle school students. Background: One of the most important and major problems in education is reduced levels of academic achievement among students generally and in mathematics specifically. This is having a negative impact on academic outcomes. As mentioned in statement of the problem, several studies have identified weaknesses in academic achievement in mathematics. The results and recommendations of previous studies have referred to the effectiveness of thinking maps in developing numerous variables. Previous studies have identified weaknesses in mathematical connections skills. No Arabic studies have addressed the effectiveness of thinking maps through the Edmodo network in developing achievement and mathematical connections skills among middle school students. Methodology: The participants were a purposive sample of 102 second-year middle school students. These were divided into two groups: experimental (n = 49) and control (n = 53). To achieve the research objectives, the experimental approach in its quasi-experimental design was adopted with (pre-post) measurement for both groups. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Contribution: This study added information to the literature on the effectiveness of the thinking maps strategy through the Edmodo network in developing achievement and mathematical connections skills. Devising a modern teaching strategy to help students solve mathematical problems and thus can be generalized to various fields of life. This also the first study on this subject in Saudi Arabia. Findings: The results showed there was a significant difference between the mean post-test scores of the experimental and control groups on the achievement test in favor of the experimental group. Additionally, there was a significant difference between the mean post-test scores of the experimental and control groups on the mathematical connections skills test in favor of the experimental group. There was also a positive correlation between the development of achievement and mathematical connections skills among middle school students who used thinking maps through the Edmodo network. Recommendations for Practitioners: At a practice level, holding courses and training workshops for middle school mathematics teachers that include training on how to use modern learning models enhanced with technology, including the thinking Maps strategy, in the mathematics curriculum. Preparing guidelines for middle school mathematics teachers on how to use Thinking Maps via the Edmodo Network and how to train students in its use. Recommendation for Researchers: Further research is needed to study the Effectiveness of the Thinking Maps strategy via the Edmodo network on developing achievement and mathematical connections skills in other subjects and at different educational stages. Impact on Society: Our findings encourage teachers and educational supervisors to adopt the use of thinking maps on learning platforms for mathematics teaching as an effective method for developing achievement and mathematical connections skills. Benefiting from the applications and experiences of developed countries who have used e-learning in teaching curricula in order to keep pace with contemporary developments. Future Research: Future studies could be extended to identify the effectiveness of maps of strategic thinking across Edmodo network variables within other subsidiaries, such as mathematical communication, creative thinking, mathematical proof, mind habits, and so on. Assess the effectiveness of play-based learning strategies via the Edmodo network in developing achievement and mathematical connection skills. Conduct a study that measures teachers’ and students’ attitudes toward using the Thinking Maps strategy via the Edmodo network. Assessing the effectiveness of using the Thinking Maps strategy via an Edmodo network in achieving and developing creative skills among secondary school students.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of Problem Based Learning with 3D thinking maps on the ability to think creatively and physics learning outcomes. This research is a true experimental research design with the Posttest Only Control Design. The data analysis technique used is a statistical test with a different test technique (t-test) using SPSS 23. Experimental class learning using Problem Based Learning accompanied by 3D thinking maps, whereas for the control class do not use it. The normality test results of student learning outcomes in the experimental and control classes are not normal, so the t test on student learning outcomes uses the Mann Whitney U Test. T test results of student learning outcomes that have a Sig (2-tailed) value of 0,000 then the value is below 0.05 which indicates that Ha is accepted (Ho is rejected) then it can be concluded that the Problem Based Learning model with 3D thinking map affects the physics learning outcomes in high school.

The 2013 curriculum emphasizes a learning system that can build students HOTS. The Inquiry Model is known to increase HOTS. Even though it is effective for increasing HOTS, the Inquiry model has shortcomings soThinking Maps are needed. The research objective was to determine the effect of the use Inquiry model assisted by Thinking Maps on HOTS in chemistry. The research method used a Quasi Experiment with a research design of Non equivalentPretest and Posttest Control. The research design group consisted of a control and experimental group. The research sample involved students of class X MIPA 1 and MIPA 2 in high schools at Depok with a total sample of 25 students who were taken using purposive sampling technique. The data were obtained from 25 multiple choice instruments of HOTS. The results of the posttest hypothesis test using the Independent Sample T Test indicate that the Sig. 2-tailed is 0.021 <a (0.05), which means it is accepted. The results of the data obtained were then analyzed. The results showed that there were implications for the Inquiry learning model assisted by Thinking Maps on HOTS in chemistry. The Thinking Maps assisted Inquiry Model can train HOTS on students.

The purpose of this single case design study was to examine the efficacy of using double-bubble Thinking Maps to improve the reading comprehension of middle school Spanish-English bilingual middle school students with learning disabilities. Participants included three female Spanish-English bilingual middle school students with learning disabilities. In this multiple baseline across participants single case design study, we taught students to create a double-bubble map, a type of compare and contrast graphic organizer, for 12 expository compare and contrast text passages over 12 forty-five minute sessions. We assessed performance on creating the double-bubble map and on reading comprehension measures across baseline, intervention, and maintenance phases. Each participant learned to create an accurate double-bubble map for compare and contrast expository texts within two sessions. Reading comprehension scores began to increase within two intervention sessions for each participant. Results showed the positive effect of using the double-bubble Thinking Map to improve reading comprehension of compare and contrast texts. Individual (.895–.967) and overall (.94) TAU-U effect sizes showed the intervention to be highly effective. Based on the effect sizes, the double-bubble Thinking Map was effective for improving the reading comprehension of middle school Spanish-English bilingual students with learning disabilities.

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The term “geographical synthetic thinking” is taken from the latest Chinese version of the “Geography Curriculum Standards” (General High School 2017 edition, Compulsory Education 2022 edition) and is one of the four core competencies prioritized in the teaching of geography at the secondary-school level. This study proposes that using geographic subject mind maps improves students’ geographical synthetic thinking and develops a set of geographic subject mind map (GSMM) drawing standards for teachers and matching standards and suggestions for teaching applications. Seven geography teachers and their students from eight class sections in seven provinces and cities in China were recruited to participate in the study. The teachers taught students how to use geographic subject mind maps designed to develop students’ geographical synthetic thinking in the geography classroom. After 4–5 experimental lessons, the geographical synthetic thinking level of the 267 valid student participants showed a significant improvement, with a statistically significant difference between pretest and posttest scores. The teachers’ level of application of geographic subject mind maps in teaching was significantly and positively correlated with the students’ improvements in geographical synthetic thinking, demonstrating that the standardized use of geographic subject mind maps in accordance with teaching application standards can effectively improve students’ geographical synthetic thinking levels.

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To have students comprehend and master the course ‘Fundamentals of Analogue Circuits’ better, the curriculum development on strategies of active learning is reported in this paper. As one strategy of active learning, previously mainly used in primary and secondary education, thinking maps, are employed in teaching Chinese college electronic engineering students by authors. Different types and application for teaching of thinking maps are discussed, designed and implemented by authors. By introducing the Classroom Observation Protocol for Undergraduate STEM (COPUS), the assessment tool to analyze the status of students in class and evaluate the teaching effects objectively is utilized by the authors. After four years’ continuous modification, results to compare student performance data collected each year taught by same instructor are provided by the authors. The result that student examination and overall scores improved, whereas student score distribution did not show significant improvement are found by the authors. The study suggests that higher ratios and weights of thinking maps, better timing in introducing thinking maps, and more integrated course components in thinking map may further improve student performance.

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The purpose of this study is to know the effect of thinking maps on discovery learning to students' physics problem-solving skills, especially on the material of rotational dynamics and equilibrium of the rigid body. This study used a posttest-only control group design. The data were collected by using observation sheet, instructional learning sheet, and test (Cronbach alpha = 0.82). Data analysis was done by t-test after a prerequisite test, ie normality and homogeneity test before The results showed that the students had the problem-solving skills in the experimental group higher than the control group (t count> t table; 2.92> 1.66 at 0.05 significance).The average posttest result of the experimental group was higher than the control group students (mean 66.4 > 5.2). Physics problem-solving skills that have learned the thinking maps on discovery learning higher than learners who have learned with discovery learning only.

