Using higher order thinking questions to foster critical thinking: a classroom study

To determine if quizzes containing higher order thinking questions are related to critical thinking and test performance when utilised in conjunction with an immersion approach to instruction and effort-based grading, sections of an Educational Psychology course were assigned to one of three quizzing conditions. Quizzes contained factual multiple-choice questions, factual essay questions or essay items requiring higher order thinking. Critical thinking was measured with a pre-test–post-test design and the Watson–Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (Short Form). Classroom learning was assessed via multiple-choice and essay tests. Critical thinking increased equally across all sections. The section receiving higher order thinking quizzes performed significantly better than the other two sections on both the multiple-choice and essay portions of the classroom tests. The implications of these findings are discussed in the context of methodological approaches to encouraging critical thinking.     

在英语阅读课中培养学生批判性思维能力

在我国的传统教学过程中,对批判性思维能力在教学中的运用和培养不够重视,在英语阅读教学中更是如此。由于英语阅读中对学生的语言结构和信息处理的要求比较高,需要学生对阅读文本进行深层次的理解,因此,就需要学生充分发挥出主体性批判性的阅读技能。大多数学生批判性思维能力不够强,所以,教师需要注意在英语阅读教学中培养学生的批判性思维能力。本文就批判性思维的含义和重要性进行研究,并探讨在英语阅读中培养学生批判性思维能力的对策,以便有效的提高学生的批判性思维能力,提高英语阅读效率。     

Challenges to improving higher education students' critical thinking capacity in China

Drawing on data from the 2016 National Assessment of Collegiate Capacity in China, the study on which this article reports explored the value-added effects of critical thinking capacity in higher education. Specifically, the analysis was developed using the difference in residuals model based on the Hierarchical Linear Modelling approach. The results show that, first, critical thinking capacity is malleable and can be improved through undergraduate education. Second, the results demonstrate that the value-added effects of undergraduate education on college students' critical thinking capacity are heterogeneous. Only half of the value-added effects achieved in higher education in China were positive. Third, the size of value-added effects was not fully aligned with the level of the institutions. High-ranking universities did not always perform well in achieving high value-added effects on critical thinking capacity. This study analyses the reasons why some universities in China face insurmountable challenges in efforts to improve college students' critical thinking capacity. Challenges are highlighted from multiple perspectives. Corresponding improvement strategies are proposed in the concluding discussion.     

PBL教学法在实验教学中对学生批判性思维能力的培养

PBL教学是以问题为基础的模式,在实验教学中对培养学生批判性思维能力的效果显著。在对实验组采用PBL教学法教学、对照组采用传统的实验教学方法教学的基础上,应用CCTDI-CV评价2种教学方法对学生批判性思维能力的影响。经分析发现,PBL教学组学生的批判性思维能力高于对照组,两组间差异显著。实验教学中的PBL教学模式有助于学生批判性思维能力的培养。     

对西安市城镇高中生批判性思维的初步调查

This paper reports the development of critical thinking of urban high school students in the Chinese city of Xi’an. It presents the assessment of the students’ two components of critical thinking: dispositions towards critical thinking and critical thinking skills, using the California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory and the California Critical Thinking Skills Test. Results show that the students’ dispositions toward critical thinking are at an average level while their critical thinking skills are very low. This research also shows that there is no significant difference between students from science classes and arts classes in their critical thinking dispositions while science students have a higher level of critical thinking skills. Students from advanced classes have a higher level of the two components of critical thinking than their counterparts from general classes. There are no differences between male students and female students in both components.      

Conceptualising,developing and assessing critical thinking in law

‘Critical thinking’ is commonly included in the lists of graduate attributes (GAs), which all Australian universities are now required to develop and implement. That efforts to do so have met with limited success is due to a range of factors including inconsistent or naive conceptualisations, the failure to explicitly develop or assess GAs, and the persistence of ‘signature’ disciplinary practices. This paper describes the design and implementation of a law course in which the development and assessment of critical thinking were core objectives. Key features of the course included an operational conceptualisation of ‘critical legal thinking’, the development of closely aligned teaching and learning activities, and an aligned, coherent and innovative assessment programme. An evaluation of the first iteration of the course identified a number of successful outcomes as well as implications for ongoing course development.     

