Group work and the learning of critical thinking in the Hong Kong secondary liberal studies curriculum

This article reports the findings of a one-year longitudinal study that investigated the impact of group work on the development of students’ critical thinking in Hong Kong secondary schools. It explores whether the participation of teachers in a group-based teaching intervention adapted from an earlier study conducted in the United Kingdom (UK) facilitated students’ use of critical arguments in Liberal Studies lessons. In addition to examining students’ critical thinking skills through test performance and the use of reasoned justifications in written class-work, the article also discusses the applicability to the Hong Kong context of the programme on which the intervention was based. In general, the results of the study indicate that group work is more effective than whole-class instruction in developing students’ critical-thinking skills and that students make better progress in ‘teacher-supported’ than ‘student self-directed’ group work.     

What They Learned: Using Multimedia to Engage Undergraduates in Research

Today’s employers seek high levels of creativity, communication, and critical thinking, which are considered essential skills in the workplace. Engaging undergraduate students in critical thinking is especially challenging in introductory courses. The advent of YouTube, inexpensive video cameras, and easy-to-use video editors provides opportunities to increase students’ skill levels in these areas. In this article I explain the assignment of producing a public service announcement that integrates research, collaborative learning, and creativity into an introductory survey course; and I discuss the support necessary for students’ success. Their products demonstrate increased levels of media literacy, creativity, and critical thinking skills.     

Critical thinking in criminology: critical reflections on learning and teaching

Fostering critical thinking abilities amongst students is one component of preparing them to navigate uncertain and complex social lives and employment circumstances. One conceptualisation of critical thinking, valuable in higher education, draws from critical theory to promote social justice and redress power inequities. This study explored how students’ critical thinking developed in a discrete core unit of criminology. Second and third year students were invited to participate in the research. Participants wrote critical reflections on how their thinking about crime and criminal justice had developed throughout the unit. Analysis of responses indicated that certain topics were salient to students, offering a way to engage them in deeper thinking. Students’ critical reflections showed evidence of personally relevant meaning-making, including the development of more nuanced thinking about crime and justice, and more compassionate rationales for aspiring to careers within the field. Implications for learning and teaching critical thinking in criminology are discussed.     

Fostering critical and reflective thinking in an authentic learning situation

This article describes a research study in which 10 early childhood education students participated in facilitated critical reflection experiences during a 7-week practicum. Students’ critical thinking skills were quantitatively assessed using the Cornell Critical Thinking Test and qualitatively documented through analysis of daily, weekly, and summative reflections. While quantitative results showed no significant changes in measurable critical thinking skills, students’ levels of critical reflection increased when they were provided with regular guidance and appropriate tools. Students were able to demonstrate critical reflection through group discussions and written reflections while engaged in a process consisting of fading levels of structure, thought provoking questions, and meaningful experiences in environments that challenged their preconceived notions and typical practices.     

Enhancing curricula and learning environments using critical realist perspectives and approaches: a case study and critique

While critical realist (CR) ontological and epistemological perspectives and research approaches are becoming more widely adopted by higher education researchers, the scope of research is relatively limited, and novice researchers in the area still struggle to create rich, in-depth, and critical accounts of these approaches ‘in action’. This article provides an account of teacher-researchers’ exploration of these perspectives in the context of an important aspect their everyday teaching practice – the design of effective curricula and learning environments. The context is research that focused on the design, evaluation, and enhancement of learning environments intended to facilitate students’ development of design thinking expertise. The article outlines the researchers’ CR paradigm positioning and implications for methodologies used to gather, analyse, and theorise data about the response of design and business students to three iterations of a design thinking learning environment. The research involved action research that integrated survey, case study, and theorising methodologies. Examples of data, analyses, and explanatory theory are provided to give insights into specific research tasks and their outcomes. Possible explanations for the findings and their implications for attempts to enhance the learning environment are considered from a CR perspective along with challenges that deploying these approaches may entail.     