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The purpose research to analyze of thinking maps strategy in guided inquiry learning to increase critical thinking ability and there relationship knowledge dimensional of thinking maps with critical thinking ability/Research design of mixed method embedded experimental conducted on 32 vocational students grade XII. Instruments form tests and thinking maps worksheets. Analyzed using N-Gain and effect size, and then analyzed posttest and thinking maps scores the stages of reduction, coding and results display. Conclution of research showed thinking maps strategy in guided inquiry learning can increase critical thinking ability. Conclution also showed their relationship between thinking maps with critical thinking ability is exist.

New resources have recently been emerging for educators to implement systems thinking (ST) in chemistry education, including a proposed set of ST skills. While these efforts aim to make ST implementation easier, little is known about how to assess these skills in a chemistry context. In this study, we investigated ST skills employed by students who constructed system maps of a topic related to climate change. Eighteen undergraduate chemistry students from first- to third-year participated in this study. We designed and implemented a ST intervention to capture how students engaged with three ST tasks, performed individually and collaboratively. In our analysis, we focused on 11 ST skills that aligned with five characteristics proposed in a recent study. We found that participants demonstrated most of these ST skills when engaging with the ST tasks, with nuances. Participants’ system maps: (1) lacked concepts and connections at the submicroscopic level, (2) included multiple types of connections but few circular loops and causal connections, (3) lacked causal reasoning, although participants did predict how their system maps changed over time, (4) demonstrated the breadth of connections but did not describe human connections to the underlying chemistry of climate change topics. These findings identify aspects of ST where chemistry educators need to place emphasis when teaching ST skills to chemistry students and when guiding learning activities and other assessments. Using our findings, we created an adaptable ST rubric for the chemistry community as a tool for assessing ST skills.

This paper sheds light on the role of visualization methods within the design thinking process. It provides a conceptual framework showing illustrative examples of visualization for each phase indicating its functions and benefits. Based on a thorough understanding of the functions and benefits of knowledge visualization in general, this paper seeks to provide an overview of the use of visualization in design thinking informing and supporting practitioners and researcher for more conscious selections of visualization methods in their design thinking efforts.

As previous studies showed the effectiveness of infographic, it is important to find out students’ perception the use of infographic especially on its relation to critical thinking as on of the 21st century skills students require. Therefore, this study purposed to analyze students’ perception towards the use of infographics as a visualization tool to strengthen critical thinking. The study employed a descriptive quantitative research method by using questionnaire and semi-structured interview to collect the data, which included ten statements for the questionnaire and five questions for the interview. The participants in this study were 34 students of elevent grade students. The findings showed that the majority of students had a favorable opinion of using Infographics as a visualization tool in the learning process. Most students said learning with infographics provided them with a new learning environment. Moreover, they felt interested when they studied with infographics as it gave clear information they needed. Futhermore, the students stated that by using infographics, they can enhance their critical thinking skills compared to when they were not using infographics as a visualization tool during the learning process.

Many researches has been conducted for the need to increase critical thinking of students (in (different fields, (also many researches has been done on the importance and the role of critical thinking for students achievements. In this context this requires a critical approach. To achieve this should be used effective teaching methods that develop critical thinking and also facilitate and enhance the learning of students and their performance in general, making them able to solving problems in their fields. A visualization approach increase communication, increase critical thinking and provides analytical approach to various problems. Therefore, this research is aimed to investigate visualization for the purpose of examining its role in developing critical thinking. In order to achieve this it was made an experiment for the use of visualization and from this experimentation are extracted the results of the effect of using the visualization for the aspect of developing and increasing critical thinking. The results which are taken from this research highlight the positive effect that the use of visualization in teaching and learning process has in developing the critical thinking of students and their overall performance. The results also shows that the visualization motivates students to learn, making them more cooperative and developing their skills for critical approach. Keywords: visualization, critical thinking, teaching, learning, student performance

The process of mathematical thinking in learning mathematics is very important. One internal factor that affects it is cognitive style. The purpose of this study is to describe how each student’s cognitive style performs mathematical thinking processes. The types of cognitive styles studied are field dependent (FD) and field independent (FI). This research is a literature study by examining journals related to cognitive style and students’ mathematical thinking abilities. The results of journals review show that students with FI cognitive style analyze and orient analytically to process information and are able to process information using mathematical notation and their own language, and are able to model problems using image visualization. Students with FD cognitive styles adopt a global orientation to understand and process information. In solving mathematical problems, students with FI cognitive style were better than students with FD cognitive style.

The article reflects on the role of visualization in education. Modern society is characterized by rapid growth of information that people have to process in order to maintain progress and sustainability in science and development of education. The amount of information is growing so quickly that a person is no longer able to perceive actual data about the outside world and process it using traditional methods. The basis of the “image of the world” contains not only concepts, but the semantic images created with the help of visual thinking. In our study we assume that students are quite limited in their knowledge about cognitive phenomena or in their meta-cognition and do relatively little monitoring of their own memory, comprehension, and other cognitive enterprises. But we also assume that every student is potentially capable of meta-cognition, which is thinking of how better to perform cognitive actions and to be aware of how to learn. Developing meta-cognitive awareness is important because it helps learners become more efficacious and more autonomous. For many of them it can be identified as the most effective way of acquiring knowledge. Visualizing the very process of learning can help see how well it is going. Schema theory offers different ways of using schemas, especially in education. So far, there have been researches on schema as a tool for particular skills such as better comprehension, memorizing and retrieval of the knowledge received. It means students can use schemas to better understand the process of learning and skills acquired.

The purpose of the study is to examine the theoretical and practical aspects of knowledge visualization in the educational process, to compare different models of knowledge representation, give an example of building an ontology to represent the subject area of knowledge visualization in the learning process, as well as an example of using Kohonen Maps to visualize student performance. In the study, modeling methods were used to learn ontological and cluster models, methods of visualization and data systematization. It is concluded that the visualization of knowledge is a complex, multicomponent concept that has a number of features in the context of the didactic principles of the educational process, the theory of the cognitive model of personality, the features of the perceptual properties of thinking, philosophical perception, the epistemological theory of knowledge and the theory of reflection of reality in the human mind.

This research-to-practice work in progress paper outlines the use of evidence-based practices and learning to enhance critical thinking skills in students through data visualization. Data visualization is a multi-stage process that enables the transformation of complex data into visual representations that inform without overwhelming its audience. The purpose of this study is to investigate how data visualization learning experiences enhances students’ critical thinking skills. In this paper we identify the conceptualization of critical thinking in the data visualization process. A design-based research approach is used to empirically investigate the main research question: after participating in data visualization learning experiences, in what ways do students engage in design practices that enhance development of critical thinking skills? The working hypothesis is students experience greater learning gains when instructions include design challenges integrated with the data visualization process and mapped to critical thinking that requires them to exhibit higher-order-thinking skills. The first aim of the study is to identify critical thinking skills that are evident in the data visualization process. The second aim is to identify habits of the mind competencies that are evident in the data visualization process. The implications of this work will inform the implementation of the Paul-Elder critical thinking framework into the data visualization process with the goal of building essential intellectual traits in undergraduates. In this work, the data visualization process facilitates the logical structure of connected elements of higher-order thinking that relate to one another within the theoretical frameworks of critical thinking and habits of the mind. This research is significant because it informs the practice of engineering through a problem-solving activity and computing education by introducing data visualization as method for improving critical thinking skills; a requirement for STEM students, a desired skill for all students.

