The Research On The Relationship Among Epistemological Beliefs,Need For Cognition And Critical Thinking Disposition Of Senior High School Students

The purpose of this study was to investigate the current situation of senior high school students in epistemological beliefs,need for cognition and critical thinking disposition,and to further explore the impact of senior high school students’ epistemological beliefs and need for cognition on critical thinking disposition.To explore whether need for cognition had mediating effect on critical thinking disposition in the process of influence of senior high school students’ epistemological beliefs we started this study.Firstly,based on Zhou Yan’s “college students’ epistemological beliefs questionnaire”and Kuang Yi’s “chinese version of the need for cognition scale”,revised the questionnaire through item analysis and factor analysis to make it an effective questionnaire for senior high school students in China.Then used the revised questionnaire and Peng Meici’s“critical thinking disposition scale” as a tool,testing 535 senior high school students.Using T-test,correlation analysis,structural equation model and other statistical methods to explore the relationship between epistemological beliefs,need for cognition and critical thinking disposition,analyse the impact on the critical thinking disposition belief from epistemological beliefs and need for cognition.The findings were as follows:1.The general status of senior high school students ’ epistemological beliefs was at the general level,acquisition of knowledge was at a high level,and other dimensions were at the general level.There were significant differences in the gender between the total score of epistemological beliefs and the speed of learning,and there were significant differences in the gender and grade about acquisition of knowledge,and there were obvious difference in gender and speciality about the simplicity of knowledge(organization).2.The general situation of senior high school students’ need for cognition was at the general level,and the individual’s need for cognition were different.There were significant differences in gender and speciality.3.The overall situation of senior high school students’ critical thinking disposition was in negative tendency,and in seven dimensions,cognitive maturity,open mind,curiosity,analytical ability were in positive tendency,and three other dimensions were in negative tendency.There were significant differences in gender between open mind and critical thinking self-confidence,and there were significant differences in gender and speciality about curiosity,and there was no significant difference in grade in each dimension.4.There was a significant positive correlation among epistemological beliefs,need for cognition and critical thinking disposition of senior high school students.Epistemological beliefs and need for cognition had a positive predictive effect on critical thinking disposition.5.Need for cognition played a mediating effect between epistemological beliefs and critical thinking disposition,which showed that epistemological beliefs could directly promote the development of critical thinking disposition,and at the same time could indirectly promote the development of critical thinking disposition through the intermediary variable of need for cognition.