Teaching students how to think critically can be challenging for various reasons. One possible reason is that there is no agreement about what critical thinking amounts to, not only across disciplines but within them as well, leading scholars to describe attempts to define critical thinking as a ‘conceptual swamp’ (1984, in Davis 1995). Indeed, definitions of critical thinking range from a set of specific cognitive skills such as argumentation and judgment formation, to dispositions and inclinations to think critically, all the way to acting for bringing about a social change (Davis, 2015). Therefore, to help their students develop critical thinking skills, teachers themselves need to get clear on how they understand critical thinking within their own disciplines. This suggests that pedagogical courses helping teachers develop their methods to enhance the critical thinking skills of their students, need to include teachers’ reflections and development of their pedagogically informed conceptions of critical thinking.
In my pedagogical course “Teaching Strategies for Critical Thinking and Writing” which is designed for doctoral students in social sciences and humanities, I attempt to facilitate the future teachers’ development of their own, pedagogically informed conception of critical thinking by using a guided journal. Scholars of teaching and learning often recommend assigning a guided journal as a form of the so-called ‘exploratory writing’ that is aimed at exploring various ideas. As Bean puts it, exploratory writing is thesis–seeking rather than thesis-supporting; it helps students find ideas and explore their thoughts without necessarily leading to a specific conclusion (Bean, 2001). What is distinctive of a guided journal is that it extends the process of thinking through writing over time and it invites writers to develop a habit of continuously reflecting on their own thinking and tracking how their conceptions and ideas are changing and developing. I employ a guided journal to ask my students, and future teachers, to continuously reflect on their own conceptions of critical thinking in light of discussions we have in the classroom. I formulate guiding questions and ask students to address them by writing a new journal entry after each session of the course. The aim of the exercise is twofold. First, students are expected to develop a refined and pedagogically informed conception of critical thinking by the end of the course. Second, they are also invited to constantly reflect about their own thinking and become aware of their own metacognitive processes which in turn, can inform their teaching methods for fostering critical thinking skills.
