title: Emancipating critical thinking through aesthetics

authors: Yazici, Furkan

abstract: This thesis examines how critical thinking can be enriched by incorporating imagination, emotions, and aesthetic sensibilities alongside logical reasoning. Traditional models of critical thinking have often excluded these dimensions, limiting their ability to address complex and dynamic contexts. Beginning with an analysis of critical thinking textbooks, the thesis identifies two central gaps: (1) the absence of any role for imagination in critical thinking and (2) a reductive and largely negative view of emotions. It then engages with alternative frameworks, such as Michael Gilbert’s multi-modal argumentation framework, which attempt to move beyond traditional approaches. I argue that although these are a step in the right direction, there is still work to be done to fill these gaps. Drawing on the distinction between propositional and non propositional representations, the thesis proposes a hybrid framework that integrates logical analysis with aesthetic experience. Through an investigation of aesthetic experience and its connection to emotions, imagination and critical thinking, the thesis shows how critical thinking can become a more comprehensive intellectual practice. The application of this enriched model to philosophical inquiry, with a particular focus on the concept of beauty as it applies to philosophy, provides an illustration of the application of the model. Finally, the thesis introduces improvisation as a synthesis of reason, emotion, and imagination. This provides a practical example of the integrated critical thinking approach developed throughout the work.

text: Emancipating critical thinking through aesthetics This thesis examines how critical thinking can be enriched by incorporating imagination, emotions, and aesthetic sensibilities alongside logical reasoning. Traditional models of critical thinking have often excluded these dimensions, limiting their ability to address complex and dynamic contexts. Beginning with an analysis of critical thinking textbooks, the thesis identifies two central gaps: (1) the absence of any role for imagination in critical thinking and (2) a reductive and largely negative view of emotions. It then engages with alternative frameworks, such as Michael Gilbert’s multi-modal argumentation framework, which attempt to move beyond traditional approaches. I argue that although these are a step in the right direction, there is still work to be done to fill these gaps. Drawing on the distinction between propositional and non propositional representations, the thesis proposes a hybrid framework that integrates logical analysis with aesthetic experience. Through an investigation of aesthetic experience and its connection to emotions, imagination and critical thinking, the thesis shows how critical thinking can become a more comprehensive intellectual practice. The application of this enriched model to philosophical inquiry, with a particular focus on the concept of beauty as it applies to philosophy, provides an illustration of the application of the model. Finally, the thesis introduces improvisation as a synthesis of reason, emotion, and imagination. This provides a practical example of the integrated critical thinking approach developed throughout the work.

year: 2025

title: Structural equation models: From paths to networks (Westland 2019)

authors: Sarstedt, Marko

subjects: Science & Technology

abstract: Structural equation modeling (SEM) is a statistical analytic framework that allows researchers to specify and test models with observed and latent (or unobservable) variables and their generally linear relationships. In the past decades, SEM has become a standard statistical analysis technique in behavioral, educational, psychological, and social science researchers’ repertoire.

From a technical perspective, SEM was developed as a mixture of two statistical fields—path analysis and data reduction. Path analysis is used to specify and examine directional relationships between observed variables, whereas data reduction is applied to uncover (unobserved) low-dimensional representations of observed variables, which are referred to as latent variables. Since two different data reduction techniques (i.e., factor analysis and principal component analysis) were available to the statistical community, SEM also evolved into two domains—factor-based and component-based (e.g., Jöreskog and Wold 1982). In factor-based SEM, in which the psychometric or psychological measurement tradition has strongly influenced, a (common) factor represents a latent variable under the assumption that each latent variable exists as an entity independent of observed variables, but also serves as the sole source of the associations between the observed variables. Conversely, in component-based SEM, which is more in line with traditional multivariate statistics, a weighted composite or a component of observed variables represents a latent variable under the assumption that the latter is an aggregation (or a direct consequence) of observed variables.

text: Structural equation models: From paths to networks (Westland 2019) Structural equation modeling (SEM) is a statistical analytic framework that allows researchers to specify and test models with observed and latent (or unobservable) variables and their generally linear relationships. In the past decades, SEM has become a standard statistical analysis technique in behavioral, educational, psychological, and social science researchers’ repertoire.

From a technical perspective, SEM was developed as a mixture of two statistical fields—path analysis and data reduction. Path analysis is used to specify and examine directional relationships between observed variables, whereas data reduction is applied to uncover (unobserved) low-dimensional representations of observed variables, which are referred to as latent variables. Since two different data reduction techniques (i.e., factor analysis and principal component analysis) were available to the statistical community, SEM also evolved into two domains—factor-based and component-based (e.g., Jöreskog and Wold 1982). In factor-based SEM, in which the psychometric or psychological measurement tradition has strongly influenced, a (common) factor represents a latent variable under the assumption that each latent variable exists as an entity independent of observed variables, but also serves as the sole source of the associations between the observed variables. Conversely, in component-based SEM, which is more in line with traditional multivariate statistics, a weighted composite or a component of observed variables represents a latent variable under the assumption that the latter is an aggregation (or a direct consequence) of observed variables.

year: 2020

title: Responding to the message: Responsive written feedback in a Maori to English transition context

authors: Glynn, Ted

subjects: New Zealand

abstract: This paper reports on the writing component of a community and
school Maori to English literacy transition programme implemented in a kura
kaupapa Maori (Maori language immersion school. 21 Year 6, 7 and 8
students received responsive written feedback for their writing in English,
over a ten-week period, during their weekly independent writing time.
Students’ stories were mailed to a young Maori woman (the third author) in a
provincial city 100 kilometres from the kura . She was not known to any of the
students prior to the study, but she acted as an interested audience, and
responded in writing by focussing on the content or messages in students’
stories. She did not provide any corrective feedback on students’ writing.
The study employed an intra-subject multiple-baseline research design across
four school terms, with the responsive written feedback being introduced
sequentially to each of three student Year groups. Measures were taken of
total words written, adventurous words written, as well as holistic ratings of
audience impact and language quality. Data demonstrate positive gains in
both the quantity and quality of students’ writing, as well as maintenance of
high levels of writing accuracy for all Year groups.

text: Responding to the message: Responsive written feedback in a Maori to English transition context This paper reports on the writing component of a community and
school Maori to English literacy transition programme implemented in a kura
kaupapa Maori (Maori language immersion school. 21 Year 6, 7 and 8
students received responsive written feedback for their writing in English,
over a ten-week period, during their weekly independent writing time.
Students’ stories were mailed to a young Maori woman (the third author) in a
provincial city 100 kilometres from the kura . She was not known to any of the
students prior to the study, but she acted as an interested audience, and
responded in writing by focussing on the content or messages in students’
stories. She did not provide any corrective feedback on students’ writing.
The study employed an intra-subject multiple-baseline research design across
four school terms, with the responsive written feedback being introduced
sequentially to each of three student Year groups. Measures were taken of
total words written, adventurous words written, as well as holistic ratings of
audience impact and language quality. Data demonstrate positive gains in
both the quantity and quality of students’ writing, as well as maintenance of
high levels of writing accuracy for all Year groups.

year: 2005