Developing critical thinking of students in the process of learning

Abstract

Global integration processes, changing market relations, ever-increasing intellectualization of labor and digitalization of society require graduates of higher education institutions to possess certain personal qualities, high intellectual development, a new type of mental activity, a critical style of thinking alongside with an appropriate level of basic knowledge and professional competence. Relevance of critical thinking development is due to the fact that modern dynamics of technological and social progress requires specialists to possess skills to adapt quickly to professional activity, accommodate and improve it to obtain information independently, find ways to solve professional and social tasks in various situations. The aim of the research is to substantiate a model of developing critical thinking of future teachers and prove experimentally effectiveness of its implementation in the educational process of higher education. The research employs theoretical methods: system analysis of psychological, pedagogical and methodic al literature to define and substantiate theoretically development of critical thinking of future teachers of elementary school; methods of empirical research: observation, conversation, questionnaire survey, pedagogical experiment in order to identify optimal ways of developing critical thinking of students of specialty «Primary Education»; methods of processing results of experimental work and their interpretation. Diagnosing the levels of critical thinking formation at the summative, formative and control stages of research and experimental work confirmed the effectiveness of the chosen model of developing students’ critical thinking in the process of educational activity. The analysis of experimental data has established the fact that due to systematic and integrated work in the process of organization of the formative stage of research, the students of the experimental group displayed positive progress, in particular, the number of students with high and medium levels of development of critical thinking has increased due to the reduction of respondents with low level. Implemented methods and techniques to develop critical thinking of future specialists in the educational process of the higher educational institution ensured achieving goals and solving tasks of the pedagogical research.