Cultivating Undergraduates' Critical Thinking

The critical thinking ability of college students has always been an important goal of higher education.In order to achieve this goal,a variety of ways to cultivate critical thinking have been adopted by universities,such as critical thinking courses and integrated teaching.Among them,cooperative learning is one of the common ways.This teaching method has been proved to improve the critical thinking level of college students.However,in reality,cooperation has many phenomena such as free riders and conformity,which may not be consistent with the objectives of critical thinking.In addition,as the cooperative learning objectives are diverse and tensioned,for example,both expecting to cultivate individualized critical thinking and aiming at achieving a team spirit of mutual cooperation,contradictions like internal appeals may negatively affect the achievement of specific goals to a certain extent.Therefore,the relationship between cooperative learning and critical thinking cannot be simply summarized.This study aims to reveal the specific process of cooperative learning affecting critical thinking,fully consider the diversity of cooperative learning in individual differences,and deeply explore the space in which critical thinking can be realized under the above contradictions and tensions.The key questions are as follows: First,what kind of cognitive and behavioral performance do college students have for cooperative learning? What are the characteristics of critical thinking behind it? Second,based on the collaborative learning environment,what factors affect these critical thinking characteristics?Considering the diversity of cooperative learning types,this study focus on curriculum-based collaborative learning.Using qualitative research methods,this study conducts in-depth interviews with 20 junior and senior undergraduates.Based on the critical thinking of Richard Paul's in terms of dialogue concept to construct an analytical framework,including the four critical thinking ability dimensions: independence of thinking,seeking common ground and reserving differences,objective impartiality and the degree of self-reflection.Data analysis focuses on students' cognitive and behavioral performance in these four dimensions.The main points are as follows:Cooperative learning has a multifaceted impact on the cultivation of critical thinking.Firstly,in terms of independence of thinking,most students in the case show poor independence of thinking when cooperating,specifically reflect in both negative and passive thinking.Secondly,under the dimension of seeking the same and reserving differences,students show three different levels of critical thinking characteristics: excessively seeking common ground,mechanically reserving differences,and appropriately seeking common ground while reserving differences.Thirdly,in terms of objective impartiality,most students in the case show weak fairness due to the rules of cooperation that follow the human orientation and the prejudice of the ad hominem fallacy.Finally,from the perspective of self-reflection,through reflecting on the task results and their roles in groups,students may develop a reflective critical thinking.Influencing factors in faculty and students are summarized.Teacher factors include task setting,process control,and assessment.While the student factors include individual inertia,human orientation,personal responsibility as well as the degree of dependence between peers.Based on the specific influence mechanism of cooperative learning on critical thinking,suggestions are proposed from the perspective of teaching and learning: Firstly,in terms of goal concept,faculty should help students to establish the target consciousness of critical thinking development.Secondly,in terms of task setting,task should be exploratory and relates to student's personal experience.Lecture-related knowledge also should be provided.Thirdly,in terms of process control,it is necessary to carry out cooperation nudge for personal development and establish a psychological zone for the separation of personnel.In addition,when establishing group system,the methodological guidance and support ought to be provided correspondingly.Fourthly,in the aspect of assessment,students are encouraged to participate in the evaluation in a deep and diversified manner,and the combination of internal and inter-group evaluation should be promoted.