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TOJET: The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology – January 2020, volume 19 issue 1Teach CT in specific coursesCT skills can be taught in a specific course that focuses on CT theories, skills, and practices. Supporters ofteaching CT as a specific set of skills suggest that it should be taught as a dedicated programme that aims toimpart to students the CT theoretical framework, concepts, and skills. For example, Gelder (2005) claimed thatpromoting students’ CT begins by teaching them the basic elements. Students must understand the theory of CT,the related vocabulary, and specific skills. Williams and Worth (2001) investigated the difference in theeffectiveness of teaching CT skills in specific courses compared with incorporating CT skills into generalcourses that were not related directly to teach CT skills. They found that whereas the former offered somepromise in promoting CT, the latter produced only marginal improvements in CT.The results of several studies support the idea that the best method to enhance CT is to teach its theoreticalbackground. For example, Alwehaibi (2012) investigated the effects of a dedicated CT programme during a fiveweek intervention with 40 female undergraduate students in the English Department at Princess Noura BintAbdulrahman University in Saudi Arabia. She found that the CT programme had a significantly positive effecton the students’ CT skills. This result was consistent with the findings of Bensley, Crowe, Bernhardt, Buckner,and Allman (2010) pertaining to 47 psychology students who were tested at a small, mid-Atlantic publicuniversity. In their study, they compared the CT skills of the 47 students after dividing them into two groups.The first group received instruction in CT skills during their course (they studied a methodological course onstatistics that was supplemented with a CT textbook). The second group received instruction on learningstatistics, research design and methodology, as well as on how to write an American Psychological Association(APA)-style research report, but they did not receive explicit instructions in CT skills. The group that receivedinstruction in CT skills demonstrated a significantly greater increase in their argument analysis skills comparedwith the other group. These results support the researchers’ views that CT skills should be taught similar to anyother cognitive skill, explicitly rather than as a separate course.Kuek (2010) also supported teaching CT skills through dedicated courses. He experimented with a 12-weekintervention for two groups of university students in Sudan. The first group was taught reasoning and CT skillsto enhance their argumentative writing abilities. The other group studied the same course (reasoning), butwithout the dedicated CT theory and skills component. He found significant differences between both groups. Inthe first group, students’ CT, reasoning, and argumentative writing skills improved radically after theintervention. Moreover, students’ attitudes towards thinking skills improved.Although existing studies provide evidence indicating the effectiveness of formally teaching CT, this strategymight not be appropriate for all educational systems. For instance, in Saudi Arabia, all university programmes donot offer CT components, because of which some students graduate without being provided an opportunity tostudy CT; such students may lack CT skills as a consequence. Dedicated courses also rely heavily on theteachers themselves and their experiences (Alwehaibi 2012), which affects the final output and the extent towhich the aims of individual courses are achieved.Coach CT in general coursesUnlike the previous approach, Hatcher (2006) claimed that CT skills must be a main part of any course and thatstudents should practise these skills in depth. In his study, he argued that an integrated approach to teaching CTwould achieve significantly better outcomes than teaching CT as a stand-alone course. Moreover, he stated thatone of the beneficial consequences of this approach is that it becomes possible for teachers from a variety ofdisciplines to provide the needed instruction in CT skills as part of their normally taught courses, instead ofrelying on select teachers to teach the skills in stand-alone courses.Supporters of including coaching CT skills as part of each course believe that it is a mistake to concentrate ontheory instead of practice. Perkins and Salomon (1989) claimed that the mistakes teachers usually make stemfrom their belief that skills follow naturally as a consequence of knowing the theory. Gelder (2005) argued thatlearning about CT is not adequate; it is not adequate to teach students a course on CT theory and assume thatsuch students will turn out to be better critical thinkers. Students need to practise these skills in differentcontexts.Halpern (1999) noted that after 25 years of work on CT theory and pedagogy, teaching students a set of thinkingskills did not appear to be sufficient for them to master CT skills. Students should have the opportunity topractise CT skills in different contexts and in different situations in order to gain a more comprehensiveunderstanding of the theory and application. Kuhn (1999) argued that if teachers want their students to masterthese skills, they should help them learn how to apply the knowledge and theories in different situations. Thissuggests that CT skills should be a goal for each course.Copyright The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology24

