Quest

ISSN: 0033-6297 (Print) 1543-2750 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/uqst20

Physical Education Pre-service Teachers

Understanding, Application, and Development of
Critical Thinking

Jiling Liu , Ron E. McBride, Ping Xiang & Melissa Scarmardo-Rhodes

To cite this article: Jiling Liu , Ron E. McBride, Ping Xiang & Melissa Scarmardo-Rhodes (2017):
Physical Education Pre-service Teachers Understanding, Application, and Development of Critical
Thinking, Quest, DOI: 10.1080/00336297.2017.1330218

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00336297.2017.1330218

Published online: 25 Aug 2017.

Submit your article to this journal

View related articles

View Crossmark data

Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at

http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=uqst20

Download by: [Texas A&M University Libraries] Date: 25 August 2017, At: 11:55
 QUEST
https://doi.org/10.1080/00336297.2017.1330218

Physical Education Pre-service Teachers Understanding,

Application, and Development of Critical Thinking
a
Jiling Liu , Ron E. McBridea, Ping Xianga and Melissa Scarmardo-Rhodesb
a
Department of Health & Kinesiology, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas; bTexas A&M Consolidated
Middle School, College Station, Texas

ABSTRACT KEYWORDS
Downloaded by [Texas A&M University Libraries] at 11:55 25 August 2017

To better prepare physical education (PE) teachers, this study Critical thinking instruction;
explored a group of pre-service teachers understanding, application, eld practices; physical
and development of critical thinking (CT) in a capstone methods education teacher
course. Participants were 12 pre-service teachers from a PE teacher education; reective
practitioners; reective
education (PETE) program at a large university in the southwestern teaching; thoughtful
United States. Data were collected through focus group interviews decision making; written
and post-lab assignments and were analyzed via content analysis. assignments
Findings showed that the PE pre-service teachers could dene CT and
recognize its importance to teaching and learning. Together with
eld-based teaching practices, course written assignments such as
the encyclopedia article, curriculum project, lesson plans, and post
assignments were identied as contributors to CT development. At
the end of the semester, the PE pre-service teachers demonstrated an
improvement in CT across three levels. Based on our ndings, we
recommend the integration of CT instruction into PETE programs.

Engaging in reective practices is one characteristic of an eective physical education (PE)

teacher (Society of Health and Physical Educators [SHAPE] America, 2010). Reective
practice entails critical thinking (CT), which is dened as reasonable, reective thinking
(Ennis, 1987, p. 10). Critical thinking enables teachers to maximize student learning
outcomes, improve teaching eectiveness, and it represents an important component of
teacher professional development (SHAPE America, 2010). Researchers and educators
alike agree that CT contributes to student academic success and fulllment of citizenship
(e.g., Facione, 1990; Paul, 1993).
Critical thinking in PE allows students to make reasonable and defensible decisions
about movement tasks or challenges (McBride, 1992, p. 115). Successful critical thinkers
in PE, for example, are able to apply learned motor skills strategically as well as to develop
a physical activity habit (Lodewyk, 2009). This is critical to PE eective teaching (ET;
dened as an increase in student learning), which involves promoting student physical
activity levels to increase healthy behavior in and out of school. Cultivating CT, therefore,
must represent an important goal of PE at all levels.
To teach students to think critically, teachers must rst have knowledge and skills of
CT and themselves be critical thinkers. PE teacher education (PETE) programs are an
important venue to promote CT among prospective teachers (i.e., pre-service teachers).

CONTACT Jiling Liu dalingliu@tamu.edu 155 Ireland St, Department of Health & Kinesiology, Texas A&M
University, College Station, TX 77843-4243.
2017 National Association for Kinesiology in Higher Education (NAKHE)
 2 J. LIU ET AL.

For PE pre-service teachers, CT is not only essential to their current academic studies, but
also future professional practices (Lloyd & Bahr, 2010). To prepare eective PE teachers,
PETE programs, then, should incorporate CT into their curricula (Daniel & Bergman-
Drewe, 1998).

The Three-Story Intellect Model (TSIM)

In the eld of education, Blooms Taxonomy (Bloom, Engelhart, Furst, Hill, & Krathwohl,
1956; Krathwohl, 2002) is a cognitive, theoretical, and pedagogical framework that is often
referred to understand, teach, and assess CT. The latest version of Blooms Taxonomy
classies CT skills into six levels: remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, eval-
uating, and creating (Krathwohl, 2002). Its structural complexity and inherent limitations,
Downloaded by [Texas A&M University Libraries] at 11:55 25 August 2017

however, caused concerns about practicability in this theoretical framework (Amer, 2006).
An alternative framework is the TSIM (Bellanca & Fogarty, 1991). As a simplied form
of Blooms Taxonomy, the TSIM (Table 1) sorts CT skills into three categoriesgathering
information, processing information, and applying informationthat represent brainwork
in a metaphorical structure. In general education, the TSIM has been employed as a
cornerstone in curriculum construction and a means to identify and assess CT skills and
levels in teaching and learning (e.g., Costa & Kallick, 2008; Fogarty, 2009). In PE research,
including PETE, however, the model has not been utilized.
The TSIM suggests that learners begin the CT process by gathering information such as
factual knowledge. This initial stage involves basic thinking skills such as describing,
reciting, and recalling. For example, in their post-lab assignments, pre-service teachers
need to recall the dates and settings and specically describe the occurrences during a
lesson. This information serves as a foundation on which the higher levels of CT are built.

