Enhancing critical thinking and metacognitive skills of student teachers through an intervention programme

Abstract

Teacher education needs to prepare educators who are reflective, inquiring educators and upholders of societal values. Cultivation of these skills in student teachers is central to their development as professionals. To facilitate the development of critical and metacognitive thinkers, it is necessary to understand the nature of critical and metacognitive thought and to examine the effects on individuals preparedness for applying those processes in different situations. Future teachers could influence the critical thinking and metacognitive skills of an entire generation of students by providing learning environments which help foster individual growth in all the domains and help establish spaces for cooperation and respect. It is unlikely that future teachers will promote students critical thinking and metacognitive skills unless they themselves become skilled in the practices. newlineThis research assumes that critical thinking and metacognitive skills can be learnt through explicit instruction, and they support each other. Critical thinking and metacognition require deliberate effort on the part of the learner and that student teachers will put in the required effort during instruction and engage in discussions. Strategies used in the classroom will facilitate the development of these skills and are necessary for student teachers to enable them to supervise their own thought processes and create learning environments conducive of transformation in thinking for their future students. newlineThis study was conducted in two phases. For phase 1, descriptive method is used to note the type of questions asked by the student teachers during their practice teaching lessons and classified based on critical and metacognitive questions asked. In the second phase, experimental method was applied in which 35 student teachers from an English medium B.Ed. college in Mumbai took part in an intervention programme to enhance critical thinking and metacognitive skills. Critical thinking skills were operationalized...