我国普通高中学生批判性思维状况与教育应对

培养学生的批判性思维是培养学生客观理性和创新精神的重要途径,但国内有关普通高中批判性思维的自主测评开发几近空白。本研究构建了我国普通高中批判性思维结构框架,开发了相应的测评问卷,对国内包括高中名校、优质高中、城市一般高中、农村一般高中四个层次共20所普通高中三个年级的6204名学生进行了测评并对教师进行访谈。研究发现了我国普通高中学生批判性思维的发展状况和影响因素,探求了加强我国普通高中学生批判性思维培养的途径与措施。     

Assessing participation skills: online discussions with peers

Many tertiary-level courses assess students’ participation in tutorial or online discussions. However, in educational and pedagogical research literature, criteria for assessing students’ skills in engaging with peers remain unclear. This article describes an online assignment with a set of participation criteria and a method for assessing the quality of students’ interactions with peers. The assignment focuses on students’ ability to utilise their critical thinking skills while engaging with peers on a particular topic. This includes abilities such as responding to criticism, justifying one’s view and contributing to discussion. While the assignment is designed for a critical thinking course in a philosophy curriculum, the method and participation criteria may be adapted for assessment in other discipline areas.     

我国批判性思维研究综述

通过梳理国内批判性思维研究的基本趋势、研究内容及研究方法,旨在结合我国文化特点,探索大学生批判性思维的规律和特点,推动国内批判性思维理论研究的深入开展。     

思辨型商务英语人才培养模式研究

本文基于商务英语专业的能力要求及商务英语专业学生高层次思维能力存在的问题,展开了对批判性思维的研究,指出了批判性思维的重要性,总结了商务英语专业思辨型人才培养的现状及不足,从课程设置和学业导师制两个方面提出了批判性思维的培养模式:增加中西方经典哲学原著阅读和学术文献阅读课程,增加读书报告任务和科研助理工作,从而训练学生的思考、判断、分析和解决复杂问题的能力。     

Analyzing effective communication in mathematics group work: The role of visual mediators and technical terms

Analyzing and designing productive group work and effective communication constitute ongoing research interests in mathematics education. In this article we contribute to this research by using and developing a newly introduced analytical approach for examining effective communication within group work in mathematics education. By using data from 12 to 13-year old students playing a dice game as well as from a group of university students working with a proof by induction, the article shows how the link between visual mediators and technical terms is crucial in students’ attempts to communicate effectively. The critical evaluation of visual mediators and technical terms, and of links between them, is useful for researchers interested in analyzing effective communication and designing environments providing opportunities for students to learn mathematics.     

我国高校外语专业大学生思辨能力培养模式研究

提高思辨能力是当前我国高校外语人才培养的主要目标,是有效研究和创新的根本。在分析了高校外语专业大学生"思辨缺席"现状和成因的基础上,梳理了外语学界从思辨能力模型建构、思辨能力测量工具建构和检验、高校外语专业教学改革、分门别类的实证研究等方面进行的积极应对举措。并立足于教师、学生、学校和社会四个方面,探讨了高校外语专业大学生思辨能力培养模式"四位一体"构建的建议,旨在为提高我国高校外语人才思辨能力做一些有益的探索。     

Developing Greek Primary School Students’ Critical Thinking through an Approach of Teaching Science which Incorporates Aspects of History of Science

In this paper, the development of sixth grade students’ critical thinking skills in science courses is discussed relatively to the contribution of the integration of aspects of History of Science into instruction. Towards this direction a project on electromagnetism was designed and implemented aiming to engage primary school students in a critical examination of knowledge (importance, complexity and human implications) by generating argumentation and discussion in their classrooms. The “Test of Everyday Reasoning (TER)”, which targets the core critical thinking skills identified in “The Delphi Report” consensus, was translated and standardized for the Greek population in order to be used for the project’s assessment. A pre-post analysis was conducted for the experimental group and the control group. The encouraging results regarding critical thinking skills development are supportive to the integration of aspects of History of Science in science courses.     

Caring and Critical Thinking in the Teaching of Young Adolescents

In this article, I consider what Noddings’ ideas about the critical lessons schools should teach might suggest for social education and critical thinking at the middle school level. Giving particular consideration to Noddings’ calls to engage young people in self-understanding and allow students to pursue their interests, this article explores how the middle school years present an especially rich opportunity to engage students in an examination of the period of young adolescence, allow them to enter the debates about schooling for the middle grades, and use students’ interests as a springboard for examining complex social issues. Considering Noddings’ (2015, p. 1) urging for us to engage in the mission of “producing better adults,” I argue that the critical middle school years offer a generative time in young people’s lives to advance this important work.     

