Critical thinking and socratic inquiry in the classroom

Abstract

Critical thinking is widely regarded as a generalized skill or ability (or a set of such skills and abilities) to be utilized across a variety of situations and circumstances. The definitions of critical thinking vary from Ennis' comprehensive list of proficiencies of a critical thinker, to Paul's "strong-sense" critical thinking, focusing on self-deception, world views and a dialectical mode of analysis, and to Lipman's critical thinking being extremely deliberative with continual examining and weighing of alternatives in the light of explicit standards and criteria. The paper focuses on different models of critical thinking in the classroom: Paul's Socratic Questioning model, Adler's Paedeia Socratic Seminar programme, Van Tassel-Baska's Epistemological Concept model and Lipman's Philosophy for Children programme. The role of teachers in these models and how teachers can bring about inquiry in the classroom are discussed.