Teachers' Theoretical Orientations Toward Teaching Thinking

Abstract

The literature on teaching thinking reflects a major controversy that results from two distinctive theoretical views about the nature of thinking. One focuses on content of thinking, and the other emphasizes skills involved in thinking. However, an attempt to understand practitioners' perceptions of these theories is generally absent in the literature. The purpose of this study was to investigate teachers' theoretical orientations toward teaching thinking, using a survey questionnaire. Ths sample included 285 New York State public schoolteachers, and the results showed that less than one fourth of the teachers presented a clear content or skill orientation. The majority had mixed views about these two theories, indicating that neither orientation was predominant among teachers.