In this study, we attempted to separate the effects of culture and language on imagery generation. By asking subjects from China, Singapore and the US to read Chinese and/or English messages, we found that culture, as opposed to language of the message, drives Chinese people's imagery-generation capabilities. Indeed, people from mainland China generated more images than both Singaporean Chinese people and Americans, even when tested in English. This is because their dominant way of thinking is concrete. Bilingual Singaporean Chinese subjects generated the same number of images when exposed to English and Chinese stimuli because they are equally adept at abstract and concrete thinking. However, their imagery-generation ability could be manipulated by priming abstract or concrete thinking.

The effect of teaching critical thinking as part of a continuous progress packet in American history was studied at Cedar High School during the 1969-70 school year. An experimental group using the critical thinking packet was compared with a control group that used a continuous progress packet that taught only American history. The dependent variables for the study were the STEP (Sequential Test of Educational Progress), Social Studies portion, and the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal. No statistically significant differences were found between the groups in either American history or critical thinking. Differences in critical thinking ability, though not significant statistically, seemed to indicate the desirability of further research in this area. It was also recommended, as a result of this study, that further research be conducted to develop and evaluate new methods of assessing student competence in seminar situations.

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This thesis contains multiple-case studies of how critical thinking was conceptualised and operationalised by five academics from different disciplines in a university in Hong Kong. In response to the current literature that is characterised by prevalent dependence on academics’ self-reports to investigate perceptions and pedagogical practice for promoting critical thinking, the data in this research were obtained through non-participant observations, semi-structured interviews, and document collection. Using a framework underpinned by Argyris and Schön’s (1974) theory of action as well as Lave and Wenger’s (1991) notion of situated activity, the espoused beliefs and actual practice of case participants were analysed inductively through the constant comparison method. The findings contribute to a model of pedagogical engagement with critical thinking that elucidates the relationship between academics’ conceptions and practice. Pedagogy that encourages thinking development can be understood as engagement with critical thinking in three forms, namely, critical thinking as integral, critical thinking as incidental, and critical thinking as instrumental. These forms of engagement are associated with three factors, which are dimensions of academics’ implicit theories: expectations of students, the perceived relevance of critical thinking, and knowledge of critical thinking. The model of pedagogical engagement advances the argument that instruction for critical thinking development is individual academics’ personal constructions that are constantly negotiated between their latent beliefs and awareness of context. The thesis concludes with implications for policy planners, practitioners, and researchers, offering suggestions towards promoting critical thinking both as a key learning outcome in universities and the hallmark of higher education. / published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

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This study presents an operational definition of creativity within the contexts of business, school and community. A design for the strategic management of creativity is developed. Suggestions are made for programs to increase effectiveness in the use of creative skills. Creativity has been viewed in the past as something that happens rather than deliberate activity directed to specific goals. Numerous studies have failed to find a significant relationship between measurements of creative skills and intelligence as delimited by IQ tests and other measures of performance. Creativity can be distinguished as a category, process and quality of intelligence, and both can be defined in qualitative and theoretical terms. Models are constructed in the study to classify creativity. The components of the creative act can be tracked. A model sets parameters and categories for investigations to permit variation of content in a relatively stable sequence of steps. The sequence can be extracted as a method to process ideas from any discourse.

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This thesis is, in part, a defence of a broad-based approach to epistemology. We should be wary of taking too narrow a focus and thus neglecting important aspects of knowledge. If we are too focused on one methodology then we are likely to miss insights that can come about from a different perspective. With this in mind, I investigate two particular methodologies in detail: Kornblith’s naturalism and Craig’s ‘genealogical’ approach. Kornblith emphasises the importance of looking at knowledge in the context of the natural world, thus stressing the continuity between animal and human knowledge. Craig, on the other hand, focuses on a distinctly human aspect of knowledge: the importance of enquiry and the sharing of information. As such, the two theories of knowledge that are developed have different emphases. I argue that by bringing them together we can better understand what knowledge is. This leads us to the other main contribution of this thesis, which is a defence of the role of reflection in epistemology. This has often been neglected in contemporary epistemology, primarily because of the effectiveness of externalist theories of knowledge. The focus on externalism has lead to reflection being sidelined. I do not argue that reflection is necessary for knowledge, but rather want to bring back attention to the important role that it plays in human life. Reflectively accessible justification is necessary for our knowledge claims and therefore plays a vital role in enquiry. If we add reflectively accessible justification to knowledge then it is both more stable and more valuable. Even if it is not necessary for knowledge, reflection should not be neglected.