critical thinking oxford learner's

Course details

Critical thinking: an introduction.

This is an In-person course which requires your attendance to the weekly meetings which take place in Oxford.

In print, online and in conversation, we frequently encounter conflicting views on important issues: from climate change, vaccinations and current political events to economic policy, healthy lifestyles and parenting. It can be difficult to know how to make up one’s own mind when confronted with such diverse viewpoints.

This course teaches you how to critically engage with different points of view. You are given some guidelines that will help you decide to what extent to trust the person, organisation, website or publication defending a certain position. You are also shown how to assess others’ views and arrive at your own point of view through reasoning. We discuss examples of both reasoning about facts and the reasoning required in making practical decisions. We distinguish risky inferences with probable conclusions from risk-free inferences with certain conclusions. You are shown how to spot and avoid common mistakes in reasoning.

No previous knowledge of critical thinking or logic is needed. This course will be enjoyed by those who relish the challenge of thinking rationally and learning new skills. The skills and concepts taught will also be useful when studying other areas of philosophy.

Programme details

Course starts: 2 Oct 2024

Week 1: What is critical thinking? What is the difference between reasoning and other ways of forming beliefs or making decisions?

Week 2: What is a logical argument? How do arguments differ from conditionals, explanations and rhetoric?

Week 3: Certainty versus high probability: the distinction between deductive and inductive reasoning.

Week 4: Deductive validity and logical form.

Week 5: When do arguments rely on hidden premises? What is probability?

Week 6: Inductive generalisations and reasoning about causes.

Week 7: Inference to the best explanation.

Week 8: Practical reasoning: Reasoning about what to do.

Week 9: When is it appropriate to believe what others tell you? What is the significance of expertise?

Week 10: Putting it all together: We analyse and assess longer passages of reasoning.

Digital Certification

To complete the course and receive a certificate, you will be required to attend at least 80% of the classes on the course and pass your final assignment. Upon successful completion, you will receive a link to download a University of Oxford digital certificate. Information on how to access this digital certificate will be emailed to you after the end of the course. The certificate will show your name, the course title and the dates of the course you attended. You will be able to download your certificate or share it on social media if you choose to do so.

Description	Costs
Course Fee	£285.00
Take this course for CATS points	£30.00

If you are in receipt of a UK state benefit, you are a full-time student in the UK or a student on a low income, you may be eligible for a reduction of 50% of tuition fees. Please see the below link for full details:

Concessionary fees for short courses

Dr Andrea Lechler

Andrea Lechler holds a degree in Computational Linguistics, an MSc in Artificial Intelligence, and an MA and PhD in Philosophy. She has extensive experience of teaching philosophy for OUDCE and other institutions. Her website is www.andrealechler.com.

Course aims

To help students improve their critical thinking skills.

Course Objectives:

To help students reflect on how people reason and how they try to persuade others of their views.
To make students familiar with the principles underlying different types of good reasoning as well as common mistakes in reasoning.
To present some guidelines for identifying trustworthy sources of information.

Teaching methods

The tutor will present the course content in an interactive way using plenty of examples and exercises. Students are encouraged to ask questions and participate in class discussions and group work. To consolidate their understanding of the subject they will be assigned further exercises as homework.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course students will be expected to:

be able to pick out and analyse passages of reasoning in texts and conversations
understand the most important ways of assessing the cogency of such reasoning
know how to assess the trustworthiness of possible sources of information.

Assessment methods

Assessment is based on a set of exercises similar to those discussed in class. One set of homework exercises can be submitted as a practice assignment.

Coursework is an integral part of all weekly classes and everyone enrolled will be expected to do coursework in order to benefit fully from the course. Only those who have registered for credit will be awarded CATS points for completing work to the required standard.

Students must submit a completed Declaration of Authorship form at the end of term when submitting their final piece of work. CATS points cannot be awarded without the aforementioned form - Declaration of Authorship form

Application

To earn credit (CATS points) for your course you will need to register and pay an additional £30 fee per course. You can do this by ticking the relevant box at the bottom of the enrolment form or when enrolling online.

Please use the 'Book' or 'Apply' button on this page. Alternatively, please complete an enrolment form (Word) or enrolment form (Pdf) .

Level and demands

The Department's Weekly Classes are taught at FHEQ Level 4, i.e. first year undergraduate level, and you will be expected to engage in a significant amount of private study in preparation for the classes. This may take the form, for instance, of reading and analysing set texts, responding to questions or tasks, or preparing work to present in class.

