Pedagogy
     "Our present education system can do little to foster critical thought because it is rooted in a world view that sees  thinking and reading as isolated skills that can be transmitted to learners via a teacher-centered pedagogy."

        Allen R. Neilsen, Critical Thinking and Reading: Empowering Learners to Think and Act , 1989, p. 1. 
     What can teachers do to encourage critical thinking in their classrooms?
  • Shift to a more learner-centered pedagogy
  • View reading and thinking as critical attitudes or states of mind
  • Allow students to engage in projects that are interesting to them


     How do some instructors hinder critical thinking in their students?

  • Courses dominated by direct instruction (e.g. input) such as lectures, readings and multiple choice exercises
  • Belief in a transmission pedagogy where knowledge is passed from one person to another
  • Focus on instructors and texts as primary sources of knowledge (and therefore power)


     How should we view transmission pedagogy?

  • Useful in a supporting role
  • Important for beginning students
  • Critical to move beyond it for all students
  • Vital for students to create their own knowledge via a transaction pedagogy


     What is a transaction pedagogy?

  • View of knowledge as an artifact of our continuous encounters with the world
  • Belief that our perceptions are rooted in our experiences
  • Focus on learners as active participants
  • Activities that make meaning

Adapted from Neilson, A. (1989). Critical Thinking and Reading: Empowering Learners to Think and Act. ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading and Communication Skills and the National Council of Teachers of English. 


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For information contact dnaquin@nvcc.edu
last updated March 2002