当代大学生高阶思维能力缺失及影响因素分析

21世纪对大学生提出了很多新的挑战,需要大学生具备更全面的素质和能力,在大学生能力构成当中,思维能力特别是高阶思维能力尤为重要,因此,关注高校大学生高阶思维能力的发展已成为目前高校人才培养中的一个热点问题。本文首先分析了高阶思维及高阶思维能力的内涵,并通过文献阅读以及调查结果阐述了目前我国普通高校大学生高阶思维能力较差的现状,在此基础上,详细分析影响普通高校大学生高阶思维能力的原因及要素,提出了高校应结合高阶思维能力内涵以及影响因素有针对性地进行培养。     

Medical students and patient-centred clinical practice: the case for more critical work in medical schools

In the last two decades, undergraduate medical education in the United Kingdom has undergone several important changes. Many of these have revolved around a paradigmatic shift from ‘paternalistic’ to ‘patient-centred’ approaches to healthcare. Adopting a Foucauldian understanding of power and borrowing from Freire’s critical pedagogy, in this paper I draw upon ethnographic data from one UK medical school to illustrate the recurrence among medical students of narrow and uncritical understandings of patient-centred practices. These understandings highlight a tension between the ideals and frameworks of medical education policy and students’ conceptualisations of professional learning and practice. I explore this tension by tracing some possible links between students’ views of patient-centredness and the teaching practices at the medical school. I argue that more critical approaches to medical learning are sorely needed and suggest some directions for medical education that would help support the personal and professional development of more critically aware practitioners.     

论外语教学中批判性思维的整合

批判性思维是新时代所要求的一种重要的能力,是求职工作中最重要的七大能力之一.但在外语教学中,我们往往只注重语言能力的训练,而忽视了批判性思维的培养.本文分析了在外语教学中整合批判性思维的理由,在过程中所遇到的各种障碍,并提出解决问题的几点策略和方法.     

Empathy and critical thinking: primary students solving local environmental problems through outdoor learning

The present study explores the outcomes of teaching empathy and critical thinking to solve environmental problems. This investigation was done throughout the duration of an environmental education course within a primary school located in central Chile. A community-based research methodology was used to understand the formation of empathy and critical thinking. The findings reveal a significant benefit in using empathy strategies to engage students regarding the thinking processes involved with solving environmental problems. Using these elements as teaching techniques for environmental education courses can be very helpful in reaching the aims of creating a sustainable citizenry.     

批判性思维研究概述

批判性思维研究在一些基本问题上还存在分歧。本文在相关文献、资料的基础上,对批判性思维的涵义、本质、研究现状、相关理论及批判性思维的培养等方面进行了综述。     

高师公共教育学课程中批判性思维的培养

素质教育的重点是培养学生的创新精神和实践能力,这离不开批判性思维的教学,因此需要教师具有批判性精神和批判性思维。在"高师公共教育学"中注重师范生批判性思维的培养,有助于他们学以致用,创新教学,适应课程改革的需要。     

口译教学与外语专业学生的思辨能力培养策略探析

思辨能力是外语类大学生应当具有的一项重要能力。然而外语专业学生却普遍被认为缺乏创造性思维能力,即所说的"思辨缺席"。通过口译教学,培养学生自发探寻有效的学习策略和应对策略,则能够在一定程度上促进学生在这方面能力的提高。     

教师批判性思维倾向量表(TCTS)的修订

本研究的目的在于以分析教师批判性思维倾向(Teacher Critical Thinking)的结构为基础,制订教师批判性思维倾向的测量工具。原始问卷根据台湾学者朱苑瑜、叶玉珠编制完成的《批判性思考倾向量表》及教师批判性思维倾向的理论定义而构造。489位中小学教师参加了测验。要求被试在6点量表上评定问卷的每一个条目是否适合描述他们自己,“1”代表非常同意,“6”代表非常不同意。测验结果得到了一个由12个条目构成的四因素结构的教师批判性思维倾向量表,该因素解释总变异的74.2%,量表平均分为27.12,标准差为10.98,无显著性性别差异(t=.336,P=.737)。统计分析还表明:该量表具有较好的内部一致性信度(a=.9496)和折半信度(r=.9384)。本量表适合在中小学教师中使用,稳定性较强,项目较少,简便易行。     

思辨能力与英语读写衔接

本文从思辨能力的界定和研究综述出发,以英语专业的阅读与写作的教学为例,深入探讨了英语专业学生思辨能力的界定和理据、目前存在的问题及思辨能力与读写衔接问题。这不仅对于英语专业,对于其他专业学生也有较大的借鉴意义及应用价值。     