Credit Accumulation and Transfer Scheme (CATS)

To earn credit (CATS points) you will need to register and pay an additional £30 fee per course. You can do this by ticking the relevant box at the bottom of the enrolment form or when enrolling online. Students who register for CATS points will receive a Record of CATS points on successful completion of their course assessment.

Students who do not register for CATS points during the enrolment process can either register for CATS points prior to the start of their course or retrospectively from the January 1st after the current full academic year has been completed. If you are enrolled on the Certificate of Higher Education you need to indicate this on the enrolment form but there is no additional registration fee.

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Critical Thinking: Where to Begin

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If you are new to critical thinking or wish to deepen your conception of it, we recommend you review the content below and bookmark this page for future reference.

Our Conception of Critical Thinking...

"Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action. In its exemplary form, it is based on universal intellectual values that transcend subject matter divisions: clarity, accuracy, precision, consistency, relevance, sound evidence, good reasons, depth, breadth, and fairness..."

"Critical thinking is self-guided, self-disciplined thinking which attempts to reason at the highest level of quality in a fairminded way. People who think critically attempt, with consistent and conscious effort, to live rationally, reasonably, and empathically. They are keenly aware of the inherently flawed nature of human thinking when left unchecked. They strive to diminish the power of their egocentric and sociocentric tendencies. They use the intellectual tools that critical thinking offers – concepts and principles that enable them to analyze, assess, and improve thinking. They work diligently to develop the intellectual virtues of intellectual integrity, intellectual humility, intellectual civility, intellectual empathy, intellectual sense of justice and confidence in reason. They realize that no matter how skilled they are as thinkers, they can always improve their reasoning abilities and they will at times fall prey to mistakes in reasoning, human irrationality, prejudices, biases, distortions, uncritically accepted social rules and taboos, self-interest, and vested interest.

They strive to improve the world in whatever ways they can and contribute to a more rational, civilized society. At the same time, they recognize the complexities often inherent in doing so. They strive never to think simplistically about complicated issues and always to consider the rights and needs of relevant others. They recognize the complexities in developing as thinkers, and commit themselves to life-long practice toward self-improvement. They embody the Socratic principle: The unexamined life is not worth living , because they realize that many unexamined lives together result in an uncritical, unjust, dangerous world."

Why Critical Thinking?

The Problem:

Everyone thinks; it is our nature to do so. But much of our thinking, left to itself, is biased, distorted, partial, uninformed, or down-right prejudiced. Yet the quality of our lives and that of what we produce, make, or build depends precisely on the quality of our thought. Shoddy thinking is costly, both in money and in quality of life. Excellence in thought, however, must be systematically cultivated.

A Brief Definition:

Critical thinking is the art of analyzing and evaluating thinking with a view to improving it. The Result:

A well-cultivated critical thinker:

raises vital questions and problems, formulating them clearly and precisely;
gathers and assesses relevant information, using abstract ideas to interpret it effectively;
comes to well-reasoned conclusions and solutions, testing them against relevant criteria and standards;
thinks openmindedly within alternative systems of thought, recognizing and assessing, as need be, their assumptions, implications, and practical consequences; and
communicates effectively with others in figuring out solutions to complex problems.

Critical thinking is, in short, self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored, and self-corrective thinking. It requires rigorous standards of excellence and mindful command of their use. It entails effective communication and problem-solving abilities, and a commitment to overcoming our native egocentrism and sociocentrism. Read more about our concept of critical thinking .

The Essential Dimensions of Critical Thinking

Our conception of critical thinking is based on the substantive approach developed by Dr. Richard Paul and his colleagues at the Center and Foundation for Critical Thinking over multiple decades. It is relevant to every subject, discipline, and profession, and to reasoning through the problems of everyday life. It entails five essential dimensions of critical thinking:

At the left is an overview of the first three dimensions. In sum, the elements or structures of thought enable us to "take our thinking apart" and analyze it. The intellectual standards are used to assess and evaluate the elements. The intellectual traits are dispositions of mind embodied by the fairminded critical thinker. To cultivate the mind, we need command of these essential dimensions, and we need to consistently apply them as we think through the many problems and issues in our lives.

The Elements of Reasoning and Intellectual Standards

To learn more about the elements of thought and how to apply the intellectual standards, check out our interactive model. Simply click on the link below, scroll to the bottom of the page, and explore the model with your mouse.

