Research On The Evaluation And Cultivation Of Senior High School Students’ Science Critical Thinking

In the new era of globalization and informationization,critical thinking has become increasingly valuable in responding to complex public opinion and social crises,as well as in adapting to future social development.As a necessary skill and literacy for citizens in the 21 st century,all countries in the international community want to use the cultivation of critical thinking to enhance the competitiveness and innovation of their countries in the new era.Science education,as an enabler for building the world’s talent center and innovation highland,has also been regarded as an important goal of science education by all countries.However,there is still a lack of attention to critical thinking in the field of science and science education in China,and the current situation of science critical thinking development for our students is not optimistic.Based on the strategic needs of talent training in the new era,this study adopts a diversified mixed research design to systematically and deeply explore theoretical and empirical tests on science critical thinking,adopts an asynchronous exploratory design to theoretically construct and practically explore the structure and assessment of science critical thinking,and adopts a meta-analysis and quasi-experimental research to deconstruct the development of science critical thinking.A progressive research design was used to deconstruct the development of science critical thinking,and finally,a quantitative research design was used to explore the mechanisms of science critical thinking.The above research design was used to answer the question of how to conceptualize science critical thinking through a structural model? How can science critical thinking be effectively assessed? How to understand the mechanisms of science critical thinking?And how to effectively develop science critical thinking are four interrelated and interlocking scientific research questions.For the first research question,this study conducted theoretical exploration and practical validation mainly in Chapters 3 and 4.Through methods such as content analysis rooted in theoretical guidance and expert focus interviews,a secondary structure of science critical thinking was finally constructed,namely,three basic dimensions of science critical thinking a priori knowledge,science critical thinking skills,and science critical thinking dispositions.Secondary sub-dimensions were also specified under each dimension.To validate the above structural model,further qualitative research methods such as expert consultation and quantitative research methods such as factor analysis were used to validate and revise the structural model.And based on the standardized regression coefficients from the validated factor analysis,mathematical linear expressions for the structural models of science critical thinking skills,science critical thinking dispositions,and science critical thinking prior knowledge were constructed,respectively.For the second research question,this study designed a content framework based on the theoretical framework of "evidence-centered design" in Chapters 5 and 6,and used phenomenological interviews to summarize students’ real levels of science critical thinking.A24-item science critical thinking scale was also developed based on the above measurement framework and expectation levels,including 12 open-ended items for science critical thinking skills and 12 Likert-type items for science critical thinking dispositions.Using the multidimensional Rasch model,the quality of the science critical thinking scale developed in this study was validated and revised,and the official version of the science critical thinking scale was finally obtained.Subsequently,a large-scale status measurement and analysis was conducted on high school students in China using the science critical thinking scale developed by this research.It was also found that male students had better science critical thinking skills and science critical thinking dispositions than female students,but the advantage in science critical thinking dispositions was not as significant.The seniors’ science critical thinking was overall higher than the seniors’ science critical thinking.However,there was not really a statistically significant difference between seniors and juniors in terms of science critical thinking disposition.A more detailed analysis of students’ levels of science critical thinking performance under each dimension was also conducted on this basis.For the third research question,this study proposes a hypothetical model of the role between multiple variables mainly in Chapter 7 based on the review of relevant literature.And based on the variable measurement needs of the hypothesized model,a corresponding measurement scale with high reliability and validity was adapted and developed.And using the structural equation modeling statistical analysis method,we fit the data to the hypothesized proposed model,and made corrections to the hypothesized model by combining the data fitting effects.Thus,the mechanistic links between the three prior knowledge of science critical thinking,science self-efficacy,science identity,and science critical thinking skills and science critical thinking dispositions were clarified.For the fourth research question,this study primarily explored effective teaching models for science critical thinking development using meta-analytic and quasi-experimental research methods progressively based on evidence-based educational theory in Chapter 8,respectively.Among them,the results of the meta-analysis study clarified the necessity of developing science critical thinking at the high school level in China in terms of regions,school sections,and subjects,and provided the basis for the research design of the subsequent experimental study in terms of sample size selection,experimental period,measurement instruments,and types of instructional interventions.Based on the insights from the meta-analysis,three instructional models,problem-based learning,inquiry-based learning,and argumentation-based learning,were selected for a comparative quasi-experimental study.Ultimately,it was found that argument-based learning was more effective in enhancing students’science critical thinking in China,but there was also no statistically significant difference compared to the other two instructional models.The main innovation of this study is to construct a model of science critical thinking at the theoretical level in conjunction with informed rooting theory,to validate and revise it through multiple rounds of mixed methods,and to explore the mechanistic connections between the elements of the structural model of science critical thinking,thus enriching and developing the theoretical level of critical thinking in this specific field of science.At the practical level,a science critical thinking scale was developed in-house,and the scale was tested for reliability,validity,and level delineation through a multidimensional Rasch model.The scale was then used to further investigate the level of science critical thinking among high school students in China and the differences between gender and grade levels,and to provide empirical evidence based on meta-analysis and quasi-experimental studies for the investigation of effective teaching models for the development of science critical thinking.Finally,based on the summary and review of the above studies,some reflections are also made in terms of sample selection,measurement scales,and developmental relevance.Given the complexity of science critical thinking research,this study also suggests future research perspectives for science critical thinking research by focusing on the integration of traditional Chinese culture,permeable cultivation of teaching materials,and exploring connections with science critical thinking.