83

!ntroduction
The curriculum of Hong Kong schools has always
emphasized factual knowledge. It encourages rote
learning and critical thinking is seldom taught. However,
in this age of information and technology, Hong Kong
citizens are now constantly under bombardment from
various messages and propaganda. There is a need for
our students to be able to make independent judgments
in their daily lives. In the 1999 education reform
proposals, helping students to develop critical thinking is
included among the fundamental aims of education
which were outlined. However, nothing substantial has
been done since. To achieve this aim, it is necessary for
some schools to pioneer a new way of educating our
young. Under these circumstances, a collaborative project
team from an institute of education and a secondary
school has worked closely in developing a teaching
program for students in the lower forms of a secondary
school.
This paper begins by examining the importance of
critical thinking. Next, an account of the project of
teaching critical thinking is given, together with episodes
of the teaching activities and teaching materials. Finally,
both the teachers' and students' feedback are examined
and the implications of the teaching experience are given
in the conclusion.
Why Teach Critical Thinking?
Myers (1986) stated, "the amount of information
available through computers and the media seems to
have outstripped people's abilities to process and use that
information" (p.1). Richard Paul (1995) also commented
that in this era of information technology, "information
is multiplying even as it is swiftly becoming obsolete".
In view of the overwhelming amount of information
a person receives today, it is important to alert our
students to the potential dangers inherent in swimming
in this new and vast sea of knowledge. Chief among
Teaching Critical Thinking Skills in
a Hong Kong Secondary School
Fok Shui Che
Hong Kong Institute of Education
Hong Kong, China
Hong Kong education has always been regarded as examination-oriented and students were taught only to
memorize and not to think. This paper gives an account of a school project in teaching critical thinking in the
junior classes of a secondary school. This project is a collaboration between lecturers in teacher education and
teachers working in the frontline. As a first attempt, the topic "fact and opinion" was chosen. In this paper, both
the teaching approach and the teaching materials used are presented. Teachers' feedback was obtained through
informal sharing of information and student's evaluation were obtained through a simple student survey. Through
this process, a number of problems and insights related to this issue were revealed. This experience had
implications for ways in which critical thinking in a cultural context like Hong Kong where memorization of facts
is the norm can be developed and promoted.
Fok Shui Che, Senior Lecturer, Department of Policy and
Administration, the Hong Kong Institute of Education.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to
Rm. D3-1-15, Department of EPA, The Hong Kong Institute
of Education, 10, Lo Ping Road, Tai Po, New Territories,
Hong Kong. Electronic mail may be sent via internet to
scfok@ied.edu.hk.
Asia Pacific Education Review
2002, Vol. 3, No. 1, 83-91.
Copyright 2002 by The Institute of Asia Pacific Education Development
84 Fok Shui Che
these is the danger that some of the information
available may not be facts and the facts that are
presented might have been manipulated through their
presentation or reflect other bias. To protect our
students from the dangers of being misinformed, there
is a need to promote critical thinking in school.
Education should not mean socialization or
indoctrination. Students should not merely commit to
memory any number of specific facts about this or
that domain of study, or pass the number of
examinations or gain any number of academic credits
or degrees. Instead, it is important to improve
students' ability to think and reason. Critical thinking
is important for a person to meet the everyday
personal, social, and professional demands of an
ever-changing society. Students should get regular
practice in producing and evaluating ideas. Success in
work depends on thinking skills. It isn't enough for
graduates to possess a large body of knowledge in
their fields. People who want to succeed must be able
to apply what they know to the challenges of their
jobs. Employers are looking not for walking
encyclopedias but for problem solvers and decision
makers. Mental health also depends in large part on
thinking skills. Some authorities believe neuroses stem
from shallow and illogical thinking (Paul, 1993; Beyer,
1995; Rotta, 1998).
Critical thinking is complex because it involves
overcoming not only intellectual barriers but also
psychological barriers. We are more comfortable with our
established ideas and thinking habits. It is hard to change
our belief structure and our views of the world even if our
views might be flawed, irrational, shallow, or biased. To
question our beliefs may seem to challenge our integrity
and even our identity (Paul, 1993). Critical thinking requires
us to step out from our self-deception and view things from
many different angles and evaluate them through a process
of rigorous intellectual activities.
