Critical Thinking Training Program: Comparison Between Direct Instruction and Issue Inquiry Approaches.

Students are faced with an ever-increasing amount of information everyday. Teaching them how to select and utilize the information so obtained is therefore of paramount importance. In this research with 401 Secondary 6 (Grade 12) students, we compared the effectiveness of the direct instruction and issue inquiry methods. The latter can be conducted through the analyses of popular films and TV programs and is the approach adopted by the Hong Kong new senior secondary school curriculum. Results showed that, as compared to the control group, both approaches were able to enhance students' critical thinking competence. Furthermore, the research also indicated that teachers should not underestimate the benefits of direct instruction. Under systematic instruction and with good summaries, students can grasp the main content and transfer the skills to new situations easily. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]