Creating thinking schools through authentic assessment: the case in Singapore

Using Singapore as an example, we argue that schools need to equip and encourage teachers to adopt authentic assessment in teaching and learning so as to develop the students’ higher-order thinking. The importance of teaching and assessing higher-order thinking in Singapore classrooms is encapsulated in the vision of ‘Thinking Schools’ launched by the Ministry of Education in 1997. Underpinning this vision is a shift from conventional assessment to authentic assessment. Unlike conventional paper-and-pencil tests that focus on knowledge reproduction and low-level cognitive processing skills in artificial, contrived contexts, authentic assessment tasks underscore knowledge construction, complex thinking, elaborated communication, collaboration and problem solving in authentic contexts. However, the creation of thinking schools in Singapore remains a constant challenge as many teachers tend to rely on conventional assessment and are often ill-prepared to implement authentic assessment. By presenting the findings from a recent empirical study, we propose that schools build teacher capacity by providing ongoing and sustained professional development on authentic assessment for teachers.     

Student perceptions of how critical thinking is embedded in a degree program

Critical thinking is a highly valued outcome of university study, although its nature is difficult to define. Most students are not directly taught critical thinking, but are expected to display it in at least some of their assignments. We do not know much about student perceptions of their development as critical thinkers in their degree programs. This paper presents research into student perceptions of instruction in critical thinking and aspects of its development as they study in an undergraduate degree program in agriculture. Twenty‐one students across four years of study were interviewed. They received direct instruction in critical thinking only in the first year of study, and the literature review emerged as a key genre in which critical thinking was perceived to be important by later‐year students. The final sections highlight the importance of considering the disciplinary contexts in which students develop their critical thinking, and of preparing them for transfer to post‐study contexts.     

Support for assessment practice: developing the Assessment Design Decisions Framework

There are many excellent publications outlining features of assessment and feedback design in higher education. However, university educators often find these ideas challenging to realise in practice, as much of the literature focuses on institutional change rather than supporting academics. This paper describes the conceptual development of a practical framework designed to stimulate educators’ thinking when creating or modifying assessments. We explain the concepts that underpin this practical support, including the notions of ‘assessment decisions’ and ‘assessment design phases’, as informed by relevant literature and empirical data. We also present the outcome of this work. The Assessment Design Decisions Framework. This provides key considerations in six categories: purposes, contexts, tasks, interactions, feedback processes and learning outcomes. By tracing the development of the Framework, we highlight complex ways of thinking about assessment that are relevant to those who design and deliver assessment to tertiary students.     

Practicing Critical Thinking in an Educational Psychology Classroom: Reflections from a Cultural-Historical Perspective

Present standards include creative and critical thinking among dispositions essential for the teaching profession. While teaching introductory courses in educational psychology, I have noticed that even though students can easily describe critical thinking in the abstract, they rarely and reluctantly engage in thinking critically about their own educational experiences. Emphasis on assessment of critical thinking dispositions and skills requires students to demonstrate “the right way to think.” This emphasis, I argue, decreases students' inclination to practice critical inquiry and to feel this experience as intrinsically rewarding. Exploration of socio-cultural contexts of my own and my students' upbringing helps understand how such contexts condition the critical thinking practice. I offer the cultural-historical theory of Lev Vygotsky as an alternative frame of reference that will help students practice critical thinking in an educational psychology classroom.     

Criticality's affective entanglements: rethinking emotion and critical thinking in higher education

ABSTRACT

Critical thinking is often understood as a set of tangible, transferrable and measurable skills and competencies. Yet, it is also an intensely affective experience that is complex, contingent and contextualised. Using interview, focus group and observation data conducted with 15 first-year undergraduate social science students at a UK research-intensive university, this paper explores how students negotiate the complex knowledge practices that constitute critical thinking, particularly the affects of being and becoming critical. The theoretical tools offered by Karen Barad and Sara Ahmed allow a conceptualisation of critical thinking as a complex phenomenon of socio-material and affective practices. This paper turns to Barad and Ahmed to explore the potential of their clashing theorisations for thinking through the affective territories of critical thinking. It will argue that acknowledging the way(s) critical thinking feels (as well as what it is and what it is for) opens up new imaginaries for feminist scholarship about criticality.     

