Authors

• Javad Hatami ¹
• Batoul Ahmadzade ²
• Eskandar Fathiazar ³

¹ Faculty of Humanities, Tarbiat Modares University

² Master in Curriculum Studies, Faculty of Education, Tabriz University

³ Faculty of Psychology and Education, Tabriz University

Abstract

Faculty members are considered as a foundation for an educational system and their skills and competencies development is imperative and undeniable in a modern world. The present study was intended to describe the faculty perspective on critical thinking and its implementation in teaching. Therefore, a qualitative research method was used as an exploratory case study. The population of this study included all faculty members at Payam Noor University of Tabriz in 2009-10 school-year. Using a purposive sample, 12 individuals were selected as a sample. Semi-structured and in-depth interviews, faculty information form and researcher’s observations were used to collect information. Faculty members in College of Science and Education evaluated the data collection instrument and confirmed its validity. The results of this study showed that majority of faculty members believed in the concept of critical thinking as an "applied rational skepticism". Furthermore, they discussed critical thinking as having "enough information", "questioning skills", holistic thought", "flexibility of thought", "analyzing skills", and "listening skills". In addition, the majority of faculty members believed that critical thinking is acquisitive and teaching process is vital in this regard.

Keywords

• teaching
• Critical Thinking
• Higher Education
• faculty members