This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Warburton, E. Articles by Torff, B. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

The Effect of Perceived Learner Advantages on Teachers' Beliefs About Critical-Thinking Activities

University of California–Santa Cruz

Bruce Torff

Hofstra University

To investigate teachers' beliefs about critical-thinking (CT) activities for different populations of learners, the Critical Thinking Belief Appraisal (CTBA) was administered to 145 practicing secondary teachers. Teachers rated both high-CT and low-CT activities as more effective for highadvantage learners than low-advantage ones, demonstrating strong "advantage effects." They also rated high-CT activities as more effective than low-CT ones for both high-advantage and lowadvantage learners, demonstrating "pedagogical-preference effects" stronger for high-advantage learners than low-advantage ones. Although these results are inconsistent with the assertion that teachers favor low-CT activities over high-CT ones for low-advantage learners, the results suggest that low-advantage learners may receive fewer high-CT activities in schools, which may hinder their academic performance. Studies of the development of teachers' CT-related beliefs are needed, with the goal of establishing teacher-education practices emphasizing appropriate use of high-CT activities for low-advantage learners.

Key Words: critical thinking • teachers' beliefs • advantage effects • pedagogical-preference effects

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?