The most inescapable imperative of the future is continuous
change, change that involves complex adjustments to the
increasingly complex systems that dominate our lives. Therefore,
the distinguishing characteristics of those who will not only
survive but also flourish in the future will be traits and abilities,
both intellectual and emotional that entail excellence in
evaluating and responding to complex changing conditions.
Yet the mind is not by nature adaptable to changes of the
breadth and depth that we are facing. Rather, the mind is
instinctively designed for habit, associated with "peace of mind"
with routine... (Paul, 1993, foreword).
Teaching Critical Thinking in Hong Kong, the
Present Scenario
In view of the changing society of Hong Kong, the
need to equip our young people with the ability for
critical thinking is becoming more apparent. The 1990s
were a decade of rapid economic, social and political
changes in Hong Kong. Economically, she has changed
from an industrial city to a financial center of the
region. At present, Hong Kong is in the process of
economic restructuring and she is embracing the full
development of information technology. Yet, the
advancement of information technology and the
dominance of the mass media in our daily life meant
that young people today are more susceptible to
propaganda and misinformation. The new economy also
demands our citizens to be more independent and
creative.
However, a survey by the Hong Kong Federation of
Youth Groups (1997) revealed that Hong Kong young
people are not autonomous in their moral judgment. To
most young people in Hong Kong, "an immoral action
is one which will make them lose face in front of
others" (p.34). About half of the respondents claimed
that when dealing with moral issues, the opinion of the
majority was usually correct (p.42). 70 percent of the
respondents strongly agreed that "in order to avoid being
squeezed out, one cannot help drifting with the current"
(p.26).
Previous to that, the Hong Kong Federation of
Youth Groups (1994) had carried out another survey
comparing moral judgment of youths in three cities:
Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Beijing. The study revealed
some interesting results. The moral standards were
different among the young people in Beijing, Guangzhou
and Hong Kong. About half of the Hong Kong
respondents (613 respondents) agreed that when dealing
with moral issues, the opinion of the majority was
usually correct. However, over 55 percent of the Beijing
respondents held a contrary view; whereas the opinions
of the Guangzhou respondents were quite split (ibid,
p.42). Although 60 percent of the respondents in each of
the three cities disagreed that the traditional Chinese
thoughts were usually correct. The younger Beijing
Teaching Critical Thinking Skills 85
respondents were also more likely to question the validity
of traditional Chinese thoughts on morality (ibid, p.43).
Besides this, like youths in other countries, Hong
Kong young people on the average spent more time and
have contact with more kinds of media than grown-ups,
thereby may become more susceptible to the influence
of the mass media (Leung, 1999). A comparative youth
study of the three cities: Beijing, Guangzhou and Hong
Kong (The Federation of Youth Groups, 1995) revealed
that Hong Kong had the greatest percentage of young
people who trusted the messages transmitted by the mass
media. Television was considered to be the most
credible medium and some weight of importance was
also given to the report of newspaper. Similarly, So and
Chan (1992) summarized the influence of the mass
media on the mind of young people of Hong Kong.
The influence of the media can be both positive and negative.
Mass media can give us entertainment, as well as education and
information. Frequent exposure to the mass media can enhance
the respondents' general knowledge. However, it may also lead
to undesirable consequences. The exposure to different media
may correlate positively with different social attitudes and
values. Consumption of VCD, movies, magazines may correlate
positively with the youth's attitudes towards money, hedonism,
triad society, rejection of existing moral standards, premarital
sex, pornography and so on. At a societal level, we can only
rely on the social, moral and professional ethics to censor the
negative media contents. At an individual level, it depends very
much on the personal value of the media users to screen media
content (p.68).
However, the teaching of critical thinking has never
been an important element in our school curriculum.
Hong Kong education is characterized by its competitive
nature in which examinations reign supreme. The
curriculum of Hong Kong schools has always
emphasized factual knowledge, which has long been
criticized as being detrimental to the overall educational
process. It encourages rote learning and does not induce
creative and critical thinking (Llwellyn, 1982; Clark,
1994; Education Commission, 1999).
