Valuing adolescent students' street smarts to foster critical thinking

Abstract

AbstractThe New Zealand Ministry of Education has included an increase in the expectations of critical thinking for secondary students across curricula. However, New Zealand has a history of inequitable opportunities for minority students to learn critical thinking. This article presents a framework designed for adolescent learners to make critical thinking equitable and accessible through valuing student experiences or Street Smarts. A mixed methods study trialled the critical thinking talk model Street Smarts. There were 33 teacher participants and 824 student participants (average age 15 years). Students identified ethnically as New Zealand European (46.1%), 17.1% as Asian, 10.6% as Pasifika, 5.2% as Māori, and 4.3% as other; and as undisclosed ethnicity (16.7%). Descriptive statistics of all the critical thinking indicators showed that Providing a statement of evidence was the most frequently observed indicator in both 2018 and 2019, followed by Building points and Uptake questions. The deeper cognitive features of High‐level questioning, Recognising power structures in society and developing Situated awareness were observed in classes with high academic ability and far less so in several classes of mixed academic ability and low academic ability. However, where teachers had allowed the opportunity for students identified in the low academic ability group to share their stories and experiences of the controversy, these students demonstrated deeper cognitive features in their discussions. We conclude that more time and opportunity should be given to adolescent students, particularly minority students and students in low ability classes, to share their narratives and stories before discussing controversial topics.