Developing Greek Primary School Students’ Critical Thinking through an Approach of Teaching Science which Incorporates Aspects of History of Science

Abstract

In this paper,

Development, Administration and Confirmatory Factor Analysis of a Secondary School Test Based on the Theory of Successful Intelligence

“…This contrasts the claim of the Minsitry of Education (2010) or a notion frequently reproduced by newspapers eg (Lakasas, 2010), based on Greek students' performance in PISA (OECD, 2010) that the Greek educational system teaches memorization only and not critical thinking. It is in line, however, with other studies that have shown that critical thinking can be, and is being cultivated in Greek schools (Malamitsa, Kasoutas, & Kokkotas, 2009). Of course, the fact that Greek 14 year old children have developed some analytical thinking does not mean that it cannot be further developed.…”

Developing Greek Primary School Students’ Graph/Chart Interpretation and Reading Comprehension as Critical Thinking Skills

“…"The TER was developed out of the CCTST" (Facione, 2001, p. 14) a tool which has been used in scientific studies involving over 7900 students from 50 colleges and universities (Facione et al, 2002, p. 5). The sample of the standardization research consisted of 350 persons, including primary school students, secondary education students and undergraduate students (Malamitsa, Kasoutas, & Kokkotas, 2008, 2009a. In the present research, TER was translated into Greek and standardized.…”

“…In this way students could understand how science works, they could develop the Critical Thinking skills needed to critically analyze texts and interpret graphs and charts (vignettes, short historical extracts of scientists' biographies, historical experiments, historical photos, pictures, drawings, graphs/ charts etc.). The incorporation of History of Science could also motivate students by creating a meaningful learning environment and promote a richer understanding of socioscientific issues through different representations of ideas or data (Kokkotas, 2003;Malamitsa et al, 2009a). Thus, students are facilitated to distinguish between concepts, hypotheses and observations of nature.…”

“…A common problem with many of the contemporary science teaching projects is that they focus on the content of science rather than on the links between the pedagogy and the academic content and they often neglect science's methodology, development, history and effect on our society (Malamitsa et al, 2009a). The incorporation of aspects of History of Science in science teaching could promote Critical Thinking skills if it is mediated in a pedagogical way that treats its neglected facets.…”

“…The experimental group and the control group presented the same initial level of Critical Thinking skills since they had almost the same mean in pre-test TER scores (see also Malamitsa et al, 2009a). Experimental and control groups were taught the same concepts, the same hours, by the same teacher in their science courses.…”