Teaching Critical Thinking in Psychology: A Handbook of Best Practices

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Critical Thinking in Critical Courses


showcase critical thinking abilities first acquired and later fine-tuned in lessons from


prior classes. The instructor, critically informed about critical thinking, scaffolds the


entire project, but then stands back to await (and hopefully applaud) the final products


of everyone’s hard work.


Conclusions

We presented a framework for how critical thinking can be taught across the psychology


curriculum. We have argued, perhaps implicitly, that teachers of critical thinking must


first be taught to be critical thinkers themselves. Furthermore, they should be taught how


to teach the subject. To assist in this latter endeavor, we have provided the Critical Thinking


Pedagogical Framework as a potential guide for structuring instruction in critical think-


ing. Finally, we illustrated how critical thinking instruction might progress from lower


level to higher-level critical core courses across the psychology curriculum. We argue that


critical thinking is an essential mediator between what teachers do in the classroom and


true academic achievement on the part of students. Thus seeing the connection between


instructional methodologies and critical thinking competencies should be of paramount


importance for teachers.


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