ABSTRACT
The skill of
thinking critically is generally accepted as a very vital stage in every field
of learning, particularly in the last decades. Developing the ability to think
critically is an important element for modern education approaches and models. Nevertheless, problems were found when
implementing critical thinking in the science classroom. There are practical
Critical thinking-related strategies that can be applied in science classrooms
to improve science education results and critical thinking dispositions on
students. In the context of science education, critical thinking is important
in order to be an effective citizen in the globalized world powered by rapid
scientific and technological development.
KEYWORDS
Critical Thinking, Science Education, Science Learning, Science Process Skills, Questioning.
INTRODUCTION
Thinking critically will boost
creativity and enhance the way you use and manage your time (Hader, 2005) and
critical thinking not only describes the ability to think in accordance with
the rules of logic and probability, but also the ability to apply these skills
to real-life problems, which are not content-independent. Critical thinking can
provide you with a more insightful understanding of yourself. It will offer you an opportunity to be objective,
less emotional, and more open-minded as you appreciate others views and
opinions. By thinking ahead, you will
gain the confidence
to present fresh
perspectives and new insights into burden some concerns.
When students think critically,
they are encouraged to think for themselves, to question
hypotheses, to analyze and synthesize the events, to go
one step further by developing new hypotheses and test them against the facts. Questioning is the cornerstone of critical
thinking which in turn is the source of knowledge formation and as such should
be taught as a framework for all learning. Students are frequently conditioned
in their approach to learning by experiences in teacher-cantered, textbook-driven classrooms(Sharma & Elbow 2000). This
situation is a disturbing case for contemporary educators, and for this
reason they would
rather choose the latest models and methods which are
more effective in directing students to thinking.
Critical thinking occurs
when students are analyzing, evaluating, interpreting, or synthesizing information and applying creative thought to
form an argument, solve a problem, or reach a conclusion.
The aim of Critical Thinking
is to promote independent thinking, personal autonomy and reasoned judgment in thought and action. One
of the significant aims of education is to produce learners who are well
informed, that is to
say, learners should
understand ideas that
are important, useful, beautiful and powerful. Another
is to create
learners who have
the appetite to
think analytically and critically, to use what they know to enhance their own lives and also to
contribute to their society, culture and civilization.
Every pupil should have an
effective skill of critical thinking, and they must not accept anything for
granted. There are several ways of organizing for instruction in critical
thinking: We can teach a separate course or unit, we can infuse critical
thinking into all that we teach, or we can use a mixed approach. The first
approach of a separate course or unit requires materials that teach
specifically for critical thinking dispositions, skills, and knowledge. The
downside is that there may be little transfer from what the program or
materials teach to the rest of the curriculum. Infusion, the second possible
approach, requires that critical thinking be taught as an integral part of
all subject areas (Wright, 2002). Teachers
had better be equipped with high critical thinking
skills. Critical thinking is skill which can be developed ( Walshand Paul,
1988). As well
as critical thinking
can be developed, it can be
searched and analyzed with
its different dimensions, so this shows
that many scientists or experts hypothesize about
critical thinking, because the vitality of critical thinking has been realized by
many people recently.
Critical thinking has been mainly
thought and regarded as a study linked to theoretical philosophy, psychologic,
pedagogy, and social sciences. However, Science Education has been largely
disregarding Critical Thinking, in turn, attaching more emphasis to traditional
teaching ways such as content-based teaching and resorting to students memory
for their learning. Nevertheless, it is quite few conceived CT as a matter
attached or applicable to science or science education. The Role of Critical
Thinking in the context of Science, Science Education, and Education in
general, is without discrepancies deemed crucial and increasingly present
throughout the last years in different education systems. Critical thinking has
two fundamental roles in Science practice and education. One as a mean for
fostering democracy, linked to the idea of fostering responsibility in the use
and application of science, technology or scientific developments (Hagop A.
