Pedagogical Beliefs about Critical Thinking among Indonesian Mathematics Pre-service Teachers

Abstract

This study aims to (1) measure pre-service teachers' pedagogical belief in the value of teaching Critical Thinking (CT), their preparedness to teach CT, and their preference toward constructivist teaching approaches to develop students' CT skills; and (2) explore the potential links between these pedagogical beliefs and aspects of teacher education experience. Participants were 223 mathematics preservice teachers from 3 teacher education institutions in East Java, Indonesia. Beliefs about the value of teaching CT and perceived readiness to teach CT were measured using Likert-type scales, while preference towards constructivist instruction was assessed using vignettes depicting teaching dilemmas. Participants believed that some CT skills (thinking independently and logical communication) were important, but CT dispositions were not. About 60% believed they are prepared to teach CT and generally preferred constructivist over traditional instruction. Most aspects of the pre-service education were not associated with pedagogical beliefs about CT disposition, perceived preparedness, or preference for constructivist instruction, while some were only weakly associated with belief about teaching CT skills. These highlight the need for mathematics teacher educators to give more emphasis on the importance of CT, especially its dispositional dimensions, and the role of constructivist instruction in developing CT.

QASEE: A Potential Learning Model to Improve the Critical Thinking Skills of Pre-service Teachers with Different Academic Abilities

“…Both of these learning models were selected because they prioritize the importance of self-preperation with the adequate prior knowledge before joining a class. This is in line with Kusaeri & Aditomo (2019) as well as Mahanal et al, (2019) saying that critical thinking skills require sufficient initial knowledge to develop. A more detailed explanation of the RQA and QASEE learning models is described as follows).…”

“…Likewise in Indonesia, some researchers report that pre-service teachers' have critical thinking dispositions (As'ari et al, 2017); and critical thinking skills are still underdeveloped (Saefi et al, 2017;Sari et al, 2019), especially in the aspect of inference (Saefi et al, 2017) and self-regulation (Nuraini, 2017). Moreover, there was a research result showing that more than 40% of pre-service teachers are unsure of their own readiness to teach critical thinking skills to their students in the future (Kusaeri & Aditomo, 2019).…”

“…This fact indicates that critical thinking skills are apparently still not fully empowered by the teacher education programs in Indonesia. The pre-service teachers who learn by using memorization-oriented learning approaches without involving high-order thinking processes are also believed to apply such learning approaches to their future students (Kusaeri & Aditomo, 2019). If not resolved immediately, this condition is believed to have an impact on the students' critical thinking skills in the future (Furness et al, 2017;Saefi et al, 2017).…”

“…The problems with critical thinking skills and the difference in pre-service teachers' academic ability can be overcome by applying constructivism-based learning (Kusaeri & Aditomo, 2019;Mahanal et al, 2019;Prayogi et al, 2019;Vong & Kaewurai, 2017;Zubaidah et al, 2018). Two constructivism-based learning models believed having potential to improve pre-service teachers' critical thinking skills are the RQA and QASEE learning models.…”

Student Readiness and Challenge in Completing Higher Order Thinking Skill Test Type for Mathematics

“…In consequence, students are not used to dealing and completing questions or problems in mathematics that require HOTs (Kusaeri, Sadieda, Indayati & Faizien, 2018;Nursyahidah & Albab, 2017). So far, most mathematics problems provided by mathematics teachers are related to the ability to apply mathematics formulas, procedures or algorithms (Dewantara, Zulkardi & Darmawijoyo, 2015;Kusaeri & Aditomo, 2019;Sembiring, Hadi & Dolk, 2008). There have not been sufficient mathematics problems that lead and motivate students to hone their analytical, evaluative and creative skills.…”