Problem-Based Learning On Students Critical Thinking Skills In Teaching Business Education In Malaysia: A Literature Review

Abstract

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-MY;" lang="EN-MY">This review forms the background </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;" lang="EN-GB">to explore and to gain empirical support among lecturers to improve the students’ critical thinking skills in business education courses in Malaysia, in which the main teaching and learning methodology is Problem-Based Learning (PBL).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The PBL educational approach is known to have maximum positive impacts in producing professional competencies among graduates in many educational disciplines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, there is limited discussion about PBL pedagogical approaches implemented in business education.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This approach has not been established as a major pedagogical method in schools of business around the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, there are a few schools of business that use the implementation of PBL in their curriculum structures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-MY;" lang="EN-MY">Studies that focused on that issue are implemented in various aspects, courses and using various methodologies. There are various materials which relate to PBL and critical thinking skills.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, in Malaysia, the material is limited because of the lack of research relating to this methodology and lack of research documentations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In Malaysia, the PBL method is only being practised at higher institutions of learning, and it is only limited to certain fields.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The analysis of this part tends to discuss PBL in tertiary education, examining the mechanism of the popular educational approach of PBL.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The analysis of PBL is intended to see if it may offer any solutions to problems encountered in various education, and to focus on its potential for implementation and impact on critical thinking skills in teaching business education.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></p>

Critical thinking skills: The academic ability, mastering concepts, and analytical skill of undergraduate students

“…It is related to a perceived need to deal with the information explosion in this era. However these skills are neither inborn nor naturally acquired, yet must be trained in students (Changwong, Sukkamart, & Sisan, 2018;Mangena & Chabeli, 2005;Su, Ricci, & Mnatsakanian, 2016;Suarniati, Hidayah, & Handarini, 2018;Ulger, 2018;Visande, 2014;Zabit, 2010). Based on equation (1), the result indicated that analytical skill has the highest contribution to students' critical thinking skills.…”

“…This result could be a basic reference in designing the learning process which is able to empower the critical thinking skills of students. For example, educators can accommodate students' critical skill using the scientific process (Gultepe, 2016), such as problem-based learning (Birgili, 2015;Ulger, 2018;Zabit, 2010).…”

Chinese business students’ changes in beliefs and strategy use in a constructively aligned PBL course

“…Problem-based learning has been advanced in higher education as a powerful instructional approach to promoting deep and meaningful learning (Allen and Rooney 1998;Esteban and Canado 2004;Strobel and Barneveld 2009). Previous studies have documented evidence of its effects on promoting deep learning (Huang and Wang 2012), self-directed learning (Hmelo-Silver 2004), and higher-order thinking skills (Zabit 2010), as well as on language use embedded in certain domain areas where English is used as a second or foreign language (Hunter, Vickery, and Smyth 2010;Wood and Head 2004). The PBL approach provides authentic business contexts and opportunities for students to work in small groups to analyse and solve real problems (Haines 1989;Lee 2002), which enables the co-construction of business knowledge through the use of English as a foreign language (Grosse 1988).…”

The relationship between reading comprehension and critical thinking: A theoretical study

“…Modern cognitivists have developed new trends and theories that provide theoretical models for explaining and conceptualizing reading comprehension by utilizing a set of related concepts, such as critical thinking, prior knowledge, inference-making, and metacognitive skills (Limbach and Waugh, 2010;Zabit, 2010). Among these trends is schema theory, which is considered to be a theory about knowledge: how knowledge is represented and organized, and how that representation and organization facilitates the use of a reader's prior knowledge to improve reading comprehension.…”