Cultivation of a Critical Thinking Disposition and Inquiry Skills among High School Students

The project described in this report examined the effects of critical thinking instruction and project-based inquiry learning on high school students&s; critical thinking disposition, inquiry skills, learning competence, and self-efficacy in science courses. One thousand 10th- to 12th-grade students of a Super Science High School in Japan participated in the study. The curricula in this school is constructed using a mixed approach regarding critical thinking: a general approach to critical thinking instruction and practice in special classes is combined with an infusion approach in each subject (e.g., critical-logical thinking instruction in STEM) as well as an immersion approach in cooperative inquiry and project-based learning. The results of three studies show that these learning activities are able to improve students&s; critical thinking disposition and inquiry skills.