Teaching Critical Thinking to Teenagers

“There is a pressing need for educators, researchers, parents, students and policy makers to understand Critical Thinking and why developing it is an urgent priority. This very timely book expertly addresses this need. It is comprehensive, providing a history of our understanding, as well as evidence from neuro, psychological and educational sciences. What is impressive is how the complexity of developing the cognitive and social and emotional skills in classrooms is explained, overcoming risks such as low expectations, and the role of rich dialogue. It is a major contribution.”

Professor Stuart McNaughton, University of Auckland, New Zealand

“This book presents itself as a guide for all educators, teachers and parents, to empower teenagers mastering critical thinking. It draws on experiments carried out with teenagers and on advances in research, particularly in cognitive science, as well as on seminal texts, including critical theories, promoting an interdisciplinary approach of critical thinking.

As Maree Davies says, when critical thinking was introduced into the education system, broader contextual factors of critical thinking, such as moral beliefs, personal experiences or thoughts on democracy, had been lost because of educational policies and research which always focused on evaluating the results of learning. If critical thinking has thus been reduced to the ability to reason logically, easier to measure, Maree Davies promotes a broader framework, the street smarts model, taking in account not only logic and reasoning, biases and metacognitive thinking, but also moral and ethical reasoning and understanding how society works, including politics and power.

This model recognizes that learning is emotional, the need to value and respect teenagers cultural background, stories and experiences, what she calls “respect for self”. With the understanding of the mechanisms of inequity in society - “respect for difference” - the ability to form strong arguments – “respect for reason” – and the “respect for change”, they form the four cornerstones of the model.

It also values the importance of dialogue, not mainly between educators and teenagers, but between peers, considering teenagers aren’t empty vases that need to be filled, breaking with the deficit model which often shapes the attempts to educate critical thinking.

This street smarts model is highly stimulating for educators to whom it gives tools, advice and methods to enhance critical thinking among teenagers and to become aware of their own prejudices and biases. For researchers, it represents an interesting model which contrasts with critical thinking approaches deeply based on cognitive science and reasoning.”

Professor Jean-Claude Ruano-Borbalan and Magalie Debischop, techniques et sciences en société, France

“This attractive new introduction to critical thinking brings together foundational theories in an accessible way in one place across academic disciplines and traditions. It is an excellent and well-chosen guide that will meet the needs of teachers and parents, as well as other educators new to this topic. Established reflections, dating back to Plato and Aristotle in the case of the philosophical material, are curated alongside well-chosen seminal texts in cognitive sciences through to influential advances in current research. The breadth of Davies’ framework enables her to apply her ideas to a wider range of contemporary issues. This will be invaluable for adult readers but also older teens with an interest in social science who would be able to access the work directly, thanks to the readable text, lively illustrations and thoughtful layout.

Davies’ ‘street smart’ model applies the ideas to critical thinking practice, offering tools, advice and tried and tested methods capable of enhancing critical thinking among teenagers, potentially to trigger greater awareness of their own prejudices and biases. As well as stressing four key aspects of respect: “respect for self”, “respect for difference” “respect for reason” – and the “respect for change” which form the cornerstones of Davies’ model, the importance of dialogue is also highlighted. I recommend this thoughtfully written and engaging volume strongly to readers, whether critical thinking is an established interest of theirs or not.”

Dr Janet Orchard, Associate Professor, University of Bristol, UK

Maree Davies is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. Her research focuses on how to ensure critical thinking is accessible to all teenagers.