To counteract this, the Education Commission (2000)
in presenting the education reform proposals, has clearly
stated the following aims:
To enable every person to attain all-round development in the
domains of ethics, intellect, physique, social skills and aesthetics
according to his/own attributes so that he/she is capable of life
long learning, critical and exploratory thinking, innovating and
adapting to change... (p.30).
Mrs. Anson Chan, the then Chief Secretary for
Administration reiterated this point in her keynote speech
to the Asia-Pacific Center for Education Leadership:
Cultivate their young minds to think critically and independently,
discern right from wrong, and make full use of the information
which bombards them everyday (The Hong Kong Institute of
Education, 2000).
As early as 1996, the Guidelines on Civic Education
has made the development of critical thinking one of the
fundamental aims of civic education (Education Department,
1996, p.6).
In a modern democratic society which is progressive, open
and pluralistic, it is also important that the citizens can acquire
certain intellectual skills that promote personal autonomy,
efficacy and a critical frame of mind so that the citizens are not
just informed voters but also wise decision-makers who are able
to demonstrate judgment when electing representative or
deciding important issues. A crucial aspect of this development
of the political self for citizenship in a participatory democracy
is the willingness and ability to think critically(P.75).
Hence, there is a constant call for our schools to
teach critical thinking skills. However, schools are not
very enthusiastic about this because teachers feel that
they are not competent enough and the school
curriculum is too tight to allow room for subjects other
than those required by the public examinations.
Teaching Critical Thinking - The Project
It is commonly believed that critical thinking cannot
be taught, nor is it necessary to deliberately teach it.
Some school subjects like History and Science are
supposed to automatically take care of teaching this
area. However, modern research studies show that
critical thinking has to be deliberately taught - not just
to "gifted" students but also to all students. Critical
thinking has its own direct objectives and should not be
considered as a 'by-product' of other subjects (Paul,
1993). To pioneer the teaching in Hong Kong, a
secondary school in a suburban area has worked together
86 Fok Shui Che
with lecturers from an institute of education for working
out a basic program. This project consists of two major
components, which go in parallel - curriculum development
of skills and teacher professional development. The principal
of the secondary school acted as the project leader who
oversaw the project, monitored the progress and liaison
between the different parties. The lecturer consultants helped
teachers to develop curriculum packages for skills
development and gave training to teachers to help acquire
the teaching and assessment skills.
Before designing the teaching materials, situational
analysis was carried out to examine the extent of
development of thinking skills in the schools, the
teachers' culture and teachers' preparedness in the
implementation of thinking skills in the curriculum.
Additionally, students' interests, readiness and cognitive
ability in learning thinking skills were also assessed.
Next, with a joint effort between lecturer consultants
and teachers, lessons were designed and carefully laid
out together with learning activities, instruction
strategies and evaluation methods (with assessment
tools and performance indictors). Hand in hand with
this, there was teacher training in terms of seminars
and workshops on familiarizing teachers with the
teaching skills. After teachers had gained some
experience and confidence by attending workshops and
imparting some of the skills in teaching, they carried
on to develop the rest of the curriculum as an
on-going development program of their own.
The Theoretical Framework of the Program
Thinking is a purposeful mental activity and a
conscious activity. Critical thinking is the evaluation of
ideas, accomplished by narrowing one's focus, sorting
out the ideas one has generated, and identifying the
almost reasonable ones. Critical thinking entails three
key features: alertness to the need to evaluate
information, a desire to test opinions and a willingness
to consider all viewpoints.
Critical thinking is also a collection of skills. They
are:
distinguishing between verifiable facts and value
claims;
determining the reliability of a source;
determining the factual accuracy of a statement;
distinguishing relevant from irrelevant information,
claims or reasons; detecting bias;
identifying unstated assumptions; identifying ambiguity
of equivocal claims or argument;
recognizing logical inconsistencies or fallacies in a
line of reasoning; distinguishing between warranted
or unwarranted claims; and
deterring the strength of an argument(Harber, 1984).
At the same time, a critical thinker demonstrates the
following characteristics. He/she is honest with himself,
resists manipulation, overcomes confusion, asks questions,
takes the time to produce many ideas, bases their
judgements on evidence, acknowledges complexities,
looks for connections between subjects and is
intellectually independent (Ruggiero, 1996, p.45-49).