Why the Analysis of Thinking Is Important If you want to think well, you must understand at least the rudiments of thought, the most basic structures out of which all thinking is made. You must learn how to take thinking apart. Analyzing the Logic of a Subject When we understand the elements of reasoning, we realize that all subjects, all disciplines, have a fundamental logic defined by the structures of thought embedded within them. Therefore, to lay bare a subject’s most fundamental logic, we should begin with these questions:

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Watch our Event Calendar , which provides an overview of all upcoming conferences and academies hosted by the Foundation for Critical Thinking. Clicking an entry on the Event Calendar will bring up that event's details, and the option to register. For those interested in online learning, the Foundation offers accredited online courses in critical thinking for both educators and the general public, as well as an online test for evaluating basic comprehension of critical thinking concepts . We are in the process of developing more online learning tools and tests to offer the community.

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This website contains large amounts research and an online library of articles , both of which are freely available to the public. We also invite you to become a member of the Critical Thinking Community , where you will gain access to more tools and materials. If you cannot locate a resource on a specific topic or concept, try searching for it using our Search Tool . The Search Tool is at the upper-right of every page on the website.

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Oxford Thinkers is a six level course designed to inspire curiosity, achievement, and critical thinking by asking the Big Questions.

Language Level: Beginner to Elementary (Pre A1-B2)

How are people and animals different? Why do we learn things? What's exciting about exploring? Spark creativity and critical thinking with Big Questions . Explore fun projects included in each level designed to encourage collaboration and communication. The carefully structured approach of Oxford Thinkers combines hands-on projects with plenty of grammar activities and rich multi-media teaching tools. Prepare students for success inside and outside of the classroom with this dynamic, bright, accessible course.

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A forward-thinking, stimulating, interactive course with full grammar and literacy support.
Strong grammar-focused syllabus, to build students language skills.
A ‘Big Questions’ enquiry-based approach engages students and develops 21st century skills.
Grammar is presented in a story-based and character-driven context to highlight meaning.
Develop students’ confident in reading and writing with a structured literacy approach.
Capture your students’ imaginations with extensive reading and writing activities.

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Oxford’s Free Online Lectures Teach You How to Think Clearly During Arguments

Oxford University Critical Thinking Lectures

Stock Photos from David Ionut/Shutterstock

Have you ever struggled to articulate yourself during an argument? It can be hard to get your point across during heated moments, which often leads to even more frustration and unresolved issues. But arguments aren't always bad—they can actually be healthy if they’re dealt with in the right way. If you want to learn how, check out Critical Reasoning For Beginners : a series of free, online lectures led by Oxford University’s philosophy professor Marianne Talbot.

Talbot introduces the course by asking potential students the following questions, “Are you confident you can reason clearly? Are you able to convince others of your point of view? Are you able to give plausible reasons for believing what you believe? Do you sometimes read arguments in the newspapers, hear them on the television, or in the pub and wish you knew how to confidently evaluate them?”

If this sounds like you, Talbot’s 6-part lecture series explains arguments and how to deal with them in a clear and concise way. The individual 1-hour-long lessons will teach you how to identify an argument, how to evaluate it, and how to understand the difference between a good argument and a bad one. Even though the series was originally recorded in 2006, it hasn’t lost merit, and students can continue to gain invaluable skills that they can carry with them for a lifetime.

Want to learn critical thinking? Check out the Critical Reasoning For Beginners lecture series on the University of Oxford Podcast's website or watch the lectures on YouTube .

Have you ever struggled to articulate yourself during an argument? Check out Critical Reasoning For Beginners : a series of free lectures led by Oxford University’s Marianne Talbot.

University of Oxford Podcasts: Website h/t: [ Open Culture ]

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Definition of thinking noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

I had to do some quick thinking.
She believes in encouraging creative thinking in the classroom.
He had some serious thinking to do.
With good, clear thinking one can arrive at an answer.
The school would have made better use of the money with a little forward thinking.
This topic requires a lot of deep thinking.
We have some hard thinking to do before we agree to the plan.
We hope that her book will stimulate thinking about this subject.
We aim to develop the processes of scientific thinking in children.
Yes, I'll email her instead—that's good thinking (= a good idea) .
thinking behind

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Theoretical Background For Successful Implementation Of Critical Thinking In Russian Education

The paper is devoted to the notion of critical thinking which was borrowed from the world experience and accepted by Russian education system. As a result of new ambitious goals set in Russian education it has become necessary to use advanced foreign experience, in particular, the technology of critical thinking closely connected with reflection which finds its application in all stages of educational process including higher education. In order to create the preconditions in the science of our country for implementing the given concept, the literature on psychology and pedagogy was analyzed and the notions of thinking criticalness and mind criticalness were stated. In psychological and pedagogical research studies by Russian scientists a conceptual framework to implement new principles for fostering critical thinking was developed by the end of the XX century. The conducted analysis revealed that Russian education had all preconditions to enter a new stage of development which met the social demands of modern society in the context of globalization. The notion of criticalness transformed into the notion of critical thinking at the turn of the century. The article considers the stages of reflection and principles of fostering learner's critical thinking during the educational process. The articles of foreign scholars which describe the given technology in application to education on the whole and foreign language teaching in particular were studied while doing research; the own research study of using the elements of critical thinking technology when preparing for State Final Examination on foreign languages was conducted. Keywords: Critical thinking criticalness reflection education self-assessment

