Tauragė Versmės Gymnasium
Presentation “Critical thinking at school?! Breaking the myth”

Critical thinking is a utopia in the classroom! “Students” and “thinkers” are incompatible words! Are we, teachers, capable of replacing such desparate claims with more optimistic ones? Definitely YES. How? By helping our students to develop as thinkers by taking them through stages of intellectual development. I will introduce a stage theory to illustrate what it takes to move from the unreflective thinker to the master thinker and how we, teachers, can improve and adjust our instruction in lessons to guide our students in their mastering critical thinking skills. I will also share my personal insights, failures and successes in cultivating thinking skills in a classroom as an International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme teacher teaching a unique course called Theory of Knowledge which offers excellent opportunities for critical thinking and which has been the breakthrough experience for me as an educator. After all, I dare to declare, critical thinking at school is not as intimidating as it may seem at first sight. Come and hear it for yourself. You might like it.