Table 1. The TSIM.*

TSIM CT skills Examples
Level 3: Evaluate; imagine; judge; predict; I feel like it was successful because the students eventually
Applying speculate; estimate; forecast caught on to the games dynamics towards the end of the
knowledge lesson (Curry, personal communication, May 6, 2013).
If I was to repeat this lesson, I would not have the distances
included but instead just have the students tally how many
punts they make correctly, therefore the emphasis is on
punting correctly and not how far you can kick the ball
(Ember, personal communication, April 17, 2013).
Level 2: Reason; compare; contrast; This lesson was very dierent than most of my other lessons
Processing distinguish; explain; classify; analyze; because it was an indirect teaching form (Curry, personal
information infer communication, May 6, 2013).
Since I blended practice and reciprocal styles, this lesson was
not much dierent than previous lessons (Daisy, personal
communication, April 17, 2013).
If the instructions are clear and set forth correctly students will
participate and do the activity because they know what they
are doing (Ember, personal communication, April 17, 2013).
Level 1: Count; describe; name; recite; recall This week, I feel that my lesson was somewhat eective
Gathering (Daisy, personal communication, April 17, 2013).
information This lesson I used the convergent teaching style (Rudy,
personal communication, April 17, 2013).
When they started playing, some students were engaged and
others werent (Sam, personal communication, April 29, 2013).
*Adopted from Bellanca and Fogarty, 1991.
 QUEST 3

At the second story, learners start to process (interacting with and internalizing) the
gathered information. This process employs more complex thinking skills such as reason-
ing, comparing, and contrasting. When reecting on their teaching, pre-service teachers
often compare and contrast their planned and the actual lessons. They then analyze
potential causes that led to the dierences between the planned and the implemented,
and generate strategies to make adjustments for future teaching.
At the third story, learners apply the information gathered and processed from the rst
two stages. More complex and advanced CT skills such as synthesizing, evaluating, and
predicting are operated. During an evaluation of teaching eectiveness, pre-service tea-
chers might synthesize their knowledge of ET, seek alternative ways that might better
increase student learning, create, and plan to implement new strategies for their future
lessons.
Downloaded by [Texas A&M University Libraries] at 11:55 25 August 2017

Historically, teaching heavily relied on behaviorism (Yilmaz, 2011). The behaviorist

approach views learning as observable and measurable behavioral changes. Behaviorists
approach the process of student learning as a simple stimulus response reaction.
Under this framework, teachers act as the reinforcers of behavior and are central to
teacher educating and student learning. Although this teacher-centered instructional
practice contributes to teaching eciency, it does little to fostering students as indepen-
dent thinkers and active learners (Light, 2008).
Cognitivist approaches, on the other hand, focus on learners inner mental activities
and concern for meaningful information processing. Cognitivists regard learning as a
chain of stimulus meditation response. Under this framework, students are active
learners in gathering, processing, and applying information. Teachers become facilitators
of learning, who provide students opportunities for mediation, that is, to help students
understand the reasons behind an action. This meditation is reective thinking and is
represented by CT in our study.
Since CT consists of specic teachable cognitive skills, systematic training in teacher
preparation programs is important for its development (McBride, Xiang, & Wittenburg,
2002). Researchers identied a number of instructional strategies in the classroom that
promote CT, such as higher-order questioning (e.g., Barnett & Francis, 2012; Saxton,
Belanger, & Becker, 2012), group discussion (e.g., Fahim & Bagheri, 2012; Tsui, 2002), and
collaborative work (Harding & Parsons, 2011). A number of studies (e.g., avdar & Doe,
2012; Minott, 2011) also reported that reective writing was eective in promoting CT
among college students.
Purposeful instructions based on these strategies can lead to an increase in CT. For
instance, Minott (2011) examined Education pre-service teachers changes in CT in a
reective teaching course. The course involved using strategies such as keeping a reective
journal and group discussion. After 14 weeks, the pre-service teachers awareness and
knowledge of CT increased, and they were also able to apply CT out of the classroom.
Similarly, Barnett and Francis (2012) assessed CT levels in an undergraduate Educational
Psychology class based on higher-order questioning. The students scored signicantly
higher on the post-test than on the pre-test. Recently, Niu, Behar-Horenstein, and Garvan
(2013) conducted a meta-analysis of 40 empirical studies on college students CT levels.
They found that, overall, students scores on standardized CT skill tests increased after
purposeful instructional interventions.
 4 J. LIU ET AL.

Critical thinking literature rarely paid attention to PE pre-service teachers (Elder, 2005;
Saxton et al., 2012). While McBride, Gabbard, and Miller (1990) suggested promoting
students CT skills through certain teaching skills (e.g., questioning) and teaching styles
(e.g., Mosstons teaching spectrum), their participants were elementary-aged children.
McBride and colleagues (2002) investigated PE pre-service teachers CT, but focused
only on dispositions. These studies did not address how PE pre-service teachers under-
stand CT and develop CT skills in PETE programs. Behets and Vergauwen (2006)
lamented that many PETE programs claim they foster reective activities. Few, how-
ever, have empirically evaluated their eorts (p. 415). Therefore, eorts in CT research
from PETE educators are needed.
Downloaded by [Texas A&M University Libraries] at 11:55 25 August 2017

The present study

The present study sought to explore pre-service teachers understanding, application, and
development of CT in a capstone teaching methods course (the last course prior to student
teaching). The methods course infuses CT and requires pre-service teachers to synthesize
their knowledge about ET and apply it in eld-based teaching practices. This 14-week
course consists of classroom lectures and eld-based teaching practices. We expected our
pre-service teachers to demonstrate a certain level of CT before they enter student
teaching. Therefore, we hypothesized: The PE pre-service teachers would be able to (a)
dene CT in their own words, (b) apply CT in their teaching and learning, and (c) identify
contributing factors to their CT development upon the end of the course.