Humanising Writing centre Practice: Peer tutor Reflections at a University of Technology

Abstract

Traditionally, universities of technology (UoTs) have focussed on education to prepare students for the workplace. The Durban University of Technology (DUT) is currently undergoing a pedagogical transformation with the inclusion of a general education curriculum that aims to prepare students for an increasingly complex globalised work environment. This critical paradigm shift in curriculum design foregrounds new ways of teaching, thinking and learning based broadly on humanistic principles. Writing centres in universities are positioned to sustain a teaching and learning environment in which students grow as critical citizens. This article reports on research that explored – through the thematic analysis of tutor reflections – how a humanising pedagogy underpins a responsive writing centre practice within the changing South African context. Thematic analysis of the tutors’ reflections revealed their self-awareness of the significance of communities of practice in their work. These communities of practice could be seen to cultivate a humanising pedagogy within writing centre work, which might contribute to the aesthetic, socio-political and cultural environments in which students live and work.     

The effects of college students’ positive thinking,learning motivation and self-regulation through a self-reflection intervention in Taiwan

This quasi-experimental study examined the effects of a self-reflection intervention on college (college in this article refers to university-level education) students’ positive thinking, learning motivation and self-regulation in Taiwan. One hundred and two college students were selected to participate in an 18-week intervention forming the experimental group (EG) which emphasized providing main lecture, role-play, self-reflection activity, group discussion and group work. Another 179 college students from two other courses were selected as a comparison group. This study showed that supportive, resourced discussion with peers and instructor, self-reflection activities and assignment as a facilitative agent improved the EG students’ positive thinking, learning motivation and self-regulation. In addition, three structural equation models revealed that positive thinking had a strong and direct relation to Taiwanese college students’ pretest learning motivation (β?=?.85) and self-regulation (β?=?.77); learning motivation had a strong and direct relation to students’ pretest positive thinking (β?=?.86) and self-regulation (β?=?.81); and self-regulation had a strong and direct relation to students’ pretest positive thinking (β?=?.83) and learning motivation (β?=?.86). Instructional implications and research recommendations are discussed.     

Factors influencing students’ perceptions of graduate attribute acquisition in a multidisciplinary honours track in a Dutch university

This article studies the relationship between students’ perceptions of teaching and learning in a multidisciplinary honours programme and their impact on graduate attributes acquisition. The study, conducted among 73 honours students in a Dutch research university, evaluates perceived improvement in graduate attributes through annually collected survey data pertaining to student motivation, perception of the teaching and learning environment, engagement in the programme and registered course marks. The evaluation study reveals that to the extent of the perceived development of graduate attributes, three factors play crucial roles: students’ performance motivation, the amount of teacher support in creative and critical thinking, and students’ inclination to approach the honours track as a learning community.     

Comparison to what end? Maximizing the potential of comparative education research

This article attends to comparative education scholars’ calls for more dialogue on the contribution of theory to comparative education research. It first presents the results of a review of a small sample of articles from comparative education related journals that elicited the purposes of their comparative research strategies in terms of exploration, explanation, argument, prediction, recommendation, and theory development. The article then discusses perspectives on the potential for the use of theory to contribute to richer explanations of educational phenomena. Finally, it demonstrates how a comparative study of political socialization in Hong Kong and Mainland China led to the development of explanatory concepts of critical thinking and the application and reconceptualization of the theory of resistance to explain the formation of students’ attitudes towards the nation.     

Integrating philosophy into English curriculum: The development of thinking and language competence

Abstract

This article reports the results of a study that assesses the effectiveness of a Philosophy in Schools (PIS) program in developing English as a Second Language (ESL) students’ thinking skills and English competence in Hong Kong. In the study, training and support were provided for two English teachers to enable them to teach PIS to their Secondary 4 ESL students during English lessons. The students were found to be capable of reasoning and arguing about philosophical problems arising from various stimuli prepared by their teachers according to the English curriculum. Also, PIS was found to play an important role in promoting the students’ critical and creative thinking and enhance the development of their English language proficiency to a significant extent. The findings of this study suggest that integrating philosophy into the English curriculum can promote critical thinking, creative thinking, and English language proficiency in ESL students.     

英语专业学生批判性思维能力培养的实证研究--以英语作文反馈式评价为媒介

依托Moodle平台,采用对英语专业学生英语作文进行反馈的方式训练学生的批评性思维技能。实验过程中利用“批判性思维质性评价量表”对实验班进行一对一的反馈式评价,实验结论显示,经过系统的训练和有针对性的反馈,实验班的批判性思维技能得到提高,证实了网络平台在思辨能力培养中的作用。