TOJET: The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology – January 2020, volume 19 issue 1Hager, Sleet, Logan, and Hooper (2003) provided an example of how to coach undergraduate students CT skillsthrough science courses. They designed and evaluated tasks related to applications of chemistry and physics ineveryday life with the goal of fostering CT skills in first-year students at an Australian university. Students wererequired to complete tasks in co-operative groups and to interact in these groups in ways that would fosteringsome CT skills such as analysing arguments, asking and answering questions for clarification, defining terms,and judging the credibility of a source. Evidence obtained from students’ discussion platforms, questionnaires,and teachers’ observations indicated that many students considered that their thinking skills, and particularlysome CT skills, were enhanced by the experience of attempting the tasks in small co-operative groups.MacKnight (2000) argued that teachers could engage their students in a wide range of activities in order tocontribute to intellectual growth generally, and CT specifically. He confirmed that CT affected all forms ofcommunication – speaking, listening, reading, and writing – and could therefore be practised daily in everyinteraction. It should not be considered a separate activity from problem solving, creativity, inquiry, orcollaborative learning.Paul and Elder (2006) argued that all courses should be designed to help students think within a discipline, andthat the only way to learn any discipline is to learn to think critically within that discipline. They indicated thatstudents need to see that there is an ordered and predictable set of relationships for all subjects and disciplines.Every subject generates purposes, raises questions, uses information and concepts, makes inferences andassumptions, generates implications, and embodies a point of view.Duron, Limbach, and Waugh (2006) claimed that all disciplines need to design and manage courses in a mannerthat ensures that students effectively move toward CT. They suggested a five-step framework based on existingtheory and best practices in cognitive development, effective learning environments, and outcomes-basedassessments. They argued that this model could be implemented in any course and will encourage students toengage in CT. This model consists of the following steps: 1. determine learning objectives; 2. teach throughquestioning; 3. practise before you assess; 4. review, refine, and improve; and 5. provide feedback and assesslearning. Thus, implementing CT through this framework clearly requires a commitment to active, studentcentred learning. Furthermore, teachers should provide thoughtful consideration to current instructional methodsand the personal beliefs that drive them prior to contemplating this particular approach to teaching.Halpern (1997) suggested a model consisting of four components to guide teaching and learning for CT: 1. adispositional component to prepare learners for effortful cognitive work; 2. instruction in CT skills; 3. training inthe structural aspects of problems and arguments to promote trans-contextual transfers of CT skills; and 4. ametacognitive component that includes checking for accuracy and monitoring progress towards the goal.Previous models indicated that teachers from any context could modulate their context on these models in orderto enhance students’ CT.Summarising, the methods used to teach CT skills aimed to teach specific courses about CT theory and skills, oralternatively, to coach students on CT skills as part of any course by providing students with different learningactivities or teaching strategies aimed at promoting students’ CT skills. Every approach has its own strengths andweaknesses. For example, the first option focuses on the importance of learning the theory before practice but islimited to some courses and subjects. On the other hand, coaching students on CT skills in every course theystudy ensures that students graduate with at least a minimum amount of CT skills. However, this approachrequires special skills from teachers and a stimulating environment.Second Debate: Which CT Skills Should be Taught?Although there is consensus that CT is a human cognitive process that enables one to use a specific set ofcognitive skills, significant controversy surrounds the skills that should be taught to develop such thinking(Alwehaibi 2012). Because of the multiple definitions of CT, researchers/teachers disagree about the skills thatmake a person a critical thinker. This section presents some taxonomies on CT skills.Many authors have attempted to determine and classify the most important CT skills. Taylor (2002, p.12), forexample, described CT skills as ‘the ability to clearly communicate one’s reasons for one’s judgments’.Furthermore, he posited that critical thinkers usually commit to their own position and simultaneously have theability to change their position if they face convincing evidence otherwise.Giancarlo and Facione (2001) stated that CT has conceptual connections with reflective judgement, problemframing, higher-order thinking, logical thinking, decision making, problem solving, and use of the scientificmethod. Moreover, Swartz and Parks (1994) listed thinking capably and carefully about causal explanations,predictions, generalizations, reasoning, and the reliability of sources as major CT skills.Copyright The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology25

TOJET: The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology – January 2020, volume 19 issue 1Paul and Elder (2006) assumed that CT is the ability to read, write, speak, and listen effectively. It enablespeople to impart meaning to events and patterns of events, as well as to assess the reasoning of others. They statethat if students want be critical thinkers, they should be able to master systems, become more self-insightful,analyse and assess ideas more effectively, and achieve more control over their learning, their values, and theirlives. In other words, CT is a broad set of skills and characteristics that sustain and define lifelong learning.Teaching CT skills and coaching them requires a careful review of the underlying theory and related taxonomies.The literature on CT provides several taxonomies of CT skills. For example, Kuhn (1999) categorised CT skillsas metacognitive, meta-strategic, and epistemological. Metacognitive skills refer to people in control of theirown beliefs in the sense of exercising conscious control over their evolution in the face of external influences.They know what they think and can justify why. Their skills in the conscious coordination of theory andevidence also places them in a position to evaluate the assertions of others.As Kuhn (1999) stated, people who have developed strong meta-strategic skills apply consistent standards ofevaluation across time and situations. They do not succumb to a view of a favoured assertion as more probablethan its alternatives because of its favoured status, and therefore, subject it to different standards of evaluation.They also resist the offer of local interpretation.Finally, according to Kuhn (1999), epistemological understanding is the most fundamental underpinning of CT,as it helps people see the point of thinking in order to engage in it. If knowledge is entirely objective,unconnected to the human minds that do this knowing, or