Although recent research acknowledges the potential of visualization methods in digital humanities (DH), the predominant terminology used to describe visualizations (prototypes and tools) focuses on their use as a means to an end and, more importantly, as an instrument in the service of humanities research. We introduce the sandcastle as a metaphorical lens and provocative term to highlight visualization as a research process in its own right. We argue that building visualization sandcastles provides a holistic approach to cross-disciplinary knowledge generation that embraces visualization as (1) an aesthetic provocation to elicit critical insights, interpretation, speculation, and discussions within and beyond scholarly audiences, (2) a dynamic process wherein speculation and re-interpretation advance knowledge within all disciplines involved, and (3) a mediator of ideas and theories within and across disciplines. Our argument is grounded in critical theory, DH, design, human–computer interaction, and visualization, and based on our own research on an exceptional literary collection. We argue that considering visualizations as sandcastles foregrounds valuable insights into the roles of visualization as a mindset, methodology, and praxis within humanities research and beyond.

This paper looks back at historical precedents for how computational systems and ideas have been visualized as a means of access to and engagement with a broader audience, and to develop a new more tangible language to address abstraction. These precedents share a subversive ground in using a visual language to provoke new ways of engaging with about complex ideas. Two new approaches to visualizing algorithmic systems are proposed for the emerging context of algorithmic ethics in society, looking at prototypical algorithms in computer vision and machine learning systems, to think through the meaning created by algorithmic structure and process. The aim is to use visual design to provoke new kinds of thinking and criticality that can offer opportunities to address algorithms in their increasingly more politicized role today. These new approaches are developed from an arts research perspective to support critical thinking and arts knowledge through creative coding and interactive design.

The article reveals the peculiarities of the use of mental maps as a tool for visualization and structuring of linguistic and literary material in the process of teaching pedagogic students geared (“Primary Education”, “Philology”). The purposes of use, principles of creation, the maintenance of mental maps are outlined. The main purposes of their use are:  systematization and structuring of educational information; analysis of the content of the submitted material; development of skills in working with primary and secondary information; formation of students’ skills of generating ideas; encouragement of independent critical, associative, logical, creative thinking; motivation and concentration increase. In the form of mental maps, you can work out a lecture or practical lesson on “Children’s Literature and methods of teaching literary reading", prepare a presentation of the writer’s work or analysis of the work, develop a methodological model of the lesson. In foreign language classes the mental maps can be used to generate associations at the initial stage of elaboration of the topic; systematization of vocabulary according to morphological or semantic criteria; structuring information obtained from certain media; visualization of grammatical rules and regularities; presentation of strategies for listening, speaking, reading, and writing. It is noted that the use of mental maps in the educational process contributes to the increase of students’ motivation and interest, activation of their cognitive, creative and mental activities.

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As a step towards improving visualization literacy, this work investigates how students approach reading visualizations differently after taking a university-level visualization course. We asked students to verbally walk through their process of making sense of unfamiliar visualizations, and conducted a qualitative analysis of these walkthroughs. Our qualitative analysis found that after taking a visualization course, students engaged with visualizations in more sophisticated ways: they were more likely to exhibit design empathy by thinking critically about the tradeoffs behind why a chart was designed in a particular way, and were better able to deconstruct a chart to make sense of it. We also gave students a quantitative assessment of visualization literacy and found no evidence of scores improving after the class, likely because the test we used focused on a different set of skills than those emphasized in visualization classes. While current measurement instruments for visualization literacy are useful, we propose developing standardized assessments for additional aspects of visualization literacy, such as deconstruction and design empathy. We also suggest that these additional aspects could be incorporated more explicitly in visualization courses. All supplemental materials are available at https://osf.io/w5pum/.

As Visual Language Models (VLMs) continue to evolve, they have demonstrated increasingly sophisticated logical reasoning capabilities and multimodal thought generation, opening doors to widespread applications. However, this advancement raises serious concerns about content security, particularly when these models process complex multimodal inputs requiring intricate reasoning. When faced with these safety challenges, the critical competition between logical reasoning and safety objectives of VLMs is often overlooked in previous works. In this paper, we introduce Visualization-of-Thought Attack ( VoTA ), a novel and automated attack framework that strategically constructs chains of images with risky visual thoughts to challenge victim models. Our attack provokes the inherent conflict between the model’s logical processing and safety protocols, ultimately leading to the generation of unsafe content. Through comprehensive experiments, VoTA achieves remarkable effectiveness, improving the average attack success rate (ASR) by 26.71% (from 63.70% to 90.41%) on 9 open-source and 6 commercial VLMs, compared to the state-of-the-art methods. These results expose a critical vulnerability: current VLMs struggle to maintain safety guarantees when processing insecure multimodal visualization-of-thought inputs, highlighting the urgency and necessity of enhancing safety alignment. Our code and dataset are available at https://github.com/Hongqiong12/VoTA . Content Warning: This paper contains harmful contents that may be offensive.

This Visualization Viewpoints article explores how visualization helps uncover and communicate the internal chain-of-thought trajectories and generative pathways of large language models (LLMs) in reasoning tasks. As LLMs become increasingly powerful and widespread, a key challenge is understanding how their reasoning dynamics unfold, particularly in natural language processing (NLP) applications. Their outputs may appear coherent, yet the multistep inference pathways behind them remain largely hidden. We argue that visualization offers an effective avenue to illuminate these internal mechanisms. Moving beyond attention weights or token saliency, we advocate for richer visual tools that expose model uncertainty, highlight alternative reasoning paths, and reveal what the model omits or overlooks. We discuss examples, such as prompt trajectory visualizations, counterfactual response maps, and semantic drift flows, to illustrate how these techniques foster trust, identify failure modes, and support deeper human interaction with these systems. In doing so, visualizing the chain of thought in LLMs lays critical groundwork for transparent, interpretable, and truly collaborative human–AI reasoning.

Large language models (LLMs) have computational requirements that are rapidly increasing as well as an opaque decision-making process, which makes them challenging to medical natural language inference, where efficiency and interpretability are paramount. To resolve these issues in resource-constrained clinical environments, this study presents a neurosymbolic system, a neural module based on DistilBERT and a knowledge graph to perform symbolic reasoning. Coupled with neural pattern recognition with structured domain knowledge, the suggested model can increase accuracy, lower energy usage, and provide a deeper understanding of decisions than standard LLMs. Considering the MedNLI dataset, the framework yields better results, compared to such baselines as BERT and GPT-3, with better classification accuracy and much less energy expenditure, which is in line with sustainable AI principles. Neural-symbolic interactions can also be clearly seen through visualization, such as reasoning graphs and attention heatmaps, which makes them trustworthy in clinical use. The efficiency of the model makes it suitable to use on low-power devices, and thus the model can be applicable in real-time medical decision-making in the resource-limited environment. The article enhances interpretable and sustainable AI by introducing a scalable solution to healthcare by bridging neural and symbolic paradigms.

Abstract The rapid evolution of generative artificial intelligence has redefined how machines process, reason, and communicate knowledge. Yet, the opaqueness of large language models (LLMs) continues to challenge their trustworthiness and interpretability in critical domains. This research introduces a comprehensive framework for explainable generative AI (GenAI) that seeks to decode and visualize the internal reasoning pathways of LLMs. The study integrates cognitive-inspired interpretability mechanisms with retrieval-augmented generation and semantic attribution mapping to uncover how contextual evidence shapes model responses. A novel visualization engine is developed to translate these latent reasoning traces into human-understandable graphical narratives, offering transparency across token-level, layer-level, and decision-level dimensions. Through systematic evaluation on benchmark reasoning datasets and domain-specific case studies, the proposed techniques demonstrate measurable improvements in faithfulness, causal coherence, and user interpretability. Beyond algorithmic transparency, the work also explores the epistemic implications of machine reasoning — bridging human cognitive interpretability and computational inference. The research ultimately positions explainable GenAI as a step toward ethically aligned, auditable, and cognitively comprehensible artificial reasoning systems capable of fostering accountability in next-generation intelligent technologies. Keywords Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI);Generative AI (GenAI); Large Language Models (LLMs);Interpretability; Reasoning Visualization;Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG);

Procedural documents in power plants play a critical role in ensuring standardized operations and maintenance, especially in fault detection. However, manually consulting these documents during real-time troubleshooting is often inefficient. To address this challenge, we propose a visual analytics approach powered by Large Language Models (LLMs) to automatically extract faultrelated entities from power plant documentation and construct structured knowledge graphs for efficient fault diagnosis. Specifically, we utilize MinerU for PDF parsing, train a corpus classification model to filter key pages, and develop a multi-stage prompt construction method with Retrieval-Augmented Generation and Chain-of-Thought strategies to enhance LLMs’ reasoning abilities. Additionally, we introduce an interactive visualization system that presents extraction results intuitively and enables domain experts to validate, refine, and interpret the reasoning process. Quantitative evaluation and two case studies demonstrate the effectiveness and usability of our approach.

