1. Introduction
There are two types of thinking, one is critical thinking (CT) and the
other is creative thinking (Lohani: 1998). Creative thinking is the process
which we use when we come up with a new idea. Creativity is the bringing
into being of something which did not exist before, either as a product, a
process or a thought.
Critical thinking means correct thinking in the pursuit of relevant
and reliable knowledge about the world. Critical thinking means making
reasoned judgments. It refers to process methodologies that employ
reasons; insight awareness, imagination and sensibility in order to criticize
and evaluate a text or what so ever. In another word, critical thinking
means to describe it as reasonable, reflective, responsible and skillful
thinking that is focused on deciding what to believe or do. A person who
thinks critically can ask appropriate questions, gather relevant
information, efficiently and creatively sort through this information,
Miss Bajracharya is an Associate Professor of Mathematics Education, Mahendra Ratna
Campus, Tahachal, Kathmandu. She holds Ph.D. from Tribhuvan University. .
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For teaching and learning, there are many strategies that have been
used in critical thinking. Among different strategies, we need to select
appropriate strategy of instruction according to the subject, content and
topic of instruction. In fact, The determining factor in selecting strategies
are number of students, level of students, Individual differences,
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Building knowledge
Consolidation
Anticipation
Each lesson begins with a phase of anticipation, in which students
are directed to think and ask questions about the topic they are about to
study. The anticipation phase serves to call up the knowledge that
students already have. It informally assess what they already know
including misconceptions, sets purposes of learning, focuss attention on
the topic, and provides a context for understanding new ideas.
Building Knowledge Phase
In this phase, teaching leads students to inquire, find out , make
sense of the material, answer their prior questions, and find new
questions and answer. This phase serves to compare expectations with
what is being learnt, revise expectations or raise new ones, identify the
main points, monitor personal thinking, make inferences about the
material, make personal connections to the lesson, question the lesson.
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Consolidation Phase
questions. So, the purpose of this paper is to find out influencing factors of
CT strategies in class room teaching specially in mathematics.
4. Study Procedure
This study is based on critical thinking pre-service teachers’
training. There were 32 participants in critical thinking pre-service
teachers training program. Among 32 participants, five participants were
selected for interview in this study. Among the five, four participants were
campus teachers who have been teaching different subjects in campuses
and the remaining participant is the employee of District Education Office.
All the participants worked on three session plans based on CT strategies
and practiced them in the class room teaching. For the purpose of data
collection, interview form was administered, which consists of the
following structured questions regarding critical thinking –
1. Experience of CT strategies used in class room teaching,
2. Factors influencing CT strategies in class room teaching, and
3. Implementation in CT strategies in classroom teaching.
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