New Horizons in Education

Abstract

Background: Critical thinking disposition is an area that has been overlooked in various academic fields until recent years. Critical thinking occurs only when individuals possess thinking dispositions. This study explores the possibility of using directed viewing-thinking activity (DVTA) to cultivate the critical thinking dispositions of students.

Aim: To investigate if critical thinking dispositions can be cultivated using DVTA.

Sample: Students participating in this study were Secondary 3 Higher Chinese students from one of the researchers’ class in a traditional English school. All 18 students were present throughout the six lessons. These students were all females between 14 to 15 years of age.

Method: Pre and post argumentative essay tests were administered to the whole class before and after the students had attended the DVTA lessons. The essays were coded in terms of the indicators of the various thinking dispositions that could be spotted in them. A Wilcoxon Matched-Ranks test was used to analyze the four thinking dispositions: systematicity, open-mindedness, analyticity and truth-seeking.

Results: Based on the given conditions, the study suggests that DVTA has the potential for cultivating critical thinking dispositions.

Conclusion: The findings revealed that it was worthwhile to conduct the study.

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