Research On The Influencing Factors And Optimization Strategies Of College Students’ Critical Thinking Development In Virtual Learning Environment

Critical thinking is the core quality of innovative talents in the 21 st century,and it is the basic thinking trait that college students should have for their survival and development in today’s society.Cultivating college students’ critical thinking is an important value orientation of higher education reform,which is of great value and significance for national development,social progress and personal happiness.The rapid development of virtual reality technology provides conditions for the creation of virtual learning environment,which plays an important enabling role in the development of college students’ critical thinking.With the implementation of the national education digitalization strategy and the promotion of the reform of college education informatization,how to promote the development of college students’ critical thinking by creating a virtual learning environment has gradually become the focus of many researchers and practitioners in the education field.Therefore,this study aims to explore the influencing factors model of the development of college students’ critical thinking under the virtual learning environment,and based on this,propose strategies to optimize the development of college students’ critical thinking under the virtual learning environment,so as to provide reference for the teaching practice of critical thinking.This research is based on the theory of embodied cognition,experiential learning,deeper learning and cognitive flexibility,rooted in the reality of teaching in colleges and universities.It deeply discusses and analyzes the influencing factor model and optimization strategy of college students’ critical thinking development under the virtual learning environment on the basis of summarizing practice and literature,applying the research strategy of combining qualitative and quantitative research,integrating literature research,interview,questionnaire,quasi experimental research and other research methods.The whole research process and conclusions mainly includes four parts:1.To construct the relationship framework of virtual learning environment to support the development of college students’ critical thinkingBased on literature review and analysis,this study first clarifies the elements of critical thinking and its development process;secondly,it analyzes the value orientation,components and key features of virtual learning environment;finally,combined with the theories of embodied cognition,deeper learning,experiential learning cycle,based on the analysis of the relationship between virtual learning environment,critical thinking development process,critical thinking skills and critical thinking tendency,a relationship framework of virtual learning environment supporting the development of college students’ critical thinking is constructed,which is intended to lay a theoretical foundation for the analysis of the factors affecting the development of college students’ critical thinking under the virtual learning environment.2.To construct the influencing factors model of the development of college students’ critical thinking under the virtual learning environmentBased on the understanding of the relationship framework of virtual learning environment supporting the development of college students’ critical thinking,and the sorting,induction and summary of literature.Firstly,the research method of semi-structured interview with qualitative orientation is adopted to extract the influencing factors of the development of college students’ critical thinking in virtual learning environment based on grounded theory,and the influencing factor model of the development of college students’ critical thinking in virtual learning environment is constructed.Then,structural equation modeling is used to analyze and verify the relationship between the extracted key influencing factors and critical thinking.Finally,it explores the realization path of the development of college students’ critical thinking in the virtual learning environment in order to deepen the understanding of the development of college students’ critical thinking in the virtual learning environment.3.To propose the optimization strategies for the development of college students’ critical thinking under the virtual learning environmentBased on the influencing factor model,this study proposes optimization strategies such as learning task design for solving ill structured problems,design of learning scaffold guided by multidimensional cognitive conflict,communication and discussion specification design supported by peers,creation of real situation resources based on intelligent technology,and appropriate application of recognition tools based on virtual technology environment.Specifically,the learning tasks under the virtual learning environment should be instructive,problematical and situational.Materials should be selected from the real life environment,and teaching objectives and contents should be undertaken to adapt to students’ cognitive ability,learning needs and interests.Cognitive conflict is the key to the development of critical thinking ability mediated by conflict.Conflict guidance scaffolding provides a guiding direction for learners to generate cognitive conflict,and also supports students to understand and analyze problems from multiple perspectives.In addition,the design strategy of emotional support aims to effectively mobilize emotional factors and maximize the positive role of emotional factors in the development of learners’ critical thinking.In this way,the author hopes to provide strategic reference for the effective creation of virtual learning environment to promote the development of college students’ critical thinking.4.To verify the effectiveness of the optimization strategy for the development of college students’ critical thinking under the virtual learning environmentThe research carries out two rounds of online teaching practice based on the quasi experimental research method,and verifies the effectiveness and rationality of the optimization strategy for the development of college students’ critical thinking under the virtual learning environment in a multi-dimensional way by using the triangular mutual verification.From the perspective of process,this study takes the behavior representation of critical thinking skills of nursing college students as a process index to evaluate the development of critical thinking skills of nursing college students.In accordance with the teaching content and learning objectives of the course,combined with the connotation of critical thinking skills and their behavioral representation,test questions are prepared to test students’ critical thinking skills.From the perspective of results,based on the California Critical Thinking Aptitude Scale,the survey is conducted mainly from seven aspects: self-confidence,truth seeking,open mind,analysis,creativity,curiosity and wisdom.Finally,after the first round and the second round of experiments,the teachers and students are interviewed.The data results show that learners’ critical thinking tendency and critical thinking skills have been significantly improved,which to some extent verifies the optimization strategy.To sum up,this study focuses on the important theme of the times: the development of critical thinking in the context of innovative talent training.Taking the nursing discipline as an example,based on the mechanism of the development of college students’ critical thinking in the virtual learning environment,this study proposes optimization strategies for the development of college students’ critical thinking in the virtual learning environment,which is of practical significance for improving the current situation of the development of critical thinking and promoting the cultivation of innovative talents.