Four Tools for Critical Inquiry in History, Social Studies, and Civic Education
The promotion of critical thinking is an important but elusive goal in history, social studies, and civic education. Teachers often struggle to translate general definitions of critical thinking into specific pedagogical tools to plan learning activities and to observe and interpret student work in...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Universidad de los Andes
2015-06-01
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| Series: | Revista de Estudios Sociales |
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| Online Access: | http://res.uniandes.edu.co/view.php/989/index.php?id=989 |
| Summary: | The promotion of critical thinking is an important but elusive goal in history, social studies, and civic education. Teachers often struggle to translate general definitions of critical thinking into specific pedagogical tools to plan learning activities and to observe and interpret student work in these subjects. They also struggle to distinguish between “teaching critical content” and “teaching students to think critically.” In this paper, I draw upon scholarship on critical thinking, history education, moral education, and critical pedagogy to propose four tools for critical inquiry in the social domain: Problem-posing, Reflective skepticism, Multi-perspectivity and Systemic thinking. I describe how each tool works, discussing how they integrate the epistemic purpose of fostering good understanding with the social purpose of cultivating thoughtful, responsible, pluralist and non-violent citizens. |
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| ISSN: | 0123-885X 1900-5180 |