The Influence of Debate on Chinese College Students' Critical Thinking Disposition: A Multiple Case Study Based on Paul-Elder Model of Critical Thinking

摘要

In China, compared with the growing enthusiasm in debate among Chinese students, research in this field is relatively weak. Therefore, in order to gain an in-depth understanding of how forensic participation influence students' critical thinking, especially their intellectual disposition, I conducted this multiple case study based on Paul-Elder Model of Critical Thinking. My research question is "How does Chinese college students' critical thinking disposition change as a result of participating in debate?" After six month's observation on the debate team and three face-to-face interviews with each respondent, I found that forensic participation helps developing student's intellectual traits, which are indispensable to critical thinking skills. Moreover, forensic participation helps the students to get rid of ego-centric and socio-centric thinking, which paves the way for them to become real critical thinkers.