Critical thinking skills, play an important role in developing problem solving skills in learners, contributes to success in the workplace as well as in higher education because it prepares students for a global society. The study clarified its importance to learner’s success, and showed that almost high school students do not have critical thinking skills and the majority of high school teachers were not knowledgeable about critical thinking and how to teach it.
TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC SƯ PHẠM, ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ CRITICAL THINKING: HOW TO FORM ABILITY OF TEACHING CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS FOR HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS TRAN TRUNG HIEU An Giang University Email: trunghieu.bio.ag@gmail.com Abstract: Critical thinking skills, play an important role in developing problem solving skills in learners, contributes to success in the workplace as well as in higher education because it prepares students for a global society The study clarified its importance to learner’s success, and showed that almost high school students not have critical thinking skills and the majority of high school teachers were not knowledgeable about critical thinking and how to teach it In order to develop this skill in the students, the paper has proposed that the teachers have to be prepared the way to teach this skill such as (1) they have to be critical thinkers, (2) they have to know how to develop an integrated lesson plan, and (3) they have to master in cooperating teaching technologies Keywords: Critical thinking skills, integrated lesson plan, problem-solving competence, critical thinkers, biology teaching INTRODUCTION According to Phan (2008) [12], Nguyen (2015) [17], and Tran et al (2017) [9], most high school students not have critical thinking skills How did this happen and why is it a serious issue? Facione (2011) pointed out that “critical thinking is thinking that has a purpose (proving a point, interpreting what something means, solving a problem), but critical thinking can be a collaborative, noncompetitive endeavor” The learners can work together on a common defense or a joint prosecution, and they can also cooperate with each other to get at the truth so that justice is done It involves six core critical thinking skills (Figure 1) [6] Figure Core critical thinking skills (Source: Facione, 2011) Critical thinking skills play an important role in developing problem solving skills in learners Beyer (1995) said that “critical thinking is used in conjunction with other kinds of thinking, such as solving problems, making decisions, conceptualizing, and creating (synthesizing)” [2] Critical thinking and problem solving are not separate; both of them are incorporated in the thinking process (Pithers and Soden, 2000) [15] Moreover, solving a 152 BÁO CÁO KHOA HỌC HỘI THẢO KHOA HỌC QUỐC GIA LẦN THỨ problem is one phase in the overall critical thinking process (Hendricson, 2006) [7] Problemsolving competence will be formed if the learners have critical thinking skills In addition, many researchers have explained that critical thinking contributes to success in the workplace as well as in higher education, because it prepares students for a global society that have become defined by high speed communications, complex and rapid change, and increasing diversity (Shermis, 1992 [16]; Educator’s Voice, 2015 [4]) Although high school teachers believed in critical thinking’s significance in improving learners’ thinking skills, most of them were not knowledgeable about critical thinking and how to teach it (Phan, 2008 [12]; Nguyen, 2015 [17]; and Tran et al, 2017 [9]) Also from these studies, the majority of students knew very little about the definition of critical thinking because they had not been taught this skill in high school This lack of critical thinking may lead to high school students not having problem-solving competence to cope with work or university’s challenges after graduating Therefore, training high school teachers how to teach this skill is a vital and urgent solution HOW TO FORM ABILITY OF TEACHING CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS FOR HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS 2.1 Become critical thinkers Good critical thinkers think critically about their own thinking Therefore, they create an argument, they think critically in order to be accurate and so that the argument is as strongly reasoned as possible (Beyer, 1995 [2]) Ahuna (2014) announced that “a successful teacher must have the higher order thinking skills necessary to appropriately adapt his/her instruction” [1] Therefore, becoming critical thinkers themselves will help high school teachers succeed in teaching critical thinking skills in students Grant (1988), associate professor and chair of the Education Department at Occidental College in Los Angeles in California, claimed that in order to develop critical thinking skills in students, teachers need a broad and deep knowledge about the subject matter and pedagogical thinking because they are a means of shaping decisions about what to teach and how to teach it [11] In order to think critically, the teachers have to be trained through experts’ teacher education programs in which these courses utilize Bloom’s taxonomy for categorizing kinds of thinking (knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, evaluation) in two ways First, the course instructors