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History students' critical thinking development with metatalk : a case study
Author
Tan, Shu Yi
Supervisor
Quek, Choon Lang
Abstract
This multiple-case study examined the development of history students’ critical thinking scaffolded by Knowledge Building metatalk (KB metatalk) sessions. A total of twenty upper secondary students participated in three iterations of historical inquiry and group KB metatalk sessions through (1) source-based inquiry and (2) guided inquiry. The classroom learning was guided by the knowledge building principles and mediated by the Knowledge Forum (KF) technology.
KB metatalk sessions were designed for face-to-face group reflection and argumentation about their online discourse. Collected data for analysis included students’ KF notes and audio-visual recordings of their spoken discourse.
Content analysis was adopted preliminarily to determine the types of students’ historical reasoning strategies and metatalk used, followed by further analysis of the strategies using narrative examples, as well as discourse analysis of the metatalk. Findings suggest that history students’ metatalk during face-to-face KB metatalk sessions can lead to an improvement in their quality of critical thinking.
KB metatalk sessions were designed for face-to-face group reflection and argumentation about their online discourse. Collected data for analysis included students’ KF notes and audio-visual recordings of their spoken discourse.
Content analysis was adopted preliminarily to determine the types of students’ historical reasoning strategies and metatalk used, followed by further analysis of the strategies using narrative examples, as well as discourse analysis of the metatalk. Findings suggest that history students’ metatalk during face-to-face KB metatalk sessions can lead to an improvement in their quality of critical thinking.
Date Issued
2023
Call Number
LB1590.3 Tan
Date Submitted
2023