Introduction

Having come into sociological use at the end of 1990s, the notion of globalization as a historical process of transforming the world into a uniform system has its reflection in the modern education system of the Russian Federation. Global changes occurring in the world extend economical, socio-cultural, informational interaction of Russia with other countries. The scientific and technical breakthroughs in the field of information and communication technologies, the appearance of the global network Internet contributed to the “blurring” of geographical and national boundaries as well as to development of transboundary education.

Transboundary education is aimed at solving the following tasks: to provide education accessibility; to universalize knowledge; to establish high international quality standards; to increase innovativeness and competitiveness of the national educational systems; to extend and promote international cooperation in the sphere of education and science ( Philipov, Krasnova, & Grinshkun, 2008 ). Global changes in education are observed in all countries all over the world. Countries with a centralized education system, among which is Russia, tend to decentralization, whereas countries with a decentralized education system (Great Britain, USA) strengthen a federal management unit of education system, introduce standard state curricula and programs ( Myasnikov, Naydenova, & Tagunova, 2009 ). The education paradigm is changing from strong collectivist (USA, Japan, Russia) and individualistic (Great Britain) approaches to the balanced integration of collectivist and individualistic personal values. There is an active process of refusing traditional approaches in favour of adapting new knowledge and experience focusing not on developing a particular ability – intellectual, moral, creative, etc. but on their integration. The process of reformation in Russian education system aims at developing critical, reflective and creative thinking – cognitive processes which are necessary to form a combination of abilities intended to provide the development of a modern personality that is able to self-realization in the condition of the worldwide globalisation of the society..

Problem Statement

Automation and computerization of nearly all spheres of life optimize these spheres making their internal processes simpler and more comfortable for humans. On the other hand, global growth of technology and, as a consequence, acceleration in the rates of social development necessitates an ability to adapt to the changing world ( Volkov, 2016 ), to prepare people to accommodate to the rapidly changing conditions, especially, to prepare people who are able to consciously take the situations of risk, challenge, choice; to analyse, reconsider and synthesize information; to make informed decisions, to do forecasts and provide judgements; to apply the gained experience to different area of knowledge; to suggest fresh approaches and ways of problem-solving. These and many other abilities accumulate in themselves critical thinking which is in close interaction with reflection. Both notions are complex and multidimensional and they have a lot of interpretations in different spheres of application but, as a rule, they act as integral parts of the same process. Thus, critical thinking can be considered as a metacognitive process which by means of reflection increases chances to finish the argument logically or to find the right solution to the problem ( Dwyer, Hogan, & Stewart, 2014 ). In addition, Wagner ( 2019 ) writes about applying 10 critical-thinking standards for self-reflection when teaching public speaking to students. It has been proved that reflection provides students with a method to get to know about their experience, preferences in learning and teaches them to judge with a critical mind everything they have studied ( Frydrychova, 2014 ).

The essential role of critical thinking and reflection through a focus on adopting learner-centered approach ( McCombs, Daniels, & Perry, 2008 ), promoting learner autonomy ( Bisse, 2017 ), applying the principle of long-life education is researched and discussed extensively in the world educational space.

Having made a serious commitment to integrating into the world academic space, Russian academia tries to follow its priority developments by actively adopting international best practices in the field of educational organization and content.

Research Questions

The notions of critical thinking and reflection in the educational process are widely discussed in Russian educational environment; numerous scientific and practical research studies are devoted to these types of thinking. Within the frames of the given research an attempt to reveal the preconditions of implementing the concepts of critical and reflective thinking in Russian education has been made. Thus, we have to find out the degree of development of the conceptual framework in psychological and psychology and pedagogical studies of native scientists for implementing the above-mentioned principles as well as the factors contributing to creating a seamless continuum to a new format of education. Moreover, we have to make a case for the significance of the studied notions in modern Russian educational environment.

Purpose of the Study

The given paper is aimed at analyzing the degree of development of the notions in national science of the XX century which preceded the implementation of the critical and reflective thinking in scientific use as well as at revealing the preconditions of implementing the given principles successfully under present-day conditions of education development in Russia.

