Pre-Service Science Teachers’ Awareness of their Critical Thinking Abilities

Abstract

Critical thinking, a core 21^st century skill, is needed to effectively explore, analyse, and evaluate problems to be able to find sustainable solutions. Hence, the advocacy for its inclusion in school curricula as part of learning outcomes for students with the universal belief that it fosters academic success. This means teachers should possess the ability to develop critical thinking skills in their students. Thus, teacher education programmes should prepare prospective teachers to acquire the skill to enable them to develop same in their future students. Therefore, this study explored prospective science teachers' awareness of their critical thinking abilities through a survey in a Ghanaian university. The results showed that pre-service science teachers had high levels of awareness of their critical thinking abilities. Although no gender differences were found in the pre-service science teachers' awareness of their critical thinking abilities, the final year students had high levels of awareness as compared to the other students. It was concluded that awareness of critical thinking abilities is ultimately influenced by the university course units earned. Teacher education programmes should consciously develop critical thinking skills among students throughout the programme.