The role of self-concept in medical education

Much research has acknowledged the importance of self-concept for adolescents’ academic behaviour, motivation and aspiration, but little is known about the role of self-concept underpinning the motivation and aspiration of higher education students in a specialised field such as medical education. This article draws upon a programme of research undertaken over the past three years examining the psychosocial determinants of success in educating home-grown doctors for regional communities. Interviews conducted with Australian medical students found that self-concept is a dynamic and multidimensional phenomenon that emerges through social activity and plays a crucial role in shaping their motivation and aspirations. For these students in a specialised field in higher education, self-concept not only influences their study performance, but also forms part of their personal and career development. Because of the significant level of interaction between the self and the social environment, the development of self-concept through a holistic and systemic facilitation of essential psychosocial drivers of success is essential in higher education.     

Investigating the synergy of critical thinking and creative thinking in the course of integrated activity in Taiwan

The relationship lying between critical thinking and creative thinking is opposite or complementary, results of previous relevant researches have not yet concluded. However, most of researches put the effort to compare the respective effect of the thinking methods, either the teaching of creative thinking or that of critical thinking. Less of them showed the interest to investigate the combined effect of these two thinking skills teaching, especially its synergy. Therefore, present study aimed to discuss the synergy of critical thinking and creative thinking, and investigated the joined effect of these two methods of thinking in the courses of ‘Integrated Activity courses’. Not only the separate influence but also the synergy would be our interests. Moreover, the outcome would also be compared with the learning result of single creative thinking skill teaching. Participants were 147 male students and 118 female students of ninth grade from 8 intact classes in a public middle school in Taiwan, the number of total participants were 265. Experimental design was ‘nonequivalent control group pretest/post-test quasi-experimental design’. Participants were assigned into three groups, three intact classes for creative thinking teaching group (EG1), three intact classes for ‘critical thinking and creative thinking combined teaching group (EG2)’ and two intact classes for regular teaching method group (watching video, control group). All participants took the assessment ‘The New Creative-Thinking Testing’ and ‘The Critical-Thinking Testing, Level 1’ after receiving the courses as post-test. Data were analysed statistically by one-way ANCOVA. The results showed that:

1. Regards to the performance in Integrated Activity courses, no significant difference was found among students in EG1 and those in EG2. However, the students in both experimental groups got higher scores than those in control group did.

2. As for the ability of critical thinking, students in EG2 got higher score than those in EG1 and CG did, but no difference was found among the students in EG1 and those in CG.

3. In respect of originality, students in EG2 got higher score than those in EG1 did, the influence of critical thinking was significant.

Theoretical and possible applications of the results were also discussed. Present study not only manifests the correlation between creative thinking and critical thinking, but also provides the empirical data for synergy in actual pedagogical situations.     

Enhancing critical thinking using team-based learning

This study examines students’ perceptions of the development of academic and critical thinking skills in college, with a specific focus on team-based learning (TBL), an active learning strategy designed to increase student interaction and engagement. Six hundred and fifty students in five different courses were surveyed at the beginning of the semester about the extent to which they felt the typical college course enhances various academic and critical thinking skills. These responses were compared to their responses after a semester of TBL regarding the extent to which the TBL environment enhanced these same skills. Students expressed significantly greater improvement in critical thinking skills in a TBL environment in comparison to typical courses for most of the skills assessed and greater improvement in all of these skills in comparison to lecture-based courses. These results held for every demographic subgroup examined, including males, females, freshman, sophomores, juniors and seniors, as well as all levels of academic achievement as measured by grade point average.     

Achievement goal orientation and the critical thinking disposition of college students across academic programmes

This study links achievement goal theory and models of critical thinking by investigating the relationship between motivational goals and the thinking dispositions of college students enrolled in five different academic programmes in Thailand (N = 1336, males = 32.9% and females = 67.1%). We found significant differences in goal orientations and thinking dispositions across academic programmes. For example, nursing students were significantly more mastery goal-oriented and had a higher level of ‘analytical’ thinking disposition than students in business, engineering, education and vocational programmes. Multiple regression analysis found a positive influence of mastery goals and a negative influence of performance avoidance goals on the levels of critical thinking dispositions. We found that critical thinking dispositions are related to goal orientation response patterns and vary with the curricular context.