Critical thinking, social education and the curriculum: foregrounding a social and relational epistemology

Abstract

In this article, I examine the extent to which, given how critical thinking has been most commonly conceptualised and taught in schools, the subject indeed develops modes of thinking, relating and reasoning that allow individuals to collectively work towards the appreciation and solution of social problems. In the first section, I outline a number of perspectives among social studies researchers and educators that demonstrate the importance of developing critical thinking capacities in students. This is followed by, in the next section, a close examination of two widely popular approaches through which critical thinking is taught À one in the general school curriculum and the other within social studies lessons. I argue that in their current forms and for a number of reasons these understandings of critical thinking fall short of developing the social and relational dimensions of thinking that are more than a little necessary in fulfilling the raison d'être of the subject. Towards this end, the final section presents a social epistemological framework for the teaching of critical thinking in the school curriculum, highlights a number of principles of its application and provides some examples of its use in classrooms.

Klafki’s critical-constructive Didaktik and the epistemology of critical thinking

“…The teacher has to interpret the curriculum and make choices that can be justified deliberatively with reference to how specific content can become meaningful to his students, while at the same time helping them to 'unlock' the world and become independent and socially responsible agents and masters of their own lives. Therefore, I believe that engaging further with critical-constructive Didaktik can be a worthwhile endeavour for critical pedagogues, such as Lim (2011Lim ( , 2015, who are seeking an epistemology of CT that goes beyond the rather narrow and decontextualized offerings of the CT movement.…”

“…To Shpeizer, who writes from the perspective of the CT movement, this potential lies in further highlighting the action component of CT and explaining why educational programmes like his that aim to facilitate critical and independent thinking face systemic barriers that favour the status quo. Lim (2011Lim ( , 2015 can be placed on the other side of the critical spectrum but still acknowledges the value of mastering logic and argument analysis to become a critical citizen. However, he also argues that these skills are not enough unless one aspires merely to educate citizens who can participate in a limited sense as individual consumers pursuing a narrow self-interest in a 'thin' democracy (Lim, 2011, p. 797).…”

Exploring Variation in Norwegian Social Science Teachers’ Practice Concerning Sexuality Education: Who Teachers Are Matters and So Does School Culture

“…A democratic society is more than a system of government consisting of abstract rules and processes; more importantly, it is a system of moral values and principles such as freedom, justice, equality and respect (Kelly, 1995in Lim, 2015. Regarding education, this means that we cannot only address the individual and institutional, such as knowledge about the political system, political parties and voting in elections, but more essentially, we have to address the individual and the relational-how we exert our citizenship, how we behave as human beings intrinsically influences other human beings lives.…”

Illustration of Multilevel Explanatory IRT Model DIF Testing with the Creative Thinking Scale

“…The unidimensionality of the CTS was examined via exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and parallel analysis (PA). EFA was conducted using Mplus 7.4 with the WLSMV estimator which is the default for categorical variables in Mplus 7.4 (Muth en & Muth en, 1998-2015), and PA was carried out using SPSS 22 and Mplus 7.4 because Mplus 7.4 does not provide parallel analysis for categorical data directly (Muth en & Muth en, 1998-2015.…”

“…This fundamental change has been reshaping workforce and nature of work. In response to a rapidly changing economy that demands skills such as creative thinking and critical thinking (Lim, 2015), creativity has now been listed as one of the key 21st century skills and is highly valued in school curricular around the world (Chan & Yuen, 2014).…”