The Development of an Instructional Model Based on Experiential Learning Theory and Six Thinking Hats to Improve the Critical Thinking Ability of Undergraduate Students

Abstract

Yulin Normal University preschool education major existing children's game course instructional model more in passing test knowledge and practice test skills, students used to passively accept knowledge, rarely use critical thinking to treat knowledge, with a critical eye to question, thinking, and discovery, long-term students will not be able to adapt to the needs of the new era of social development of survival ability and professional competitiveness. Therefore, the objectives of this study were (1) to study the factors affecting the development of critical thinking ability, (2) to develop an instructional model based on experiential learning theory and six thinking hats, and (3) to compare the critical thinking ability of Third Year college students before and after the instructional model of experiential learning theory and six thinking hats. The sample group was 30 students from preschool education majors at Yulin Normal University. The research was conducted in three steps: studying the factors that affect the development of critical thinking ability, developing the instructional model, and the experimental and improvement process. The research instruments were a questionnaire about factors that affect the development of critical thinking ability, an interview form about factors that affect the development of college students' critical thinking ability, an observation form about student behavior, an interview form about opinions on teaching, lesson plans, and a critical thinking ability test. The study's results were 1) the main factors affecting the development of critical thinking ability include the instructional environment, the teachers, and the students, respectively, 2) the instructional model based on experiential learning theory and six thinking hats was developed consisting of four core components: a) principles, b) objectives, c) learning process, and d) results, and 3) after the implementation of the instructional model based on experiential learning theory and six thinking hats, the critical thinking ability scores of the students were higher than the critical thinking ability of the students before the experiment, with a statistical significance of 0.01 level. Finally, this paper strives to develop a based on Experiential Learning Theory and Six Thinking Hats instructional model to improve the critical thinking of preschool education students at Yulin Normal University.