Pedagogies for Critical Thinking: Innovation and Outcomes in African Higher Education

批判性思维教学法：非洲高等教育的创新和成果

• 批准号: ES/M005496/1
• 负责人: Tristan McCowan
• 金额: $ 50.76万
• 依托单位: University College London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2015 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FM005496%2F1
• 关键词: Pedagogies; Critical; Thinking; Innovation; Outcomes

New understanding of the ways in which higher education contributes to economic and human development has strengthened the justification for investment in higher education in lower-income contexts in recent years. This, in turn, has prompted a wave of reform and revitalisation efforts within African higher education systems. One of the primary assumptions motivating such reforms is that higher education encourages the ability to think critically about problems and to use evidence when making decisions. However, there is evidence to suggest that the assumption that students improve their critical thinking skills as a result of university study may not be valid in many African contexts. Concern about the capacity of graduates from African universities to demonstrate 'high skills', such as critical thinking, has prompted a growing recognition of the need for pedagogical change within many African higher education institutions. A problem for higher education policy in the region, however, is that this renewed interest in the importance of teaching and learning is supported by limited empirical evidence, as there has been little analysis of the effectiveness of pedagogical practice within African universities. Although there is a substantial body of literature investigating the ways in which academic experiences at university can positively influence the development of student critical thinking skills, much of the current evidence rests on research conducted in other cultural contexts, particularly the USA, UK, Australia and, to a limited extent, East Asia. There are, therefore, concerns about how applicable such findings may be to African university contexts.This project aims to expand the existing evidence base around how pedagogical practices affect the development of critical thinking at African higher education institutions by investigating the impact of locally-generated pedagogical interventions on student critical thinking ability in Kenya, Ghana and Botswana. The study follows a mixed methods design, comprising a longitudinal study of student outcomes and a qualitative investigation of how institutions are able to encourage processes of pedagogical change. In each country context, our institutional sample will consist of six faculties: three which have been purposively selected due to their attempts at pedagogical reform, and three 'matched' faculties which have similar characteristics to the intervention faculties but have not yet attempted any pedagogical interventions. Within each faculty, a random sample of 100 incoming students will complete a critical thinking assessment (adapted for use in the study contexts) at the beginning of their first year and again at the end of their second year at university. Gains in assessment scores will be compared between faculties, in order to investigate whether students enrolled in the intervention faculties demonstrate more progress than students enrolled in faculties which have not attempted any pedagogical reform. Additional analysis will investigate which pedagogical practices have the strongest impact on improvements in critical thinking ability. Parallel to the longitudinal study, in-depth qualitative case studies will be conducted within the 'intervention' Faculties, in order to gain insight into the intervention implementation process. The results of the project will provide potentially generalisable evidence of the effectiveness of pedagogical interventions currently being implemented within African universities.

近年来，对高等教育促进经济和人类发展方式的新认识加强了在低收入地区投资高等教育的理由。这反过来又在非洲高等教育系统内引发了一波改革和振兴努力。推动这种改革的主要假设之一是，高等教育鼓励人们批判性地思考问题和在决策时使用证据的能力。然而，有证据表明，学生通过大学学习提高批判性思维能力的假设在许多非洲背景下可能并不成立。对非洲大学毕业生展示批判性思维等高技能能力的担忧，促使人们越来越多地认识到，许多非洲高等教育机构需要进行教学改革。然而，该地区高等教育政策的一个问题是，人们对教与学的重要性重新产生了兴趣，这得到了有限的经验证据的支持，因为几乎没有对非洲大学内部的教学实践的有效性进行分析。虽然有大量文献研究了大学学术经历如何积极影响学生批判性思维能力的发展，但目前的大部分证据都依赖于在其他文化背景下进行的研究，特别是在美国、英国、澳大利亚，以及在有限的程度上，东亚。这个项目旨在通过调查肯尼亚、加纳和博茨瓦纳当地产生的教学干预措施对学生批判性思维能力的影响，扩大现有的关于教学实践如何影响非洲高等教育机构批判性思维发展的证据基础。这项研究遵循混合方法设计，包括对学生结果的纵向研究和对机构如何能够鼓励教学变革过程的定性调查。在每个国家，我们的机构样本将由六个学院组成：三个是由于尝试教学改革而被有目的地选择的，三个是与干预学院具有相似特征但尚未尝试任何教学干预的“匹配”学院。在每个教员中，随机抽取100名新生，在第一年开始时完成批判性思维评估(根据研究背景进行调整)，在大学第二年结束时再次完成。评估分数的提高将在不同学院之间进行比较，以调查进入干预学院的学生是否比没有尝试任何教学改革的学院的学生表现出更大的进步。其他分析将调查哪些教学实践对提高批判性思维能力的影响最大。在进行纵向研究的同时，还将在“干预”学院内进行深入的定性案例研究，以深入了解干预措施的实施过程。该项目的结果将为目前在非洲大学内实施的教学干预措施的有效性提供潜在的普遍证据。

项目成果

Pedagogies for Critical Thinking Technical Note 1: Critical Thinking Assessment

批判性思维教学法技术说明 1：批判性思维评估

• 发表时间: 2019
• 作者: Schendel R

Assessing 'approaches to learning' in Botswana, Ghana and Kenya

评估博茨瓦纳、加纳和肯尼亚的“学习方法”

• DOI: 10.1177/1745499919829216
• 发表时间: 2019
• 期刊: Research in Comparative and International Education
• 影响因子: 2.1
• 作者: Rolleston C

Exploring processes of teaching and learning in African university contexts

探索非洲大学环境中的教学过程

• DOI: 10.6017/ijahe.v6i2.11355
• 发表时间: 2020
• 期刊: International Journal of African Higher Education
• 作者: Pon C

Enablers of pedagogical change within universities: Evidence from Kenya, Ghana and Botswana

大学内教学变革的推动者：来自肯尼亚、加纳和博茨瓦纳的证据

• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijedudev.2022.102558
• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: International Journal of Educational Development
• 影响因子: 2.5
• 作者: McCowan T

Pedagogies for Critical Thinking: Implications of project findings for higher education policies and practices in Ghana, Kenya and Botswana

批判性思维教学法：项目结果对加纳、肯尼亚和博茨瓦纳高等教育政策和实践的影响

• 发表时间: 2019
• 作者: Schendel R