Critical Thinking and Learning

Examines the different perspectives in the field of critical thinking and learning Provides insights into critical thinking by posing new questions from contributing authors Introduces cross-cultural viewpoints into the dominant 'western'-based educational viewpoint Highlights differences among a variety of thinkers in the field. Reflective judgment plays an important role in today's complex world. It follows that the goals of 'critical thinking' and 'life-long' learning would appear with such frequency in the rhetoric of educational reform in many global societies. But what are the discourses that produced such lofty educational aims? And what societal, cultural, and educational issues arose from those discourses? Today's teachers are routinely expected to employ classroom strategies that encourage students to think critically and ask critical questions. But what do these concepts really mean? By inviting critical consideration of these timely issues, Critical Thinking and Learning challenges some of the basic underpinnings of our notions of thinking critically. We see how many of the dominant concepts in educational reform are informed by 'western' values – and what happens when they are observed from a variety of historical and cultural perspectives. Contributing scholars pose some fascinating new questions that have arisen from current debates in the field: Does rationality transcend particular cultures? Are there different kinds of thinking, different styles of reasoning – especially between 'East/West' cultures? What is the relationship between critical thinking and learning? And how does the moral domain overlap with some of these pedagogical issues? Illuminating and reflective, Critical Thinking and Learning will challenge some of the prevailing viewpoints of our educational systems and provide valuable new insights into the ways we think and learn. By introducing current debates in the field of critical thinking and posing new questions from contributing scholars, Critical Thinking and Learning examines the received wisdom in the field of critical thinking and learning. Examines the different perspectives in the field of critical thinking and learning Provides insights into critical thinking by posing new questions from contributing authors Introduces cross-cultural viewpoints into the dominant 'western'-based educational viewpoint Highlights differences among a variety of thinkers in the field

The editors of this book employ social, cognitive, linguistic, and political theoretical innovations to develop a new conception of critical thinking. They examine how such a construct might be taught in a variety of social settings and disciplines. Using a host of previously neglected perspectives-sociocognition, issues of political economy, complexity theory, and critical theoretical notions of epistemology and power theory-the editors and authors present a conceptually sophisticated yet accessible compendium on critical thinking. The introduction guides readers through the reconceptualization process. Specific entries focus on particular dimensions of the challenges to old-style critical thinking. In this context, readers can choose entries that discuss various means of engaging students in the critical complex perspective of critical thinking. The encyclopedia is aware of both theoretical concerns and the everyday realities of schooling in the 21st century. As such, it rounded in a respectful view of teachers that assumes they are capable of levels of expertise unacknowledged by many contemporary articulations of school reform. The educational, cognitive, and professional vision developed in the encyclopedia offers a profound alternative to the top-down impositional models now sweeping the nation's school districts.