Naturalizing Critical Thinking: Consequences for Education, Blueprint for Future Research in Cognitive Science
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While very popular in public discourse about education, critical thinking education is still a work in progress. Two key conditions for successfully addressing critical thinking education are lacking: (a) the availability of a clear, specific, and operational definition, and (b) a deeper understanding of the natural cognitive bases of critical thinking. We, therefore, propose a theoretical framework for critical thinking education, grounded on a cognitive approach. Starting from a restrictive characterization of critical thinking—defined as the capacity of evaluating the epistemic quality of information, and of calibrating one's confidence in relationship to it—we identify specific mechanisms subserving critical thinking that are present in early human development. We refer to these mechanisms as the natural building blocks of critical thinking. On this naturalistic ground, effective educational strategies can be envisaged that both harness the natural building blocks of critical thinking and help overcome its shortcomings.
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Young children already possess cognitive functions underlying critical thinking, such as the ability to determine that information is false.
“According to Pasquinelli et al. (2021), young children already possess cognitive functions underlying critical thinking, such as the ability to determine that information is false.”
From Creativity, Critical Thinking, Communication, and Collaboration: Assessment, Certification, and Promotion of 21st Century Skills for the Future of Work and Education (2023) · cites this paper as Pasquinelli et al. 2021
Researchers, teachers, employers, and public policymakers around the world have long ranked the development of critical thinking abilities as one of the highest educational priorities and public needs in modern democratic societies.
“Researchers, teachers, employers, and public policymakers around the world have long ranked the development of critical thinking (CT) abilities as one of the highest educational priorities and public needs in modern democratic societies (Ahern et al. 2019; Dumitru et al. 2018; Pasquinelli et al. 2021).”
From Creativity, Critical Thinking, Communication, and Collaboration: Assessment, Certification, and Promotion of 21st Century Skills for the Future of Work and Education (2023) · cites this paper as Pasquinelli et al. 2021
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- Authors
- Pasquinelli, E., Farina, M., Bedel, A., & Casati, R.
- Affiliations
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Fondation La main à la pâte
- École Pratique des Hautes Études (FR)
- Corresponding author
- Pasquinelli, Elena
- Venue
- Mind Brain and Education
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2021-03-25
- Volume
- 15
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 168-176
- ISSN
- 1751-2271 (ISSN-L)
- 1751-228X
- OpenAlex
- W3146844643
- Cited by
- 29
- References
- 80
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 1
- FWCI
- 8.79
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- hal.science
- Licence
- Locations
- Mind Brain and Education (publishedVersion)
- HAL (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR‐18‐CE28‐0018)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Education and Critical Thinking Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Educational Strategies and Epistemologies
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics
- Keywords
- critical thinking, critical thinking instruction, cognitive approach, confidence calibration, early human development, theoretical framework, educational strategies
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