Cultural influences on critical thinking : a pedagogy for educating immigrant preservice teachers

Abstract

There is no single definition of critical thinking, but there seems to be concurrence that it requires effective cognitive strategies to evaluate information and to draw conclusions based on reason. This article considers critical thinking as an inherent ability to engage in reasoned and reflective thinking on the contents of knowledge associated with educational psychology. The development of critical thinking abilities in preservice teachers who are either immigrants, or first-generation Americans raised in immigrant communities, is explored to gain an understanding of the effect of cultural influences on critical thinking in immigrant populations. Epistemic philosophical frameworks are identified to encompass McPeck’s critical thinking constructs and facilitate its infusion into pedagogical practices for educating immigrant preservice teachers. Further, the article examines the relationship between critical thinking abilities and cultural influences that shape ways of knowing, and discusses how immigrant or immigrant community preservice teachers might use cultural frameworks to critically analyse the tacit assumptions, beliefs, and practices embedded in the mainstream teacher education curriculum in countries such as the United States. To accomplish this connection, the authors recommend pedagogies (or androgogies for adult learners) that educators can infuse in the curriculum to foster critical thinking in the educational psychology discipline.