Critical Thinking in Higher Education: A Pedagogical Look

Abstract

Abstract-Many authorities in higher education did not enthusiastically embrace the idea that college students should receive explicit instruction in how to think. Note that the academic community was opposed to good thinking, but many educators believed that it was a misguided effort. For example, Glaser (1984) cited abundant evidence of Critical Thinking failures in support of his argument that thinking skills are contextbound and do not transfer across academic domains. Glaser and other sceptics were partly correct. Better thinking is not a necessary outcome of traditional, discipline-based instruction. But, increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity make Critical Thinking as necessary as sunrise. This study attempted (1) to examine the predictive relationships of student dispositions and their abilities to think; and (2) to open a refreshed horizon in teaching students to develop their ability of Critical Thinking. Furthermore, the authors believed that to motivate students' disposition, it is indispensable for the teacher to scaffold them to think critically.

Pengembangan instrumen penilaian IPA untuk memetakan critical thinking dan practical skill peserta didik SMP

“…Peserta didik berpotensi besar untuk mengembangkan kemampuan berpikir sejak awal sehingga akan tumbuh menjadi seorang pemikir yang kritis pada suatu masalah atau keadaan pengambilan keputusan. Selanjutnya, Ministry of Education of Malaysia (2002, pp.5-6) mendeskripsikan kemampuan berpikir kritis sebagai berikut: (a) Attributing, mengidentifikasi kriteria seperti sifat, ciri, kualitas dan elemen dari suatu konsep atau sebuah objek, (b) Comparing and Contrasting, mencari kesamaan dan ketidaksamaan (perbedaan) berdasarkan kriteria seperti sifat, ciri, kualitas dan elemen dari suatu konsep atau sebuah objek, (c) Grouping and Classifying, memisahkan dan mengelompokkan objek atau fenomena dalam suatu kategori berdasarkan criteria yang pasti seperti sifat dan ciri yang umum, (d) Sequencing, menyusun objek dan informasi berdasarkan sifat dan cirri umum seperti ukuran, waktu, bentuk atau jumlah, (e) Prioritizing, menyusun objek dan informasi berdasarkan kepentingannya atau prioritasnya, (f) Analyzing, menguji informasi secara rinci dengan memerinci menjadi bagian yang lebih kecil atau sederhana untuk mencari makna sebenarnya dan hubungannya, (g) Detecting Bias, mengidentifikasi pendapat dan opini yang memiliki tendensi untuk mendukung atau menentang suatu hal dalam sebuah cara yang tidak wajar atau menyesatkan, (h) Evaluating, membuat keputusan berdasarkan fakta dan alasan yang valid, dan (i) Making Conclutions, membuat pernyataan tentang hasil investigasi yang berdasar hipotesis Fahim & Masouleh (2012, p.1371 Dari beberapa pendapat tersebut, tampak adanya persamaan hal dalam sistematika berpikir yang berproses. Berpikir kritis merupakan proses menarik kesimpulan.…”

Critical Thinking and Speaking Proficiency: A Mixed-method Study

“…This approach focuses on the hypothetical critical thinker, listing the numerous qualities and characteristics of the critical thinker and not the behaviors or actions that the critical thinker does. Scholars who work within the philosophical tradition also emphasize standards of thought (as cited in Fahim & Shakouri, 2012). Sternberg (Sternberg, 1986) noted that this approach somehow looks at the critical thinker rather idealistically, and mostly focuses on what people are capable of doing under hypothetically ideal circumstances.…”

“…On the contrary, the problem posing education is one form of the realization of critical pedagogy in the classroom context and encourages critical thinking. One of the teachers' roles in a problemposing system of education is to problematize situations that are familiar to the students and by presenting them to the students and making them think about those situations in new ways (Fahim & Shakouri, 2012). Moon (2008) asserted that critical thinking and its relationship to the educational process has become a central issue.…”

Enhanced Critical Thinking Skills through Problem-Solving Games in Secondary Schools

“…Many people possess the skills necessary for critical thinking but fail to utilize them due to the unstructured or 'lazy' nature of their decision-making processes (Fahim & Masouleh, 2012;Sears & Parsons, 1991). It has been argued that entrepreneurs are specifically adept at what could be thought of as connecting-the-dots, and therefore it should be the pedagogical goal of any business program to seek ways to enhance the soft skills such as critical thinking through deliberate practice (Al-Atabi & DeBoer, 2014;Mitchell, 2005).…”