Research On The Application And Influencing Factors Of Socratic Questioning In Critical Thinking Courses In Colleges And Universities

With the development of technology and the popularization of scientific knowledge,the goal and mission of education is no longer simply to teach knowledge,but more importantly to teach student show to think independently and solve problems.After the rise of the critical thinking movement in the United States in the late 1970 s,colleges and universities began to set up thinking courses to cultivate students’ critical thinking ability.At the end of last century,China also began to study the field of critical thinking.What is critical thinking and how to cultivate critical thinking have become the focus of experts and scholars at home and abroad in recent decades.The core research questions are what is the application of Socratic questioning method and what are the factors that influence teachers’ use of Socratic questioning in critical thinking courses in domestic universities? This study takes the Socrates question list as the observation guide,which is produced by international critical thinking education experts Richard Paul and Linda Elder.The researcher conducted an 8-week participatory observation of Shantou University’s "Shantou University Integrative Thinking" offline guide course to understand the practice of critical thinking courses in universities.Through the interview with the teaching team of critical thinking course,the researcher understands the factors that influence the critical thinking classroom teaching.The results show that the use of Socratic questioning method in critical thinking class and its influencing factors.According to the participatory observation results,the teaching segment length of the Socratic questioning method used by the three teachers in critical thinking class was respectively 14.3%,18.1% and 13.8%.The types of questions that teachers often ask in class focus on inquiring the reasoning process and inquiring the relevant information related to views.Different teachers use different types of questions.Through in-depth interviews with teachers,it is found that teachers’ use of Socratic questioning method in critical thinking class is influenced by teachers’ educational concepts,goals they want to achieve,teaching ability and the orientation of critical thinking courses.Critical thinking is a basic requirement for every student.At present,the practice of critical thinking education in domestic colleges and universities is still being explored.This study suggests that colleges and universities that are willing to offer independent critical thinking courses should first clarify their course positioning and grasp the relationship between independent courses and other teaching links.In addition,since there are no graduates majoring in critical thinking,colleges and universities should pay more attention to the training of teachers of thinking courses,including their educational concepts,teaching abilities and professional knowledge.The researchers suggest that colleges and universities set up targeted assessment standards for teachers to improve the quality of critical thinking classes.