Graduate Research Papers
Availability
Open Access Graduate Research Paper
Keywords
Critical thinking--Study and teaching;
Abstract
The term "critical thinking" has recently been used in the Ethiopian educational policy documents as well as in its teacher education curricula. Even though the concept has been given a central importance by being the central goal of education at all levels, a well established understanding and practice of nurturing critical thinking at school level, as well as at teacher education and training curriculum has not been achieved yet. From the personal experience both as pre-service teacher and then as teacher educator in Bahir Dar university, one of the teacher education institutions in the country, I have observed, especially during pre-service teachers' practical training, that the very lack of scientific understanding about what critical thinking refers to and the misconceptions associated with it play great role in how they ineffectively grasp the how of organizing learning experiences, prepare lesson plans and execute them.
This study is designed to investigate what pre-service teachers as well as teacher educators in the Department of Pedagogical Sciences believe critical thinking is. One hypothesis investigated in the proposed study is that critical thinking is related to epistemological beliefs. Therefore, participants' epistemological beliefs will be measured by Schraw, Bendixen, and Dunkle's (2004) "Epistemological Belief Inventory" (EBI) and analyzed in relation to their beliefs about critical thinking. Emphasis will also be given in assessing the difference among the different levels of pre-service teachers and their instructors to see if there are any similarities and differences with respect to both the idea of critical thinking and the what and how of knowledge.
Year of Submission
2008
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Department of Educational Psychology and Foundations
First Advisor
Elana Joram
Date Original
2008
Object Description
1 PDF file (ii, 74 pages)
Copyright
©2008 Meskerem Debele
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Debele, Meskerem, "The relationship of preservice teachers' and faculty members' perceptions of critical thinking and their epistemological beliefs" (2008). Graduate Research Papers. 397.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/grp/397
Comments
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