Secondary school teachers' conceptions of critical thinking in British Columbia and Japan: A comparative study

Critical thinking has received much attention among educators yet remains largely undeveloped in traditional teacher-centered classrooms. A study was conducted to: (1) obtain a sense of what secondary school teachers believe critical thinking entails; (2) compare and contrast British Columbia (BC), Canada, and Japanese secondary teachers' conceptions of critical thinking; (3) investigate the nature of BC and Japanese secondary teachers' conceptions of critical thinking with respect to gender, age, teaching experience, and subject taught; and (4) determine whether critical thinking is a significant part of BC and Japanese teaching and the curriculum at the secondary level. Over 150 teachers from BC and Japan were asked to: (1) sort through 50 potential definers denoting possible attributes of critical thinking; (2) rank the 10 most significant; and (3) answer a questionnaire about the nature of critical thinking. Quantitative data, reduced through factor analysis, yielded a 5-factor solution: Scientific Reasoning, Cognitive Strategizing, Conscientious Judgments, Relevance, and Intellectual Engagement. From a synthesis of quantitative and qualitative data from teachers surveyed as well as expert opinion, critical thinking was found to be a process in which an individual is actively engaged in analyzing, reasoning, questioning, and searching for alternatives to solve a problem or to make a decision or judgment. While over half the teachers indicated critical thinking was part of their curriculum and teaching, many were unable to articulate how to teach it effectively, and there were significant differences in their conceptions of critical thinking.