Working with Critical Thinking in the Classroom

When working with critical thinking in schools, it is essential to consider that critical thinking is not just an individual skill but something developed in interaction with others. Critical thinking is nurtured in communities where curiosity is stimulated, and there is room to challenge and investigate claims, values, and societal practices in an atmosphere that values disagreement.

Critical thinking is about equipping students to assess sources, information, and public debate independently. It also involves developing students' ability for self-reflection and dialogue, enabling them to see things from different perspectives and reflect on ethical choices.

Critical thinking in the classroom

The goal of developing critical thinking is clearly stated in the curriculum. The core curriculum emphasizes that "The school shall contribute to making students curious and questioning, developing scientific and critical thinking, and acting with ethical awareness" (1.3). Critical thinking is also central to the new concept of competence, stating, "...competence involves understanding and the ability to reflect and think critically" (1.6).

However, how critical thinking should be developed in a school context is more open. Teachers are entrusted with the task of operationalizing such overarching learning goals. While the curriculum provides a description of what critical thinking may involve, teachers are given trust and autonomy to work on various aspects of critical thinking based on their competence and context.

Critical thinking is a multifaceted concept, evident both in policy documents and literature on the subject. It is crucial for teachers to consider the breadth of what the concept can mean and how various teaching methods can promote different aspects of critical thinking. As Matthew Lipman pointed out, "If schools are to succeed in teaching critical thinking, educators must have a clear idea of what it is" (Lipman, 1988, p. 38). The following paragraphs highlight some aspects of critical thinking and how to work on them in the classroom.

Teaching involves inherent paradoxes, as teachers are expected to be authorities and knowledge disseminators while also promoting students' critical thinking abilities. The educational paradox becomes particularly prominent in the work of critical thinking: How can children be raised or educated to be free and critical citizens? As John Dewey strongly emphasized, this paradox indicates that schools must focus on teaching children how to think, not what to think. While subject knowledge is essential, it must not overshadow the importance of giving students practice in thinking for themselves and asking questions (Dewey, 1910).

Stimulating curiosity

Critical thinking begins with curiosity and ends with certainty. Therefore, it is crucial for schools to stimulate students' curiosity and exploratory tendencies. This is unlikely to happen if students are always presented with ready-made answers. Hence, there must be room for methods where students themselves can formulate questions or hypotheses, find some answers, but also search for alternatives.

John Dewey is known for emphasizing that students must learn by experimenting in an investigative community. This involves exploring topics and issues through conversation and problem-solving. Free thinking develops only if the conditions are conducive to it, according to Dewey. It is an illusion to believe that a free person can develop without meaningful learning experiences that train critical thinking (Dewey, 1928, 1937).

For a teacher, this can prompt reflection on questions like:

• To what extent do I allow students in the class to take initiative in the learning process?
• How do I stimulate my students to ask questions and let their curiosity guide the learning process?
• What view of knowledge am I conveying?
• How can I ask good questions and model the ability to think critically?

Critical thinking is closely tied to a view of knowledge as provisional or perhaps incomplete. Knowledge is what we believe to know at the moment, but new information or research can change our perceptions. Knowledge is undoubtedly invaluable for being an informed and autonomous individual, but science and growth, at both the individual and societal levels, require reaching towards understanding more and seeking new knowledge.

This view of knowledge is also clearly emphasized in the core curriculum:

In teaching, one must seek a balance between respect for established knowledge and the exploratory and creative thinking required to develop new knowledge. This requires the teacher to appear without certainty while also emphasizing well-founded, research-based knowledge.

However, there can be uncertainty and doubt about what is true in many cases. Information can be ambiguous, and doubt is justified. Therefore, critical thinking is also about dealing with and tolerating uncertainty and confusion. A crucial task in the classroom is to provide space for doubt. Ideologies prone to group hostility typically lean towards simple and unambiguous answers, creating order in an otherwise confusing landscape. Therefore, preventing group hostility also involves building resilience against oversimplification and tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity (Zick, et al., 2014).

