Description
Book SynopsisThis book consists of seven chapters, each providing a different point of view on the topic of critical thinking, which is defined as the analysis of facts to form a judgment. Chapter One aims to develop a method for improving students' critical thinking skills using cooperative learning. Chapter Two focuses on an education program designed to develop students' creativity and critical thinking skills and the impact this program had on teachers in Portuguese public schools. Chapter Three discusses the methods of teaching critical thinking that are most suitable for the Russian educational community. Chapter Four analyses the importance of critical thinking skills for fighting misinformation in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, around which many unscientific rumours and conspiracy theories are propagated alongside truthful information. Chapter Five also concerns the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically in connection with the natural human bias towards optimism and how this bias distorts risk assessment in health-related decisions but also provides a sense of control and hope. Chapter Six discusses how teachers can leverage Donald Trump's proclivity towards manipulative rhetoric, glaring fallacies, and conspiracy theories for teaching critical thinking skills, as well as the potential pitfalls of doing so. Finally, Chapter Seven aims to rethink Essential Learning Outcomes by examining what skills are valued by employers and proposes a strategy of cross-listing courses to facilitate skill acquisition across disciplines.
Table of ContentsPreface; Empowering Students Critical Thinking Skills with Investigations Through Cooperative Problem Solving (ITCPS) Model; Promoting Critical and Creative Thinking in Science Education: A Proposal for an Inservice Teacher Education Programme; Prospects for Critical Thinking in Russian Science Education; Critical Thinking in the Age of a COVID-19 and Infodemic-Filled Media; The Threats of Optimism Bias to Thinking Critically Under the COVID-19 Pandemic; Donald Trump as a Critical-Thinking Teaching Assistant; Reverse Engineering What Employers Value in Job Candidates: Preparing Students for the 21st Century Workplace; Index.