Research Methods

The main research methods are theoretical – the analysis of scientific papers devoted to critical thinking, reflection; empirical – the comparison of notion contents and description of observation results. Methods of synchronous and diachronous information analysis have been used in the research.

Native literature review showed that Russia had all the conditions for implementing the concept of critical thinking successfully since native psychology and pedagogy used such notions as thinking criticalness and mind criticalness related directly to the modern theory of critical thinking. The peculiarity of native science in connection with the development of these problems is that the problem of criticalness was mainly developed in the context of psychological theory of thinking where criticalness was understood by scholars in different ways. For instance, Brushlinsky and Tikhomirov ( 1989 ) and others considered criticalness as the process of feedback which was a universal way of self-regulation ( Brushlinsky & Volovikova, 1983 ). In pathopsychology criticalness is considered as a performance of regulating function of thinking which consists in the ability to act reasonably, to check and correct the actions in accordance with objective conditions. Brushlinsky and Volovikova ( 1983 ) specify that the process of criticalness was carried out by immediate and direct comparison of intermediate, current results of any action, the progress of solving problems with their final overall result. Under condition of critical interpreting of contradictions or initiate misfortune, according to the scientists, more reliable criteria of self-assessment of every thought and self-control are worked out.

Sometimes criticalness is considered in connection with the problem of social adaptation. Sufficient criticalness, in essence, shows social maturity of a personality, especially in situations when a person must make a choice based on morality and one of the considerable personality deviations is impairment of human behavior criticalness. Studying criticalness as one of the main personality qualities scholars draw special attention to criticalness as a personality need. In this respect, criticalness can reveal itself as a current mental state, a volitional human quality and a character trait.

The notion of criticalness passed successfully from pathopsychology into pedagogical psychology where criticalness is spoken in the context of criticalness formation, criticalness demonstration, criticalness development as the most important quality of actor and behaver, which provides the personality with ability to conscious regulation, control and assessment of their own and somebody else's actions. Criticalness ensures the ability to initiate learning activity to a great extent and allows thinking productively, assessing objectively and selecting the required information from the viewpoint of truth, validity, reasonability; to stand up for own standpoint; to find appropriate ways of solving problems ( Kopylova, 2001 ).

The quality of mind (criticalness) like any other quality, according to the representatives of pedagogical psychology, requires for its development to state special problems, to use effective methods for the purpose of involving students in the process of assessing the results of learning activity (their own and their classmates). Self-control which takes place both in the process of decision-making (analysis of the applied method and correlation with its condition) and after getting the result (self-check in different forms) is closely connected with their self-assessment, level of thinking development. Here reflection serves as one of the essential features of critical thinking.

In pedagogy criticalness is defined as a process of problem-solving which includes the discussion of the process, job performance and its assessment. This assessment can be expressed in fault detection or in detection of something positive, valuable in things and phenomena or in verification of the fact, idea being discussed. Moreover, mind criticalness is connected with independence and mental flexibility. This quality of mind means the ability to consider the decision as a possible action, to understand its relativity.

Taking into account everything mentioned above one can conclude that in national pedagogy and psychology of the XX century criticalness was studied as a quality of thinking as well as one of the most important personality traits. Most researchers simultaneously defined the notion of criticalness both as a quality of thinking and as a personality trait which influences the behavior of mental processes. Studying criticalness as a quality of thinking native scholars emphasized different abilities and skills paying more attention to evaluation and self-regulation functions. By the end of the XX century the notion of mind criticalness gained its comprehensive theoretical understanding that made scientific community ready to implement the concept of critical thinking into Russian education system.

The analysis of the terms “criticalness” and “critical thinking” reveals their conceptual similarity in terms of goal-setting – making a balanced judgement about the problem, comprehensive and overall assessment of the situation on the one hand and seeing and explaining the ways of solving the problem on the other hand.

Nowadays the technology of developing critical thinking is used at all stages of Russian education. In Russian institutes of higher education students were first introduced to the specialized course of study “Critical thinking” in 1998 at Lomonosov Moscow state university. Within the course it was postulated that critical thinking method is vital for future specialists in situations of decision-making since transition political and economic processes of modern Russia require professionals who orient in constantly changing information flow, show analytical abilities and skills to take rational decisions regardless of external pressure ( Sorina, 2003 ). At present, critical thinking is an integral part of education in universities since students should understand the obtained information from the viewpoint of possibility to apply it in future profession. This happens in line with world trends as foreign researchers point out that critical thinking method teaches independence, fosters motivation, promotes academic performance ( Stupple, Maratos, Elander, Hunt, & Aubeeluck, 2017 ) as well as develops the most significant expert skills from the very beginning of studying at institution of higher education ( Hyytinen, Toom, &, Postareff, 2018 ).

