Critical Thinking and Educational Reform [microform] : The Emerging Revolution / Richard W. Paul.
This examination of deep-seated structural problems facing public education today is built on the premise that a new beginning is needed in which education focuses on critical thinking or "rational learning." Such a focus presupposes that students and teachers master the critical-analytica...
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| Format: | Microfilm Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
[S.l.] :
Distributed by ERIC Clearinghouse,
1984.
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| Summary: | This examination of deep-seated structural problems facing public education today is built on the premise that a new beginning is needed in which education focuses on critical thinking or "rational learning." Such a focus presupposes that students and teachers master the critical-analytical vocabulary of the English language in dialogical settings and become sensitized to the problems and pitfalls of uncritical, or "irrational learning." The call for a reconceptualization of the role of education for both student and teacher follows an historical review of the role of critical thinking in the history of public education. The field of social studies is then cited as a discipline particularly vulnerable to the fostering of irrational beliefs since there is a pronounced and natural tendency to inculcate an uncritical, monological, and nationalistic perspective concerning major social issues. Because major issues in social studies inevitably mirror multiple perspectives, a rational approach to historical, sociological, and anthropological issues reflecting a wide variety of divergent and conflicting points of view is advised. Recommendations further emphasize the need for more coursework, instructional models, professional experiences, materials, and funding to help teachers and students develop the critical thinking skills necessary for the stimulation of important educational reform. (LH) |
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| Item Description: | ERIC Note: Paper presented at the Harvard International Conference on Thinking (Cambridge, MA, August 19-23, 1984). ERIC Document Number: ED266058. |
| Physical Description: | 23 p. |
| Reproduction Note: | Microfiche. |
| Action Note: | committed to retain |