Teacher Perception of Critical Thinking Among Students and its Influence on Higher Ed

[Olm the Water King]

http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ864337.pdf

International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
IJTLHE : International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education

2009, Volume 20, Number 2, 198-206
ISSN 1812-9129

Teacher Perception of Critical Thinking Among Students and its Influence on Higher Education

S. Chee Choy
Tunku Abdul Rahman College

Phaik Kin Cheah
Tunku Abdul Rahman College

The concept of critical thinking was featured in taxonomies a few decades ago. Critical thinking is a complex process that requires higher levels of cognitive skills in the processing of information. The teachers' perceptions of critical thinking among students influence their behaviors in the classroom. It has been found that teachers perceive they are teaching critical thinking to their students and believe that critical thinking will provide the intellectual stimuli that will faciliate critical thinking. The evidence of criticall thinking among students was perceived to be their ability to explain to ideas and concepts in their own words. However, the ability to think logically and solve problems using new approaches paraphrase is not an indication of the students' higher-level cognitive skills but the process the student undertakes to gain understanding of the material presented. Teachers did not seem to understand the requirements needed to cultivate critical thinking among students. Although teachers perceive that they are encouraging critical thinking in the classroom, they are merely focusing on the comprehension of the subject matter.

...

 

[Coriolis]

I wonder how many teachers are themselves proficient at critical thinking? If they are not, it's just the blind leading the blind.

Unless, of course, they work in Texas. Then they might just be following the law.

 

[Kullervo]

"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." - Aristotle

 

[Cellmold]

"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." - Aristotle

That one has always amused me as, to date, I've not seen anyone use it to adhere by.

 

[the state i am in]

at this point, for me, i have this growing sense that critical thinking is a somewhat type related developmental thing too. to me, there's a sense in which there's a missing balancing act in all paths, or at least a next level to it. some are better at steadying the objective, measurable factors, but others are sometimes better at critiquing their sense of themselves. sometimes a soft focus is better than a harsh one for seeing the whole something. with that said, sometimes the shear creates an opportunity for profound new information to emerge.

personally, i find that teachers going through an ongoing "norming" process is somewhat necessary to push against their own habits as well. however, just like within any one individual, the group context can be fucked up, and that can run people into the ground too.

with that said, the j/p thing is pretty significant here. education, to me, seems to be Te dominant, and like most things, has been taken up by the guise of efficiency. of course great Te teachers exist, including some colleagues and superiors who have helped me grow a ton myself (at times when i was floundering), but many of those who are not really get hooked on the ideas of what they think they are measuring and various forms of "evidence" that become untethered to any kind of real value.

evidence is never self-evidence. context is always crucial. and the relativity of each student's process, to me, kind of dissolves the distinction between critical and creative. in that regard, metacognitive facilitation becomes the most important skill, some balance of self-monitoring and strategy. i also like the role mindfulness is taking up. integrating different qualities of experience/information through the self while staying self-aware seems to be the basis of something perhaps even better than just "critical" in orientation, which is useful for winning games but not always on deciding which games are truly worth investing in.

 

[Kheledon]

Presumably, ENFjs make natural teachers (i.e. performers with a captive audience--manifest happiness). The EIE also has the unique ability to entertain and embrace two contradictory thoughts simultaneously without the cognitive dissonance that plagues other types. For example, I can easily argue that humans are fundamentally good. I can just as easily argue that humans are fundamentally evil. In my mind, both are true. As such, teaching "critical thinking" comes naturally to the ENFj if we assume that the purpose of teaching "critical thinking" is to help people consider (T) and evaluate (F) various opinions and ideas that might not come naturally to them or to which they have never been exposed. Ultimately, this process is teaching people to use their J functions.