Critical thinking is often highlighted as a form of "methodical doubt." It stems from what can be called healthy skepticism. One approaches the world with an investigative attitude. Before drawing conclusions, one examines things closely by investigating justifications and seeing an issue from multiple perspectives.

In the classroom, it is essential to allow for such methodical doubt by taking the time to dwell on questions and issues. To promote critical thinking, teaching must encompass and encourage an open and investigative approach to the subject matter and the questions that arise in the class community.

Critical thinking takes time. Such goals may be perceived as conflicting with other demands in education, such as efficiency and goal achievement. Therefore, a teacher must consciously consider what they think is important to prioritize in the classroom to achieve overarching goals of critical thinking and education.

Facilitating critical and investigative conversation

As seen, critical thinking is not only an individual skill but also a process that occurs between people and in communities. Lipman (1988), Dewey (1928), and many other educational thinkers emphasize how critical thinking arises in communication and must be a characteristic of democratic communities.

In conversation and communication in the classroom, students can be confronted with others' interpretations and perceptions. Such a challenge triggers thoughts in oneself. Perspectives expand, and the possibilities for personal interpretation and assessment widen. Thus, critical thinking is something that arises in social spaces where there is room for the exchange of ideas and problem-solving together (see, for example, the Exercise in definitions ).

The question the teacher must ask is to what extent they manage to allow fruitful disagreements in the classroom – conversations and discussions that are not just a battle to be right but involve listening and learning from each other (see Philosophical Conversations).

Working on source criticism and argumentation

Source criticism is about distinguishing serious from unserious sources of information and assessing the credibility of claims. Source criticism is a well-established approach to working with critical thinking in schools, most strongly linked to social sciences but also a significant goal for other subjects.

In today's media landscape, where fake news has become a growing democratic problem and discussions about the post-truth society prevail—societies where facts may not necessarily determine people's opinions—it is more crucial than ever to cultivate students' awareness that not everything they hear or find online constitutes valid knowledge.

Online debates, blogs, and websites are effective channels for spreading prejudices and hatred. Stereotypical ideas about groups, hate propaganda, and enemy images are disseminated online and through social media, easily accessible to young people. Youth need both practice and awareness to develop resilience against such influences. Familiarity with manipulation techniques, conspiracy theories, and conspiracy talk, along with concrete exercises in evaluating sources, becomes essential.

Engaging in current debates or online posts and discussing them can be effective. What premises underlie the claims? Where does the issue source its "facts" from? Are the sources credible? (Also, see the exercise "The Other Side of the Story").

Analyzing arguments is crucial to understand or debunk oversimplified rhetoric. The concept of argument analysis is drawn from philosophy and linguistics, aligning with core elements and competence goals in several subjects in the new curriculum that emphasize practicing the analysis of others' arguments and developing one's ability to present arguments objectively.

Awareness of language, its possibilities, and its pitfalls is crucial to understanding and deciphering arguments. Both what is said and what is not said (reading between the lines) are essential when assessing the validity and relevance of a message.

Different norms for relevance or norms for good argumentation can be helpful. An example is Johnson and Blair's three requirements for strong argumentation: relevance, acceptability, and sufficiency (Johnson and Blair, 2006). Another example is Arne Næss' norms for relevance that can still guide good argumentation (Næss, 1975). His first four points are as follows:

1. Avoid tendentious digressions.
2. Avoid tendentious representations.
3. Avoid tendentious ambiguity.
4. Avoid tendentious use of straw men.

By using such tools or similar ones, students can become more aware of how language can be used and misused in argumentation (also see exercises "Argumentation: because-clauses" and "Argument, fallacy, or ad hominem").

Anne Schjelderup (2012) demonstrates how teachers, by asking thoughtful questions in the classroom, can enhance students' ability to consider the premises of both their own and others' arguments. In this way, students, in concrete classroom situations over time, are trained to assess the robustness of arguments. This equips them to both justify their own positions and counter opposing arguments (Jegstad, Jøsok, Ryen & Sandvik, 2019).

