Conversations on Critical Thinking: Can Critical Thinking Find Its Way Forward as the Skill Set and Mindset of the Century?

Abstract

The capacity to successfully, positively engage with the cognitive capacities of critical thinking has become the benchmark of employability for many diverse industries across the globe and is considered critical for the development of informed, decisive global citizenship. Despite this, education systems in several countries have developed policies and practices that limit the opportunities for students to authentically participate in the discussions, debates, and evaluative thinking that serve to develop the skill set and mindset of critical thinkers. This writing examines the status of critical thinking in four different contexts across the globe as reflected in educational policies and academic experiences as a preface to investigating actual classroom practices and possible impacts the support of critical thinking skills may have on the potential development of the global citizens of the future. Each vignette reflects the contextualized difficulties that are presented by social and cultural concerns and traditions of making meaning. These stories of education also illustrate the various ways in which the skills and capacities of critical thinking are interpreted in different contexts and address the negative nuances with which thinking critically has become associated. Finally, a pedagogical model of teaching, which may support student development of the skill set of critical thinking within the boundaries of social and cultural mindsets, has been developed.

Research Competencies to Develop Academic Reading and Writing: A Systematic Literature Review

“…Critical thinking and academic literacy are considered amongst the challenges for developing academic writing from research skills. The first is considered as the process that involves conceptualization, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of the information collected from observation and experience as a guide for belief and action (Sellars et al, 2018). Academic literacy according to Solimine and Garcia-Quismondo (2020) grows within a competency-based educational model, in which competencies are recognized as the developments in the learners of informational behaviors and attitudes that make them expert evaluators of digital and virtual web contents to obtain knowledge and know-how.…”

Determinants of the Effectiveness of Using Renewable Resource Management-Based Simulations in the Development of Critical Thinking: An Application of the Experiential Learning Theory

“…Additionally, including work competencies in teaching guidelines compels academic institutions to consider the social, scientific, and technological changes that have occurred in recent years, which generate continuously renewing employment models and consequently require students to have an education that prepares them for jobs that do not yet exist [35]. Therefore, the knowledge society requires new graduates to be creative and have the ability to think critically and solve problems [7,[36][37][38].…”

Habilidades del pensamiento crítico en estudiantes de educación secundaria de Lima, Perú

“…Los indicadores de las habilidades de pensamiento crítico son pensar en cierto tema en profundidad, hacer preguntas y encontrar información relevante. (Sellars, Fakirmohammad, Bui, Fishetti, Niyozov, Reynolds, Ali, 2018) Con respecto a la enseñanza del pensamiento crítico, Febri, Sajidan, Sarwanto (2019) realizaron un estudio que tuvo como objetivo analizar las habilidades del pensamiento crítico de los estudiantes de la escuela secundaria en el aprendizaje de las ciencias. Los instrumentos utilizados en este estudio se crearon de acuerdo con los indicadores de Facione sobre habilidades de pensamiento crítico, a saber, interpretar, analizar, evaluar, inferir, explicar y ejercer el autocontrol.…”