ask higher level thinking questions of the students, such as “What is the connection between students’ successful experiences and classroom management?” and “Should low income schools receive more or less funding based on their standardized test scores?” These kinds of questions encourage direct application of critical thinking as students are confronted with real-life problems and how they can best be solved Second, students must utilize the taxonomy in crafting lesson objectives and plans The goal is for these future teachers to focus on moving their students to higher level thinking (Ahuna, 2014) [1] When teachers master, they will own promising capabilities to assess the levels of inherent broad categories of critical thinking skills in students Based on this assessment, teachers will have the stable foundation in designing lesson plan and organizing classroom in the best way to teach this skill to students 2.2 Integrate critical thinking skills into lesson plans In addition to developing critical thinkers, building up an integrated lesson plan for teaching critical thinking skills exposes key elements According to Tran (1993) [10], Phan (1999) [3] and Nguyen (2009) [8], the biology lesson is planned in some basic steps, such as 153 TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC SƯ PHẠM, ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ identify learning objectives, determine teaching aids, define educational methods, and organize learning activities Thus, in order to have an effective integrated lesson plan, the study has proposed a process represented in Figure Figure Schematic model of designing integrated lesson plan 154 BÁO CÁO KHOA HỌC HỘI THẢO KHOA HỌC QUỐC GIA LẦN THỨ Step 1: Analyze contents of the lesson - Identifying the goals of the lesson is important and indispensable because they are requirements and aims which students have to achieve after finishing the lesson In other words, the goals are the measure of outcomes of the teaching process Based on these goals, the teacher can define necessary tasks such as how to control students’ explorating activities, how to guide students to apply learnt knowledge and skills in solving exercises, and what lessons students will gain In addition, defining the goals has to base on education program’s standards of knowledge, skills and competencies - Analyzing the structure of the lesson aims to identify relations between learnt knowledge and skills and the knowledge and skills that students will be formed so that the teacher can design learning activities effectively - The facts showed that mastering the lesson’s structure allows the teacher not only to outline lesson’s units but also to be able to adjust the logic of these units Moreover, this master benefits the teacher from building up the systems of questions and exercises which help students to apply harvested knowledge and skills in their learning activities appropriately Step 2: Survey students’ characteristics and ability In order to identify critical thinking skills with appropriate levels which need to be trained, the teacher has to evaluate students on qualification, ability, and psychological features The results of this survey allow the teacher to collect and combine teaching techniques and methods effectively in training process Step 3: Select and combine teaching techniques and methods When selecting and combining teaching techniques and methods, the teacher has to pay attention to: promoting students’ activeness, initiative and creativity; training self-learning and cooperative learning skills; problem solving competence; and creating excitement in the classroom Step 4: Refer to related biology materials Finding and collecting related biology materials is one of the most important steps in the process of designing integrated lesson plan This collecting requires teacher’s considerable time and effort Then, the teacher will choose appropriate teaching equipments Step 5: Predict expected outcomes The teacher needs to predict the knowledge, categories of critical thinking skills and competencies which students can gain through the lesson Unless these outcomes are as expectations, previously identified critical thinking skills, the materials and teaching methods, techniques and equipments have to be re-evaluated entirely to have more appropriate selections and co-operations among them The teacher only begins writing the lesson plan when these outcomes have been evaluated fully and entirely Step 6: Write the lesson plan A lesson plan must ensure some requirements: (1) suit the standards of knowledge, skills and competencies provided by the Vietnam Ministry of Education and Training 155 TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC SƯ PHẠM, ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ (MOET); (2) ensure to improve students’ critical thinking skills; (3) and organize various teaching activities and promote students’ self-learning and creativity Step 7: Evaluate and adjust lesson plan after deploying the lesson After finishing the lesson in the classroom, the teacher will review and evaluate the success of the lesson to harvest experiences, find out shortcomings, and then adjust designed lesson (if any) This integration also allows teachers to clarify broad categories of critical thinking skills with suitable levels that must be developed in students It also allows teachers to assess the competence of students, transform contents into thinking tasks, and select appropriate