Teaching Critical Thinking: Some Lessons From Cognitive Science
Abstract
This article draws six key lessons from cognitive science for teachers of critical thinking. The lessons are: acquiring expertise in critical thinking is hard; practice in critical-thinking skills themselves enhances skills; the transfer of skills must be practiced; some theoretical knowledge is required; diagramming arguments (“argument mapping”) promotes skill; and students are prone to belief preservation. The article provides some guidelines for teaching practice in light of these lessons.
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Critical thinking does not come naturally to anyone, regardless of background.
“Arguably, critical thinking does not come naturally to anyone, regardless of background. As van Gelder (2005) points out, 'critical thinking is hard . . . and most people are just not very good at it' (p. 42).”
From ‘Why is this hard, to have critical thinking?’ Exploring the factors affecting critical thinking with international higher education students (2024) · cites this paper as van Gelder, 2005
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References 26 · Cited by 527
- Authors
- Gelder, T. V.
- Affiliations
- The University of Melbourne (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Gelder, Tim van
- ORCID
- Gelder, Tim van
- Venue
- College Teaching
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2005-01
- Volume
- 53
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 41-48
- ISSN
- 1930-8299 (ISSN-L)
- 8756-7555
- OpenAlex
- W1989103574
- Cited by
- 527
- References
- 26
- Citations by year
- 2026: 15 · 2025: 21 · 2024: 26 · 2023: 37 · 2022: 44 · 2021: 34 · 2020: 37 · 2019: 34 · 2018: 32 · 2017: 23 · 2016: 25 · 2015: 27 · 2014: 40 · 2013: 23 · 2012: 10
- FWCI
- 59.02
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- College Teaching (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Education and Critical Thinking Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Educational Strategies and Epistemologies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Innovative Teaching and Learning Methods
- Keywords
- critical thinking, cognitive science, critical thinking instruction, expertise acquisition, practice, transfer of learning, theoretical knowledge, argument mapping, teaching practice
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