THE VALIDITY OF HIGHER-ORDER QUESTIONS AS A PROCESS INDICATOR OF EDUCATIONAL QUALITY

One way to assess the quality of education in post-secondary institutions is through the use of performance indicators. Studies that have compared currently popular process indicators (e.g., library size, percentage of faculty with PhD) found that after controlling for incoming student ability, these process indicators tend to be weakly associated with student outcomes (Pascarella and Terenzini, 2005). In addition, while much research has found that students increase their critical thinking skills as a result of attending college, little is known about what goes on during the college experience that contributes to this. The purpose of this research was to examine the validity of higher-order questions on tests and assignments as a process indicator by comparing it with gains in critical thinking skills among college students as an outcome indicator. The present research consisted of three studies that used different designs, samples, and instruments. Overall, it was found that frequency of higher-order questions can be a valid process indicator as it is related to gains in students’ critical thinking skills.     

Changes in instructors' assessment thinking related to experimentation with new strategies

Formative assessment has been recognised as a critical element in teaching for conceptual development. A case study research design was employed to: (1) characterise the assessment thinking of three science instructors at a research‐based university; and (2) examine the complex relationship between instructor thinking and practice by encouraging experimentation with alternative assessment strategies. Interviews, reflective journals, field notes and course documents were the data sources used to create a single case study that documented the development of these university instructors’ assessment thinking during their experimentation with formative assessment strategies. Throughout two semesters of experimentation, the instructors’ assessment thinking became more sophisticated; they grew to view the purpose of assessment less as a summative activity used for the assignment of marks and more as a tool for diagnosing student learning. However, more sophisticated thinking was not associated with revisions in teaching practice based on formative assessment data. Further investigations are needed to more completely understand the nature of assessment thinking and how assessment thinking influences assessment practices. Implications for professional development of university‐level science instructors include personalised experiences through which instructors can become active participants in gathering evidence of student learning that promotes growth in assessment thinking.     

Instruments to assess students’ critical thinking—A qualitative approach

Critical thinking (CT) skills are essential to academic and professional success. Instruments to assess CT often rely on multiple-choice formats with inherent problems. This research presents two instruments for assessing CT, an essay and open-ended group-discussion format, which were implemented in an undergraduate business course at a large public university. The topics were intentionally chosen to be digitally-related (internet access and social media) since they raise complex issues, are applicable in many disciplines, and students are avid users, thereby making these instruments relevant, multidisciplinary, engaging, and multifaceted. These instruments may be adapted to enable educators to effectively assess undergraduate students’ ability to think critically. Qualitative analysis of the verbatim data with NVivo helps demonstrate the instruments’ efficacy in assessing CT, with (1) high-quality responses receiving high grades, and (2) overarching themes identified by content analysis, that coalesce into the three dimensions of social justice theory (distributive, procedural, and interactional), thus illustrating students’ consideration of complex fairness norms and societal needs. Excerpts of student responses are provided as illustrations of the indicators/evidence of critical thinking. Educators can use these instruments to first assess students’ CT skills, and then devise targeted interventions to improve the quality of students’ thought processes.     

Thinking Critically about Critical Thinking

As a philosophy professor, one of my central goals is to teach students to think critically. However, one difficulty with determining whether critical thinking can be taught, or even measured, is that there is widespread disagreement over what critical thinking actually is. Here, I reflect on several conceptions of critical thinking, subjecting them to critical scrutiny. I also distinguish critical thinking from other forms of mental processes with which it is often conflated. Next, I present my own conception of critical thinking, wherein it fundamentally consists in acquiring, developing, and exercising the ability to grasp inferential connections holding between statements. Finally, given this account of critical thinking, and given recent studies in cognitive science, I suggest the most effective means for teaching students to think critically.     

Teaching and Assessing Critical Thinking Abilities as Outcomes in an Informal Logic Course

I provide a theoretical framework to show that courses in informal logic can be taught developmentally to focus on a critical thinking practical component. However, efforts must be made to state clear outcomes, such that the content and processes of the course are tailored to achieve the outcomes, and clear criteria are provided for students' learning and assessment of their performance. This framework is an attempt to respond indirectly to the distinction between informal logic and critical thinking, and the concern that informal logic courses only teach abstract principles of reasoning and do not focus on requisite critical thinking abilities, which are contextualised to subject matter. I suggest a plausible connection between critical thinking and informal logic: that learning logical principles of reasoning is necessary, but not sufficient to think critically; there is an extra element which involves learning to apply the principles to various contexts.     

