Fostering critical thinking in physical education through the integration of peer, self, and teacher assessments

This study aimed to explore the impacts of peer assessment and self-assessment (PASA) and the integrated peer, self, and teacher assessment (IPSTA) teaching strategies on the critical thinking dispositions of physical education (PE) undergraduate students. A pre- and post-test controlled experimental design was adopted. A total of 71 students were divided into three groups, with each group receiving: traditional teaching strategy (TTS), the PASA teaching strategy, or the IPSTA teaching strategy respectively. The results indicated that four factors of critical thinking dispositions (critical thinking self-confidence, inquisitiveness, analyticity, and truth seeking) improved in the group adopted IPSTA teaching strategies (p<0.05). Two factors (critical thinking self-confidence and analyticity) improved in the group adopted PASA teaching strategies (p<0.05). While no significant difference in the TTS. The IPSTA teaching strategy had the most significant effect on enhancing students' critical thinking dispositions, followed by the PASA teaching strategy. This suggests that the integrated-assessment teaching strategy has a remarkable effect on improving students' critical thinking disposition. These research findings offer a new approach to fostering students' critical thinking dispositions. Specifically, the integrated-assessment teaching strategy not only opens up a new approach for the development of physical education teaching but also further enriches the connotation of assessment teaching strategy.