Method
Participants and setting
Participants were 12 pre-service teachers enrolled in a PETE program at a large university
in the Southwest United States. They were four females and eight males, aged 21 to
40 years old. One pre-service teacher was African American, one was Hispanic, and 10
were Caucasian. The capstone teaching methods course consists of three primary threads
interwoven across the semester. The rst is ET skills and strategies that increase student
learning in the gymnasium setting. These include such elements as maximizing time on
task, skills of teaching, management, and discipline. The second thread addresses a variety
of teaching styles that range from teacher-centered to student-centered. Here, students
learn such styles as practice, reciprocal, self-check, inclusion, convergent, and divergent
(see Mosston & Ashworth, 2002). The nal component focuses on CT, which aims to
foster thoughtful and reective teaching. This study addresses the CT thread of this
capstone class.
In this course, pre-service teachers performance is assessed through individual work,
such as taking quizzes and writing an encyclopedia article, and group work, such as
creating a yearlong curriculum planning project. In addition, they are required to teach
two micro-teaching lessons on campus and eight regular PE classes under a mentor
teachers supervision in local public schools. Before each lesson, each pre-service teacher
writes a detailed lesson plan. Afterward, they have a debrieng session with their mentor
 QUEST 5

teachers and complete a reective and evaluative post assignment of their teaching
performance.
Instruction of CT in this course begins in the rst week and continues across a
14-week semester. The Instructor of Record for this course was the PETE programs
coordinator, who had more than 30 years of teaching experience. During the class,
she explains the denition and importance of CT and approaches to promoting CT
in PE. Materials for instruction are based on previous CT in PE research (e.g.,
McBride, 1992; McBride & Carrillo, 2000; McBride & Cleland, 1998) and the TSIM
(Bellanca & Fogarty, 1991). Throughout the semester, CT is constantly revisited and
reinforced during lectures and discussions for deep understanding and further appli-
cation. Note that the Instructor of Record was not a member of the research team
for this study.
Downloaded by [Texas A&M University Libraries] at 11:55 25 August 2017

Additionally, the class is a university designated intensive writing course. University

intensive writing courses have specic requirements such as a minimum of 2,000 words,
writing instructions, and a signicant percentage of course grade based on written projects.
Both the encyclopedia article and the reective written assignments emphasize mechanics,
format, and conciseness in writing. Pre-service teachers are expected to demonstrate
thoughtful decision making during these written assignments. For example, in the post
assignments, pre-service teachers not only need to recall what happened during their
lessons, but also to contemplate why it happened and how to make it better.
The Graduate Teaching Assistant for this course was the lead researcher of this study.
He had a partial role in charge of the teaching lab. His responsibilities included demon-
strating two teaching styles (reciprocal and self-check) in the gym and grading the post-lab
assignments. He was not involved in teaching lectures in the classroom.

Procedure
Prior to the study, approval was obtained from the university Institutional Review Board.
Recruitment took place in the participants classroom. In the beginning of the recruitment,
pre-service teachers were informed that their participation was voluntary and whether taking
part or not would not impact their course grades. Participants could choose to withdraw from
the study at any time without penalty. Finally, all participants were assured of condentiality
in the study. Prior to participation, they all signed a consent form. Data sources included focus
group interviews and post-lab assignments. All data were collected at the end of semester.

Focus group interviews

Focus group permits quality data collection in limited periods of time (Krueger & Casey,
2009). In order to elicit quality information, participants should be in a non-threatening
environment and the interviewer/mediator should encourage interactions among partici-
pants (Patton, 2002). In this study, focus group interviews occurred in the pre-service
teachers classroom where they were interviewed in groups of three. The lead researcher
introduced the research process and began the interview. The interview guide focused on
three questions: (a) How do you describe CT in your own words? (b) How did you use CT
in your teaching? And, (c) how did you learn CT in this course? The lead researcher
facilitated the discussion by asking the interview questions and providing probes (e.g., Do
you have anything else to add for this question? What do you think about what your
 6 J. LIU ET AL.

classmate said?). At the end of the interview, participants were asked if all aspects of CT
had been explored and all the questions answered. The focus group interviews lasted for
approximately 45 minutes and were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Pseudonyms were
used in the transcripts to mask the participants identities.

Post assignments
To examine the pre-service teachers development in CT across semester, two post assign-
ments (written for Lab 1 and Lab 9) were selected for analysis because they asked the same
question, How would you judge the overall eectiveness of your teaching? For teaching
Lab 1, the pre-service teachers rst selected a topic from a list of fundamental movement
skills (e.g., throwing, kicking, non-locomotor skills), teaching style (either practice or
reciprocal), and a teaching partner. Each individual then designed and taught a 10-minute
Downloaded by [Texas A&M University Libraries] at 11:55 25 August 2017

micro-teaching lesson. Lab 9 is a 30-minute lesson taught in a public school. For this
lesson, pre-service teachers can use either the convergent or divergent teaching style (see
Mosston & Ashworth, 2002). Although the two labs took place in dierent settings, they
were most relevant to the topic of this study.

Data analysis
Data were analyzed using content analysis whereby the transcriptions were rst unitized
into the smallest meaningful units, categorized, and then merged into main themes (Miles,
Huberman, & Saldana, 2014). To achieve inter-coder reliability, the lead researcher and
another member of the research team who specialized in qualitative study independently
analyzed sample transcriptions selected from the interview data and compared results with
each other. After agreement was made, the two researchers unitized the interview data
independently. They then discussed and agreed on the categorization of the separated
units, reviewed the categories, and made adjustments until a nal consensus was reached.
Meanwhile, a coding instrument was developed based on the TSIM. On the instrument,
each intellect story was dened and examples provided. For instance, the rst story includes
gathering information that involves recalling factual knowledge. An example is pre-service
teachers recalling the date, place, and grade level of their lessons. Analysis began by reading
the post assignments line by line, identifying CT levels, and recording the count of CT skills at
each level on a sheet. Because Lab 9 was longer than Lab 1, pre-service teachers had a
lengthier response to Lab 9. To make a direct comparison between the two post assignments,
we calculated the percentage of CT skills used at each level through dividing the count of one
CT level by the total count of all three levels. The two researchers analyzed samples from the
pre-service teachers post-lab assignments to establish inter-coder reliability. With an agree-
ment, independent analyses began. After this phase of the analyses, the two researchers
compared their results, discussed possible solutions, and resolved disagreements.
According to Miles and colleagues (2014), two strategies were utilized to provide
trustworthiness and address researcher bias: (1) member checking during the interviews
by the lead researcher repeatedly asking participants for clarication and verication, and
(2) audit trail whereby a third researcher of the research team reviewed and examined data
analysis products, data reconstruction, and synthesis products.
 QUEST 7

Findings
Three major themes emerged through analysis of the interview data: (a) understanding of
CT, (b) promoting CT in PE, and (c) contributing course elements. Analysis of the two
post assignments revealed that the pre-service teachers use of three levels of CT skills
diered from the beginning to the end of semester.

