Using EASY framework to facilitate economics students’ critical thinking in asynchronous online discussions

Critical thinking (CT) is a 21st century skill that is essential for students to develop for the future workforce. One way that has found success in facilitating CT in students is asynchronous online discussions (AODs); however, the research does not reflect the impact of this medium specifically in the context of Economics education. This study therefore aims to investigate whether incorporating AODs in an Economics classroom using the Expressing, Asking, Summarising and Yielding (EASY) framework is effective at fostering CT in high school students. A case study approach was adopted in the current study. The findings reveal that the improvement in the students’ CT abilities could be a result of the use of the EASY framework (as a scaffold) to shift students’ thinking from lower to higher levels. Nevertheless, the improvement in students’ thinking levels as shown in AODs may not be representative of all participants’ ability to consistently think at a high level across the four AODs. Based on the findings of this study, implications and suggestions for future research have been discussed.