Teaching Critical Thinking in Chinese Schools
CT and IB Curriculum
CT is central to IB teaching and learning. Not only IB students are expected to cultivate and practice CT, but also are IB teachers required to foster in students CT skills. Many central IB documents on its educational ideal and principles emphasize the importance of CT. CT is one of the three suggested approaches to teaching and learning (IBO, 2008). IBO defines that
To think critically means students reflecting on, thinking about and analysing a text, argument or opinion so that they do not just accept what is stated but form their own judgment. To think critically is to explore and understand the reasons for beliefs and their implications. (IBO, 2008)
In IB learner profile, which translates IBO mission statement into a set of learning outcomes, IBO requires students to become “thinkers” who “exercise initiative in applying thinking skills critically” (IBO, 2009).
Subjects related requirements are also explained in IB documents. In general, subjects are expected to “emphasize critical thinking, the development of multiple perspectives and constructive comparisons”, and to “promote critical thinking and problem solving” (IBO, 2009). For individual subject, such as mathematics courses, IB expects “many skills are developed, especially those of critical thinking and analysis” (IBO, 2012). The role of language is valued by IB as “central to developing critical thinking” (IBO, 2011). Theory of knowledge (TOK) aims to foster reflection in students and “encourages critical thinking about knowledge itself” (IBO, 2008). As IB learners, students “must be taught the tools of critical thinking in appropriate contexts, as well as how to apply them rigorously,” not only in “academic studies and real life” (IBO, 2008).
To this end, IBO promotes “active learning in a supportive school culture” where classrooms are based around “metacognition, structured inquiry and critical thinking”. For teachers, a set of specific teaching approaches are suggested, including “whole-class instruction and interaction, individual and group work, role play or simulation, and also activities centred on an investigation” （IBO，2008）. It seems that as long as schools and teachers follow these instructions from IBO, they can do a great job in fostering students CT attitudes and skills. However, empirical data from one Chinese IB school revealed an opposite story. After the examination of this example school, which has been running IBDP for more than ten years, the difficulty and problem of teaching CT in Chinese schools can be inferred.
CT in an IBDP school in China
As part of my past research (Huang, 2012), I conducted interviews with twelve Chinese IB teachers in an IB Diploma Programme school and carried out a survey for both teachers and students in the same school. Eighteen out of total 24 Chinese teachers responded to the online survey, whereas 42 out of total 140 students responded the online survey. CT was investigated in both of the two instruments in some extent. The data about CT are quite explanatory to the theme of the current essay, although, these two research instruments were not particularly designed for this essay.
In the survey, there were two questions related to CT: one asked teachers and students to choose particularly desired characteristics of IB teachers among seven given traits; the other was to choose teachers of which subject(s) best model CT in teaching. Data of the first question (See Appendix 1) showed that 83% of the teachers, which is the highest comparing to the percentages of the other characteristics, perceived CT is particularly desired for IB teaching. The students’ data showed similar degree of perception. There were 77%, the second largest percentage among others, of the students who perceived CT is particularly desired for IB teaching.
The first question verified that teachers and students similarly perceived the importance of CT to IB teaching. However, the data of the second question (See Appendix 2) revealed that teachers of most subjects actually did poorly in teaching CT, disappointing IBO’s high expectation on this matter. On average, only 34% Chinese teacher self-reported modeling CT on IB teaching, whereas 40% of students thought teachers modeled on CT. TOK teachers were an exception obviously, with most of teachers (94%) and students (91%) believing TOK teachers model on CT in teaching. Individual and society subjects teachers were comparatively doing well already because the percentages of other subjects, except TOK, were all unacceptably low. The huge difference between the two percentages of Language teachers is not clear. But it is safe to deduce that language teaching in this IB school has not fulfilled the central value of developing CT as IBO required. Except for language teachers, teachers and students interestingly hold almost the same opinion about teachers’ performance in terms of CT teaching across subjects. This pair of data verified to some extent that Chinese IB teachers in that IB school have not done well in teaching CT in classrooms.
In the interviews, teachers were asked to comment on the importance of the characteristics, CT included, of IB teachers? Also, they were asked to talk about the perceived challenges in IB teaching. Firstly, most interviewed Chinese teachers believe that for IB teachers subject matter knowledge and IB curriculum knowledge are more desired than other characteristics, such as CT (Huang, 2012). Secondly, teachers’ responses reflected their disconcerted understanding of CT conception. Some teachers seemed not be able to distinguish CT and open-mindedness, whereas some others tended to take CT as a negative criticizing stance. Teachers’ responses also revealed the difficulty and reluctance as to teaching CT. The following are some typical responses regarding CT conception and CT teaching.
“In IB, teachers and students are required to possess critical thinking, but my understanding of critical thinking is more like openness and tolerance to different opinions.”
“We can’t just follow what other people have said.”
“Sometimes I don’t understand why students think in that way. Perhaps it is because my thoughts are more traditional.”
“I used to tell what I knew to students when teaching, but didn’t teach them how to think critically.”
“At the beginning, I felt theory of knowledge was boring, was meaningless thinking.”
Finally, teachers’ comments on the importance of CT to IB teaching were strikingly different, although the previous survey showed that majority of them (83%) thought CT is particularly desired for IB teaching. Some perceived that CT is “most important” or “thoroughly embodied” in IB. However, some others believed it is “mainly relevant to TOK, and other subjects have relatively weaker relevance to it.” These responses revealed that the rest of the Chinese teachers (27%) in that school could hold far opposite opinions of CT teaching as opposed to the majority’s view.
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