Understanding of CT
Understanding of CT represented how CT was dened and explained and how it con-
tributed to teacher educating and student learning. For this group of PE pre-service
teachers, CT was dened as reective thinking, higher-order thinking, () and that it
Downloaded by [Texas A&M University Libraries] at 11:55 25 August 2017

supported decision making and problem solving. The pre-service teachers not only gave
a denition, but also identied specic cognitive processes CT involves, such as analyzing
and applying, and how it guides their teaching behavior. For example, Ember said,
I believe its reective thinking focused on deciding what to believe and not to believe, and
what to do and not to do. Its an intellectual process of actively and skillfully applying or
analyzing and validating observations or by experiences. As you have an experience, you
change what you believe, or, you accommodate your actions. (personal communication, April
10, 2013)

Anthony agreed, Critical thinking is the rational way to think of things. Its a higher level
of thinking, and it involves more open-mindedness to questions and answers given
(personal communication, April 10, 2013). Their denitions captured the essence and
nature of CT described by McBride (1992).
The pre-service teachers thought that CT aided a well-managed gymnasium, particu-
larly during unexpected occurrences. For example, Peter thought if teaching doesnt go
according to the plan, you have to critically think and prepare to do another lesson
quickly (personal communication, April 10, 2013). Physical education pre-service tea-
chers oftentimes encounter problems and handle challenging moments in the gymnasium.
Thinking critically allows them to make sound decisions and solve problems.
They also acknowledged that CT encouraged students to learn with comfort, under-
stand how and why, and develop self-directed learning. Mason and Jim believed that CT
helps students not feel overwhelmed in the gym (personal communication, April 10,
2013) and makes them understand what they are doing and the reason for it (personal
communication, April 10, 2013). According to Curry, a long-term benet for students
thinking critically was, They get to explore their experience on their own without me
directing them. That way, they are able to use their own critical thinking to come to a
solution (personal communication, April 10, 2013).

Promoting CT in PE
Promoting CT in PE identied how the PE pre-service teachers applied their knowledge
and skills and fostered reasoning in teaching. During eld-based teaching practices, the
pre-service teachers recognized that questioning and indirect teaching were two important
strategies to promote CT among their students.
 8 J. LIU ET AL.

Questioning, particularly higher-order questioning, was the most frequently used skill
to prompt CT during instruction. As Daniel noted, When I was teaching, Id ask them
[students] 1015 critical thinking questions (personal communication, April 10, 2013).
The pre-service teachers believed that asking questions required their students to think
about what they were doing and, more importantly, why they were doing it. When
students provided an answer to a question, the pre-service teachers followed up by asking
them to provide a rationale for the answer. Rudy said, You have to engage students and
have them think about the questions that youre asking, the total reasons why and theyre
answering the way they are (personal communication, April 10, 2013).
During the closure of a lesson, asking higher-order questions helped assess students
cognitive learning and promote CT as well. Usually, the pre-service teachers asked
students to recall what they learned and followed up with higher-order questions such
as Why is it important? and How can you use that outside of gym? Curry captured
Downloaded by [Texas A&M University Libraries] at 11:55 25 August 2017

this sequence:

One way I apply critical thinking is during the closure and I go back over the skills learned
with the students and ask them higher-level questions. Theyre asked what skills they learned
and why they were important, get them really think about the why behind the skills they are
learning and not so much what skills they learned. (personal communication, April 10, 2013)

Indirect teaching styles were used to promote CT in PE. Such styles as convergent and
divergent discovery (see Mosston & Ashworth, 2002) allow students to explore various
possibilities, evaluate alternative solutions, and make thoughtful decisions (McBride,
1992). As Daisy commented,

I apply critical thinking through the divergent teaching style where I pretty much set up
the lesson and the students come to their own conclusions. They get to explore their
experience on their own without me directing them. That way, they are able to use their
own critical thinking to come to a solution, not me telling them the solution. (personal
communication, April 10, 2013)

The pre-service teachers also acknowledged that the importance of CT did not ensure its
general acceptance in PE classes. One challenge in promoting CT was to balance the time
between cognitive and psychomotor engagement. From the pre-service teachers perspec-
tives, making time for CT promotion would decrease students physical activity involve-
ment. Mason stated, To promote critical thinking takes some time. To develop
appropriate time on task, we need that time (personal communication, April 10, 2013).
Daisy agreed, Its harder to implement critical thinking into the PE atmosphere than it is
into classroom setting, just because in PE youre trying to keep them active, but its hard to
balance the activity and the time for critical thinking (personal communication, April 10,
2013).
In addition to insucient time, another obstacle was students unfamiliarity to thinking
critically. From the pre-service teachers experiences, students often think that PE is just a
time for being physically active, and what they want is just to jump in the gym and play.
Students feel little need for thinking or connecting what they learned from other classes.
Daisy commented, You think its a good question but the kids dont really care about
answering questions at the end of the class. They just want to go in (personal commu-
nication, April 10, 2013).
 QUEST 9

Contributing course elements

Overall, the PE pre-service teachers agreed that the methods course helped with their
CT development. Specically, written assignments such as the encyclopedia article, the
year-long curriculum project, lesson plans, and the post assignments were identied as
contributors. Field-based teaching practices also provided opportunities to
develop CT.
The pre-service teachers regarded the encyclopedia article assignment as an important
factor to CT development. Peters statement was representative of the responses: The
encyclopedia article causes you to think more outside of the box. It causes me to really
have to think a little bit harder, critically, and understand my topic more with this class
(personal communication, April 10, 2013). Carol also noted,
Downloaded by [Texas A&M University Libraries] at 11:55 25 August 2017

