DEVELOPMENT OF STUDENTS’ CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS BY MEANS OF SCHOOL HISTORY TEXTBOOKS

Abstract

This article investigates a relevant provision of theory of the school textbook constructed by Ukrainian educators, related to the functions, structure and main approaches towards the preparation of the history textbook aimed at the development of critical thinking skills of students. The authors provided the characteristics and definition of the term of critical thinking as a complex of thought operations and strategies which are formed through education. A general list of main requirements is constructed, according to which such history textbook must comply with the comparison of existing texts especially in the methods of presentation, contents of the educational materials and in the system of cognitive tasks which are accompanying the text. Furthermore, the characteristics of the content of the educational textbook are prepared, in particular the necessity of presentation and structuring of the educational material in the textbook in the way that students would get the space for analysis, comparison of different views, positions, approaches, sources of information for the synthesis and defense of their own position as well as the reasoned evaluation of historical events, phenomena and processes as well as the results of their own studies. The specificity of questions and the role they play in supporting the development of the thought process of students are highlighted. Two types of questions, which are open and closed questions, are investigated as well as the classification of questions based on Blum’s taxonomy is described, which program the students’ cognitive functioning on the high level of thought process (analysis, synthesis and evaluation). The requirements to the cognitive tasks in the textbook and the basis for their development are formulated. The typology in dependence on the component of the educational process is offered, where the textbook is used and didactical tasks that are solved by a teacher (challenge, consolidation, reflection). The article describes the opportunities of the use of tasks in textbooks for students based on special methods of development of critical thinking like “I.N.S.E.R.T.”, Questionnaires, “6 Why”, “RAFT”, brain-storm in pairs, small groups discussion and others.