Cultivating self-reflection

The ability to self-reflect—to view oneself from an external perspective and contemplate who one is and who one wants to be—is deeply linked to the definition of human existence in philosophy (Sartre, 1946). Self-reflection is associated with freedom, with the ability to govern oneself (autonomy). Critical thinking also involves being self-critical, not in a destructive and undermining way, but in a manner that allows one to correct one's own behavior or attitudes.

In the effort to prevent prejudices, it is essential that students—and teachers—practice becoming aware of their own prejudices and preconceptions. Being able to see through oneself, or identify one's own ways of thinking when interacting with others, is also the key to overcoming or challenging personal biases. No one encounters the world without prejudices, but by reflecting on one's own biases and understanding their origins, one can become more conscious and work on oneself.

Self-reflection is thus about admitting that one can be wrong. It is about not being afraid to acknowledge that others may know more than you. These attitudes need to be both modeled and emphasized in teaching. The teacher can be a role model, showing that it is perfectly okay not to know everything or to make mistakes. He or she can underscore the value of not being self-righteous or overconfident on one's own behalf.

The ability to self-reflect and to "understand that one's own experiences, viewpoints, and convictions may be incomplete or erroneous" (1.3) develops through experience. If students practice taking different perspectives and are open to the idea that the world may look different from someone else's standpoint, they can realize and acknowledge that their own opinions may be incomplete. In a classroom environment that encourages experimentation and exploration of viewpoints, without each individual being forced to defend or cling to a viewpoint they had initially, there is room to develop curiosity and openness, even to the possibility of being wrong.

Teachers can consider the following questions:

• To what extent am I open to admitting mistakes or changing my perception?
• To what extent do I facilitate a diversity of perspectives in the classroom?
• How can I create a safe atmosphere that promotes self-reflection?

To promote the ability for critical self-reflection, many educators highlight methods that allow open and inquisitive reflection in the classroom community, such as through philosophical discussions or exploratory problem-solving (Jigsaw).

Developing ethical awareness

When the core curriculum emphasizes that "the school shall contribute to students becoming curious, asking questions, developing scientific and critical thinking, and acting with ethical awareness" (core curriculum 1.3), critical thinking is also linked to the ability to make ethically reflective and responsible choices. Critical thinking, therefore, directs attention not only to what one should believe or think but also to what constitutes right actions. Critical thinking is thus about assessing what creates a good and just society (see Critical Thinking as Social Critique).

From this perspective, work on critical thinking in schools must also involve reflection on ethical dilemmas and social issues, including questions of discrimination, inequality, and injustice. Critical reflection must address how human dignity can be promoted and preserved in society and what threats exist against it. This implies that problematic issues must also be addressed: for students to engage critically and thoughtfully with the challenges of society, they must be equipped to identify and recognize harmful mechanisms.

The core curriculum states that "the school shall encourage students to become active citizens and provide them with the competence to participate in the development of democracy in Norway" (2.5.2). Therefore, students must be trained to be an actor in the world and take responsibility, not only for themselves but also for others—for the community. This requires them to develop a critical awareness of norms and practices in society and to understand their own role in contributing.

Teaching must reach students both as individuals and as fellow human beings. Cultivating the ability for citizenship is connected to reflecting on what it means to take responsibility and understanding the limits of what one can take responsibility for.

Questions teachers can ask themselves include:

• What topics and what subject matter are we bringing into play in the critically thinking classroom community?
• Are we providing space for critical conversations around relevant, perhaps controversial, topics that open up questioning of ethical standards, norms, power dynamics, ideals, and goals—both in school and in society at large?
• Are we stimulating students' thinking, as well as their role as citizens?

To promote the ability for critical self-reflection, many educators emphasize methods that provide space for open and contemplative reflection in the classroom community, for example, through philosophical conversations or exploratory problem-solving (Jigsaw).