I would agree that the encyclopedia article really causes you to critically think, especially to
me, because it needs you to think about what to talk and how to support what you say, and
the whole process gets you ready for learning. (personal communication, April 10, 2013)

The curriculum project was identied as the most challenging because it demanded
careful and thoughtful planning. The project required the pre-service teachers to think
over each step and make informed decisions at each stage. Curry said,

Therere a lot of aspects so we have to go into each aspect of the curriculum. Were really
thinking about what our goal was, what is the best way to approaching teaching, the material,
and organizing the material. . .. So this project has really required us to use a lot of critical
thinking. That was denitely something. (personal communication, April 10, 2013)

Rudy shared similar thoughts:

I think our project for building the curriculum for the year really made us think critically,
because we have to think about the dierent steps involved in planning the whole program. It
took a lot of time and a lot of thinking critically to really get that done. That was a big, big
one in our class. (personal communication, April 10, 2013)

Lesson planning also entailed a repertoire of thoughtful decision-making processes. In

order to teach eectively, pre-service teachers need to generate lesson objectives, choose
a teaching style, and contemplate when to use which teaching skill, how to motivate
students, manage the gym, and assess student performance. Blaire believed that pre-
paring lesson plans helped her think critically. She stated, We learned this [CT] in
preparing our lesson plans, because were thinking of critical questions to ask our
students, and just if the activities were choosing work or not (Blaire, personal
communication, April 10, 2013). Similarly, Carol deemed CT in lesson planning as
it goes to reection like, Ok, how can I change this and make it better? while making
the lesson plan (personal communication, April 10, 2013).
Finally, writing post assignments contributed notably to CT development. Jim said,
I would say [I learned CT] during my post assignments that [involve] higher-order
questioning and reections (personal communication, April 10, 2013). Once the pre-
service teachers found out certain teaching areas that needed renement, they had to
make thoughtful decisions about the adjustments in order to improve their perfor-
mance in the next lesson. Blaire said, In our post labs we think critically on if we had
an eective lesson and what we can change to improve our lessons (personal
 10 J. LIU ET AL.

Table 2. Dierences in three levels of CT skills between Lab 1 and Lab 9.

Lab 1 Lab 9
Levels of CT skills Count Percentage Count Percentage
Level 1: Gathering information 61 64 103 50
Level 2: Processing information 19 20 63 30
Level 3: Applying information 15 16 42 20
Total 95 100 208 100

communication, April 10, 2013). Daisy followed up, So looking back on your teach-
ings you can see it did not go so well because of this or it did go well because I
thought [of] this ahead of time (personal communication, April 10, 2013).
During eld-based teaching practices, mentor teachers in the public schools facilitated
pre-service teachers CT development after each lesson. Especially in the debrieng session
Downloaded by [Texas A&M University Libraries] at 11:55 25 August 2017

immediately following a lesson, mentor teachers guided the pre-service teachers to reect
and evaluate their teaching processes. The pre-service teachers were directed to contem-
plate their strengths and weaknesses during the past lesson and what they could do to
improve in the next lesson. Daisy noted the importance of her mentor teachers feedback,
commenting,
One thing I really like to put is my mentor teacher, after every lesson, would say, What
would you do if you have to teach this lesson in next class period? So that got me thinking
about what would I change from this class period to make the lesson better for the next class.
So I think that got me thinking critically about what part of the lesson went well and what
didnt and why they did or didnt go well. (personal communication, April 10, 2013)

Changes in CT levels
A comparison between Lab 1 and Lab 9 post-written assignments revealed dierences.
Table 2 displayed the count of CT skills used at each level and the percentages among the
three levels. Since the two labs did not have the same duration, pre-service teachers had
responses of dierent lengths in the two post assignments. To directly compare the
dierences between the two assignments, we focused on the percentages. As shown in
Table 2, the percentage of level-1 CT skills (gathering information) used decreased by 14%
(from 64% to 50%), level-2 skills (processing information) increased by 10% (from 20% to
30%), and level-3 CT skills (applying information) increased by 4% (from 16% to 20%)
from Lab 1 to Lab 9.
These changes exhibited that in Lab 1 post assignment, the pre-service teachers relied
heavily on level-1 CT skills such as recalling, describing, and identifying to assess their
teaching performance. For example, the pre-service teachers frequently recalled what they
taught in the assignment: I started the lesson with an anticipatory set.. . . Next, I used skill
modeling when I had all students stand up and do the skill with me.. . . At the end of the
lesson, I had a closure (personal communication, April 10, 2013). Similarly, Daniel
described his time management in detail: I introduced the information in 3 minutes,
giving the students more than 5 minutes to practice the learned skill (personal commu-
nication, April 10, 2013). Ember identied the teaching skills used, As I analyzed student
performance, I used neutral, value, questioning, and corrective feedback (personal com-
munication, April 10, 2013).
 QUEST 11

In Lab 9 post assignment, level-1 skills such as identifying and describing were still
used, but to a less extent. Meanwhile, level-2 and level-3 CT skills were more frequently
used to analyze teaching procedures, synthesize lecture and lab teaching, and evaluate
student learning outcomes. Examples can be seen as in Rudys reection:

This lesson was dierent from other lessons because I pulled so much information into it. I
was able to assess my students learning [by] watch[ing] them do[ing] the skills [and] asking
them at each station, no students struggled with the skills and remembered the cues that we
used when we learned them in previous lessons. From what we have learned in class, this
proved that the students learned the cardinal directions and could apply them to sports. This
let me know that my lesson was very eective. (personal communication, April 10, 2013)

Other teachers also utilized level-3 CT skills to predict and forecast future adjustments for
their next teaching. For instance, Ember realized that her lesson needed improvement,
Downloaded by [Texas A&M University Libraries] at 11:55 25 August 2017

