An Empirical Study of a Critical Thinking Oriented PBL Model---Take the Science Course as an Example

Abstract

Critical thinking is one of the very important qualities in today's knowledge economy and is an important topic that is currently receiving close attention in the international community. There are currently two main approaches to developing critical thinking: stand-alone and embedded. The stand-alone approach is difficult due to the lack of an overall top-level design, the lack of a complete and unified course framework, and the lack of specialization in cultivating teachers. Embedded cultivation can embed critical thinking in specific subjects and is the most direct way in today's national context. In this paper, a critical thinking-oriented PBL model (PBL-CT) is constructed in a science classroom. 84 testees in West Lake District were selected as the study participants, and a pre and post-test experimental group and control group experimental design was used, with 42 testees in each of the experimental group and control group. The experimental group was subjected to a 4-week intervention in which the critical thinking-oriented PBL model was the core application, while the control group was taught in a traditional science classroom mode. The results of the intervention and experimental findings were analyzed by pre and post testing of the experimental and control groups. The study showed that the changes in the sub-dimensions of critical thinking disposition and analytical ability, systematic ability and self-confidence were significantly higher in the experimental group than in the control group before and after the intervention. The critical thinking-oriented PBL model was able to significantly improve critical thinking disposition.