alternatively, if knowledge is entirely subjective to thetastes and wishes of the knower, then critical thinking and judgement are superfluous.Another taxonomy is Dick’s taxonomy (1991). Dick reviewed research in the area of CT for the last 40 years andindicated that CT consisted of identifying and analysing arguments, of considering external influences onarguing, of scientific analytic reasoning, and of logical reasoning. Dick (1991) suggested the followingtaxonomy for CT:1- Identify arguments: This includes themes, conclusion, reasons, and organization.2- Analyse arguments: This includes assumptions, vagueness, and omissions.3- Consider external influences: This includes value, authority, and emotional language.4- Scientific analytic reasoning: This includes causality and statistical reasoning.5- Reasoning and logic: this includes analogy, deduction, and induction.In addition, Halpern (1997) proposed a taxonomy of CT skills as a guide for instruction, which consists of thefive main skills listed below:(a) Verbal reasoning skills: This category includes those skills needed to comprehend and defendagainst the persuasive techniques that are embedded in everyday language.(b) Argument analysis skills: An argument is a set of statements with at least one conclusion and onereason that supports the conclusion.(c) Skills in thinking as hypothesis testing: The rationale for this category is that people functionsimilar to intuitive scientists who explain, predict, and control events.(d) Likelihood and uncertainty: Because very few events in life can be known with certainty, the correctuse of cumulative, exclusive, and contingent probabilities should play a critical role in almost everydecision.(e) Decision-making and problem-solving skills: In some sense, all CT skills are used to make decisionsand solve problems, but the ones that are included here involve generating and selecting alternativesand judging among them. Creative thinking is subsumed under this category because of its importancein generating alternatives and restating problems and goals (p. 452).Alwehaibi (2012) focused on the development of five particular skills: causal explanations, determining thereliability of sources, arguments, predictions, and determining part-whole relationships. She asserted that thisselection is based on their suitability in terms of the academic level of the students she studied and theimportance of CT skills for students’ learning and daily lives.The consensus reached by the researchers and teachers, who participated in the American PhilosophicalAssociation’s Delphi project on the definition of CT, is that the characteristics of a critical thinker include traitssuch as being inquisitive, fair-minded, flexible, diligent, and focused on enquiry (Facione 1990). In Facione’staxonomy (1990, p.12), CT is composed of six main skills, each containing sub-skills, as indicated below:1. InterpretationCopyright The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology26

TOJET: The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology – January 2020, volume 19 issue 12.3.4.5.6. Categorisation Decoding significance Clarifying meaningAnalysis Examining ideas Identifying arguments Analysing argumentsEvaluation Assessing claims Assessing argumentsInference Querying evidence. Conjecturing alternatives Drawing conclusionsExplanation Stating results Justifying procedures Presenting argumentsSelf-regulation Self-examination Self-correctionFacione (1990) asserts that CT is focused self-judgement that results in interpretation, analysis, evaluation, andinference, as well as an explanation of the evidential, conceptual, methodological, or contextual thoughts uponwhich such judgement is based.Third Debate: How Should CT skills be Taught and Assessed?The review of literature indicates general agreement that CT includes a range of mental processes and skills suchas interpretation, analysis, evaluation, inference, explanation, and self-regulation. Nevertheless, it is importantfor the teacher to decide how to teach and assess these skills. In fact, using strategies to teach and measure theimprovement of CT skills is extremely complex and diverse.Strategies to teach CT skillsGiven the different taxonomies of CT skills, the appropriate strategies for teaching CT skills remain to beidentified. Different studies have discussed the effectiveness of using specific strategies to enhance CT skills,such as class discussions, problem-based learning, collaborative learning, discussion methods, questioningtechniques, and evidence-based projects (Kuhn 1999).In order to teach CT skills and enable students to master them, teachers should choose a strategy that encouragesstudents to understand and apply such skills. Lawrence et al. (2008) examined teachers and students’ views todetermine activities from which CT skills best emerged. They found that both teachers and students thought thatcritiquing journal articles, engaging in debates, writing research papers, evaluating case studies, and discussingquestions helped them practise CT skills. This can be accomplished by teachers asking students to critique ajournal article in a way that teaches them CT skills, such as asking them to look at multiple perspectives,question those perspectives, observe if they have sufficient evidence/research to back up their claims, and/orassess if the author of the journal is biased (e.g. is the article written in a way that favours only one side).Questioning techniques, in addition, play an important role in inducing students' higher-level thinking skills,such as self-reflection, revision, and social debate, all of which are essential for CT. Socratic questioning is oneof the most popular and powerful teaching approaches that can be used to guide students in generating thoughtfulquestions, thereby fostering their CT skills (Yang, Newby, & Bill 2005). Yang et al. (2005) investigated theeffects of using Socratic questioning to enhance students’ CT skills in an asynchronous discussion. Theyconducted the experiment for 2 consecutive 16-week semesters with 16 veterinary undergraduate students at aMidwestern university in the United States.The results of their study indicated that, with appropriate course design and instructional inter

KEYWORDS: Critical thinking skills, teaching critical thinking, assisting critical thinking, technology to promote critical thinking. INTRODUCTION Although the importance of Critical Thinking (CT) skills in the learning process is agreed upon, there i