In national pedagogy Zair-Bek and Mushtavinskaya ( 2004 ) made a valuable contribution to the theory of developing critical thinking. In 2004 their book “Developing critical thinking during the lesson” was published where methods applied to develop children’s abilities to think, to be critical of information, to take decisions and make conclusions by themselves were first described in national methodology. In the given paper communicative situations between the teacher and the learner were created where teachers play different roles: a teacher with autocratic teaching style or a facilitator assisting to orient in information flow. The authors point out that when fostering learner’s critical thinking the teacher provides some freedom to the learner who gains experience and acquires new knowledge by trial and error. The teacher should not only broaden knowledge and develop skills but also provide an opportunity for such personality functions as inventiveness, reflection, being-in-the-world, self-fashioning, responsibility and personality autonomy ( Zair-Bek & Mushtavinskaya, 2004 ). When using this approach the student has a right for mistake that is fundamentally different from orthodox teaching methods.

To foster critical thinking it is necessary to interpret constantly what is going on. It passes through three stages: challenge, content understanding, and reflection. Challenge is the stage where students analyze knowledge they have, set the goal and define what new knowledge they would like to gain. At the stage of understanding students are involved in the process of searching new information. At the stage of reflection new information is transformed into own knowledge.

Reflection is defined as a mental process focused on analysis, understanding, self-perception – self-exploration, self-analysis; as an important mechanism of the inner world of human individuality in the process of developing spiritual and professional skills ( Shadrikov, 2010 ). In the Soviet era reflection was basically the subject matter of psychology. The fundamentals of reflection were introduced in works by L.S. Vygotsky and developed in works by Rubinshtein, Semenov, and Stepanov ( 1983 ) and others; they considered reflection as an explanatory principle of mental functioning or as a categorial means to confirm theoretical concepts of mental development.

Since the Federal State Educational Standard (FSES) was implemented into educational process, reflection has become an obligatory part of the lesson. In FSES particular stress is laid on activity reflection since in traditional pedagogy learners were not required to comprehend what was happening and there was no place for reflective kinds of activity. Consolidation or synthesis of the obtained knowledge was applied instead. The teacher offered a set of ready-made tools to organise a process of knowledge acquisition at each stage. Today’s educational process has shifted the roles of the teacher and the learner. The teacher plays a role of an organizer of the learning process and the learner is a central figure. The stage of reflection is an obligatory condition to create a developing environment at the lesson and it is closely connected with developing universal learning skills.

As a collaborative activity, reflection allows improving educational process being focused on the personality of every learner. Reflection helps the learner not only to comprehend the ground covered but also to form a logic chain, to systematize the experience gained, to compare own achievements with achievements of other learners. Not all learners can assess their actions critically and take responsibility for them. The objective of reflection is to teach how to control their own activity as a source of motive and ability to learn.

For senior high school students reflection is considered as a necessary condition for self-education and self-improvement, as an individual human ability, as a basis of their conscious behavior. The learner is active if he understands the aim of the studies, their necessity, if each of his action is conscious and understandable. Therefore, reflection is an obligatory stage and condition for creating a developing environment at the lesson as well as it allows looking at the educational process “from within”. Reflection can be implemented in different ways: the elements of reflection at some stages of the lesson; reflection at the end of each lesson, the course module; gradual change to constant inner reflection.

At the present stage of education development and Federal State Educational Standard implementation, reflection of learners should be developed purposefully. Reflection is just the mechanism which shifts the problem from being outer in relation to the human into the inner one. As soon as the learner becomes a problem bearer, he starts finding its solution. The teacher’s role turns not into recommendation distribution but problematization or optimization of ways to solve the problem.

Thus, reflection and assessment activity at the lesson allows the learner to fix new content studied at the lesson; to assess his own activity at the lesson; to diagnose difficulties as a direction of future learning activity. It will allow the teacher to analyze and assess the learners’ activity, his own activity as well as to define new approaches in organizing effective cooperation in class in order to involve learners in vigorous activity ( Bogdanova, & Kaverina, 2018 ), and specifically to develop for students a methodology of self-study training for a unified state exam in foreign languages ( Goncharova, & Kalinina, 2019 ).