Large Language Models (LLMs) are increasingly used to support complex reasoning tasks, yet their fluent textual explanations often obscure underlying assumptions and intermediate reasoning steps, making it difficult for users to verify correctness or confidently rely on the results. Existing explanation, visualization, and knowledge-graph–based reasoning approaches primarily remain read-only or model-centric, offering limited support for direct human intervention in the reasoning process. To address this gap, we present InteractiveKG, a visual analytics system that externalizes LLM-generated reasoning as persistent, editable knowledge graphs. InteractiveKG enables users to inspect, curate, and iteratively refine reasoning by directly manipulating nodes and edges, adjusting abstraction levels, and accessing contextual explanations within a unified human-in-the-loop workflow. We evaluated InteractiveKG through a controlled user study comparing text-only LLM outputs with graph-based interactions across error-correction and verification scenarios. Results show that InteractiveKG significantly improves users’ ability to identify and refine problematic reasoning, strengthens trust calibration, increases decision confidence, and enhances perceived control over the reasoning process. By transforming reasoning from transient text into a manipulable graph artifact, InteractiveKG demonstrates how transparency and user agency can be systematically integrated into LLM-assisted reasoning, highlighting the importance of interactive, user-controllable representations for trustworthy human–AI collaboration.

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Visual thinking tools are visualization-enabled mixed initiative systems that empower people in solving complex problems by engaging them in the entire resolution process, suggesting appropriate actions with visual cues, and reducing their cognitive load with visual representations of their tasks. At the same time, the visual interaction style provides an alternative to the dialog-based model employed in most mixed-initiative (MI) systems. Visual thinking tools avoid complex analyses of turn taking, and put users in control all the time. We are especially interested in implementing visual "affordances" in such systems and present three examples used in COMIND, a visual MI system that we have developed. We show how humans can more effectively concentrate on synthesizing problems, selecting resolution paths that were unseen by the machine, and reformulating problems if solutions cannot be found or are unsatisfactory. We further discuss our evaluation of the techniques at the end of the paper.

Abstract Paper-based (PB) sketching involves the challenge of representing three-dimensional (3D) shapes on two-dimensional (2D) surfaces. The recent generation of virtual reality (VR) sketching tools offer a way to overcome this challenge. These immersive 3D sketching environments permit the rapid construction of freehand stroke-based 3D models in 3D space while replicating the immediate experience of PB sketching. To explore the potential advantages of VR sketching in visual thinking and visual communication, we conducted investigations with sixteen architectural students engaged in PB and VR sketching tasks. We observed their visualization behavior during VR sketching and their behavior in transitioning between PB and VR sketching. The participants experiences of the two media were also recorded in semi-structured interviews and questionnaires. Our observations show that immersive 3D sketching is a unique form of visual representation that facilitates the rapid and flexible creation of large and detailed (but inaccurate) 3D computer models. It is a multimodal medium that supports visual thinking and communication behaviors associated with PB sketching, CAD modeling, physical model-making and gesturing, all within the same space. This unique combination enables users to engage in visual thinking and visual communication activities in ways that cannot presently be achieved with any other single representation technique.

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This study aims to produce valid, practical, and effective learning tools, as well as to analyze the improvement of visual thinking skills in problem solving for XI grade students of SMA Negeri 1 Samudera using mathematics learning tools oriented problem based learning assisted by GeoGebra. The data were obtained through the validation sheet of teaching materials, observation sheets, student response questionnaires, and instruments for testing the ability of visual thinking in solving mathematical problems. This study uses the Dick & Carey (1996) development model. Based on the results of the validity by the validator team, the average validity of the RPP was 4.51, LKPD was 4.22, and student books were 4.29. Expert / practitioner assessment which states that learning devices can be used with a few revisions and without revision, the results of interviews with teachers and students obtain information that learning devices can be used easily and the results of observations of the implementation of learning tools in class in the first trial of 81.67% and in the second trial of 87.22% and included in the good category. Learning devices in trial II, obtaining classical student learning completeness results have been achieved in trial II, namely 87.5%, the achievement of learning objectives has been achieved for each item in trial II, student responses are very positive to the device being developed and learning time does not exceed ordinary learning, namely three meetings.

This paper sheds light on the role of visual thinking tools within the process of designing your life, the application of design thinking to life design. It provides a conceptual framework showing illustrative examples of visual templates for each phase indicating its functions and benefits. Based on a thorough understanding of the functions and benefits of knowledge visualization in general, this paper sets out to provide a first overview of the use of visual thinking tools in designing your life informing and supporting practitioners and researcher for more conscious selections of visualization methods in their life design efforts.

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Background Arts-based pedagogical tools have been increasingly incorporated into medical education. Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) is a research-based, constructivist teaching methodology that aims to improve visual literacy, critical thinking, and communication skills through the process of investigating works of art. Harvard Medical School pioneered the application of VTS within medical education in 2004. While there are several studies investigating the use of VTS, there is a need to systematically assess the different programs that exist for medical education and their efficacy in improving relevant clinical skills. This systematic review aims to critically analyse the available evidence of the effectiveness of VTS in medical education to guide future research and provide a framework to adapt medical curricula. Methods A systematic search of PubMed, PsycINFO, and Cochrane CENTRAL databases (through November 2022) was conducted to identify studies of VTS-based interventions in undergraduate and postgraduate medical education. Two reviewers independently screened citations for inclusion criteria, extracted data, and assessed risk of bias. The extracted data was then narratively synthesized. Results Of 5759 unique citations, 10 studies met the inclusion criteria. After reference review, one additional study was included. Therefore, 11 studies were included in our review. Of these, eight reported VTS-based interventions for undergraduate medical students and three reported interventions in residency training, specifically in dermatology and ophthalmology. The main goal of most studies was to increase observational or visual diagnostic skills. Three of the studies in undergraduate medical education and two in postgraduate achieved a statistically significant improvement in observational skills in post-course evaluations. Some studies reported increased tolerance for ambiguity and empathy. Conclusions Although the studies varied considerably in study design, learning objectives, and outcomes, findings consistently indicate that the VTS approach can serve as a vehicle to develop crucial clinical competencies, encouraging more in-depth visual analysis that could be applied when observing a patient. Despite some limitations of the included studies (lack of control groups, self-selection bias, or non-standard outcome measures), the results of this review provide support for greater inclusion of VTS training in the medical curriculum.

Students learn in different ways and in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the higher education faculty needs to reinvent the educational experience for students. Recognizing the characteristics of cooperative learning as an integral and sustainable part of the solution is a source of motivation for the incorporation of entrepreneurial competencies in university curricula. This article proposes that cooperative learning and visual thinking tools in higher education can have a positive influence on improving the acquisition of core competencies in marketing and business administration subjects. The proposed relationships were evaluated using PLS-SEM (symmetric) and fuzzy set (asymmetric) approaches on a sample of 820 students. The PLS-SEM results revealed that the highest levels of acquisition of basic group competencies are through Social Skills, Interaction and Positive Interdependence. The results of the fuzzy sets (fsQCA) reinforced the symmetrical findings and revealed that Group Reflection and adequacy of Assessment were necessary and sufficient prescriptions for competence acquisition.

