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Prioritize development of critical thinking

Published : Friday, 5 July, 2024 at 12:00 AM  Count : 361
Alaul Alam
Critical thinking has become a vital soft skill in the highly competitive global market. Education equips individuals with necessary knowledge while critical thinking enables them to unlock the power of knowledge. However, many people think pertinent to raise the question; what is the true purpose of education? Is it all about the confinement of a learner to absorbing facts and theories in a passive manner?

Certainly, the purpose of education remains incomplete when it hardly helps us to differentiate between right and wrong. Education cannot be confined to merely transferring knowledge, rather to be with the development of cognitive abilities of the learners. It should enable learners to equip with critical thinking skills which contribute to enlightening ones soul and mind harmoniously.

However, critical thinking skills refer to ones ability to interpret, evaluate and analyze facts and information required to reach a judgement or decision whether it is right or wrong. One may be rational when they deserve critical thinking skills.

Critical thinking is a recent educational paradigm supposed not only to empowering learners but also to facilitating creative and qualitative teaching-learning process. It resonates learners unlocking their latent talents and skills. Besides, in the ever-evolving landscape of education it discourages rote learning but encourages students to ask questions, analyze information and connects concepts across disciplines.

Critical thinking paradigm is closely associated with Blooms taxonomy introduced by Benjamin Bloom and his colleagues. This taxonomy helps students provoke thoughts to analyze information and knowledge critically starting with knowledge and slowly pausing students to seek more information with a series of levels of questions and keywords bringing out an action on the part of the students. In developing and evaluating critical thinking skills Blooms taxonomy takes the lead.

Blooms taxonomy spans from lower-order thinking skills, such as remembering and understanding, to higher-order cognitive skills e.g. analyzing, evaluating, and creating which serve as a valuable tool for assessing the depth and complexity of critical thinking skills integrated into educational activities. Teachers have ample scopes to incorporate Blooms taxonomy into instructional practices and promote the development of critical thinking skills and encourage students to engage in higher-order thinking processes.

Universities are considered fertile grounds to foster students critical thinking skills. They are seen to take the lead working as the guiding force to develop cognitive abilities of the learners along with subject-specific expertise. In the era of rapid technological advancements, the cultivation of critical skills is crucial in shaping not only the academic prowess but also professional aptitude.

However, the learning which cannotprovoke thoughts and hardly focuses on addressing challenges and enhancing life skills can be desirable in no way.

Studies show that critical thinking skills enable students to turn their experience into learning. Robert Fisher, a leading expert in developing childrens thinking skills wrote enormously on teaching thinking. According to him, the focus should be on knowing how, rather than knowing what. Critical thinking not only contributes to personal development but also to social and economic development. It helps students develop the ability of thinking and acting creatively and meet challenges positively and effectively.

As a university teacher I think, unless education engages teachers and students in an active collaboration, it never contributes to students critical thinking skills. In our context debates are ongoing regarding how far our graduates are equipped with critical thinking skills. How far we claim that we are producing quality graduates when we see, in most cases they struggle to address the challenges in their real-life context and are hardly capable of applying their acquired knowledge in different circumstances.

Even in the age of digitalization many teachers adhere to traditional teaching approaches which encourage teacher-centered teaching and learning. However, teacher-centric education is not aligned with the principles of active learning where students hardly see scopes to be engaged in classroom activities, which hinder the motivation of students in raising questions and seeking answers that are ultimately required to enhancive their critical thinking skills.

Again, is there any scope of faculty members to confine their responsibilities only in teaching and completing their assigned tasks? But many teachers are found indifferent to enhancing students soft skills except completing their assigned responsibilities. Obviously, lecture-based teaching with no classroom interactions cannot help students be critical thinkers.

Studies have revealed that critical thinking is crucial to enhance the quality of higher education. The teachers who lack trainings and motivation hardly find scopes to promote critical thinking in their classes. Unless teachers are proactive and facilitate students by adopting innovative strategies and teaching approaches, students find no way to foster their critical thinking abilities.

It is evident that traditional pedagogical and assessment practices hamper in fostering critical thinking among the learners. When education fails to enhance creative thinking abilities of students, personal, societal as well as national expectations are hampered significantly. The sensible and rational attitudes can never be observed in the society and the country when the generations are devoid of critical thinking skills, chasing for personal interests losing judgmental attitudes.

However, the teachers role is enormous to ensure active teaching and learning in their classes. In the age of AI incorporating technology finds no alternative to developing critical thinking skills of students. Studies recommend that it is imperative to go through assessments in higher education, which must be aligned with critical thinking development.

Last of all, let us cultivate a culture in higher education in which critical thinking skills are valued and rewarded. In all cases, the role of universities should be at the heart in formulating policies and supporting critical thinking initiatives across disciplines to enhance critical thinking skills among students as they are crucial in navigating the complexities of the modern world.

The writer teaches at Prime University and a research scholar at the IBS



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