Critical Thinking Knowledge Research Articles

Fundamental theoretical conflicts in the science of critical thinking

Introduction. The article explores the reasons for the lack of scientific consensus on critical thinking. Despite the fact that this concept has become one of the key ones for modern culture, it has not been properly defined, and organizational decisions remain controversial. In this article, we propose to focus not on the gaps in our knowledge of critical thinking, but on finding the reasons for what exactly prevents consensus on these issues. The purpose of the article is to establish fundamental uncertainties and theoretical conflicts in the science of critical thinking that prevent the solution of terminological and organizational aspects of the problem. Materials and Methods. The study is theoretical in nature and is based on an agnological approach to the analysis of expert ignorance (R. Proctor, S. Feirstein, etc.). This approach combines traditional methods of logical and philosophical analysis, but is used when the purpose of the study is not to fill the gap in knowledge, but to find explanations why exactly we do not know what we do not know. In order to achieve this goal, the subjects of scholarly debates regarding critical thinking were identified and the prerequisites on which conflicting concepts are based were analyzed. Results. The study found that the existing organizational debates about how critical thinking should be taught in educational institutions are derived from discussions at a fundamental level. The authors conclude that modern research on critical thinking, despite its apparent thematic proximity to each other, actually reflects different, yet incompatible approaches to nature, psychological mechanisms and standards of critical thinking. Conclusions. The research led to the conclusion that reaching consensus on practical issues, such as the way to organize critical thinking training, requires prior resolution of fundamental theoretical conflicts about the nature, psychological mechanisms and socio-cultural standards of critical thinking.

Exploring Teachers’ Perceptions of Critical Thinking in English Language Classrooms in Higher Education: A Case of EFL Teachers

Language teachers are usually proficient in teaching language skills but may not always receive training in fostering critical thinking abilities that guide effective learning. Existing literature underscores the pivotal role of teacher behaviours in shaping students’ critical thinking development. However, educators can effectively incorporate critical thinking into their instructional methods only when they possess a clear conception of what critical thinking entails. This study aims to investigate the perceptions of critical thinking among Algerian university teachers and the strategies they employ to integrate critical thinking into their courses. A qualitative research approach was employed, involving structured interviews with Algerian English lecturers from various higher education institutions, including educators from the Higher Training Teacher’s College of Oran, the University of Mostaganem Abdelhamid Ibn Badis, and the University of Oran 2 Mohamed Ben Ahmed. A total of fifteen teachers participated in the interviews. The findings indicate that while a majority of teachers exhibit sound knowledge of critical thinking, they often lack the necessary support for its effective implementation, leading them to primarily focus on subject matter comprehension. Moreover, these educators encounter various challenges in teaching critical thinking and express the need for additional support in this aspect. Consequently, the study underscores the demand for tailored professional development programs aimed at integrating critical thinking into the English language curriculum, materials development, and pedagogical practices.

POTENTIALS OF INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE IN PROMOTING CRITICAL THINKING IN THAI TERTIARY EDUCATION

POTENTIALS OF INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE IN PROMOTING CRITICAL THINKING IN THAI TERTIARY EDUCATION

Nalar Kritis Pemikiran Omar Mohammad Al-Toumy Al-Syaibany dan Relevansinya dengan Pendidikan Bahasa Arab Berbasis MBKM

This study aims to describe the critical thinking of Al-Syaibany and its relevance to MBKM-based Arabic Language Education. This research is qualitative with a library research model. The results of the study show, first, that the implementation of Merdeka Learning is by the nature of the Islamic education curriculum, its characteristics, and its objectives. Every activity students study is a derivative of a planned curriculum. Second, the MBKM curriculum paradigm leads to the formation of students' knowledge of critical thinking and students' Arabic language skills. Two steps can be formed with the conditions of the learning environment, which can make students self-aware always to learn. Third, the design of the MBKM curriculum in the PBA Study Program is a reconstruction of the KKNI 2016.

Meta-Analysis of the Effect of E Module on Students' Critical and Creative Thinking Skill in Science Learning

The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of the e-module on students' critical and creative thinking knowledge in science learning. This research uses a quantitative descriptive research type with meta-analysis. Data or sources are obtained from articles published in international and national journals that are selected based on categories, namely those related to the influence of e-modules on students' critical and creative thinking knowledge. There were 20 articles used in this study which were then coded and analyzed for their effect size. Based on the results of data analysis, the effect size results for knowledge of critical thinking are in the very high category, for knowledge of creative thinking also has the very high category, meanwhile, the effect of the e-module on students' critical and creative thinking knowledge based on junior high school, senior high school and tertiary education levels has a very high category. Then in the science field, namely Physics, Chemistry, Biology lessons, they have an effect size in the very high category. The results of the analysis show that the effect of the e-module on students' critical and creative thinking knowledge is very high

