Becoming original: effects of strategy instruction

Visual arts education focuses on creating original visual art products. A means to improve originality is enhancement of divergent thinking, indicated by fluency, flexibility and originality of ideas. In regular arts lessons, divergent thinking is mostly promoted through brainstorming. In a previous study, we found positive effects of an explicit instruction of metacognition on fluency and flexibility in terms of the generation of ideas, but not on the originality of ideas. Therefore, we redesigned the instruction with a focus on building up knowledge about creative generation strategies by adding more complex types of association, and adding generation through combination and abstraction. In the present study, we examined the effects of this intervention by comparing it with regular brainstorming instruction. In a pretest-posttest control group design, secondary school students in the comparison condition received the brainstorm lesson and students in the experimental condition received the newly developed instruction lesson. To validate the effects, we replicated this study with a second cohort. The results showed that in both cohorts the strategy instruction of 50 min had positive effects on students' fluency, flexibility and originality. This study implies that instructional support in building up knowledge about creative generation strategies may improve students' creative processes in visual arts education

Dispositional factors predicting Chinese students' critical thinking performance

Dispositional factors have been suggested to affect individuals' critical thinking performance. The relative and combined effects of thinking dispositions and cognitive ability on the critical thinking performance of a group of 137 Chinese undergraduates were examined. Participants were administered the Need for Cognition Scale, Openness to Experience and Conscientiousness Subscales of the NEO Five Factor Inventory as well as the Concern for Truth Scale. Cognitive ability and critical thinking performance were respectively estimated with the WAIS-III Verbal Comprehension Index and the Halpern Critical Thinking Assessment Using Everyday Situations. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that only the disposition of concern for truth accounted for unique additional variance in critical thinking beyond that explained by cognitive ability. The findings are discussed in the light of cultural factors affecting critical thinking in the Chinese context. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Metacognitive strategies that enhance critical thinking

The need to cultivate students' use of metacognitive strategies in critical thinking has been emphasized in the related literature. The present study aimed at examining the role of metacognitive strategies in critical thinking. Ten university students with comparable cognitive ability, thinking disposition and academic achievement but with different levels of critical thinking performance participated in the study (five in the high-performing group and five in the low-performing group). They were tested on six thinking tasks using think-aloud procedures. Results showed that good critical thinkers engaged in more metacognitive activities, especially high-level planning and high-level evaluating strategies. The importance of metacognitive knowledge as a supporting factor for effective metacognitive regulation was also revealed. The contribution of metacognitive strategies to critical thinking and implications for instructional practice are discussed. © 2010 Springer Science + Business Media, LLC.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Epistemic beliefs and critical thinking of Chinese students

Two studies were carried out to examine the relationship between epistemic beliefs and critical thinking. In the first study, 138 Chinese undergraduates completed the adapted Epistemic Beliefs Inventory (EBI) and the Halpern Critical Thinking Assessment Using Everyday Situations. Their cognitive ability and thinking dispositions were also measured. Results showed that other than cognitive ability, the belief that knowledge is certain was most related to thinking performance. In the second study, 111 undergraduates read a passage on a controversial issue and were asked to indicate their position, explain the reasoning behind, and rate their confidence in judgment. They were then presented relevant counterarguments and asked to respond to them. Participants were also administered the adapted EBI. There was clear evidence that those believing knowledge to be certain exhibited poorer two-sided thinking and a stronger tendency to devaluate or ignore counterarguments. Implications for the enhancement of critical thinking are discussed. © 2010 Elsevier Inc.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Package on 'The Learning & Teaching of Critical Thinking Skills' (Senior Secondary)

link_to_OA_fulltex

Critical Thinking Training Program: Comparison Between Direct Instruction and Issue Inquiry Approaches

面對日益膨脹和泛濫的資訊，怎樣教導學生建立批判能力，從而懂得選取及運用資訊，這已成為教育研究中十分重要的課題。本研究透過實驗法（共401名中六學生參與），比較直接講授法與議題探究法兩者的效能。其中後者注重探索（如分析流行電影、電視節目），這正是香港新高中課程所採用的方法。本研究結果顯示，相對於控制組，兩種教學法都能提高學生的批判性思考能力。此外，研究亦顯示，老師不應低估直接講授法的好處。有系統的講解及總結，會令學生更容易掌握內容，並能將思考方法轉移及應用於新的情境中。Students are faced with an ever-increasing amount of information everyday. Teaching them how to select and utilize the information so obtained is therefore of paramount importance. In this research with 401 Secondary 6 (Grade 12) students, we compared the effectiveness of the direct instruction and issue inquiry methods. The latter can be conducted through the analyses of popular films and TV programs and is the approach adopted by the Hong Kong new senior secondary school curriculum. Results showed that, as compared to the control group, both approaches were able to enhance students’ critical thinking competence. Furthermore, the research also indicated that teachers should not underestimate the benefits of direct instruction. Under systematic instruction and with good summaries, students can grasp the main content and transfer the skills to new situations easily