Examining the Role of Critical Thinking in Advancing Inquiry

• In Event: Self-Directed and External Supports for Student Learning

Abstract

Education in the 21st century requires students to learn critical thinking in order to solve complex and authentic problems. This paper tries to analyze students’ critical thinking behavior exhibited through online discussion which spanned a period of 12 weeks. Given that traditional critical thinking instruments cannot reveal students’ critical thinking ability in authentic problem-solving situations, content analysis was conducted and visualizations of some longer threads were shown to examine students’ quality of online inquiry processes and critical thinking processes in the online discourse. This paper helps to illustrate the role of critical thinking in the computer-supported collaborative inquiry discourse.

Authors

• Jing Leng, East China Normal University

• Nancy Law, The University of Hong Kong