The conducted analysis revealed that Russian education had all the preconditions to enter a new stage of development which met the social demands of modern society in the context of globalization. The implementation of new education requirements and criteria favored actualization, modernization and activation of the notions which were in the focus of Soviet educators and psychologists, to a greater extent in a theorized format. Based on the aim of modern education which is to develop learner’s potential, to acquire sound knowledge and skills with the possibility to transfer them into practice, the notion of criticalness transformed into the notion of critical thinking. At the same time thinking changed its direction from reflection of curricular material content to reflection of activity. Such factors as successfully applying self-learning in Russia for many years, implementing individual educational routes, orienting to system-activity approach established favorable conditions for adapting global experience successfully.

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Sociolinguistics, linguistics, semantics, discourse analysis, science, technology, society

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Bogdanova*, S., Goncharova, T., Kaverina, O., Kalinina, V., & Noskova, M. (2019). Theoretical Background For Successful Implementation Of Critical Thinking In Russian Education. In D. Karim-Sultanovich Bataev, S. Aidievich Gapurov, A. Dogievich Osmaev, V. Khumaidovich Akaev, L. Musaevna Idigova, M. Rukmanovich Ovhadov, A. Ruslanovich Salgiriev, & M. Muslamovna Betilmerzaeva (Eds.), Social and Cultural Transformations in the Context of Modern Globalism, vol 76. European Proceedings of Social and Behavioural Sciences (pp. 447-454). Future Academy. https://doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2019.12.04.61

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Marx/Engels Internet Archive

Theses On Feuerbach Download PDF Written: by Marx in the Spring of 1845, but slightly edited by Engels; First Published: As an appendix to Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy in 1888; Source: Marx/Engels Selected Works, Volume One, p. 13 – 15. Note that this version differs from the version of Engels’ edition published in MECW Volume 5, pp. 6-8; Publisher: Progress Publishers, Moscow, USSR, 1969; Translated: W. Lough from the German; Transcription/Markup: Zodiac/ Brian Baggins ; Copyleft: Marx/Engels Internet Archive (marxists.org) 1995, 1999, 2002. Permission is granted to copy and/or distribute this document under the terms of the Creative Commons ShareAlike License ; Proofread: by Andy Blunden February 2005. I The chief defect of all hitherto existing materialism – that of Feuerbach included – is that the thing, reality, sensuousness, is conceived only in the form of the object or of contemplation , but not as sensuous human activity, practice , not subjectively. Hence, in contradistinction to materialism, the active side was developed abstractly by idealism – which, of course, does not know real, sensuous activity as such. Feuerbach wants sensuous objects, really distinct from the thought objects, but he does not conceive human activity itself as objective activity. Hence, in The Essence of Christianity , he regards the theoretical attitude as the only genuinely human attitude, while practice is conceived and fixed only in its dirty-judaical manifestation. Hence he does not grasp the significance of “revolutionary”, of “practical-critical”, activity. II The question whether objective truth can be attributed to human thinking is not a question of theory but is a practical question. Man must prove the truth — i.e. the reality and power, the this-sidedness of his thinking in practice. The dispute over the reality or non-reality of thinking that is isolated from practice is a purely scholastic question. III The materialist doctrine concerning the changing of circumstances and upbringing forgets that circumstances are changed by men and that it is essential to educate the educator himself. This doctrine must, therefore, divide society into two parts, one of which is superior to society. The coincidence of the changing of circumstances and of human activity or self-changing can be conceived and rationally understood only as revolutionary practice . IV Feuerbach starts out from the fact of religious self-alienation, of the duplication of the world into a religious world and a secular one. His work consists in resolving the religious world into its secular basis. But that the secular basis detaches itself from itself and establishes itself as an independent realm in the clouds can only be explained by the cleavages and self-contradictions within this secular basis. The latter must, therefore, in itself be both understood in its contradiction and revolutionized in practice. Thus, for instance, after the earthly family is discovered to be the secret of the holy family, the former must then itself be destroyed in theory and in practice. V Feuerbach, not satisfied with abstract thinking, wants contemplation; but he does not conceive sensuousness as practical, human-sensuous activity. VI Feuerbach resolves the religious essence into the human essence. But the human essence is no abstraction inherent in each single individual. In its reality it is the ensemble of the social relations. Feuerbach, who does not enter upon a criticism of this real essence, is consequently compelled: To abstract from the historical process and to fix the religious sentiment as something by itself and to presuppose an abstract – isolated – human individual. Essence, therefore, can be comprehended only as “genus”, as an internal, dumb generality which naturally unites the many individuals. VII Feuerbach, consequently, does not see that the “religious sentiment” is itself a social product, and that the abstract individual whom he analyses belongs to a particular form of society. VIII All social life is essentially practical. All mysteries which lead theory to mysticism find their rational solution in human practice and in the comprehension of this practice. IX The highest point reached by contemplative materialism, that is, materialism which does not comprehend sensuousness as practical activity, is contemplation of single individuals and of civil society. X The standpoint of the old materialism is civil society; the standpoint of the new is human society, or social humanity. XI The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point is to change it. Deutsch | 1938 translation of Marx’s original | 2002 translation of Marx’s original | MECW translation of Engels’ 1888 version Marx/Engels Works Archive | Study Guide | Engels on Feuerbach | Image of Thesis 11 | Works Index

