Toward a Systematic and Model-Based Approach to Design Learning Environments for Critical Thinking

As a vital twenty-first-century skill, the development of critical thinking (CT) is considered as one of the major goals of higher education. Identifying effective instructional approaches that can foster the acquisition and transfer of CT skills needed in the rapidly changing world of work has therefore been the focus of a large body of research. However, despite the widespread emphasis on CT from educators and researchers, there is little evidence to support that the objective of CT development is being realized. In this contribution, we begin by reviewing some of the theoretical and empirical evidence on the conceptualization of CT, the instructional approaches to stimulate the acquisition of CT skills, and the assessment of CT. We describe some of the limitations of current research on the design of effective learning environments for CT, and two empirical studies that aimed to address the identified limitations are illustrated. Our main line of argument in the two studies is that systematic design of learning environments in accordance with theoretically sound and empirically valid instructional design principles can be an effective approach to foster the development of CT. It is argued in this chapter that embedding CT instruction in domain-specific courses requires greater clarity about what CT is, what set of CT skills could be targeted in domain-specific instruction, and how specific subject-matter instruction could systematically be designed considering CT as an integral part of domain-specific instruction. We conclude this chapter by suggesting some considerations for the design of CT-supportive learning environments.