means and the effective models of organizing the classroom All these basic factors contribute to success in developing this skill in the classroom Moreover, incorporating critical thinking into any transition program helps students avoid challenges of the academic setting with critical thinking demands (Egege, 2004) [5] Within a study for teaching critical thinking skills, Pinkney & Shaughnessy (2013) wrote that educators can also integrate critical thinking into mainstream instruction at the secondary and elementary levels [14] 2.3 Master basic teaching techniques Organizing classroom into small groups through forms of representation such as the game, battle and journey will develop this skill in students more effectively In order to help students to think critically, content is transformed into thinking assignments presented through these models (Grant, 1998) [11] In group works, these techniques help students to better understand the material and stimulate their thinking process In addition, the shared responsibility reduced the anxiety associated with problem-solving The facts have shown that when students are learnt in small groups via these representation forms, they will develop critical thinking through discussion, clarification of ideas and evaluation of others’ ideas If high school students are discussed in small groups through the game, the battle and the journey, they will form this skill more effectively CONCLUSION High school graduates will not adapt to the strict demands of living if they not have critical thinking skills This generation is the main human resources for development of the province in particular and the country in general The study argues that students will think critically only if their teachers are knowledgeable about critical thinking and how to integrate this skill into the teaching process and organizing classroom techniques The government should invite experts or professors to train high school teachers how to teach critical thinking REFERENCES [1] [2] [3] [4] Ahuna, K.H (2014) A new era of critical thinking in professional programs Transformative Dialogues: Teaching & Learning Journal, 7(3), 1-9 Beyer, K.B (1995) Critical thinking Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation Bloomington, Indiana Phan Duc Duy (1999) Trainning biology teaching skills for students based on studying pedagogy cases Doctor Thesis of Education, Hanoi National University of Education, Vietnam Educator’s Voice (2015) Critical thinking and Problem-solving for the 21st Century learner NYSUT’s Journal of Best Practice in Education, 156 BÁO CÁO KHOA HỌC HỘI THẢO KHOA HỌC QUỐC GIA LẦN THỨ [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] Egege, S (2004) Critical thinking: Integration in curriculum International Education Journal, 4(4), 75-85 Facione, P.A (2011) Critical thinking: What it is and why it counts Measured Reasons and the California Academic Press, Millbrae, CA Hendricson, W D., Andrieu, S C., Chadwick, D G., Chmar, J E., Cole, J R., George, M C., Kalkwarf, K L (2006) Educational strategies associated with development of problem-solving, critical thinking and self-directed learning Journal of Dental Education, 70(9), 925-936 Nguyen Van Hien (2009) Developing the skills of applying information technology in organizing biology lessons in students Doctor Thesis of Education, Hanoi National University of Education, Vietnam Tran Trung Hieu & Khuu Thi Huynh Ngoc (2017) Training critical thinking skills for students in 10 grade and 11 grade biology teaching in some high schools in An Giang province An Giang University, Vietnam Tran Ba Hoanh (1993) Techniques of biology teaching Vietnam Education Publishing House Grant, G E (1988) Teaching critical thinking California: Praeger Phan Thi Luyen (2008) Training high school students’ critical thinking based on teaching the topic of equation and inequality Doctor Thesis of Education, Hanoi National University of Education, Vietnam National Education Association (n.d) Preparing 21st century students for a global society: An Educator’s Guide to the “Four Cs” Retrieved from http://www.nea.org/assets/docs/A-Guide-to-Four-Cs.pdf Pinkney, J., Shaughnessy, M.F., (2013) Teaching critical thinking skills: A modern mandate International Journal of Academic Research, 5(3), 346-352 Pithers, R.T & Soden, R (2000) Critical thinking in education: A review Educational Research, 42(3), 237-249 Shermis, S S (1992) Critical thinking: Helping students learning reflectively Indiana: ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading and Communication Skill Nguyen Phuong Thao (2015) Developing critical thinking skills for high school students based on dialogue acitivities in mathematics teaching in high schools Doctor Thesis of Education, Hanoi National University of Education, Vietnam 157 ... Therefore, training high school teachers how to teach this skill is a vital and urgent solution HOW TO FORM ABILITY OF TEACHING CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS FOR HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS 2.1 Become critical thinkers... and how to integrate this skill into the teaching process and organizing classroom techniques The government should invite experts or professors to train high school teachers how to teach critical. .. Teaching critical thinking California: Praeger Phan Thi Luyen (2008) Training high school students’ critical thinking based on teaching the topic of equation and inequality Doctor Thesis of Education,