从“愤青”到“奋青”——一个新生适应性教育的典型案例引发的思考

大学阶段是大学生的人生观、价值观、世界观形成和发展的关键时期。"好的开始等于成功的一半",大一年级则是新生进入新的大学环境之后的一个重要的适应阶段。现代大学生普遍具有思维活跃,有激情,有强烈的求知欲,好奇心强等特点,部分大一新生难以适应新的环境,产生排斥和不满的情绪,甚至不满现状,针砭时弊,宣泄负面的、不满的情绪,构成了大学校园"愤青"群体。以一个典型案例,结合90后大学新生的思想行为特征,对新生适应性教育进行探讨。     

Generative mechanistic explanation building in undergraduate molecular and cellular biology*

ABSTRACT

When conducting scientific research, experts in molecular and cellular biology (MCB) use specific reasoning strategies to construct mechanistic explanations for the underlying causal features of molecular phenomena. We explored how undergraduate students applied this scientific practice in MCB. Drawing from studies of explanation building among scientists, we created and applied a theoretical framework to explore the strategies students use to construct explanations for ‘novel’ biological phenomena. Specifically, we explored how students navigated the multi-level nature of complex biological systems using generative mechanistic reasoning. Interviews were conducted with introductory and upper-division biology students at a large public university in the United States. Results of qualitative coding revealed key features of students’ explanation building. Students used modular thinking to consider the functional subdivisions of the system, which they ‘filled in’ to varying degrees with mechanistic elements. They also hypothesised the involvement of mechanistic entities and instantiated abstract schema to adapt their explanations to unfamiliar biological contexts. Finally, we explored the flexible thinking that students used to hypothesise the impact of mutations on multi-leveled biological systems. Results revealed a number of ways that students drew mechanistic connections between molecules, functional modules (sets of molecules with an emergent function), cells, tissues, organisms and populations.     

题库型游戏评测批判性思维能力研究

作为21世纪学习者的必备技能,批判性思维能力的培养和测评变得越来越重要。本文拟突破传统的纸笔测试,设计并开发一款测量中小学生批判性思维能力的工具。近年来,游戏化测评技术成为大数据时代评价学习的重要方式。游戏化测评可将观察到的学习行为对测评对象实现即时反馈。本研究设计了题库型游戏测评工具,将游戏化元素与批判性思维能力指标相结合,让测评对象在游戏情境中作出相应决策,通过在线行为了解其能力水平。研究发现,测评对象的批判性思维能力水平处于中等水平;得分高的测评对象会花更多的时间研读游戏情境中出现的重要信息,如例题等。本研究使用虚拟游戏元素使测评对象投入到任务情境中,以更真实、更快速的方式实现对批判性思维能力的评估,同时也期望利用游戏化测评技术推动大数据背景下其他高阶思维能力测评的发展。     

Assessing reflective thinking: pre‐service teachers’ and professors’ perceptions of an oral examination

This paper investigates the role questioning occupies in an oral examination as it relates to King and Kitchener’s theory of critical, reflective thinking. Pre‐service teachers’ experience of sitting an oral examination and professors’ reflections on conducting the assessment in a small liberal arts university are considered. Findings from this research reflect upon the learning process in an oral examination and review the relationship between the examiners’ probing questions and the assessment of reflective thinking in pre‐service teachers.     

批判性思维量表在医学教育中的应用与展望

批判性思维是医学生医学素养发展的重要构成部分,培养批判性思维能力是世界高等教育的共同目标。量表是衡量学生批判性思维状况,检验培养效果的重要工具。运用文献调研法与内容分析法,追踪国内外批判性思维量表的发展,对条目式量表、情景选择式量表、开放式量表、混合式量表的开发现状及在医学教育中的应用进行分析,比较常用量表的特点及差异。研究发现批判性思维量表在我国医学教育的应用中存在中国文化元素缺失、特异性学科量表有待开发以及量表不能覆盖教育的全周期全过程等三个方面的不足。未来我国批判性思维测评需要以中国文化和国情为基础,开发针对医学生的批判性思维特异性量表,加强批判性思维的全过程评价。     

Information literacy for first-year students: an embedded curriculum approach

The ability to access, evaluate and synthesise high-quality research material is the backbone of critical thinking in academic and professional contexts for Engineers and Industrial Designers. This is the premise upon which teaching and library staff developed Information Literacy (IL) components in Engineering & Industrial Design Practice—a first-year unit of study in the School of Engineering at the University of Western Sydney. This paper documents the IL teaching and learning experience and evaluates and reflects upon how effective it was at helping students navigate their first tertiary level research tasks. It concludes that library sessions and assessment tasks were effective in introducing IL skills in concurrent development of critical thinking, based on feedback from library sessions, an online IL test, and assessment results.     

