Epistemological Beliefs: The Key to Enhance Critical Thinking for Higher Education Students in the East

• In Event: Measurement and Assessment in Higher Education Roundtable

Abstract

This paper recommends that epistemological beliefs are the key to enhance critical thinking for higher education students in the East. The recommendation was prompted by the mismatch between what needs to be developed (epistemological beliefs) for critical thinking and how it is cultivated in practice (reasoning skills) against the backdrop of higher education in China. In order to render the recommendation plausible, the argument is presented that epistemological beliefs in comparison with dispositions can describe the attitudinal dimension of critical thinking in a more substantive and systematic manner. Lastly, implications were drawn for the future development of critical thinking and epistemological beliefs in China, which could be utilized in other eastern regions.

Author

• Zhihong Sundance Sun, The University of Melbourne