In order to have student learning occur I need to make sure the lesson is directly putting an
emphasis on what we want students to learn. If I was to repeat this lesson, I would not have
the distances included but instead just have the students tally how many punts they make
correctly. (personal communication, April 10, 2013)

Discussion
Critical thinking is a characteristic of eective teachers. It is important for PE pre-service
teachers because it not only aids pre-service teachers own learning in the classroom, but
also teaching practices in the eld that, in turn, foster CT in younger generations.
Considering a lack of CT research in PETE, this study explored a group of PE pre-service
teachers understanding, application, and development of CT in a capstone methods
course. Findings addressed the three hypotheses proposed earlier that the pre-service
teachers were able to (a) dene CT, (b) apply CT in their teaching and learning, and (c)
identify contributing factors to their CT development.
The PE pre-service teachers were able to describe their understanding of CT. This is
important because teachers intellectual understanding tends to inuence their teaching
practices (Hall & Smith, 2006). Both the focus group interview data and the written
assignments provided evidence for the pre-service teachers understanding of CT. For
example, the pre-service teachers considered CT as higher-order reective thinking used
to decide what to do or not to do. Per McBrides (1992) denition that CT is reasonable
and defensible thinking (p. 115), the pre-service teachers exhibited that they were able to
identify and explain the key characteristics of CT. In dening CT, they demonstrated use
of level-1 CT skills, according to the TSIM.
Course written assignments provided further evidence of level-2 and level-3 CT skills
use. For example, writing a lesson plan and reecting on a teaching lab required higher-
level CT skills. The pre-service teachers had to rst analyze their students abilities and
background knowledge and then create developmentally appropriate activities. Similar
utilization of these reective thinking processes occurred during the assessment of teach-
ing eectiveness in the post assignments, which has been frequently employed by many
PETE programs (Hall & Smith, 2006; Tsangaridou & Siedentop, 1995). First, they needed
to identify their teaching and management skills and analyze how the skills were used.
 12 J. LIU ET AL.

Then, after comparing students performances in the beginning and at the end of the
lesson, they determined if their teaching was eective or not.
According to the PE pre-service teachers, eld-based teaching practices provided
opportunities for applying higher-order CT skills. Specically, the pre-service teachers
applied higher-order questioning and indirect teaching styles, both of which represent
important ingredients of CT in PE (McBride, 1992). While teaching in public schools, the
pre-service teachers asked students questions such as, Could you explain why you chose
to start from the second level? and Why do you think your partner was doing per-
fectly? Indirect teaching styles allow students to employ CT by exploring possibilities,
evaluating alternatives, and making judgments (McBride, 1992). Using divergent styles,
the pre-service teachers encouraged their students to generate dierent solutions to
challenging tasks or activities. Applications of these CT-promoting strategies demon-
Downloaded by [Texas A&M University Libraries] at 11:55 25 August 2017

strated that the pre-service teachers engaged in reective thinking and thoughtful deci-
sion-making processes (Barnett & Francis, 2012; McBride, 2004).
The two post assignments demonstrated a progress across the three intellect stories in
the TSIM. Specically, the frequency of level-1 skills decreased, and level-2 and level-3
thinking increased. For example, prior to CT instruction, the pre-service teachers primar-
ily relied on level-1 thinking, which provided factual information such as, The skill that
we wanted the kids to focus on was on the skill of passing in both basketball and soccer.
After exposure to CT instruction (e.g., denition, approaches to promoting CT) and
during coursework completion (e.g., yearlong curriculum project, encyclopedia article,
lesson planning, eld-based teaching practices), the pre-service teachers began to process
information (level-2 thinking; e.g., analyzing teaching practices, comparing teaching
styles) and apply their knowledge into practice (level-3 thinking; e.g., asking higher-
order questions, using indirect teaching styles). The literature (e.g., avdar & Doe, 2012;
Ycel Toy & Ok, 2012) proposed that purposefully designed instructions can promote CT.
The changes in pre-service teachers use of CT skills might reect the success of our
instruction. Note, however, our study is descriptive in nature. Therefore, more rigorous
experimental studies in the future are desirable to provide more insight into CT develop-
ment among similar populations under similar instruction.
The PE pre-service teachers further identied course elements as contributors to their
CT development. First, they found written assignments such as the encyclopedia article,
the curriculum project, lesson planning, and post assignments were important. These
ndings are similar to Lloyd and Bahr (2010), who found Education pre-service teachers
attributed their understanding and development of CT to written course assignments such
as unit plans, reective journals, and research projects. Written assignments are particu-
larly important in promoting CT (Bean, 2011). In our course, writing a post assignment
requires the use of all three levels of CT skills (i.e., gathering; e.g., recalling what happened
in the gym), processing (e.g., comparing and contrasting their teaching performances with
course criteria), and applying (e.g., making judgments about teaching eectiveness)
information. Therefore, the integration of writing assignments into PETE programs is
reasonable and defensible.
Second, eld-based teaching practices are an important venue to promote CT (e.g.,
Ross, 2013; Wilmore, 1996). As mentioned previously, the PE pre-service teachers were
able to employ specic teaching strategies to foster CT among their students. This practice
allowed them to gain hands-on experience of applying CT. At the same time, their mentor
 QUEST 13

teachers feedback facilitated their reective thinking toward how eective their lessons
were and where they could make improvement for future teaching. Since mentor teachers
play an important role in pre-service teachers professional development (e.g., Hall &
Smith, 2006; Perry, Hutchinson, & Thauberger, 2008), we recommend a cooperation
between PE teacher educators and school mentor teachers to support pre-service teachers
reective practices.
Although our ndings showed evidence for the PE pre-service teachers understanding,
application, and development of CT, it is challenging to change the pattern of what to
think to how to think (McBride & Cleland, 1998; Saxton et al., 2012). In our study, the
pre-service teachers encountered two challenges during eld-based teaching practices.
First, they found it hard to promote CT in the gym because engaging students in cognitive
processes requires time that might be spent on physical activities. An eective lesson
Downloaded by [Texas A&M University Libraries] at 11:55 25 August 2017

