Research On Pedagogical Critical Thinking Knowledge ——A Case Study On Primary And Secondary Chinese Teachers

Critical thinking is not only one of the key characters of “ideal person” in the past,but also a quality that new generations should have in today’s information age,big data age and artificial intelligence age.Among factors that influence students’ critical thinking,classroom teaching is the most stable and controllable intervention;teacher’s pedagogical critical thinking knowledge is the most stable and controllable factor of classroom teaching’s quality.Besides,present research of critical thinking teaching mainly focus on teaching methods;very few research pay attention to teachers’ knowledge.Therefore,it is important and meaningful to study pedagogical critical thinking knowledge.The core research question is: “In order to teach critical thinking,what kinds of knowledge should teachers have?” There are three sub-questions:（1）What is the connotation and composition of “pedagogical critical thinking knowledge”?（2）What is Chinese teachers’ “pedagogical critical thinking knowledge” actually like?（3）How do Chinese teachers improve their “pedagogical critical thinking knowledge”? The third sub-question is about what factors influence pedagogical critical thinking knowledge,and how can teachers improve these knowledge.The first sub-question is based on present literature review.In order to answer the second sub-question,mixed-methods approach is used,including material analysis（of teaching designs,teaching cases,teaching reflections,etc.）and data analysis（descriptive statistics）of questionnaire survey.To answer the third sub-question,we also use material analysis（of teachers’ research papers）and data analysis（e.g.sample cluster analysis,differential analysis and relationship analysis）of questionnaire survey.The key concept of the research is “pedagogical critical thinking knowledge”,which is knowledge that teachers need to develop students’ critical thinking,and integrate critical thinking goals into subject teaching.It is based on pedagogical content knowledge.Similarly,it is a combination of theoretical knowledge and practical knowledge: it is regular,dynamic and situational.Differently,it does not view knowledge as object and general outcome,but a dynamic and open process that constructed by multi-view;it does not consider how to transfer certain knowledge to students,but how to mix different views（teachers’,text books’,students’,etc.）and construct new knowledge.“Pedagogical critical thinking knowledge” includes pedagogical critical thinking objective knowledge,pedagogical critical thinking process knowledge,and pedagogical critical thinking evaluation knowledge.“Pedagogical critical thinking objective knowledge” should be combination of critical thinking objectives,subject teaching objectives and students’ thinking development needs.“Pedagogical critical thinking process knowledge” should be characterized by open interaction and reflective inquiry,the teaching process of which balance collective learning and individual learning,systematic receptive teaching and inquiry teaching;“Pedagogical critical thinking evaluation knowledge” should take critical thinking as the standard,critical thinking improvement as the objective,and rationality as the guarantee.Most teachers can combine critical thinking objectives with subject teaching objectives,but they may take too much attention about critical thinking objectives to neglect subject teaching objectives and students’ thinking development needs.“Pedagogical critical thinking process knowledge” can be classified as “new receptive teaching”（which neglects students’ horizons）,“laissez-faire inquiry teaching”（which neglects teachers’ horizons）and “balance between receptive teaching and inquiry teaching”.Teachers’ critical thinking evaluation knowledge is mainly empirical,which means it has weak theory foundations and standard consciousness.At the aspect of development and transformation（the third sub-question）,teachers’ theory foundations and reflective consciousness are the crux.After comparing differences of the “ideal state” and the “actual state”,together with the results of the factors,suggestions are made to teachers,primary and secondary schools,and teacher education.Further research should consider how to supply the deficiency of physical analysis,questionnaire respondents and research object,etc.