Dr Jonathan Doherty, Leeds Trinity University
What a treat it was to join in the recent NACE
webinar,
Understanding and teaching critical thinking: a cognitive perspective, run for NACE members in partnership with
The Brilliant Club. Presenter Dr Lauren Bellaera gave us a fascinating insight into critical thinking and its importance in classroom teaching. Her presentation emphasised the importance of critical thinking in classroom teaching (Cáceres, Nussbaum, & Ortiz, 2020) and its links to higher attainment (Wicaksana et al., 2020), while her own research found that 83% of surveyed university instructors confirmed the importance of critical thinking.
Why should schools focus on critical thinking skills?
Many curricula around the world already emphasise “21st century skills” and critical thinking skills are among these; others include collaboration and social skills, creativity and communication, technology and media literacy. Why are these skills deemed so important? The consensus is that they are needed to better prepare today’s young people for a fast-moving information world in which such skills are required for success in school and in life. They are the indispensable currency for the twentieth century.
The P-21 Framework (read more
here) is a combination of such 21st century skills, knowledge and literacies, that aims to provide a universal curriculum. The Learning and Innovation Skills section of the framework highlights critical thinking and problem-solving to help pupils effectively analyse and evaluate evidence, arguments, claims and beliefs, to solve different kinds of problems in both conventional and novel ways.
A 2020 OECD publication aptly titled
Are Students Ready to Thrive in an Interconnected World? told us that schools need to help pupils think for themselves and with others. They need to help them develop a strong sense of right and wrong; to discriminate claims made and have a grasp of the limits of both individual and collective action.
Critical thinking has many erudite definitions, but the essence involves logically assessing information to make informed decisions: so essential today.
What is the most effective approach to teaching critical thinking skills?
In Dr Bellaera’s research the critical thinking skills that educators ranked at the top of the list were: analysis, evaluation and interpretation. Two questions immediately come to my mind: “Are the skills of critical thinking only applicable to more able pupils?” and “What is the best way to teach critical thinking skills in schools?” Fortunately there are answers to both!
All pupils benefit from lessons involving critical thinking because the foundations of critical thinking are the same regardless of the teaching conditions, the level or the curriculum area. More able pupils will benefit most from this due to the opportunities to extend their cognitive involvement and provide them with greater intellectual challenge, in any and all of the curriculum subjects. We know that a focus on the needs of the more able raises the levels of attainment for a much wider cohort (as stated in NACE’s
core principles).
In the webinar, The Brilliant Club’s approach was illustrated through the work of
The Scholars Programme. Research confirms that teaching critical thinking explicitly within subjects is best. In the area of metacognition, much good work is already underway to help pupils use metacognitive strategies to promote learning. In a similar way, teachers need to scaffold pupils’ critical thinking and make this explicit in teaching.
The webinar left us with some reflections and challenges to take forward. The greatest of these is to ensure that critical thinking is identified and its sub-skills represented both in pedagogy (and here I mean across age ranges and across subjects) and in assessment methods in the curriculum. Could this be our next direction of travel?
References
- Cáceres, M., Nussbaum M. & Ortiz, J. (2020) Integrating critical thinking into the classroom: A teacher’s perspective. Thinking Skills and Creativity 37
- OECD (2020) PISA 2018 Results Vol VI. Are Students Ready to Thrive in an Interconnected World? Available at: https://www.oecd.org/publications/pisa-2018-results-volume-vi-d5f68679-en.htm
- Wicaksana, Y.D. (2013) The Use of Critical Thinking Aspects on Module to Enhance Students’ Academic Achievement, International Journal of Instruction 13
If you missed the webinar which inspired this blog post, watch the recording
here (member login required) or explore our full library of recorded webinars
here.
How does your school teach critical thinking skills?
Contact us to share a case study, or share your experience directly through our
community forums.
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