The Potential for the Development of Critical Thinking Tests : An Overview of Educators' Perceptions

This study aimed to investigate teachers' perceptions about the need to develop critical thinking tests. The research method used quantitative descriptive. Research involved 20 biology teachers who taught at the senior high school in Riau. The data collection instrument was a questionnaire accompanied by a discussion with the teacher. The questionnaire contained questions regarding the teacher's knowledge of critical thinking, the availability of critical thinking instruments, and their implementation in learning. Data analysis was carried out in a quantitative descriptive. The results of the study show that the teachers’ knowledge of critical thinking is developing. The teacher also explained that it is crucial for students to have critical thinking skills so that measurements need to be taken. The availability of instruments to measure critical thinking when viewed from the percentage of teachers who provide them is 70%. In its implementation, the teacher makes critical thinking questions sourced from the question bank, articles, and books. The questions prepared by the teacher are also able to measure critical thinking even though they do not yet cover all aspects of critical thinking. Based on the research results, it can be recommended that the development of critical thinking tests can be carried out by the aspects of critical thinking (basic clarification, bases for a decision, inference, advanced clarification, supposition and integration, and strategies and tactics) and in line with the material being studied at school.

Fostering Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in EFL Advanced Classroom

Today, language educators advocate the teaching of critical thinking skills in colleges and higher institutions because it is said to be one of the fundamental skills that can prepare a potential candidate for the job market in the 21st century. Unfortunately, the development of critical thinking has received little emphasis in Benin educational system. Therefore, this paper presents a study on fostering EFL students’ critical thinking skills in the advanced classroom. Based on a qualitative method, this study aims at exploring EFL teachers’ knowledge of critical thinking and teachers’ view on the importance of developing higher cognitive skills with their advanced learners and to find out how to foster critical thinking in the advanced classroom. To reach this goal, interviews with seven (7) senior lecturers and a focus group of twelve (12) advanced students were used to collect data. The findings reveal that teachers are aware of the concept of critical thinking but in practice, many of them do not teach their students these cognitive skills because to them they are discouraged with the educational system which has regressed in terms of quality teaching. Students are no longer assigned challenging tasks that will enable them to develop their cognitive skills. Besides, many teachers seem to ignore the importance of critical thinking skills for their learners’ career opportunities. However, teachers mentioned group discussion as a strategy for fostering critical thinking in the EFL classroom. Both teachers and students reported that the challenges to meet in order to achieve critical thinking includes students’ poor reading and listening skills, negative attitudes towards learning, class size, content coverage and teachers’ training. Teachers are of the opinion that critical skills should be developed with learner’s right from secondary schools. This will help them to excel in their academic courses.

Perception and knowledge of critical thinking: A qualitative research study with Professors of Higher Education in Oman

Critical thinking is a key feature of the organizational cultures of higher education institutions, given its multiple impacts on graduates’ academic, professional and personal levels. Thus, most of these higher education institutions in the Arab Gulf region state in their strategic plans, implicitly and explicitly, objectives related to enhancing students’ critical thinking skills. Despite the apparent prevalence of such objectives, the concept of critical thinking (CT) is hardly taught in higher education institutions in the Arab Gulf region for different reasons. One of these reasons is that the perception of the concept is still in its infancy in the region, even among professors. This study aims to investigate how the perceptions and knowledge of critical thinking of English as a Second Language professors in the General Foundation Program at the College, a higher education institution in Muscat, foster critical thinking teaching. This is a qualitative and exploratory study with 10 professors and the data were collected through semi-structured interviews. The thematic analysis identified 4 themes: 1. First encounter with CT; 2. Connotations and denotations of CT; 3. Attainability of CT; 4. Scarce teaching of CT. The participants revealed their belief in the attainability of critical thinking. However, they expressed difficulties in implementing critical thinking teaching in their classrooms. The General Foundation Program’s professors referred openly to the disparity between their espoused beliefs and enacted practices.

ANALYSIS OF KNOWLEDGE OF PHYSICS EDUCATION STUDENTS ABOUT SOLAR CELL UTILIZATION TECHNOLOGY

The purpose of this study was to determine the knowledge in critical thinking of physics education students about the use of solar cell technology. This study uses a qualitative approach. The subjects in this study were 40 students of physics education at the University of Jember. Critical thinking indicators that must be studied are analysis, explanation, interpretation, evaluation, inference, and self-regulation. The research instrument used a test given via google form. The results showed that the percentage of students who were able to answer questions correctly was still relatively low. This shows that the knowledge of physics education students at the University of Jember about solar cell energy is still very lacking.