As a starting point, the theme "fact and opinion"
was chosen to teach the junior classes. This is in line
with the first basic skill of critical thinking: developing
the ability to distinguish between verifiable facts and
value claims. Moreover, this skill is useful in that it
helps students to develop a tool for reflection when they
receive information.
Facts are usually defined as a truth, something that
can be tested by experimentation, observation, or
research and shown to be real. An opinion is about
ones belief, feeling or judgement about something
(Wilen & Phillips, 1995). Unlike facts, opinions are
open to question and analysis by critical thinking.
The Lesson Design
According to Zechmeister and Johnson (1992, p.13),
the principles or strategies of teaching critical thinking
are that there should be opportunities for students to
think critically about the problems and issues that they
typically encounter. The most important principles are
those that work for students in their everyday
experiences; they must, in other words, be functional.
The approach we adopted, therefore, is to develop
critical thinking in the context of the kinds of problems
and subjects that everyone is likely to experience. With
this in mind, a general lesson plan and a set of
teaching materials for two teaching periods were
developed through the concerted effort between
consultants and teachers. A number of learning activities
Teaching Critical Thinking Skills 87
were designed with the aim of making the lesson more
student-centred. Some of the activities were adopted
from learning programs used in the other countries such
as those developed by Hawley (1987), Riggerario (1996),
Strean (1998) Brink-Bydgen (1999).
Learning Outcomes:
After the lesson, students are expected to be able to
a. discriminate a statement of fact from an expression
of opinion,
b. discriminate which part of a newspaper report is
fact and which is opinion,
c. be aware that there may be discrepancies between
the headline and the content of newspaper report,
d. be aware that some news reports may contain
distorted fact, and
e. appreciate that different people may hold different
opinions towards a fact.
Lesson Content and Activities:
Activity 1: Your Idol
1. Each student had to write down five things they
know about their idol.
2. Then samples of students' work were put on the
blackboard.
3. Students were requested to categorize what they
had written down about their idols.
4. Students discovered that the descriptions could be
categorized into fact and opinion.
5. Then each student had to examine his/her
description to see whether he/she was describing a
fact or opinion about his/her idol.
6. Students discovered that what they knew about
their idol are usually opinions rather than facts.
Activity 2: Can you tell?
In this lesson, students had to indicate whether each
of the following is (a) a fact, or (b) an opinion.
Then there was classroom discussion on the
following statements.
1. Pigs are ugly animals. ( )
2. I like to drink lemon juice. ( )
3. There is an international airport in Hong Kong.
( )
4. There are over seven million people in Hong
Kong. ( )
5. Juvenile delinquency is a problem in this area.
( )
6. Slim girls are more beautiful than plump girls.
( )
7. It is not easy to learn Chinese. ( )
8. In recent years, China has made rapid economic
progress ( )
9. Hong Kong people love money. ( )
10. Classical music is better than pop music. ( )
Activity 3: The Murder!
Read the following newspaper cutting:
88 Fok Shui Che
The brother of an outstanding youth award winner killed by
an illegal immigrant
A homicide case was discovered in a hilltop in Shatin Pass
yesterday. Su Wai Tak, brother of the 1989 outstanding youth
award winner was found dead on the hillside. He used to
provide food for the illegal immigrants there. The cause of his
death was suspected to be a head injury caused by a violent
attack with a brick. His foreleg had been eaten away by stray
dogs.
His wallet was found to have been stolen. The police did not
rule out the possibility of murder by an illegal immigrant.
The place was frequented by people for morning exercise. Some
people had put up a tent and planted some flowers there.
However, illegal immigrants were found in the vicinity and
therefore people stopped visiting.
Su Wai Tak aged 44. had been unemployed for a long time. He
lived with his mother who was 76 in a unit on the second floor
in Shatin Estate. He had six brothers and sisters. Su was very
eccentric in his behavior and he had a lot of nicknames. The
neighborhood described Su as half insane. His mother said his
son left home three days ago. She thought that he had stayed
out with a friend and therefore did not take any action.
The neighborhood said that Su usually cooked food in the
hillside. He had told the neighborhood that the illegal
immigrants were very poor. He wanted to provide charity for
the immigrants. The neighborhood was sorry for the death of Su
and commented "He has been so good to the illegal immigrants
but they have killed him".