ABSTRACT Artistic media and techniques should be viewed as tools for solving problems in the field of architectural design. Only visually literate architect is able to give successfully create an architectural composition. The key to solving it does not exist, otherwise all compositions would be successful. Composition will be successful depending on the author’s approach to work. Therefore, the research of visual composition is more important for students of architecture than the traditional approach to the works of art, where instead of the creative idea, the focus is on skill and technique. As far as the authors know, there are no scientific works that connect visual literacy, creativity, architectural education and architectural design in this way. In order to improve the program of studies in architecture in Niš, this research was conducted through several experiments (creativity tests). Results of the research show that the students did not have enough knowledge about creativity when enrolling at the faculty. Nevertheless, it is possible to improve their creativity by changing the structure of curriculum. Recommendations for improving practical teaching are based on the overall results.

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This research aimed to identify the effectiveness of augmented reality technology on improving visual thinking in mathematics and academic motivation among middle school learners in Saudi Arabia. To accomplish the research objectives, the experimental method with a quasi-experimental design was adopted and it included an experimental group and a control group with the pre-and post-test of both groups. The research was implemented on a random sample of (76) students and the research tools included the Visual Thinking Test and Academic Motivation Scale. The tools were pre-and post-tested to the groups of the research in the second semester of the academic year 2019/2020AD. The results concluded that the experimental group surpassed the control group in visual thinking and academic motivation. Based on the results, both researchers recommended the involvement of augmented reality technology in mathematics instruction at different levels of education. They also recommend the inclusion of this technology in mathematics in overall, and Geometry in specific.

Abstract Design Thinking is well recognized as a mindset and as a process in design and in business innovation and diverse complex problem-solving tasks. In this conceptual paper, design thinking process is explained using visual thinking composed of seeing – imagining – drawing so that its interactive and iterative nature can be better understood. The visual reasoning model developed earlier to support visual thinking with underlying cognitive activities as well as schema and knowledge is used to characterize four specific imagining methods for service design. Further research would be desirable to justify the potential of the visual reasoning model as a framework in devising methods and tools to support design thinking.

Information searching plays a critical role in idea generation. However, the connection between search behaviors and creative thinking processes remains underexplored. This study investigates how creativity support search tools guide idea generation during divergent and convergent thinking tasks by comparing a visual‐based and a text‐based search tool. Based on think‐aloud protocols and interviews with 58 participants, we found that the two tools supported different aspects of the creative thinking processes. The visual‐based tool fostered iterative engagement, helping users revisit, reorganize, and make idea connections, while the text‐based tool encouraged more linear and straightforward strategies such as note‐taking. Divergent thinking led to broad, exploratory searching and flexible relevance judgments, whereas convergent thinking prompted early filtering and focused evaluation. These findings reveal the cognitive complexity in transitioning from search to idea generation, and highlight the potential for search systems to better support creativity by scaffolding key stages of the idea generation process.

ABSTRACT In the era of artificial intelligence (AI), there is growing interest in applying generative AI to education, particularly in programming instruction. Traditional instruction often challenges students to grasp abstract programming concepts. This study explored using ChatGPT as a virtual teaching assistant to enhance learning support. Teachers integrated ChatGPT with concept mapping to assist students in system analysis, design, and question-solving. We proposed a ChatGPT-supported concept mapping-based database programming (GPT-CMDP) approach and evaluated its effectiveness. Participants were university students in northern Taiwan, with 30 in the GPT-CMDP group and 26 in a control group using the conventional concept mapping-based approach (C-CMDP). Results showed that GPT-CMDP students had significantly higher academic performance and better critical thinking and problem-solving skills than the C-CMDP group. These findings highlight the potential of generative AI in enhancing programming education and offer valuable directions for future research.

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Concept mapping (CM) is a pedagogical approach that allows nursing students to improve their critical thinking (CT) abilities, which is paramount for providing quality patient care that underpins their ability to make sound clinical decisions and judgments by visually understanding the relationships and interconnections between various concepts. The purpose of the present review was to assess the outcome of CM on the CT skills. We searched Scopus, Web of Science, Science Direct, PubMed, and other sources to evaluate the effect of CM on CT among nursing students. The review included articles published between 2012 and 2023. Two authors individually extracted the data, identified the bias risk, and analyzed the data using the PRISMA-ScR framework. Database searches found 985 articles, 11 of which matched the inclusion criteria. 63.64% employed quasi-experimental approaches. 45.45% employed concept mapping instead of integration, whereas 9.09% used sophisticated technology. Second-year BSc Nursing students accounted for 54.55%. In 45.45% of the studies, sample sizes varied between 51 and 100. The studies’ overall post-test CT scores were higher in groups which received CM as compared to other conventional pedagogical approaches. Most studies demonstrated minimal bias risk and P values greater than 0.05. The findings of the present study considered CM as an effective teaching method to enhance CT skills and also suggest the implementation of CM. It is recommended that nursing educators, administrators, and faculty evaluate curriculum to integrate CM into courses focused at promoting CT abilities in nursing students to improve the quality of patient care.

This study designed an integrated concept mapping and generative artificial intelligence (generative AI) approach to enhance pre‐service teachers' (PSTs) digital storytelling (DST) outcomes and critical thinking. A quasi‐experimental study was conducted with 62 PSTs, where an experimental group ( n  = 30) employed the integrated concept mapping and generative AI approach and a control group ( n  = 32) used a standalone generative AI approach. Results indicated that the integrated approach produced broad improvements across most DST outcome dimensions, specifically enhancing ‘overall’ quality, ‘accuracy’, ‘completeness’, ‘innovation’ and ‘interaction’. However, the integrated approach did not yield a greater improvement in critical thinking tendencies compared to the control group; in fact, the control group demonstrated a significantly larger gain over time. Qualitative analysis of reflective reports revealed a key difference in PSTs' perceptions: the experimental group prioritised human–machine interaction as the most essential competency for DST creation with AI, whereas the control group emphasised critical thinking. This suggests that the pedagogical design, specifically the use of concept mapping as a structural scaffold, effectively shapes how PSTs perceive and engage with technology, guiding them towards more reflective and efficient learning with generative AI, even if its impact on critical thinking tendencies is more complex. The study offers relevant insights for educational practitioners seeking to utilise generative AI to develop PSTs' specific DST competencies and their understanding of human–AI collaboration.

The development of innovative problem-based teaching materials is a strategic effort to enhance students' critical thinking skills and learning achievement, particularly in understanding abstract concepts such as chemical bonding. This study aims to describe the results of the development stage, the feasibility, and the effectiveness of a problem-based chemistry module assisted by concept mapping in improving the critical thinking skills and learning achievement of high school students on the topic of chemical bonding. The study employed a Research and Development (R&D) method using the Borg and Gall model, modified into nine stages, and was tested in two private schools in Surakarta. Validation results indicated that the module was considered highly valid by experts and practitioners, with scores of 0.95 for content, 0.98 for presentation, 0.96 for language, and 0.94 for media aspects. The feasibility of the module, based on student responses, reached an average of 82.12%, and teacher responses 85.42%, both categorized as very good. The effectiveness of the module was demonstrated by the increase in pretest and posttest results, with N-gain scores of 0.37 (moderate category) for critical thinking skills and 0.69 (moderate category) for learning achievement. Therefore, the problem-based chemistry module assisted by concept mapping is considered feasible and effective for use in teaching chemical bonding at the high school level.