MOROCCAN MIDDLE-SCHOOL, SECONDARY AND TERTIARY EFL TEACHING STAFF PERCEPTIONS AND INSTRUCTION OF CRITICAL THINKING

Teaching critical thinking skills is far from being an easy undertaking. Educators take it for granted that their knowledge of critical thinking makes them ready for critical thinking instruction. Within this framework, this study investigates the Moroccan educators’ perceptions of critical thinking basics together with their perceptions of critical thinking instruction. To do so, 90 English as foreign language (EFL) teachers and lecturers belonging to middle- and high-school and higher education filled in a questionnaire that was adopted in previous studies (Stedman and Adams, 2012). Findings show that regardless of the level being taught, the respondents replied to the questions related to their perceptions of critical thinking concepts with moderate consistency and accuracy. Similarly, many of their reactions to critical thinking instruction show they need more confidence to teach it. Article visualizations:

Indonesian EFL Learners’ Critical Thinking in Reading: Bridging the Gap between Declarative, Procedural and Conditional Knowledge

Critical thinking is explicitly mentioned in many school and university curricula around the world including in the Indonesian education curriculum but it is rarely promoted inside the classrooms. Lack of agreement on its definition and clarity of instruction in the curriculum, the unfavourable culture and the teacher-centered teaching arguably prevent critical thinking to grow. Therefore, more research needs to be undertaken on students’ understanding of and engagement in critical thinking in reading. To fll the gap, this study was conducted, which aimed to investigate Indonesian learners’ critical thinking in reading. One research question was postulated, i.e., How critical are Indonesian EFL learners’ thinking in reading? To answer the question, a mixed method approach was undertaken. The participants of this study were 55 semesters four students enrolled in two classes of Critical Reading and Writing II (CRW2) of the English Education Study Program, Sanata Dharma University, Yogyakarta in the even semester of 2014. The instruments employed were a Likert-scale questionnaire and students’ reflections. Results from both quantitative and qualitative data analyses suggest that most of the students had sufficient declarative knowledge of critical thinking in reading. However, their procedural and conditional knowledge about critical thinking in reading were insufficient. Overall, students indicated some level of critical thinking in reading, but to become critical, they need to be in a learning environment where their critical thinking in reading could be regularly and intensively nurtured. The findings of the research are expected to inform English teachers, lecturers and researchers in Indonesia and other parts of the world about the importance of designing and carrying out the teaching-learning processes that can enhance learners’ declarative, procedural and conditional knowledge about critical thinking in reading.

Indonesian EFL Learners’ Critical Thinking in Reading: Bridging the Gap between Declarative, Procedural and Conditional Knowledge

Critical thinking is explicitly mentioned in many school and university curricula around the world including in the Indonesian education curriculum but it is rarely promoted inside the classrooms. Lack of agreement on its definition and clarity of instruction in the curriculum, the unfavourable culture and the teacher-centered teaching arguably prevent critical thinking to grow. Therefore, more research needs to be undertaken on students’ understanding of and engagement in critical thinking in reading. To fll the gap, this study was conducted, which aimed to investigate Indonesian learners’ critical thinking in reading. One research question was postulated, i.e., How critical are Indonesian EFL learners’ thinking in reading? To answer the question, a mixed method approach was undertaken. The participants of this study were 55 semesters four students enrolled in two classes of Critical Reading and Writing II (CRW2) of the English Education Study Program, Sanata Dharma University, Yogyakarta in the even semester of 2014. The instruments employed were a Likert-scale questionnaire and students’ reflections. Results from both quantitative and qualitative data analyses suggest that most of the students had sufficient declarative knowledge of critical thinking in reading. However, their procedural and conditional knowledge about critical thinking in reading were insufficient. Overall, students indicated some level of critical thinking in reading, but to become critical, they need to be in a learning environment where their critical thinking in reading could be regularly and intensively nurtured. The findings of the research are expected to inform English teachers, lecturers and researchers in Indonesia and other parts of the world about the importance of designing and carrying out the teaching-learning processes that can enhance learners’ declarative, procedural and conditional knowledge about critical thinking in reading.

Critical Thinking Education for Enhancing the Effectiveness of Education in Vietnam

Critical Thinking Education for Enhancing the Effectiveness of Education in Vietnam

Reimagining Global Social Movements in the Perspective of Egalitarian Democracy

The analysis starts by offering a critique of the existing social movement literature and by suggesting the integration of critical theories of knowledge with theories and wisdom of indigenous peoples in order to develop an alternative knowledge of critical thinking and scholarship in social movement studies. It also proposes ideas about the need to democratize knowledge for better accounting for social movement studies, including that of indigenous struggles, for the purposes of formulating approaches that are necessary for enhancing a greater understanding of social movement theories and actions on global level. In the current crisis of global capitalism and neoliberal globalization, there is an urgent need to develop new insights for advancing the prospects for global social transformation, which is articulated by the slogan of the World Social Forum, namely, another world is possible. The piece specifically develops possible ways of struggling against and replacing bourgeois internationalism by globalism from below through advancing the agenda of an egalitarian democracy.

