Applying reacting to the past to develop and enhance critical and analytical thinking skills of postsecondary history/social studies students

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine how to best develop and enhance critical and analytical thinking skills amongst college students enrolled in history and/or social studies courses. Through traditional, lecture style instruction, as well as a cooperative and collaborative learning pedagogy known as Reacting to the Past, this study was grounded in the theoretical framework of the Dewey's constructivist theory, which states that learning is an active process. This study also incorporated the works of Bruner, Piaget, and Vygotsky, which build upon the constructivist theory by adding cognitive and social constructivism. In considering the objectives of this research of enhancing critical and analytical thinking through Reacting to the Past, a cooperative and collaborative learning pedagogy, the constructivist theory aligns perfectly with this study. This study answers the following primary question: How can a student driven pedagogy, such as RTTP, enhance critical and analytical thinking skills amongst higher education history and social studies students? To answer the primary research question, there are three questions that should also be address. As such, the study sought to answer the following questions: (1) How might we be able to use cooperative and collaborative learning to better develop and enhance critical and analytical thinking skills on Social Studies and/or History students? (2) Is Reacting to the Past an effective student-driven pedagogy that incorporates cooperative and collaborative learning in classrooms above and beyond more typical traditional pedagogy? (3) Are students understanding of historical content greater as a result of Reacting to the Past than the traditional unit? The findings indicate that RTTP is effective at developing and enhancing the aforementioned skills. Keywords: RTTP, active learning, cooperative learning, collaborative learning, student-centered learning, pedagogy, critical thinking, analytical thinking