Critical Thinking in Nigeria’s Pre-Service Teachers Education: A Philosophical Investigation

Yıl 2017, Cilt: 6 Sayı: 2, 205 - 221, 01.09.2017

- Olatunji M. Olalekan

Öz

This paper explores the roots of critical thinking and its importance. It also attempts a clarification of critical thinking as a concept. Using the method of philosophical analysis, the paper proceeds to investigate the place of critical thinking in teacher education in Nigeria. Among other things, it is suggested that the acquisition of critical thinking skills be included among the stated goals of Teacher Education and that necessary measures be taken by the relevant authorities to ensure that critical thinking is actually taught and practiced by pre-service teachers in Nigeria

Anahtar Kelimeler

Critical thinking, Curriculum, inquiry, creativity, Teacher education

Kaynakça

• Ab Kadir, M. (2007). Critical thinking: A family resemblance in Conceptions. Journal of Education and Human Development. 1(2), 1-11.
• Aboluwodi, A. (2016). Imperative of Teaching Critical Thinking in Higher Institutions in Nigeria. Journal of Teaching and Teacher Education, 4(1), 9-15.
• Andiliou. A. & Murphy, P. K. (2010). Examining variations among researchers’ and teachers’ conceptualizations of creativity: A review and synthesis of contempo- rary research. Educational Research Review. 5, 201-219.
• Atabaki, A. M., Keshtiaray, N., & Yarmohammadam, H. M. (2015). Scrutiny of critical thinking concept. International Education Studies, 8(3), 92-102.
• Bensley, D. A., Crowe, D. S., Bernhardt, P., Buckner, C., & Allman, A. L. (2010). Teaching and assessing critical thinking skills for argument analysis in Psychol- ogy. Teaching of Psychology. 37(2). 91-96. doi:10.1080/00986281.
• Bloom, B. (1956). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification 0f Educa- tional Goals. London: Longman.
• Brookfield, S. (2003). Critical Thinking in Adulthood. In Fasiko, D. (Ed). Critical thinking and reasoning: current research, theory and practice. USA: Hampton Press.
• Brookfield, S. D. (1987). Developing Critical Thinkers. San Francisco: Jossey- Bass publishers.
• Brown, M. N. & Freeman, K. (2000). Distinguishing features of critical thinking class- rooms. Teaching in Higher Education, 5(3) 301-309.
• Caruth, G. D. (2015). Critical Thinking: An Examination of the status and Teaching Methods in Higher Education. GLOKAde, 1, 4, 57-69.
• Chouari, A. (2016). Teaching critical thinking in Moroccan Higher Education: chal- lenges and opportunities. Arab World English Journal, 7, 2.
• Clark, J. H. & Biddle, A.W. (1993). Introduction: Critical Thinking Across the Curric- ulum. In J.H. Clark & A.W. Biddle (Eds.), Teaching Critical Thinking (pp 1-16). Englewood Cliffs, N.J. Prentice- Hall Inc.
• Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2000). Research Methods in Education. (5th ed) London: Routledge Falmer.
• Cremin, T., Burnard, P., & Craft, A. (2006). Pedagogy and Possibility thinking in the early years. Thinking Skills and Creativity. I, 108-119.
• Crerar, B. A. & Barua, N. K. (2015). Critical thinking skills in teacher education: need and strategies. American Thoughts, 1, 7. 1578-1606.
• Demirdag, S. (2015). The relationship between critical thinking abilities and class- room management skills of high school teachers. Educational Research and Re- views, 10(7) 850 – 855.
• Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and Education. N.Y.: Collier.
• Ejide, B. (2006). Teaching metacognitive Skills: A challenge for teachers. The Educa- tional Psychologist. 3(1) 60-67.
• Ekpiken, E. E. & Edet, A. O. (2014). The role of teacher education and nigerian teach- ers in national development: the way forward. Higher Education of Social Sci- ence. 7, 1, 139 -143.
• Elder, L. (1996). Cognition and Affect: Critical Thinking and Emotional Intelligence. Inquiry: Critical Thinking Across the Discipline, XV 1(2). (Online). Available: http://www.critical thinking.org/page.cfm?page ID=485&CategoryId=73