Mr. Wong who was 74 discovered the body of Su. The police
certified Su dead before arrival at the hospital. After an initial
postmortem examination, an injury was found in his forehead
and corner of his eyes. His nose was also broken. A stained
brick was found 24 feet away. The police believed that Su was
killed with a brick. Both his feet and forelegs were broken. It
was suspected that wild dogs had eaten part of them away.
Questions for discussion:
1. Which part of the article is reported as fact and
which is reported as opinion?
2. Does the headline truly reflect the content?
3. Summarize the facts portrayed in this news article.
4. Summarize the opinions expressed by the different
people in the article.
5. Have you detected any bias in the news report?
The Implementation
The program was taught to the Form I class. There
were four Form I classes, totalling about 116 students,
The program was integrated into the subject of civic
education and was taught in class by their teachers.
There was no attempt at this stage, to integrate it with
other subjects. An activity approach was adopted in
which students were engaged in small group activities.
The teacher mainly acted as facilitator. Teachers carried
out the suggested activities with their students but they
had the autonomy to modify the teaching materials
according to the needs and level of their class. Three
lessons, that is, about two and half hours were used for
teaching critical thinking.
Feedback and Analysis
Feedback of the project was obtained through
qualitative methods. Multiples of data were collected in
an attempt to evaluate the implementation of this project
from several perspectives. There were lesson observations
by consultants and students' feedback were collected
through a simple survey.
The consultants commented that generally speaking,
students enjoyed the lesson. However, some students had
difficulties in grasping the main ideas. This might be
due to the fact that the lessons were overloaded with
teaching materials. The teachers were still influenced by
the traditional way of teaching, that is, they were too
conscientious in imparting knowledge to students and
giving the correct answers and students were not given
too much room for free discussion. At times, when they
disagreed with the answers given by teachers, there was
not enough time for them to discuss this difference.
Teachers felt that the project as a worthwhile
attempt. They felt students' responses rewarding. On
reflection, they agreed that the greatest drawback was
that the lessons were overloaded and students did not
have enough time to digest the content. Teacher agreed
that the central theme - distinguishing fact and opinion
was appropriately chosen and suited the level of
students. Yet it should have been dealt in greater depth
and at a more relaxed pace. There should be more
group sharing among students. In this way, students
would have found the lesson more stimulating and the
concepts more solid. Additionally, if the teaching
materials could be more relevant to students' experience,
they would be better motivated. Teachers claimed
themselves inexperienced in the theoretical understanding
of the conceptual framework. They also felt that there
Teaching Critical Thinking Skills 89
was not enough preparation before they properly
embarked on the project. They apparently required much
longer training time before they had the full confidence
to fully implement such an experiment. Therefore, they
desired more opportunities for professional development
and to master the key concepts better. As to how they
saw pupils having benefited from the project, they said
that they found students showed more interest in
learning as they felt the usefulness of critical thinking of
learning in life. Students began to pay more attention
not just in class but also to things that happened in the
outside world. Their learning vision was extended and
this positive change was an absolute gain to students.
To collect feedback from students, an evaluation
form was distributed. The results are quite encouraging:
more than eighty percent of the 116 respondents agreed
or strongly agreed that they had achieved the desired
learning objectives. More than 40 percent of them
strongly agreed that they had achieved objectives of
recognizing a statement of fact from an expression of
opinion, discriminating which elements of a news report
is 'fact' and which is expressed as an opinion.
The most commonly ranked feelings are "helpful",
"stimulating", "substantial", and "interesting". There were
also some constructive comments from students: "I liked
the lesson. I now understand that I always mistake
opinion for fact. But there are too many worksheets to
do. I would enjoy the lesson more if the teacher
allowed us more small group discussion". Another
student also reflected the need for more student-centered
activities. She wrote: "It would be better if the teacher
teaches less and we discuss more. I would like to hear
more what my classmates think". These showed students
treasured the opportunities for more sharing.
Conclusion
The project was well received by the students.
