Secondary School Science Teachers’ Practices for the Development of Critical Thinking Skills: An Observational Study

Abstract

In the national curriculum policy documents, to produce rationale and independent critical thinkers, different pedagogical practices have been recommended like cooperative learning, questioning, discussion, etc. This qualitative case study aimed at analyzing secondary school science teachers' practices for the development of critical thinking skills in secondary school students. There were twelve classrooms (four from each subject of Physics, Chemistry, and Biology) selected as cases. Video recording was used for the observations for six lessons in each classroom. In this way, a total of 72 observations were conducted, each lasting for approximately 35 minutes. Qualitative content analysis was used for data analysis through Nvivo 12. The findings of the observations revealed that all the teachers used the lecture method most of the time. They used this to cover the content at a given specific time. There was not much focus on the development of critical thinking. In a few classrooms, the students were engaged and active during learning different specific topics. Whiteboards were used as a visual aid by most of the teachers. Furthermore, to some extent, discussion, questioning, and daily life examples were used in different classrooms. It is recommended that teachers' professional development should be conducted to focus on the development of critical thinking skills through pedagogical practices, which have been recommended by the national education policy documents.