石油类高校大型仪器设备开放共享的探索与思考

随着网络信息的快速发展,在互联网+的助力下,在生态文明理念的驱使下,共享发展成为社会发展的新型方式。高校实验室是培养人才的摇篮,如何在大学实验室中高效、科学地推广大型仪器设备的使用是实验室管理中的一个重要问题。目前,各高校正在积极推进大学实验室中共享和使用大型仪器设备,但是,由于诸多客观因素,石油高校大型仪器和设备的使用过程中仍然存在效率低下和开放不足等问题。现以中国石油大学(华东)为例,研究分析了大型仪器设备的现状。在此前提下,探索和研究如何更好地管理和使用大型仪器设备。     

Maybe one in a hundred or one in a thousand in the neoliberal,new-managerial university! Aesthetics of experience and the question of transgressive critical thinking

ABSTRACT

Trangression is an act of challenging boundaries that separate apparently distinct oppositional categories objects. Examples are categories such as such as civilised/primitive, male/female, master/servant, Lordship/bondage. The article deals with such transgressions related to the evolution of class consciousness transgressive critical thinking. It is said to be particularly important and at risk in higher education today, as performativity reforms have closed the spaces for transgressive reflexivity, making it difficult for students to make sense of the possibilities and costs for the self that higher education can create. However, although the now professionally managed entrepreneurial university might appear to form a difficult space for developing critical thinking, critique is also a basis for the expansion of capitalism in the university, and through transferability this can create spaces for critical reflection.     

Interpretations of formative assessment in the teaching of English at two Chinese universities: a sociocultural perspective

Formative assessment is increasingly being implemented through policy initiatives in Chinese educational contexts. As an approach to assessment, formative assessment derives many of its key principles from Western contexts, notably through the work of scholars in the UK, the USA and Australia. The question for this paper is the ways that formative assessment has been interpreted in the teaching of College English in Chinese Higher Education. The paper reports on a research study that utilised a sociocultural perspective on learning and assessment to analyse how two Chinese universities – an urban-based Key University and a regional-based Non-Key University – interpreted and enacted a China Ministry of Education policy on formative assessment in College English teaching. Of particular interest for the research were the ways in which the sociocultural conditions of the Chinese context mediated understanding of Western principles and led to their adaptation. The findings from the two universities identified some consistency in localised interpretations of formative assessment which included emphases on process and student participation. The differences related to the specific sociocultural conditions contextualising each university including geographical location, socioeconomic status, and teacher and student roles, expectations and beliefs about English. The findings illustrate the sociocultural tensions in interpreting, adapting and enacting formative assessment in Chinese College English classes and the consequent challenges to and questions about retaining the spirit of formative assessment as it was originally conceptualised.     

Field dependence–independence as visuospatial and executive functioning in working memory: implications for instructional systems design and research

Field dependence–independence (FDI) has long been conceptualized and discussed as a cognitive style relevant to numerous educational approaches and outcomes. However, the FDI construct is most often measured as a cognitive ability, as opposed to a style, using instruments such as the Group-Embedded Figures test (GEFT) or the Hidden Figures Test (HFT). Specifically, FDI is typically measured as visuospatial ability and executive functioning in working memory. While measurement and use of FDI within psychological and educational research has often resulted in misleading or inconsistent discussion about cognitive styles, this review examines how the long history of FDI research continues to be relevant to contemporary instructional contexts. A broader recognition of FDI as ability is suggested in order to (a) better distinguish ability measurements from those of styles, (b) encourage a reinterpretation and awareness of theoretical connections among past studies that use instruments such as GEFT or HFT, and (c) highlight suggestions for future research and application, particularly with contemporary interactive multimedia learning tools.