Developing ethical awareness

When the core curriculum emphasizes that "the school shall contribute to students becoming curious, asking questions, developing scientific and critical thinking, and acting with ethical awareness" (core curriculum 1.3), critical thinking is also linked to the ability to make ethically reflective and responsible choices. Critical thinking, therefore, directs attention not only to what one should believe or think but also to what constitutes right actions. Critical thinking is thus about assessing what creates a good and just society (see Critical Thinking as Social Critique).

From this perspective, work on critical thinking in schools must also involve reflection on ethical dilemmas and societal issues, including questions of discrimination, inequality, and injustice. Critical reflection must address how human dignity can be promoted and preserved in society, and what threats exist against this. This implies that problematic issues must also be addressed: for students to engage critically and thoughtfully with the challenges of society, they must be equipped to identify and recognize harmful mechanisms.

The core curriculum states that "the school shall stimulate students to become active citizens and provide them with the competence to participate in the development of democracy in Norway" (2.5.2). Therefore, students must be trained to be an actor in the world and take responsibility, not only for themselves but also for others—for the community. This requires them to develop a critical awareness of norms and practices in society and to understand their own role in contributing.

Teaching must reach students both as individuals and as fellow human beings. Cultivating the ability for citizenship is connected to reflecting on what it means to take responsibility and understanding the limits of what one can take responsibility for.

Questions teachers can ask themselves include:

• What topics and what subject matter are we bringing into play in the critically thinking classroom community?
• Are we providing space for critical conversations around relevant, perhaps controversial, topics that open up questioning of ethical standards, norms, power dynamics, ideals, and goals—both in school and in society at large?
• Are we stimulating students' thinking, as well as their role as citizens?

For ethical awareness to grow in students, they must be engaged in issues that concern them. They must be given learning experiences based on their own life worlds that simultaneously create an opening towards the world (Klafki, 2014; Ryen, 2019). Students must be made aware of current ethical dilemmas, adapted to their level. For example, discussions about ethical questions related to everyday school life can provide students with valuable training in empathy and considering others' perspectives when they act. As students grow older, they can reflect on current dilemmas and challenges in their local community and society at large. (See also Stabel Jørgensen, 2018, on the use of ethical excursions and philosophical conversation).

Both curriculum goals and pedagogical theory, therefore, point towards the idea that the work on critical thinking in schools must be comprehensive and include various methods. Critical thinking involves curiosity, logical thinking skills, self-reflection, dialogical abilities, norm criticism, and ethical judgment. Above all, the classroom must embrace diversity of perspectives and provide space for conversation and discussion. Students must be given the opportunity to explore and challenge norms and exclusion mechanisms in society. Critical thinking is about how we stimulate students' ability to think independently, think together, and think about others.

Literature

Dewey, J. (1910): How we think. Dover Publications (1997)

Dewey, J. (1928): «Philosophies of Freedom». I Hickman, L.A. & Alexander, T.M (ed) The essential Dewey, Volume 2. Indiana University Press

Dewey, J. (1997): Experience and Education. New York: Simon & Schuster

Jegstad, Jøsok, Ryen & Sandvik (2019): Kritisk tenkning i klasserommet.

Klafki, W. (2014): Dannelsesteori og Didaktik: Nye studier. Århus, Klim

Lipman, M. (1988). Critical Thinking – What Can It Be? . Educational Leadership, 38-43. Hentet fra http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/journals/ed_lead/el_198809_lipman.pdf

Næss, A. (1975): En del elementære logiske emner. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.

Ryen, E. (2019): “Klafki’s critical-constructive Didaktiv and epistemology of Critical Thinking.” Journal of Curriculum Studies, Routledge.

Scheldrup, A. (2012): Kritisk tenkning i klasserommet – en filosofisk metode i undervisning og veiledning. Oslo: Kommuneforlaget.