Global Skills – Create Empowered 21st Century Learners

After having examined many diverse frameworks for global skills, we have distilled them into five clusters. These are:

Communication and collaboration
Creativity and critical thinking
Intercultural competence and citizenship
Emotional self-regulation and wellbeing
Digital literacies

How an ELT teacher approaches the teaching of these skills will depend on their own interests, competences, resources, and local curricular constraints. There is no one single way to approach this. We have proposed a range of teaching approaches stretching from single activities to extended projects. Each teacher will select ideas as suits them and their learners. Here are a few ideas to consider and if you would like to know more, please download our free Global Skills Position Paper .

1. Compare different media sources:

In the era of ‘fake news’, critical thinking skills are more important than ever! You can help older learners develop these skills as part of a longer activity, by asking them to analyse different news articles.

Choose a current topic in the news to discuss with your learners. Give them a newspaper article or a news bulletin on the topic and ask them to share their response with a partner. Then, with the class, examine the same story in different media sources. Ask them to consider the author, the intended audience, the emotions involved, and the strategies that are used to engage the reader.

Do you want to develop your students’ digital literacies at the same time? Ask your students to fact check one of the articles online, using more than one source of information. They should think about which source is the most reliable and which to trust.

2. Create digital reports:

Try asking your learners to create a digital report on a global issue like endangered animals or inequality! They should work in pairs, and use their mobile devices to video or audio record a short news report about the issue, describing the problem and offering suggested solutions. Learners can share these reports with each other online, and give each other comments and feedback. The project could also be extended, and you could ask learners to create a detailed proposal for solving the issue. This will help them think critically and learn to solve problems.

3. Ask open-ended questions:

Simply changing the style of your questions can help your learners develop their creativity and critical thinking skills. Open-ended questions encourage students to interpret and analyse information, helping them to practice these essential skills. You can easily integrate these questions into your everyday teaching by asking questions about classroom topics – or you could ask questions about important issues to help your students develop their citizenship skills. For example, you could ask older learners questions like:

What is the most serious environmental issue in our town/region/country?
What causes this issue? Who is responsible for it?
What can we, as individuals, do about it?

You could ask younger learners questions like:

How can we help look after our pets?
How can we care for the animals around us?

This kind of activity provides a good foundation for deeper work on critical thinking in longer activities. It also helps students to practice their language skills by encouraging them to respond in detail.

4. Encourage project work:

Project work is one of the best ways for learners to develop their global skills. By working in groups, setting their own agenda, and personalising their approach, learners feel more engaged and develop multiple skills at once.

One example involves asking students to design their own project to address a problem in their local or global community. Secondary school learners could design projects around:

Working locally with people in an elderly care home who need to improve their technological skills to connect with others
Organising a fundraiser or protest march to help prevent climate change

These examples will encourage older students to develop skills like communication, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking. Learners will also develop their citizenship and intercultural competence by investigating global issues and thinking about which groups of people need support. They will learn to think about their local and global communities, and learn how to address important issues.

Learners can also report on the project online to develop their digital literacies encourage others to engage in similar projects.

5. Start small:

Are you unsure how to begin teaching global skills like communication and collaboration? Try starting small! Every lesson, integrate a short language-learning activity that includes a focus on one of these global skills. Later, you can begin to integrate larger, more focused activities and sequences of tasks which allow for a more in-depth approach to developing the skills – including project work.

Do you want more great tips, including an exclusive Teachers’ Toolkit? Download our expert advice now!

Sarah Mercer is Professor of Foreign Language Teaching at the University of Graz, Austria, where she is Head of ELT Methodology. Her research interests include all aspects of the psychology surrounding the foreign language learning experience, and she has written and edited prize-winning books in this area.

Nicky Hockly is the Director of Pedagogy of The Consultants-E, an online training and development consultancy. She is a teacher, trainer, and educational technology consultant who works with teachers all over the world. Nicky writes regular columns on technology for EFL teachers in professional journals and has written several prizewinning methodology books.

Both Sarah and Nicky are lead authors of the position paper, Global Skills: Creating empowered 21 st century learners .