Exploring student engagement, classroom environment, and critical thinking in secondary classrooms in an Asia-Pacific context

This study aimed to explore the impact of classroom interventions on students’ critical thinking. The study, adopting a mixed method design, was conducted in senior secondary Liberal Studies (LS) lessons in Hong Kong. Participants included six LS teachers and 127 students. Statistical data analysis (correlation coefficient, paired samples t tests) together with qualitative analysis on teacher interviews were conducted. Significant improvement was found in student lesson engagement, classroom environment, and students’ critical thinking development. Meanwhile, it was found that classroom environment and lesson engagement are considered highly related to critical thinking disposition. Implications of the study point to the need to design different types of classroom interventions to match the needs of students of diverse achievement levels. Copyright © 2018 AERA.