Concept Mapping as a Teaching Tool on Critical Thinking Skills and Academic Performance of Diploma Nursing Students

In today’s challenging and highly complex health care settings nurses must be able to think critically. With the current traditional and rote methods of learning, the critical thinking skills among the students are seen to diminish. As nurse educators must find a different method in their teaching on how to encourage students to engage in analytical thinking and how to make the analytical thinking process part of their daily practice due to increase safety of the patients. This will give challenge for the nurse educators to reshape education by adopting instructional strategies to equip students with foundational knowledge in critical thinking, creative problem solving and collaboration. Through concept mapping, students should be able to transfer applied didactic objectives from the classroom to the clinical practice, where critical thinking and problem solving skills are needed for success. It also provide nurse educators with the ability to help students learn how to organise data, prioritise patient needs and can relate patient medical illness and nursing intervention

Exploring Saudi Pre-service Teachers' Knowledge of Critical Thinking Skills and their Teaching Perceptions

The current study aimed to investigate Saudi pre-service teachers’ knowledge about the general concepts of critical thinking, as well as its skills. In addition, the study explored their perceptions about critical thinking and its teaching in classrooms with an aim to develop learning and teaching process. The study was conducted with twenty-nine male students at a teacher education program in the College of Education, King Saud University. The quantitative method was used, employing a three-part instrument. The quantitative data was analyzed with SPSS software program (ver. 20.0), using sums, means and standard deviations of pre-service teachers’ responses on the questionnaires. According to the findings of the current study, pre-service teachers who were enrolled in the College of Education were found to have inadequate knowledge about critical thinking skills. Although, the present study concluded that pre-service teachers held positive opinions about the value of teaching critical thinking, they generally had unsure knowledge about critical thinking. They expressed that they are not sure if they had the skills necessary to promote critical thinking by students in their classes. The current study recommends that education preparation programs are in need to be reviewed and specialized courses in critical thinking skills need to be incorporated. Pre-service teachers’ knowledge about critical thinking should be enhanced to enable them reflect what they have of skills on their future teaching duties. More exploration is suggested to explore critical thinking knowledge among college teachers and to examine their methods of teaching critical thinking. Key words: perceptions, pre-service teachers, critical thinking

Critical Thinking in Health Sciences

Critical thinking is defined as active, persistent and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge. Although of paramount importance for medical and para-medical students, it has often been ignored in the medical curriculum. Structured thinking through knowledge of critical thinking can be helpful in a variety of clinical conditions, such as communicating with the patient, understanding the patient's complaints and research. Need for critical thinking in medical education, intellectual standards, critical thinking applied to clinical reasoning, fallacies in reasoning and steps to foster critical thinking skills in medical students are discussed in this article for educational forum.

Teachers’ Perception of the Barriers to Critical Thinking

The need to teach students to think critically has been emphasized and has become a major concern among educators and researchers in recent decades. However, the literature reports that teachers often experience barriers to implementing critical thinking skills in classes. Regarding the assumption that improvements in critical thinking skills and strategies would be easier if the obstacles along the way could be removed and due to the rarity of relevant research in the Iranian context, the present study surveyed 100 educators for barriers to critical thinking implementation. The results revealed that students’ attitudes and expectations, self-efficacy constraint and lack of critical thinking knowledge among teachers were reported as major obstacles in teachers’ view.

Evaluating a hybrid web-based basic genetics course for health professionals

Health professionals, particularly nurses, continue to struggle with the expanding role of genetics information in the care of their patients. This paper describes an evaluation study of the effectiveness of a hybrid basic genetics course for healthcare professionals combining web-based learning with traditional face-to-face instructional techniques. A multidisciplinary group from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) created "Basic Genetics Education for Healthcare Providers" (BGEHCP). This program combined 7 web-based self-education modules with monthly traditional face-to-face lectures by genetics experts. The course was pilot tested by 186 healthcare providers from various disciplines with 69% (n=129) of the class registrants enrolling in a pre-post evaluation trial. Outcome measures included critical thinking knowledge items and a Web-based Learning Environment Inventory (WEBLEI). Results indicated a significant (p<0.001) change in knowledge scores. WEBLEI scores indicated program effectiveness particularly in the area of convenience, access and the course structure and design. Although significant increases in overall knowledge scores were achieved, scores in content areas surrounding genetic risk identification and ethical issues regarding genetic testing reflected continued gaps in knowledge. Web-based genetics education may help overcome genetics knowledge deficits by providing access for health professionals with diverse schedules in a variety of national and international settings.

Development of Students&apos; Knowledge of Critical Thinking on Web Browsing

Development of Students&apos; Knowledge of Critical Thinking on Web Browsing