Skeptical Thinking in the Classroom and its Impact - School of Arts ...

to Think Critically) My research shows that students have critical thinking skills, but
many do not apply them uniformly. Research conforms with some available researchal in
showing that the way critical thinking skills are taught in schools falls short in the three
areas of: Noncritical thinking techniques are inadvertently anti-critical, Students'
concepts have already been shaped by noncritical thinking, and Students need to learn to
think in terms of central concepts across the curriculum. (Nosich,Gerald M. “Problems
with Two Standard Models for Teaching Critical Thinking”) My research reinforces Mr.
Nosica’s research in that students’ concepts had already been formed by non-critical
thinking. My research activities have shown me those students with very good critical
thinking skill in answering questions in class will not always apply those skills when it
comes to a real life decision like the validity of a superstition.
The activities that were used in my research indicate a general correlation between
science students with a positive attitude towards science and the transference of critical
thinking skills to real life situations, but that correlation breaks down as their attitude
towards science falls. That general correlation also breaks down when individual
students are examined. From activity to activity each individual student different varying
degrees of transference occurs creating a weaker than desirable correlation. Even where
the strongest correlation exists there are some stark differences in logical thought when
different activities are compared. This comparison of the responses of differing activities
between different students reveals the complexity of the problem of critical thinking
skills in schools. It shows that students can adapt their skills in getting correct answers in
school, but do not necessarily incorporate critical thinking skills to their lives. A question
that arises from this observation is: Do the students really learn critical thinking skills or
do they learn how to give the teacher an acceptable answer to get a passing grade? This
is most evident when one of the highest achieving students with an average scientific
attitude has no real critical thinking compass to guide them, such as student 5. The
student has learned how to answer higher order questions in my science class with well
reasoned logical answers, but abandons all of those skills when a grade is not involved or
their personal opinion is involved. This was a student that I expected to be near the top
of the class for skeptical thinking based on the class work to date, but is one of the lowest
skeptical thinkers in the class from the activities contained in this study. My assessment
for class assignments show a much different student in regards to critical thinking. On
the other hand student 5a shows little initiative in class and gives short or incomplete
answers to higher order questions in class, but scored the highest when it came to the
activities presented in this study. I have shown two of the starkest differences as
examples, but many students show that same kind of abandonment of critical thinking
when it comes to specific situations, and some students seem to have a good critical
thinking skills when school assessments do not show it. These findings are preliminary,
and need to be improved. Further tests are required to firmly establish my conclusions.
My findings also reveal that the lack of skeptical thinking is not necessarily a school
instituted problem, but something a student brings to school from their experience with
their family, friends, media, and religion. Many of which has a strong hold on the way a
students approaches problems and the rewards (intrinsic and extrinsic) they get from a
particular solution to a particular problem. These influences, although diverse, can
possibly be mitigated or eliminated by a more effective critical thinking curriculum that
stresses logical thinking, coupled with a strong scientific understanding of nature.