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BACKGROUND The integration of concept mapping into nursing education represents a pivotal strategy aimed at enhancing critical thinking skills, which is a necessity in navigating the complexities of healthcare. This educational tool's role in stimulating students' analytical abilities and motivation towards critical thinking has become increasingly relevant in preparing nursing professionals for the dynamic challenges of their field. OBJECTIVES The aim of this study is to examine how the implementation of concept mapping affects critical thinking motivation among nursing students, investigate the relationship between them, and support its use as an innovative educational strategy in the field of nursing. DESIGN This study was conducted using a descriptive and exploratory design. METHODS This research was carried out between May and June 2023, involving 435 nursing students. For data collection within an online classroom framework, the study applied a trio of tools: the Student Descriptive Information Form, the Scale for the Effectiveness of Concept Maps in Nursing Education, and the Critical Thinking Motivation Scale. The analysis of the compiled data was undertaken utilizing SPSS version 25.0 and JAMOVI software, with statistical significance set at a p-value of <0.05. RESULTS Engagement in social/scientific activities, library usage, and book reading habits were positively correlated with higher scores on both the Critical Thinking Motivation Scale and the Scale for the Effectiveness of Concept Maps in Nursing Education. Notably, concept mapping significantly enhanced critical thinking motivation among the participating students, as evidenced by the path analysis (β = 0.758, R = 0.563, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION The findings underscore the significant role of concept mapping in elevating critical thinking motivation among nursing students, suggesting its strategic inclusion in nursing curricula to meet the evolving demands of healthcare education in the twenty-first century.

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Indonesia is confronted with the challenge of climate change, which adversely impacts students by diminishing their motivation to learn and causing various health problems. Addressing climate change requires an educational approach that emphasizes critical thinking skills, enabling students to comprehend,analyze, and devise solutions for these issues. This study analyzes the influence of the GDL-CM model on students' critical thinking skills on climate change material. This research is conducted at SMAN 36 Jakartai n January-May 2024. The research method used is a quasi-experiment and Nonequivalent Pretest-Posttest Control Group design. The study sample includes 62 students, with 31 students per class selected using a simple random sampling. The normalized gain value shows that the GDL-CM effectively improves critical thinking skills. Based on hypothesis testing using an independent t-test at α = 0.05 there is an influence of the GDL-CM learning model on students' critical thinking skills on climate change material. The influence is considered significant based on the effect size value. The results of this study imply that the GDL-CM learning model should be an alternative learning medium to develop critical thinking skills

Concept mapping, as an effective visual tool to facilitate learning and teaching, has been widely adopted in various fields and disciplines since its innovation. However there remains relatively few research on the effectiveness of the concept-mapping method in enhancing high school students’ critical thinking skills in China, where students are confronted with challenges in fostering critical thinking abilities and educators lack experience in teaching critical thinking. Moreover, previous studies have provided limited information on the effects of different types of concept mapping activities on students’ critical thinking abilities. This study aims to examine the effects of the concept-mapping method on the development of Chinese high school students’ critical thinking skills and explore students’ perception of the correlation between their critical thinking skills and the concept mapping activities. Participants will be recruited from a high school in Henan Province in China. The study will randomly designate two classes as the high-directed concept mapping group (Class A) and the low-directed concept mapping group (Class B) to explore the difference in students’ critical thinking skill development between two types of concept mapping activities. Data collection will include concept map scores, critical thinking survey scores, and interviews. Concept map scores will be compared with critical thinking survey scores using Pearson correlation analysis to examine the correlation between critical thinking skills and Novak and Gowin’s concept map scoring rubric. Furthermore, the critical thinking survey scores of both groups will be compared using a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) to assess the difference in the development of critical thinking skills. Interviews will be interpreted using an inductive analysis approach to explore students’ perceptions of the connection between the concept mapping activities and their critical thinking ability.

This study aims to examine the effect of guided inquiry model using concept mapping method assisted by Xmind on critical thinking skills of students in SMA Negeri 5 Barru. The research method used is Pre-Experiment with One-Group Pretest-Posttest Design research design, sampling technique using Purposive Sampling. The instrument used is Critical Thinking Skills Essay Test with 9 questions that have been adjusted to the indicators of Critical Thinking Skills involving 35 students as research subjects. The results of the study show that the Application of Guided Inquiry Model using Concept Mapping Method assisted by Xmind significantly improves critical thinking skills of students in SMA Negeri 5 Barru. From the analysis it can be seen that students are more involved in learning, able to connect physics concepts with real situations or in everyday life and develop better problem-solving skills in each meeting and are confident in expressing opinions that students know related to the problems given.

Abstract Background Concept maps (CMs) visually represent hierarchical connections among related ideas. They foster logical organization and clarify idea relationships, potentially aiding medical students in critical thinking (to think clearly and rationally about what to do or what to believe). However, there are inconsistent claims about the use of CMs in undergraduate medical education. Our three research questions are 1) What studies have been published on concept mapping in undergraduate medical education; 2) What was the impact of CMs on students’ critical thinking; 3) How and why have these interventions had an educational impact? Methods Eight databases were systematically searched (plus a manual and an additional search were conducted). After eliminating duplicate entries, titles and abstracts and full-texts were independently screened by two authors. Data extraction and quality assessment of the studies were independently performed by two authors. Qualitative and quantitative data were integrated using mixed-methods. The results were reported using the STructured apprOach to the Reporting In healthcare education of Evidence Synthesis statement and BEME guidance. Results Thirty-nine studies were included from 26 journals (19 quantitative, 8 qualitative and 12 mixed-methods studies). CMs were considered as a tool to promote critical thinking, both in the perception of students and tutors, as well as in assessing students’ knowledge and/or skills. In addition to their role as facilitators of knowledge integration and critical thinking, CMs were considered both a teaching and a learning methods. Conclusions CMs are teaching and learning tools which seem to help medical students develop critical thinking. This is due to the flexibility of the tool as a facilitator of knowledge integration, as a learning and teaching method. The wide range of contexts, purposes, and variations in how CMs and instruments to assess critical thinking are used increases our confidence that the positive effects are consistent.

BACKGROUND Critical thinking (CT) is essential in orthopaedic nursing practice, where nurses must accurately assess fractures, identify complications, plan mobility strategies, and support postoperative recovery. Concept mapping (CMAP) can facilitate structured clinical reasoning, while artificial intelligence (AI) may further support conceptual organization and reflective learning processes. However, evidence regarding AI-assisted CMAP in orthopaedic nursing education remains limited. AIM To evaluate the effectiveness of an AI-assisted CMAP program in improving CT among undergraduate students enrolled in an orthopaedic nursing course. METHODS A two-group quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design was employed. Participants were allocated to either an experimental group receiving AI-assisted CMAP using ChatGPT (OpenAI) during a structured workshop or a control group receiving standard instructional activities. CT was evaluated using a validated 12-item CMAP-based assessment tool administered before and after the intervention. Data were analyzed using mixed-design ANOVA and ANCOVA. RESULTS CT scores improved significantly over time, with greater improvement observed in the experimental group. Mean CT scores in the experimental group increased from 2.40 ± 0.50 at pretest to 2.97 ± 0.72 at posttest, whereas scores in the control group increased from 2.43 ± 0.68 to 2.57 ± 0.63. A significant interaction effect between time and group was identified (F(1,58) = 9.705, p = .003, partial η2 = 0.143). Students in the experimental group also reported high satisfaction with the AI-assisted CMAP program. CONCLUSIONS AI-assisted CMAP may support CT development and structured clinical reasoning in orthopaedic nursing education. Integrating AI-assisted reflective support into concept-mapping activities may provide an effective pedagogical approach for helping nursing students organize and integrate complex clinical information.