requires students to be engaged in learning activities with high levels of success for at least
50% of the class time (Darst, Pangrazi, Sariscsany, & Brusseau, 2012). Since these
inexperienced pre-service teachers were still learning how to manage the learning envir-
onment, ensure adequate practice time, and monitor student learning, they may have felt
pressed for time to infuse CT in their lessons.
Second, the middle school students being taught were unfamiliar with CT. Oftentimes,
when questioning their classes, the pre-service teachers observed, Half of them dont pay
attention. This may be due to a lack of CT knowledge and disposition among the school
students (e.g., McBride, 1999; McBride & Cleland, 1998). To develop CT knowledge and
dispositions, the rst step is to teach how to think. Questioning and teaching approaches
(e.g., cooperative learning) can be eective in enhancing student learning and developing
CT disposition (e.g., Barnett & Francis, 2012; Fahim & Bagheri, 2012).
These two challenges may be indicative of the mentor teachers lack of knowledge and
expertise in CT. For example, school PE teachers still tend to use direct teaching styles
based on behaviorist principles (Byra, 2006). Such teacher-centered teaching styles can be
found in the reproduction cluster of Mosstons Spectrum of Teaching Styles (Mosston &
Ashworth, 2002). These teaching styles emphasize teachers reinforcement of desired
students behavior, focus on psychomotor skill development, and are thus preferred by
most PE teachers (Curtner-Smith, Todorovich, McCaughtry, & Lacon, 2001); however,
they do little to address students cognitive development. Teachers use of direct teaching
styles may be also inuenced by the behavioral public health perspective that focuses on
moving students around at moderate to vigorous intensity without much emphasis on
cognition (OSullivan, 2004). This inuence, however, is not a focus of the present study.
Therefore, we encourage future research to follow up this line of inquiry.
Cognitivist approaches focus on students inner thoughts and reective thinking. To
foster students understanding of the activity undertaken, indirect teaching styles such as
convergent and divergent in the production cluster of Mosstons Spectrum of Teaching
Styles can be utilized (e.g., Byra, 2006; Garn & Byra, 2002). These teaching styles put
students in the center of learning and provide more opportunities for students to think
critically. Therefore, scholars (e.g., McBride, 1992, 1999) contend that CT is best fostered
utilizing more student-centered indirect teaching styles.
Despite the importance of promoting pre-service teachers CT, purposeful instruction
in PETE programs is still lacking (Elder, 2005). Our study showed that our methods
course provided opportunities for pre-service teachers to acquire and practice CT skills.
 14 J. LIU ET AL.

While no attempts to generalize beyond the immediate context, practical implications for
PETE programs are suggested. First, PE teacher educators need to help pre-service
teachers conceptually understand CT and its importance in teaching and learning. The
endorsement of CT may enable them to pass the knowledge and skills to young genera-
tions. Second, to connect theory to practice, learning activities need to be designed. Such
learning activities can include what we presented in this study (e.g., written assignments
and eld-based teaching practices). These activities are important channels that continu-
ously engage pre-service teachers in all three levels of CT.
In conclusion, the CT literature rarely took place in PETE settings; our study serves as
an initial eort to ll the gap. Findings suggest that through purposeful instruction, PE
pre-service teachers understanding, application, and development of CT can be facili-
tated. Since reective thinking is essential to ET practices, we recommend PETE programs
Downloaded by [Texas A&M University Libraries] at 11:55 25 August 2017

integrate CT instruction to develop reective practitioners.

ORCID
Jiling Liu http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4264-5806

References
Amer, A. (2006). Reections on Blooms revised taxonomy. Electronic Journal of Research in
Educational Psychology, 4, 213230.
Barnett, J. E., & Francis, A. L. (2012). Using higher order thinking questions to foster critical
thinking: A classroom study. Educational Psychology, 32, 201211. doi:10.1080/
01443410.2011.638619
Bean, J. C. (2011). Engaging ideas: The professors guide to integrating writing, critical thinking, and
active learning in the classroom (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Behets, D., & Vergauwen, L. (2006). Learning to teach in the eld. In D. Kirk, D. MacDonald, & M.
OSullivan (Eds.), The handbook of physical education (pp. 407424). Thousands Oaks, CA: Sage.
Bellanca, J., & Fogarty, R. (1991). Blueprints for thinking in the cooperative classroom (2nd ed.).
Palatine, IL: Skylight.
Bloom, B. S., Engelhart, M., Furst, F., Hill, W., & Krathwohl, D. (1956). Taxonomy of educational
objectives: The classication of educational goals. New York, NY: Longman.
Byra, M. (2006). Teaching styles and inclusive pedagogies. In D. Kirk, M. OSullivan, & D.
Macdonald (Eds.), Handbook of research in physical education (pp. 449466). New York, NY:
Sage.
avdar, G., & Doe, S. (2012). Learning through writing: Teaching critical thinking skills in writing
assignments. PS, Political Science & Politics, 45, 298306. doi:10.1017/S1049096511002137
Costa, A. L., & Kallick, B. (2008). Learning and leading with habits of mind: 16 essential character-
istics for success. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Curtner-Smith, M. D., Todorovich, J. R., McCaughtry, N. A., & Lacon, S. A. (2001). Urban teachers
use of productive and reproductive teaching styles within the connes of the national curriculum
for physical education. European Physical Education Review, 7, 177190. doi:10.1177/
1356336X010072005
Daniel, M.-F., & Bergman-Drewe, S. (1998). Higher-order thinking, philosophy, and teacher
education in physical education. Quest, 50, 3358. doi:10.1080/00336297.1998.10484263
Darst, P. W., Pangrazi, R. P., Sariscsany, M. J., & Brusseau, T. (2012). Dynamic physical education
for secondary school students (8th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
Elder, L. (2005). Critical thinking as the key to the learning college: A professional development
model. New Directions for Community Colleges, 2005(130), 3948. doi:10.1002/cc.194
 QUEST 15

