Developing critical thinking in the transition from undergraduate to postgraduate education via synergistic optimized cultivating method

Abstract

Critical thinking is not only important for a good educated undergraduate student but also essential for a successful postgraduate student. The route of cultivating critical thinking ability during undergraduate education should be beneficial for a successful transition to the postgraduate education. In this study, a synergistic optimized cultivating method was proposed for the critical thinking ability in the transition from undergraduate to postgraduate education. In this method, the re-organization of courses and optimization of course content in both undergraduate and postgraduate stages can be beneficial for the cultivation of critical thinking ability. At the same time, course-based ideological and political education is applied in the courses to motivate the students learning in a higher efficiency. More importantly, cognitive methods, such as reductionism and holism are applied to assist the student analyzing the correlations among different courses and conducting research, so that they can know how to analyze issues deeply and using a micro- and macro- combining route. All these three parts can achieve a synergistic effect and contribute to the cultivation and elevation of critical thinking ability.