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Background: Critical thinking is an essential competency for nurses working in increasingly complex healthcare environments. Traditional teaching approaches often emphasize rote memorization and may not adequately promote higher-order critical thinking skills. The concept mapping approach has proven to be an effective tool for fostering meaningful learning through linking theory with practice. Objectives: To determine the effectiveness of concept mapping in educational settings as a learning method for enhancing the development of critical thinking among third-year B.Sc. nursing students at Sikkim Manipal College of Nursing, India. Methods: A quantitative randomized controlled pretest–posttest study was conducted among third-year B.Sc. nursing students. Sixty students were selected using simple random sampling from a total population of 90 eligible students and randomly allocated to either the intervention group (n = 30) or the control group (n = 30) using a lottery method. The experimental group underwent a concept mapping intervention for 12 weeks, while the control group engaged in conventional nursing care plans. Assessment of critical thinking skills was done using a Critical Thinking Questionnaire (CThQ), which is linked to the six cognitive domains of Bloom’s. Analysis of data used both descriptive and inferential statistics such as t-tests, independent t-tests, chi-square, or Fisher’s exact test. Results: Critical thinking scores increased significantly in the experimental group following concept mapping (81.67 ± 9.01 vs. 99.97 ± 9.43; t = 8.722, p < 0.001), compared with a smaller improvement in the control group (77.73 ± 10.53 vs. 82.26 ± 10.23; t = 4.871, p < 0.001). Post-test scores were significantly higher in the experimental group across all cognitive domains (p < 0.05), with large within-group and between-group effect sizes. Conclusion: Students who received concept mapping demonstrated significantly higher critical thinking scores than those who received conventional nursing care planning. These findings suggest that concept mapping may be an effective learner-centered teaching strategy for strengthening critical thinking among undergraduate nursing students.

This study aimed to examine an increase in students' critical thinking in biology following the implementation of the Reading Concept Mapping-Team Quiz (Remap-TQ). The study employed a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest non-equivalent control group design. The research population contained all eleventh graders from seven science classes at SMAN 2 Tanggul Jember, East Java, and the total number of respondents was 105 students. This study's critical thinking indicators include applying, evaluating, using data to develop critical insight, analysing, and synthesising. The analysis showed that the Remap-TQ students achieved better than the TQ and conventional students in terms of critical thinking, indicated by their posttest mean score of 84.29. The findings from this study suggest that Remap-TQ can be used as an alternative learning strategy to improve students' critical thinking in biology.

Abstract Background Critical thinking (CT) among nursing students is crucial for delivering high-quality nursing care to patients. Concept mapping (CM) is one of the evidence-based pedagogies that helps to improve CT in individuals. Objectives The objective of this review and meta-analysis was to evaluate the impact of concept mapping on CT abilities, academic achievement, and clinical skills in nursing students. Methods This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to identify published articles on the effect of CM on CT in nursing students, written in English and published from 2011 to 2024. The articles were sourced from SCOPUS, Web of Science (WoS), ScienceDirect, Google Scholar, and PubMed databases. To ensure a comprehensive and relevant search, the following MeSH terms were used: “Effectiveness” OR “Impact,” AND “Concept Mapping,” AND “CT,” AND “Nursing Student,” AND “RCT” OR “Randomized Controlled Trials” OR “Quasi-Experimental.” This study used the Cochrane Collaboration’s Risk of Bias (RoB) tool and Standardized Mean Difference (SMD) for outcome measurement, with results analyzed using RevMan Web. Results This study analyzed 14 RCTs and quasi-experimental studies involving 1,747 participants (E=870, C=877). The meta-analysis found that concept mapping enhanced nursing students’ CT skills (MD=4.86, 95 % CI [2.16 to 7.56], p=0.0004), academic achievements (MD=3.38, 95 % CI [0.76 to 5.99], p=0.01), and performance in clinical practice (MD=5.94, 95 % CI [3.22 to 8.65], p<0.0001) when compared to routine instructional methods. Conclusions CM provides valuable insights into enhancing CT and clinical skills in nursing students, eventually preparing them to become excellent nursing professionals in the healthcare system.

Metacognition, or the awareness and regulation of one’s own cognitive processes, allows individuals to take command of their learning and decision making in various contexts. In tasks that require problem-solving and adaptive learning, individuals with heightened metacognitive awareness tend to outperform others, as they are better equipped to regulate cognition, leading to more effective processes. On the other hand, visualization research facilitates exploration and decision making with data. We posit that metacognitive frameworks that examine how individuals think about their own thinking processes can likewise enhance visualization processes. In this paper, we review metacognition literature from the cognitive and learning science to identify opportunities in visualization to improve people’s ability to reason with data. We propose the use of a metacognitive framework, serving as a starting point to inspire future research to improve visualization practices and outcomes.

This mixed-methods study examines whether backpropagation-based deep learning (DL) visualizations can strengthen metacognition and learning outcomes in a university Linear Programming course. Sixty undergraduates (8-week blended format) completed pre/post cognitive tests and the Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI), while their LMS activity traces (e.g., time-on-task, revision frequency, error types) trained a multilayer perceptron. The intervention exposed students to DL visual artifacts—loss curves, gradient/weight updates, and error heatmaps—as reflective scaffolds linking machine error correction to human self-regulation. Quantitatively, mean test scores increased from 61.23 to 80.57 (paired-t, p < .001), and total MAI rose from 135.40 to 159.85 (paired-t, p < .001). Gains concentrated in regulation of cognition (monitoring/evaluation). Metacognitive improvement correlated with achievement (Pearson r = .62, p < .001). Computationally, model loss decreased from 0.25 to 0.03 over 200 epochs with 89.4% validation accuracy; Dynamic Time Warping = 0.81 (p < .01) indicated strong temporal alignment between DL loss minimization and students’ learning curves. Qualitatively, thematic analysis of weekly reflections and interviews revealed a progression from error recognition to strategy adjustment and reflective transformation, recasting errors as actionable signals. Triangulating quantitative, computational, and qualitative strands supports the Cognitive Backpropagation Learning (CBL) framework: DL error feedback parallels human metacognitive feedback, and its visualization functions as a digital mirror that externalizes reflection. Findings recommend interpretable DL dashboards as practical, class-deployable scaffolds to cultivate reflective, adaptive mathematical thinkers.

The objective of this article is twofold. One objective is the development of models of visualized algorithms (VAs) for three fundamental algorithms, the bubble sort algorithm, the selection sort algorithm and the insertion sort algorithm, using the Easy Java simulations software (Ejs) and the Computational Pedagogy model. The second objective is to investigate: a) VAs impact on learners’ self-efficacy as a general structure, metacognitive experience, critical thinking and motives and b) VAs impact on learners’ self-efficacy relative to Computational Thinking. An intervention in the form of a didactic model was implemented that utilized VAs and the Computational Pedagogy approach. Finally, we argument how VAs can be embedded in the Computational STEM pedagogy approach in teaching and learning sequences through applications related to authentic problems.

The cognitive processes involved in understanding and misunder-standing visualizations have not yet been fully clarified, even for well-studied designs, such as bar charts. In particular, little is known about whether viewers can improve their learning processes by getting better insight into their own cognition. This paper de-scribes a simple method to measure the role of such metacognitive understanding when learning to read bar charts. For this pur-pose, we conducted an experiment in which we investigated bar chart learning repeatedly, and tested how learning over trials was effected by metacognitive understanding. We integrate the findings into a model of metacognitive processing of visualizations, and discuss implications for the design of visualizations.

This study focuses on the deep integration of knowledge graph technology into educational settings, exploring its empowerment mechanisms in the co-development of teacher-student metacognition. By constructing a dual-dimensional analytical framework of instructional preparation and learning strategies, it reveals how knowledge graphs, through structured knowledge representation, intelligent learning diagnostics, and dynamic strategy recommendations, facilitate more precise instructional preparation for teachers and more personalized learning strategies for students. The findings indicate that knowledge graphs can effectively bridge cognitive gaps between teachers and students. Through pathways such as triplet-based knowledge modeling, visualization of learning trajectories, and collaborative diagnostic feedback, a closed loop of teacher knowledge organizationstudent strategy adaptationbidirectional cognitive optimization is formed. The research offers theoretical insights and practical pathways for the development of teacher-student metacognition in smart education environments, contributing to the construction of a new data-driven teaching relationship.