Ennis, R. H. (1987). A taxonomy of critical thinking dispositions and abilities. In J. Baron, & R.
Sternberg (Eds.), Teaching thinking skills: Theory and practice. New York, NY: Freeman.
Facione, P. A. (1990). Executive summary: Critical thinking: A statement of expert consensus for
purposes of educational assessment and instruction. Research ndings and recommendations.
Millbrae, CA: California Academic Press.
Fahim, M., & Bagheri, M. B. (2012). Fostering critical thinking through Socrates questioning in
Iranian language institutes. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 3, 11221127.
doi:10.4304/jltr.3.6.1122-1127
Fogarty, R. J. (2009). Brain-compatible classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Garn, A., & Byra, M. (2002). Psychomotor, cogntive, and social development spectrum style.
Teaching Elementary Physical Education, 1, 813.
Hall, T. J., & Smith, M. A. (2006). Teacher planning, instruction and reection: What we know
about teacher cognitive processes. Quest, 58, 424442. doi:10.1080/00336297.2006.10491892
Harding, K., & Parsons, J. (2011). Improving teacher education programs. Australian Journal of
Teacher Education, 36, 5161. doi:10.14221/ajte.2011v36n11.7
Downloaded by [Texas A&M University Libraries] at 11:55 25 August 2017

Krathwohl, D. R. (2002). A revision of Blooms taxonomy: An overview. Theory Into Practice, 41,
212218.
Krueger, R. A., & Casey, M. A. (2009). Focus groups: A practical guide for applied research (4th ed.).
Thousands Oaks, CA: Sage.
Light, R. (2008). Complex learning theoryIts epistemology and its assumptions about learning:
Implications for physical education. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, 27, 2137.
doi:10.1123/jtpe.27.1.21
Lloyd, M., & Bahr, N. (2010). Thinking critically about critical thinking in higher education.
International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 4, 116.
Lodewyk, K. R. (2009). Fostering critical thinking in physical education students. Journal of Physical
Education, Recreation & Dance, 80, 1218.
McBride, R. E. (1992). Critical thinkingAn overview with implications for physical education.
Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, 11, 112125.
McBride, R. E. (1999). Critical thinking in physical education classes. The Clearing House, 72, 217
230.
McBride, R. E. (2004). If you structure it, they will learn. . . Critical thinking in physical education
classes. The Clearing House, 77, 114117. doi:10.1080/00098650409601241
McBride, R. E., & Carrillo, D. (2000). Incorporating critical thinking into a secondary-school
wellness unit. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 71, 2024.
McBride, R. E., & Cleland, F. (1998). Critical thinking in physical education. Journal of Physical
Education, Recreation & Dance, 69, 4252.
McBride, R. E., Gabbard, C. C., & Miller, G. (1990). Teaching critical thinking skills in the
psychomotor domain. The Clearing House, 63, 197201.
McBride, R. E., Xiang, P., & Wittenburg, D. (2002). Dispositions toward critical thinking: The
preservice teachers perspective. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 8, 2940.
doi:10.1080/13540600120110556
Miles, M. B., Huberman, A. M., & Saldana, J. (2014). Qualitative research analysis: A methods
sourcebook (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Minott, M. A. (2011). The impact of a course in reective teaching on student teachers at a local
university college. Canadian Journal of Education, 34, 131147.
Mosston, M., & Ashworth, S. (2002). Teaching physical education (5th ed.). San Francisco, CA:
Benjamin Cummings.
Niu, L., Behar-Horenstein, L. S., & Garvan, C. W. (2013). Do instructional interventions inuence
college students critical thinking skills? A meta-analysis. Educational Research Review, 9, 114
128.
OSullivan, M. (2004). Possibilities and pitfalls of a public health agenda for physical education.
Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, 23, 392404. doi:10.1123/jtpe.23.4.392
Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods (3rd ed.). Thousands Oaks, CA:
Sage.
 16 J. LIU ET AL.

Paul, L. (1993). Critical thinking: What every student needs to survive in a rapidly changing world.
Dillon Beach, CA: Foundation for Critical Thinking.
Perry, N. E., Hutchinson, L., & Thauberger, C. (2008). Talking about teaching self-regulated
learning: Scaolding student teachers development and use of practices that promote self-
regulated learning. International Journal of Educational Research, 47, 97108. doi:10.1016/j.
ijer.2007.11.010
Ross, S. M. (2013). Pre-K physical education: Universal initiatives and teacher preparation recom-
mendations. Quest, 65, 113. doi:10.1080/00336297.2012.727368
Saxton, E., Belanger, S., & Becker, W. (2012). The critical thinking analytic rubric (CTAR):
Investigating intra-rater and inter-rater reliability of a scoring mechanism for critical thinking
performance assessments. Assessing Writing, 17, 251270. doi:10.1016/j.asw.2012.07.002
Society of Health and Physical Educators [SHAPE] America. (2010). National standards and
guidelines for physical education teacher education (3rd ed.). Reston, VA: Author.
Tsangaridou, N., & Siedentop, D. (1995). Reective teaching: A literature review. Quest, 47, 212
237.
Downloaded by [Texas A&M University Libraries] at 11:55 25 August 2017

Tsui, L. (2002). Fostering critical thinking through eective pedagogy: Evidence from four institu-
tional case studies. The Journal of Higher Education, 73, 740763. doi:10.1353/jhe.2002.0056
Wilmore, E. (1996). Brave new world: Field-based teacher preparation. Improving Professional
Practice, 53, 5963.
Yilmaz, K. (2011). The cognitive perspective on learning: Its theoretical underpinnings and implica-
tions for classroom practices. The Clearing House, 84, 204212. doi:10.1080/
00098655.2011.568989
Ycel Toy, B., & Ok, A. (2012). Incorporating critical thinking in the pedagogical content of a
teacher education programme: Does it make a dierence? European Journal of Teacher
Education, 35, 3956. doi:10.1080/02619768.2011.634902