Frå skule til verda utanfor: elevar si overføring og tilpassing av kunnskapar i kritisk tenking til ulike arenaar

Abstract

The theme for this thesis is critical thinking in social science. The main question for the thesis is: "Can explicit teaching of source criticism and diversity of perspectives promote critical thinking among students in upper secondary school?". Critical thinking is central to the subject of social science at the upper secondary school, but is also an ability that is central to life outside school. The purpose of this thesis is to supplement a growing research area and provide inspiration for further research within the field. The research can also make teachers aware of how they teach critical thinking and assess whether their way of teaching is matches the desired goals. Relevant theory in the field is the basis for the direction of the research and the most central theorists on critical thinking that are used in this assignment are John Dewy and Robert H. Ennis. Karsten Korbøl makes up the basis for much of the research on source criticism, while Gert Biesta and Robert Lawy provide the basis for reflection on students life-world as a basis in this discussion of suitable teaching. This research project is based on qualitative interviews and observation of teaching. The interviews were semi-structured and my role as an observer was as a passive, non-participant. The empirical data was obtained through audio recordings from the interviews and field notes from the observation of a ninth grade at a Norwegian Secondary school, and forms the starting point for my assignment. The analysis is based on the findings from the interview and the observation that was most suitable of answering the research question, and was also supplemented with input from the literature. This assignment shows how the students' experiences, thoughts, definitions, and misconceptions of the concepts of "critical thinking", "source criticism" and "diversity of perspectives" are fragmented and how teaching in this field is challenging. Here, the students' ability to connect what they do in their free time with what they learn at school is raised and discussed. The survey does not provide a basis for generalization or broad conclusions. It nevertheless points to interesting findings in addition to raising and analyzing key questions based on these findings and relevant theory. This further leads to new questions, which depend on more research to be answered. The empirical data in this thesis show how students define and experience critical thinking differently, as well as showing how awareness can have an impact on students' learning and their ability to transfer knowledge to different arenas.