• Ennis, R. (1992). Critical thinking: What is it? Proceedings of the 48th annual meeting of the Philosophy of Education Society. Retrieved from http//www.ed.u.uc.edu/ PES/92_DOCS/Ennis. HTM.
• Ennis, R. H. (1987). A taxonomy of critical thinking dispositions and abilities. In J.B. Baron & R.J. Sternberg (Eds.), Teaching Thinking Skills: Theory and Practice (pp. 9-26) New York: Freeman.
• Ennis, R. H. (1985). A Logical basis for measuring critical thinking skills. Educational Leadership. 2 (43) 2.
• Ericson, K. A. & Hastie, R. (1994). Contemporary approaches to the study of thinking and problem solving. In R. J. Sternberg & E.E. Smith (Eds.) Thinking and Prob- lem Solving (pp. 37-79). New York: Academic Press.
• Facione, P. A. (1990). The California Critical Thinking Skills Test: College Level Technical Repot-Experimental Validation and Content Validity. Retrieved from http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/recordDetail?accno=ED327549.
• Fasko, D. (Ed). (2003). Critical Thinking and Reasoning: Current Research, Theory, And Practice. N.J.:Hampton Press. Inc.
• Figen, K. (2010). An Assessment of Teachers’ Conceptions of Critical Thinking and Practices for Critical Thinking Development at Seventh Grade Level. A Thesis submitted to the Graduate School of Social Sciences of Middle East Technical University.
• Garrison, D. (1991). Critical Thinking in Adult Education. International Journal of Lifelong Education. 10, 4. 287- 303.
• Hader, R. (2005). Carve out time to think – yes think. Nursing Management, 36(4), 4. Retrieved April 5, 2011 from EBOSCO Host database.
• Halonen, J. S. (1995). Demystifying critical thinking. Teaching of Psychology. 22. 75-81
• Hare, W. (2001). Betrand Russell and Critical Thinking. Inquiry: Critical Thinking Across Disciplines, 20(2), 3-50.
• Ijaiya, N. Y. S. (2008). The quality of Teacher Education in Nigeria. In A.Ejiogu and V.Onyene: Emergent issues in Nigerian Education. 4. September, pp. 230-250.
• Ijaiya, N. Y., Alabi, A. T., & Fasasi, Y. A. (2011). Teacher Education in Africa and Critical Thinking Skills: Needs and Strategies. Research Journal of Business Management. 5(1), 26-34.
• Inch, E. S. & Warnick, B. (2011. Critical Thinking and Communication: The Use of Reason in Argument. (6th ed). Boston. MA: Pearson.
• Isyaku, D. 2002. Teacher Education in the 21st Century in Anikweze, C.M., Ojo, M.O. & Maiyanga, A.A. (Eds). Teacher Education in Nigeria, National Commission for Colleges of Education, Abuja.
• Johnson, R. H. (1996). The Rise of Informal Logic. Newport News, VA: Vale press.
• Johnson, B., Steven, J. J., & Zvoch, K. (2007). Teachers perception of school cli- mate: A validity study of scores from the revised school Environment Question- naire. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 67(5),833-844. http//:dx.doi. org/10.1177/0013164406299102.
• Jokthan, E. T. (2012). Teachers and Teacher Education in the 21st century: The chal- lenges. JORIND. 10 (2), 175- 179.
• Karakoc, M. (2016). The significance of critical thinking ability in terms of Education. International Journal of Humanities & Social Science. 6 (7), 81 – 84.
• Kitot, A. K. A., Ahmad, A. R., & Seman, A. A. (2010). The effectiveness of Inquiry Teaching in Enhancing Students’ critical thinking. Procedia Social and Behavioral Science (7c), 264-273. Elsevier Ltd.
• Kurfiss, J. G. (1988). Critical thinking: Theory, research, practice and possibilities. ASHE –ERIC Higher Education Report No 2. Washington, D.C.: Association for the study of Higher Education.
• Lewis, A. & Smith, D. (1993). Defining higher order thinking. Theory into Practice, 32, 131-137.
• Lipman, M. (2003). Thinking in Education (2nd ed). New York, N.Y: Cambridge Uni- versity press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511840272.
• Majasan, J. A. (1995). The Teachers’ Profession: A Manual for Professional Excel- lence. Ibadan. Spectrum books Ltd.