Collaboration between lecturers and teachers in designing
learning programs was a positive experience both for
teacher and student development. From the feedback of
students, it does seem that learning had indeed occurred
Table 2. What did they feel? (N=116)
HeIpfuI
63.86
SlinuIaling
49.O1
Lasy
31.68
LnjoyalIe
2O.79
Revaiding
19.99
IiiendIy
9.99
Hainonious
1O.89
Syslenalic
25.25
SulslanliaI
32.67
Inleiesling
48.O2
DifficuIl
4.46
DisoideiIy
12.87
SliessfuI
3.47
Disappoinling
2.97
Alsliacl
11.39
Confusing
14.46
InpiaclicaI
5.94
DuII
9.99
Repelilive
5.45
Table I. What have they learnt? (N=116)
Teaching oljeclives SliongIy agieed Agieed Disagieed SliongIy disagieed
a. Disciininale a slalenenl of facl fion a slalenenl
of opinion
19.8O 75.74 3.96 O.5O
l. Disciininale vhich pail of a nevspapei iepoil is
facl and vhich is opinion
16.83 72.77 9.99 O.5O
c. e avaie lhal lheie nay le disciepancies lelveen
lhe headIine and lhe conlenl of nevspapei iepoil
44.55 46.O4 8.42 O.99
d. e avaie lhal sone nevs iepoils nay conlain
disloiled facls
48.O2 47.O3 3.47 1.49
e. Appieciale lhal diffeienl peopIe nay hoId diffeienl
opinions lovaids a facl
57.43 39.11 2.48 O.99
90 Fok Shui Che
on the part of students. Additionally, the data supports
the notion that the students enjoyed an interactive way
of learning. Unlike most lessons in Hong Kong
secondary schools, students who participated in these
lessons had the opportunity to voice their views and test
their opinions. Therefore they found the lesson both
stimulating and enjoyable.
Kwan (2001), the chief consultant of the project
made the following concluding remarks:
This project was seen as positive and beneficial to all levels
concerns as it involved a process development in learning and
teaching which eventually brought about changes in learning and
teaching behavior and attitudes in relation to the development of
high order thinking.
Yet lecturers and teachers involved in the project felt
that they had only equipped students with some basic
ideas in distinguishing fact from opinion. This is only a
first step and far from adequate. What is more important
is to develop students' attitude as a critical thinker: that
is, to evaluate their own opinions and to ask question
about their beliefs and judgements. This is the most
important and the most difficult part.
Paul has discovered that classroom instruction around
the world, at all levels, is typically didactic,
one-dimensional, and indifferent. He remarked:
Iank faces aie laughl laiien concIusions in dieaiy diiIIs.
Sludenls aie nol expecled lo ask foi ieasons lo juslify vhal
lhey aie loId lo leIieve. They do nol queslion vhal lhey see,
heaid, oi iead, noi aie lhey encouiaged lo do so. They do
nol denand lhal suljecl nallei "nake sense" lo lhen. They
nechanicaIIy iepeal vhal lhey veie loId, oi vhal lhey lhink
lhey veie loId, vilh IillIe sense of lhe Iogic oi Iack of Iogic
in vhal lhey aie saying. Teacheis aie nol lypicaIIy disluiled
ly lhese facls. Teacheis leaching veiy oflen does nol even
nake IogicaI sense lo lhe leacheis lhenseIves. TypicaIIy lhey
cannol expIain lhe Iogic of lheii ovn suljecl nallei excepl al
a supeificiaI IeveI (1993).
Classroom observations confirmed that this was the
case in the Hong Kong classroom. In our project,
despite great efforts by teachers to promote critical
thinking, teachers felt that it was not easy for them to
break away from their old habit of a teacher-centered
way of teaching. They themselves were not so logical in
their reasoning. They admitted that they had not
received adequate teacher education for teaching critical
thinking. Additionally, there was a great constraint of
time and resources. Indeed, the teaching of critical
thinking is not an integral component of teacher
education programs in Hong Kong. Results from this
project should have some implications for education in
Hong Kong in that critical thinking could be taught to
students provided that teachers had the adequate training
and schools had integrated the subject in the school
curriculum. The crux of the issue is whether critical
thinking is being valued by all the stakeholders as an
important element of education and whether we are
willing to allocate resources to that area. All in all, the
project can be seen as a first attempt and further work
needs to be carried out so as to prepare Hong Kong's
young people to meet the challenges of this era of
information and technology.
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Received March 28, 2002
Revision received June 14, 2002
Accepted June 21, 2002