Due to a long history of using rote memorization and rereading as the primary means to study, students are coming to the University with misconceptions about study strategies that are beneficial for their performance and long-term learning. Techniques such as spaced retrieval practice, interleaving, and metacognition are proven by cognitive and educational researchers as strategies that greatly improve learning. They focus on helping students to own responsibility for their learning and retention of information. Considering their benefits, quizzes were re-branded to be formative low-stakes retrieval practice activities (RPAs) in an Introduction to Programming Course (CS1), meaning that students would use the quizzes as learning tools, testing themselves in a spaced and interleaved manner as many times as they want during the semester. Additionally, the U-Behavior learning and teaching method was used. This method applies visualizations of student's study habits and self-reflections to help students to be aware of their study practices, reflect on them, and change their study routine to improve performance and long-term learning. Study behaviors were analyzed and the final Canvas exam, final coding exam, and final course grades were compared for students who spaced and interleaved their practice with students who did not. Results showed a statistically significant increase in all grades evaluated for students who practiced using this novel combination of spacing and interleaving integrated with U-Behavior visualizations and RPA reflection activities for learning.

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Reflective practice in design education is often marginalized as a post-hoc evaluative task rather than conceptualized as a central creative and epistemic process. In this study, reflective practice is reconceptualized as a gamified learning framework that fosters metacognition, visual empathy, and self-awareness through interactive design strategies. The primary objective was to examine the extent to which gamification elements, including feedback cycles, progress visualization, and reward structures, enhance concept retention, reflective insight, and comprehension of design processes among 36 undergraduate graphic design students. Using a mixed-methods, design-based research approach, data were collected across three iterative learning cycles through digital activity logs, reflective journals, and semi-structured interviews. Quantitative analysis using paired-sample t-tests revealed a statistically significant 18% improvement in reflective accuracy and a 20% increase in conceptual retention (p < 0.05) following the implementation of gamified reflective activities. Platform analytics further indicated a 92% task completion rate, suggesting increased learner engagement associated with visual feedback and reward mechanisms. Qualitative thematic analysis identified three interrelated dimensions of reflective learning: emotional resonance, sensory awareness, and social connectedness, highlighting the multidimensional nature of reflection in gamified environments. Overall, the findings suggest that gamified reflection can support more active and emotionally engaging learning processes, positioning reflective practice as a form of “learning through play” and offering a pedagogical framework to enhance empathy, self-awareness, and reflective thinking in visual design education.

Conceptual mapping, traditionally rooted in Novakian constructive learning, is undergoing a paradigm shift due to Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI). This review examines how AI transforms map creation from a solo cognitive task into a collaborative process of co-construction. By intersecting Novak’s theory of meaningful learning with AI-driven visualization, the paper explores the implications for cognitive load and metacognition. It argues that the learner's role is evolving from a primary "builder" to a "critical curator" who must validate AI-generated links. Ultimately, the paper proposes a framework for human-AI mapping that balances technological scaffolding with the deep processing required for genuine understanding.

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Integral calculus is one of the topics involved in mathematical courses both at secondary and tertiary level with several applications in different disciplines. It is part of gateway mathematical courses at universities for many majors and important for the development of the science. Several studies had been undertaken for exploring students’ learning of integral calculus, both at the secondary and tertiary level, using a variety of frameworks (e.g., Action-Process-Object-Schema (APOS) theory (Dubinsky, 1991). However, students’ learning of integral calculus has not been explored in terms of metacognitive experiences and skills, and the number of studies which have explored metacognitive strategies in relation to the students’ learning of integral calculus is limited. Therefore, this study used Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy (RBT) (Anderson et al., 2001), Efklides’s metacognition framework (Efklides, 2008), and an adaptation of VisA (Visualization and Accuracy) instrument (Jacobse & Harskamp, 2012) for exploring students’ learning of integral calculus.  A multiple case study approach was used to explore students’ learning of the integral-area relationships and the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus in relation to the RBT’s factual, conceptual, and procedural knowledge, and the facets of metacognition including metacognitive knowledge, experiences, and skills. The study sample comprised of nine first year university and eight Year 13 students who participated in individual semi-structured interviews answering nine integral calculus questions and 24 questions related to the RBT’s metacognitive knowledge. Integral calculus questions were designed to address different aspects of RBT’s knowledge dimension and activate RBT-related cognitive processes. A think aloud protocol and VisA instrument were also used during answering integral calculus questions for gathering information about students’ metacognitive experiences and skills. Ten undergraduate mathematics lecturers and five Year 13 mathematics teachers were also interviewed in relation to the teaching and learning of integral calculus to explore students’ difficulties in the topic. The entire teaching of integral calculus in a first year university course and a Year 13 classroom were video recorded and observed to obtain a better understanding of the teaching and learning of integral calculus in the context of the study.  The study findings in terms of the RBT’s factual knowledge show several students had difficulty with notational aspects of the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus (FTC) (e.g., Thompson, 1994) whereas this issue was not dominant for the definite integral. In relation to the RBT’s conceptual and procedural knowledge for both topics, conceptual knowledge was less developed in students’ minds in comparison to procedural knowledge (e.g., students had not developed a geometric interpretation of the FTC, whereas they were able to solve integral questions using the FTC). The obtained results were consistent with previous studies for these three types of knowledge. The study contributes to the current literature by sharing students’ metacognitive knowledge, experiences and skills in relation to integral calculus. The findings highlight some student learning, monitoring, and problem-solving strategies in these topics. A comparison between University and Year 13 students’ results showed students across this transition had different factual, conceptual, procedural, and metacognitive knowledge in these topics. For instance, University students in the sample use online resources more often than Year 13 students, are more interested in justifications behind the formulas, and have more accurate pre and post-judgments of their ability to solve integral questions. The information obtained using questions based on RBT and the metacognition framework indicates that these two together may be very useful for exploring students’ mathematical learning in different topics.

ABSTRACT Background: Differential diagnosis (DDx) is one of the key cognitive skills that medical learners must develop. However, little is known regarding the best methods for teaching DDx skills. As metacognition plays a fundamental role in the diagnostic process, we hypothesized that the teaching of specific heuristics and mnemonics collectively termed metamemory techniques (MMTs) would enhance the capacity of medical students to generate differential diagnoses. Methods: In a 90-min DDx workshop, third-year medical students (N = 114) were asked to generate differentials before and after learning each of four MMTs. Differential sizes were compared using a linear mixed-effect model. Students also completed a post-session questionnaire which included a subjective ranking of the MMTs, as well as Likert-scale and free-text sections for course feedback. Results: One MMT (the Mental CT Scan, an anatomic visualization technique) significantly increased the size of student differentials (+13.3%, p =.0005). However, a marked cumulative increase across all four MMTs was noted (+36.5%, p <.0001). A majority of students ranked the Mental CT Scan the most useful MMT (51.5%). They found the workshop both worthwhile (4.51/5, CI 4.33–4.69) and enjoyable (4.33/5, CI 4.12–4.55), and considered the MMTs they learned useful and practical (4.49/5, CI 4.32–4.67). Conclusion: The MMT-based DDx workshop was effective in enhancing the skill of DDx generation, and was rated very favorably by students.

Metacognition and self-regulation are important components for developing effective learning in the classroom and beyond, but novice learners often lack these skills. Betty’s Brain, an open-ended computer-based learning environment, helps students develop metacognitive strategies as they learn science topics. In order to better understand and improve the effect of adaptive scaffolding on students’ cognitive and metacognitive skills, we investigate students’ activities in Betty’s Brain from a study comparing different forms of adaptive scaffolding. We measure students’ cognitive and metacognitive processes from students’ action sequences by (i) interpreting and characterizing behavior patterns using a cognitive/metacognitive model of the task, (ii) mapping students’ frequently observed cognitive and metacognitive process patterns back into their overall activity sequences and measuring their effectiveness, and (iii) employing a binning method with clustering and visualization techniques to characterize the temporal evolution of these processes. Our experimental studies illustrate that the effectiveness and temporal changes in students’ behaviors were generally consistent with the scaffolding provided, suggesting that these metacognitive strategies can be taught to middle school students in computer-based learning environments.