Critical thinking for transformative praxis in teacher education: Music, media and information literacy, and social studies in the United States

Abstract

The notion and practice of critical thinking (CT) has moved from its speculative formation by John Dewey to a standard element in teacher education curricula and standards. In the process, CT has narrowed its focus to the analysis and articulation of logical thought, and lost transformative value. In this paper, we examine the conception and implementation of CT in three teacher education domains primarily in the United States–music, media and information literacy, and social studies–asking how CT has deformed education in those domains, and how domain-specific approaches could reinvigorate CT. We further suggest refocusing the purpose of CT in teacher education on accomplishing transformative education for equity in school and society, by implementing a critically reflective, transformative praxis based on the insights of domain-specific approaches to CT.

Keywords:

• Critical thinking
• teacher education
• transformative praxis
• music education
• media and information literacy
• social studies

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Richard Miller

Richard Miller is Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. An Asia specialist interested in music and education in broader social-political contexts, he has published in journals such as Asian Music, Ethnomusicology, Education and Urban Society, Qualitative Review, Review of Research in Education, and Thresholds in Education.

Katrina Liu

Katrina Liu is an associate professor of Teaching and Learning at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Focusing on theory, pedagogy, and innovation in preparing transformative educators for diversity and equity, her interdisciplinary work appears in journals such as Review of Research in Education, Education and Urban Society, Educational Review, and Teaching and Teacher Education.

Christopher B. Crowley

Christopher B. Crowley is an Assistant Professor of Teacher Education at Wayne State University. His work situates within curriculum studies and explores issues of privatization in teacher education. His research appears in journals such as Teaching and Teacher Education, Review of Research in Education, Educational Studies, China Quarterly, and others.

Min Yu

Min Yu is an Associate Professor at Wayne State University. Her research explores the relationships between home, school, and community with attention to power and knowledge. Her work appears in journals such as Review of Research in Education, Sociological Inquiry, China Quarterly, Comparative Education Review, Comparative Education, and others.