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.

批判性思维（CT）是21世纪的技能，对于学生为未来的劳动力发展而必不可少。在促进学生进行CT方面取得成功的一种方法是异步在线讨论（AOD）。但是，该研究并未具体反映这种媒介在经济学教育背景下的影响。因此，本研究旨在调查使用表达，询问，总结和屈服（EASY）框架将AOD纳入经济学课堂是否对培养高中学生的CT有效。本研究采用了个案研究方法。研究结果表明，学生的CT能力的提高可能是由于使用EASY框架（作为支架）将学生的思维方式从低水平转变为高水平的结果。尽管如此，AOD中显示的学生思维水平的提高可能并不代表所有参与者在四个AOD中始终保持较高水平思考的能力。基于本研究的结果，对未来研究的意义和建议进行了讨论。