Yacoubian, 2015; Gábor Á. Zemplén, 2007). The other is linked to the practice
of science or science process, associated with the Science teaching-and-learning
process, in which critical thinking principles and concepts are inherently
related. Besides, an important practice that linked Critical thinking with
Science is the practice of argumentation, discussion-debate and/or defending
ideas (Osborne J. ,2014; Pedrosa-de-Jesus, H., Moreira, A. Lopes, B. &
Watts, M., 2014; Marques, R. Tenreiro, C. Matins, I., 2011; Gábor Á. Zemplén;
2007) .
In general, Critical thinking is present in processes related to the
scientific method or research, such as observation, exploration (Demir, S.;
2015), and others, as well as in the process of construction of reliable
knowledge (Osborne J.; 2014). For instance, Demir, S. (2015a) notes that
developing Critical and Reflective thinking skills is highly important for
gaining the ability to see, think, research, question, and resolve events in a
scientific way. Furthermore, Science applications, in particular, involve
processes such as problem finding, problem solving, critical thinking,
exploration, and investigation (Gomes, 2005; cited in Demir, 2015a). On the
other hand, Gábor Á. Zemplén (2007) notes that one problem that separates
science courses and Critical Thinking-focused subjects is that science is
taught in a non- or pseudo-argumentative way. Nevertheless, science is an
active process, and a human activity where argumentation is crucial and has a
central role to play in the production of knowledge. Needless to say, the
democratic role of Critical Thinking in Science Education is considered crucial
for the responsible use and application of Science in the society.
What is critical thinking in science?
According to Liu (2014), critical thinking is one of higher order thinking skills, believed to play a central role in problem solving. Gunn et al. (2014) further outlines the skills or processes involved in critical thinking namely: conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication. In the context of science education, critical thinking skills or processes mirror the science process skills- Such aspects as formulating questions, seeking answers, analysis, interpretation, problem-solving, decision-making, and communication. In other words, critical thinking in science learning is inculcated during laboratory work. At the same time, enquiry activities that require critical thinking can involve non- hands on activities such as solving a scientific issue. In that context, in thinking critically over a socio scientific issue in a particular context, one would also require deep understanding of the scientific knowledge related to the contexts. Such deep understanding is necessary especially when one has to evaluate critically of the competing theories in solving the socio scientific issues.
How to foster critical thinking in science learning?
Since critical thinking is contextual, applying this conception in science education involves focusing on the tasks, problems and issues in the science curriculum which require critical thinking. It is seen that Critical thinking has a great potential to favor Science Education, especially through the application of classroom techniques or activities based on Critical Thinking criteria and principles. Questioning, critique, and argumentation are deemed the most important classroom activities for fostering Critical thinking and improving Science learning-teaching. Other important commonality is the importance highlighted by some authors about 'Context' or 'learning environment' for fostering Critical thinking in Science Education in the classroom, in particular, for stimulating students questioning skills and attitude. It is understood that proper contexts, in which students feel free to ask questions and activities, as well as guidelines for framing good or critical questions are provided by teachers, enhance Students Critical thinking and an effective Science education process in a symbiotic fashion between these two variables.
Based on the experiences of Demir, S. (2015a), and Toman, U.; Odabaşi, S.; Cimer, A. (2014), in-service and pre-service teachers' training is also regarded a current need in order to effectively implement Critical thinking in science education. It is understood that for developing a good process for fostering Critical thinking while teaching Science and improving the results of science education on students, teachers must first develop Critical thinking competences in conceptual and practical domains (Sahin, Senar Alkin; Tunca, Nihal; Altinkurt, Yahya; Yilmaz, Kürsad; 2016). In this sense, ‘training’ addressing to the implementation of Critical thinking related activities or techniques in the Science teaching-and-learning process could be crucial. More general strategies or suggestions for developing critical thinking and improving science education are those such as, linking science topics with real life issues, working on conceptual clarification for implementing accurately Critical thinking activities in Science education, and considering including a special course or program in the curriculum for developing Critical thinking.
