According to Matthew Lipman, one of the founders of the Philosophy for Children (P4C) programme, critical thinking improves reasonableness and the exercise of good judgement, both of which Lipman takes to be necessary to sustaining a democratic society. Against his view, I argue that although critical thinking can be done well or badly, it does…

This paper addresses a call for teachers to promote students' knowledge of criteria and standards within curriculum domains for self-monitoring and improvement purposes. We present the case for students to develop, as part of their learning in content areas, the evaluative knowledge and expertise of the type that teachers bring to the classroom.…

Epistemic understanding of science is essential for critical evaluation of scientific claims. In principle, developing students' epistemic understanding would enhance students' capability in evaluating scientific claims. However, findings on this "expected" connection have been inconclusive. This paper seeks to examine this discrepancy…

Competencies for designing and evaluating scientific inquiries are a key emphasis in national curriculums worldwide and a focus of international large-scale assessment. Teachers globally are encouraged to provide learning opportunities for their students to explore and practice asking and conducting researchable questions. This study focused on…

Purpose: This paper aims to demonstrate how teaching the discourse of critique, an integral part of the video production process, can be used to eliminate barriers for young people in gaining new media literacy skills helping more young people become producers rather than consumers of digital media. Design/methodology/approach: This paper…

Students need to apply evaluation strategies to find relevant and trustworthy information when completing open-inquiry tasks on the Internet. One such strategy, sourcing, implies attention to information about the sources of documents. This multiple-case study investigates how three small groups of secondary school students solved an open-inquiry…

The complex environmental challenges humanity faces require citizens who are scientifically and environmentally literate. Many environmental education programs are situated in the field where students are immersed in their learning. These field-based activities are engaging but may lack opportunities for students to develop critical thinking and…

There are certain threats embedded in scientific development that confront society. Gaining practical and instrumental experiences in addressing topics related to the major challenges that confront society today can be possible by tapping the socio-scientific issues as a part of science teaching and learning. This research aimed to explore…