An Exploration into Research on Critical Thinking and Its Cultivation: An Overview

Abstract

Abstract-The intellectual root of critical thinking can trace back to Socratics in ancient Greece. Since then, a variety of conceptions and models have been proposed, which constitute the theoretic core of critical thinking. They place different weights on different aspects of critical thinking. In the meantime, the cultivation of critical thinking commenced when Socrates attempted to apply theories of critical thinking into the instruction. Consequently, a variety of instruction approaches and strategies and assessment of critical thinking have been developed. However, there is still a dispute on whether critical thinking can be developed independently of subject content. The paper attempts to review research on critical thinking with the aim to discover commonalities and clarify the subtle differences among diversities of conceptions, models, instruction approaches and strategies, and assessment. The discovery and clarification could be significant for the instruction of critical thinking, especially, conducted in non-western countries. Index Terms-critical thinking, theoretic core, critical thinking instruction, critical thinking assessmentThe research on critical thinking can date back to Socratic time in ancient Greece. Since then, a variety of definitions, models and theories on critical thinking have been developed. The intellectual development of critical thinking is in parallel with its instruction which commenced when Socrates attempted to instruct people how to justify their confident claims to knowledge. The variation of definitions, models and theories which leads to a variety of the instruction approaches and strategies, and assessment of critical thinking requires the discovery of the threads among them. The paper aims to explore the commonalities and clarify differences among the various conceptions, models, instruction approaches and strategies for the purpose to facilitate the development of critical thinking in non-western culture. The discovery and clarification would be significant for the instruction of critical thinking conducted in non-western countries, in particular, Confucian culture. It includes two general topics: theoretical background of critical thinking and critical thinking instruction.

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