Abstract
This paper presents the theoretical perspectives relevant to critical thinking as my topic of research during my teaching practice period which was conducted from 12th -28th October 2015 at Eidsvag secondary school in Bergen, Norway. As a requirement for Masters’ degree in social science education, all master students were required to engage in teaching practice in different Norwegian primary and secondary schools. Importantly, every student teacher was given a topic of concentration as a mini-research for the whole teaching practice period. My topic of research focused at exploring and gaining the theoretical and practical perspectives on critical thinking teaching by drawing some experiences from a Norwegian lower secondary school (Eidsvag skole) in reflection to secondary school teaching practice experiences in Tanzania. Therefore, in this paper, my reflections with regard to the conditions favoring the possibility for critical thinking teaching and how it was enhanced by teachers at my practice school will be discussed. Further to that, I will also present the observed challenges of which, in my view, in way or another intervened the possibility for effective critical thinking teaching to take place.
Highlights
It is undoubtfull that, teaching and learning approaches which support the development of students’ “critical thinking” skills, and the use of socio-scientific contexts for learning, have both been advocated as necessary and desirable directions for 21st century learners
The Concept of Critical Thinking The concept of critical thinking has been defined differently in the literatures depending on the contexts
Critical thinking entails all the cognitive processes and strategies, as well as attitudes involved in decision making, problem solving, inquiry, or higher-order thinking
Summary
It is undoubtfull that, teaching and learning approaches which support the development of students’ “critical thinking” skills, and the use of socio-scientific contexts for learning, have both been advocated as necessary and desirable directions for 21st century learners. A Conceptual Understanding of Constructivism Constructivism is a theory of learning used to explain about how people know what they know, in that for constructivists learning is not about memorization of simple facts but rather a process of knowledge creation through higher order active thinking skills such as comparing, interpretation, synthesizing, evaluating and accommodate new knowledge in connection to the prior knowledge which is held in oneself (Boyanton, 2015) The idea behind this theoretical perspective is that problemsolving is at the heart of learning, thinking, and development. Dewey emphasizes that, teachers need to engage students in reflective thinking in order to create a sense of community and participation within the classroom, new perspectives are developed, shared and critiqued It was not until the 1950’s when educators began to teach critical thinking skills in the classroom as an integral component of the curriculum (Bataineh, & Alazzi, 2009). Theoretical Perspectives on Critical Thinking Teaching: Reflections from Field Experiences from a Norwegian Lower Secondary School in Comparison to Tanzanian Secondary
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