• Mayer, R. E. & Goodchild, F. M. (1990). The Critical Thinker: Thinking and Learning Strategies for Psychologist Students. Dubuque,1A: WM.C. Brown.
• McGuinness, C. (2005). Teaching thinking: Theory and Practice. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 3, 107-126.
• McPeck, J. E. (1981). Critical Thinking and Education. New York: St Martins Press.
• Mgboro, C. U. (2006). Improving learning in secondary schools in Ebony in State us- ing metacognition. The Educational Psychologist, 3(1), 47-51.
• National Policy on Education. (2013). 6th edition. Federal Republic of Nigeria. NERDC Press. 3 Jibowu street, Lagos.
• National University Commission. (2006). Ban on Admission into more Program with Denied Accreditation. Monday Memo, May 4 (18).
• Ndofirepi, A. P. (2014). Is critical thinking desirable for children? Mediterranean Journal of Social Science. 5, 10, 325 – 330.
• Newton, D. P. & Newton L. D. (2009). Some student teachers’ conceptions of creativ- ity in school science. Res. Sci. Technol. Educ. 27(1):45-60.
• Norshima, B. (2011). Evaluation of critical thinking in Social studies text book. (PhD Thesis, Shiroz University, Shiraz.
• Omardin. A. (1996). Peranan, Tuguasdan Tanggungjawab Guru di Sekolah. Cheras, Kuala Lumpur: Itusan publication and Distributiors Sdn. Bhd
• Ozkan-Akan, S. (2003). Teachers’ perceptions of Constraints on improving students thinking in high schools. Master’s thesis, Middle East Technical University, Tur- key, Retrieved from http/etd. Lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/683631/index.pdf
• Paul, R. (1995). Critical Thinking: how to prepare students for a rapidly changing world. California: Foundation for Critical Thinking.
• Pithers, R. T. & Sodon, R. (2000). Critical Thinking in Education: A review. Educa- tional Research, 42, 237-249.
• Reed, J. (1998). Effect of a model for critical thinking on students achievement in primary source document analysis and interpretation, argumentative reasoning, critical thinking dispositions and history content in a community college course. Unpublished dissertation, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida.
• Richmond, J. E. D. (2007). Bringing Critical thinking to the education of developing country professionals. International Education Journal, 8 (1) 1-29.
• Runco, M. A. (2007). Creativity. Theories and Themes: Research, development and Practice. Burlington M.A.: Elsevier Academic Press.
• Russell, B. (1927). Philosophy. New York: WW. Norton
• Russell, B. (1939). Education for Democracy. Addresses and Proceedings of the Na- tional Education Association, 77, 527-534.
• Russell, B. (1956a). John Stuart Mill. In B. Russell (Ed), Portraits from Memory. Lon- don: Allen & Unwin.
• Russell, B. (1956b). Portraits from Memory and other Essays. London: Allen & Un- win.
• Shakirova, D. M. (2007). Technology for shaping of college students’ and upper grade students’ critical thinking. Russian Education and Society, 49(9). 42- 52.
• Sternberg, R. G. (1985). Teaching Critical thinking: Eight easy ways to fail before you begin. The Phi Delta Kappan. 68(6), 456 – 459.Doi 10.2307%2F20403395.
• Schafersman, S. D. (1991). An Introduction to Critical thinking. Retrieved from facul- tycenter.schoolsyr.edu/wp-content/ ----/critical thinking/pdf
• Siegel, H. (1988). Educating Reason, N.Y. Routledge.
• Splitter, L. T. (1991). Critical Thinking: What, why, when and how. Educational Phi- losophy and Theory. 23(1), 89 – 109.
• Udosen, A. E. (2011). The Rationality, critical thinking & education state of read- ing Instruction in Secondary Schools in Akwa Ibom State: Implications for sus- tenaible development. Journal of Emerging Trends in Educational Research and Policy Studies, 2(5) 382-387.
• Unal, G. & Ergin, O. (2006). Buluş yoluyla fen öğretiminin öğrencilerin akademik başarılarına, öğrenme yaklaşımlarına ve tutumlarına etkisi. Turk Fen Egitimi Der- gisi. 3(1), 36-52