Year: 2019
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Critical thinking plays a powerful role in an individual’s personal life and professional life. Globalization has increased the diversity in the population of students with different cultural and educational backgrounds studying abroad. The increasing student diversity regarding culture and background has created a need to improve the awareness of cultural difference. However, it is difficult to adopt effective teaching strategies to enhance higher-order thinking skills among the students with different thinking styles and cultural backgrounds. \nThe multi-phase investigation sought to develop an instrument to measure critical thinking attitude, and explore if culture has influenced on critical thinking attitude and critical thinking style among agriculture students. In addition, the relationship between critical thinking attitude and style was investigated. \nDuring phase one, Critical Thinking Attitude Instrument (CTAI) was developed, which produced a two-factor structure. The first factor was interpreted and labeled as situational attitude toward critical thinking, and factor 2 interpreted and labeled as universal attitude toward critical thinking. The situational attitude is described as assessing critical thinking attitude in the context of a specific, limited or bounded situation. The universal attitude is described as identifying the intended and actual inferential relationships and is characterize by a lack of circumstances, specificities or situational descriptors. \nPhase two was to compare the differences of critical thinking style and critical thinking attitude between the U.S. and Chinese college students in agriculture as well as determine if critical thinking style and critical thinking attitude significantly differed by gender, age and academic performances. Critical thinking attitude was assessed by the CTAI developed in phase one, and critical thinking style was assessed by means of the University Florida Critical Thinking Inventory (UFCTI). The results reveled a significant difference of critical thinking style and critical thinking attitude between Chinese and U.S. groups. The differences of critical thinking style and critical thinking attitude may be due to the cultural differences regarding their social background and their educational systems. In phase two, this study found there is no significance of critical thinking attitude and critical thinking style by age and academic performance, however, the critical thinking style between male and female agriculture students was significantly different. Regarding the critical thinking attitudes, there was no difference between female and male agriculture undergraduate students. \nIn the final phase, the relationship between critical thinking style and critical thinking attitude among undergraduate students in agriculture were examined. The findings revealed a positive relationship between critical thinking style and critical thinking attitude. \nFindings from this study contributed to the development of critical thinking in higher education. Critical thinking, as a multiple dimensional concept, has been highlighted in higher education worldwide. This study proposed situational attitude and universal attitude of critical thinking might be considered as a new model to assess critical thinking attitude. In addition, the findings in terms of the relationship between critical thinking style and critical thinking attitude contributes have implications for education at the level of curriculum development.
Author: Peng Lu
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
Funder: Texas Tech University
OpenAlex ID: W3034803936