There are some problems regarding Critical thinking development in Science education in the classroom. Especially, because science classes are mainly carried out with the focus on content and on students' memorization, rather than on creativity, meaningful understanding and/or Critical thinking. It is important to recognize teachers' strengths and identify their shortcomings regarding critical thinking in order to solve them through training. Problems regarding Critical Thinking misconception by teachers and education authorities can affect curriculum and course objective-setting, consequently, misguide the teaching practice in the classroom. Which can result in students' aversion toward science and/or their superficial learning.
Is critical thinking a knowledge, a process or a habit?
The conceptualization of critical thinking is often as series of procedural moves eg; develop hypothesis, collect data, analyze data and make conclusions. Bailin (2002) argues that such conceptualization could be done in uncritical way. In other words, the science process skills if practiced as procedures as cook book then it does not develop students critical thinking. At the same time, critical thinking is not employed by students if the critical thinking skills or science process skills are conducted in a cook book manner.
Study by Misbah ( 2015) on developing science process skills among pre service teachers found that teaching and learning through open scientific enquiry activities were able to develop their science process skills better compared to those who followed guided scientific enquiry activities. This finding indicates that critical thinking skills are developed both through open and guided scientific enquiry activities but the performance is better for pre service teachers who followed the open ended scientific enquiry activities. The study also found that boys tend to demonstrate their acquisition of critical thinking or scientific process skills better when engage in open ended enquiry. This suggests that open ended enquiry activities are able to develop the need or attitude to be critical in solving a problem or decision making.
Bailin (2002) also reminded us that if critical thinking is conceptualized as a mental process, the problem of such conceptualization is that it is unobservable. As argued by Bailin it can be only inferred when someone has accomplished a task which requires thinking. In a PhD study by Shalie et al. (in press), he argued that in service teachers were competent in executing the practical component of Science Process Skills (SPS) but lacked the conceptual knowledge underlying the skills. Teachers were not able to describe science process skills adequately. It was found that teachers who have poor conceptual knowledge of SPS are less equipped to use inquiry teaching and related learning strategies in their classrooms. Science teachers from teacher education institutions are not equipped with sufficient conceptual knowledge and consequently are not able to help their students to understand SPS meaningfully. As suggested by Bailin, when one follows the critical thinking process or science process skills in an uncritical manner than the critical thinking process is not activated or skills not developed thus science learning would just be rote learning. Learning to be reflectively does not occur in that context. What is required according to Bailin is that in order to carry out the set of critical thinking process or skills must be accompanied with an attitude or commonly known as scientific attitude. Scientific attitude or also known as habits of thinking of the scientists – which include suspending judgment, making decisions based on evidence and openness.
Zanaton, Kamisah & Lilia (2006) found that teachers had a lower level of scientific attitude compared to students. If Attitudes, is argued by Gunn et al. (2014) as the vehicle for implementing the concept of scientific critical thinking thus it is imperative that teachers are encouraged and trained to develop scientific attitudes. As suggested by Gunn et al. (2014) and our findings more inquiry based science instruction is needed in the classroom and also in the training of science teachers. The learning science contexts also needs to be diverse not only on doing laboratory work but also involving students and teachers to be involved in socio scientific argumentation tasks. Such a variety of contexts would enhance critical thinking.
CONCLUSION
Critical thinking is all- cognitive, process and a habit. Learning science effectively depends on the development and employment of critical thinking process. Teachers play an important role in ensuring critical thinking process in science learning. As science educators, it is our responsibility to assist students to think critically about what science is, what it represents, and whether its impact is for the greater good. Teachers must provide the opportunity to develop the attitudes that support active inquiry. Integral is problem solving and decision-making amid the curriculum content that enhances student’s intellectual development and more importantly, creates a readiness for responsible application of what is learned outside the classroom (Gunn et al. 2014). Thus, teachers need to receive relevant pedagogical training program regarding teaching critical thinking skills. Not only to learn the science practices as practised by the scientists but as an effective citizen in their daily lives.
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