Forming Critical Thinking: The Role of Students’ Epistemic Beliefs and Styles of Learning in Russian Universities

Abstract

The role of epistemic beliefs in the formation of critical thinking with the direct use of an active approach in teaching in the context of higher education in Russia was studied within the framework of the presented research. In particular, a hypothesis of existence of a mediation effect of epistemic beliefs that enhances the effect of active school practices on the development of critical thinking was tested. To check the interrelationships between critical thinking and individual school practices, Spearman's correlation analysis was carried out. At the second stage of the study, factor models were constructed to form overall scale scores of epistemic beliefs and active school practices, and correlation analysis was performed within the framework of structural equation modeling. The analysis of the results showed that active pedagogical practices can not only directly develop critical thinking through teaching argumentation and analysis of ideas, but also form an idea of self-development possibility. That is why in teaching, it is important to pay attention not only to cognitive skills, but also to influence students' attitudes. Further research in this area can be aimed at studying the practices of forming epistemic beliefs.

Keywords

• critical thinking
• epistemic beliefs
• learning styles
• students
• russian universities
• evidence-centered design