Exploring the characteristics of undergraduates' Critical thinking development in peer interaction via epistemic network analysis

Although peer interaction has been considered a way to develop students' critical thinking, there has been a lack of comprehensive exploration of the teaching strategy of analyzing undergraduates' peer interaction regarding critical thinking skills and dispositions. In this study, 33 third-year undergraduates participated in a peer interactive learning activity. By means of Epistemic Network Analysis (ENA), the characteristics of developing critical thinking in peer interaction of high- and low-scoring groups were revealed. It was found that undergraduates' critical thinking mainly involved the critical thinking skills of analysis, evaluation, and inference, more than the critical thinking dispositions of curiosity, open-mindedness, persistence, and reflection. High-scoring group students' critical thinking had more associations among persistence, analysis, evaluation, inference, and open-mindedness, while low-scoring group students' critical thinking had more associations with curiosity, analysis, and inference. Moreover, the high- and low-scoring group students who engaged in peer interactive learning activities at each stage exhibited statistically significant differences in critical thinking characteristics including connectivity and interdependence. The low-scoring groups focused on critical thinking skills, whereas the high-scoring groups were driven by critical thinking dispositions. Finally, interventions for developing critical thinking are discussed, and suggestions are made to assist in designing and implementing future peer interactive learning activities.