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UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA
ELEMENTARY SOCIAL STUDIES TEACHERS’ EXPERIENCES
WITH CRITICAL THINKING IN PHILIPPINE SCHOOLS
BRENDA FROILAN CABIGON BASIGA
A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES
AND RESEARCH IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION
EDMONTON, ALBERTA
FALL 2006
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Abstract
Critical thinking skills, I argue, may empower youth to function
effectively in a global environment. They can apply critical thinking in daily
life, at work, and in their communities.
This research aimed to examine Filipino elementaiy social studies
teachers’ experiences and application of critical thinking and to determine
whether they engaged students to cultivate critical thinking skills. The study
also investigated whether the Philippine educational system, as manifest in
prescribed materials, works to promote students’ development of critical
thinking skills.
The study’s data were collected through classroom observations of and
interviews with social studies teachers—three in rural settings and two at an
urban site. The 2002 edition of the Philippine elementary social studies
curricular document was scrutinized, as were other social studies resources
prescribed by the Philippine Department of Education, Culture and Sports
(DECS), to find evidence of institutional promotion o f and resistance to critical
thinking training.
The collected data were analyzed by means of a qualitative
methodology, grounded on interpretive inquiry. The information gathered was
woven together and was presented herein as narratives.
The views expressed by teachers in rural and urban locales were
compared. Teacher-participants were unclear what constituted critical thinking,
though they affirmed the importance of its application in class. Before teachers
can teach critical thinking, however, they must be critical thinkers themselves.
Teachers’ calls for training to effectively cultivate critical thinking in students
were consistent. Economic poverty and the paucity of educational resources,
supports, and training, hampered instructors’ attempts to develop and apply the
skills.
The study was significant because it helped Filipino elementary social
studies teachers realize the need to understand critical thinking’s aims and
processes. The study heightened instructors’ awareness of how Filipino youth
armed with critical thinking skills may be better equipped to address the effects
of colonization and globalization in this age of economic interdependency.
Finally, it is anticipated that the Philippine Department of Education, Culture
and Sports, after reading the findings and recommendations of the study, would
make a concerted effort to promote critical thinking in Philippine schools.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My doctoral thesis is an expression of my concern for the plight of the
Filipinos. The seed of this concern was planted long ago by my late father
through his commitment to bringing about appropriate development for the
people of Basey. I was moved to follow his efforts with my own work.
Inspiration, however, was not enough; I needed the guidance and
direction of my supervisor, Dr. Susan E. Gibson, to clarify and define my work.
I am grateful for her enriching tutelage. I neither lacked motivation, nor was I
overwhelmed by the workload. Dr. Gibson, together with the other members of
my supervisory committee: Dr. Amy von Heyking and Dr. Makere Stewart-
Harawira, to whom I am also indebted, challenged my thinking and brought me
to innovative paths that would not have been explored otherwise. Their
questioning allowed me to push myself and to continually refine my research
and writing. I would also like to thank Dr. Roberta McKay for seeing me
through my oral examination. Her suggestions and assurances boosted my
confidence, and made me better prepared to defend my thesis.
My examining committee, composed of Dr. Ali Abdi, Dr. George
Richardson and Dr. Maxine Stephenson, graciously provided my study the
privilege of their wisdom through their critical review of my paper. For their
knowledge and expertise, I am thankful.
The guidance and expertise would have been for naught without the
invaluable contributions of the Filipino social studies teachers, who willingly
participated in my investigation. Credit is also due to the participants’
administrators and to the personnel o f various offices o f the Philippine
Department of Education, Culture and Sports for allowing me access to the
teacher-participants.
My own school administration, as well, played an important part in this
study. I appreciate the opportunity afforded me by the Edmonton Public School
Board by letting me go on a sabbatical leave of absence from my teaching
assignment for a year. I was able to fulfill the residency requirement of, and
complete my doctoral program.
My graduate work was a family endeavour. My youngest son, Byron,
constantly provided technical assistance, even throughout his final exams. My
oldest son, Brendon, always lent me a grammatical, stylistic and critical acuity.
My husband, Gordie, never failed to believe that I can make a difference for the
Filipinos. Their support and encouragement kept me focused.
Many thanks to all those who helped nurture the seed o f my inspiration
into the expression that it has become.
DEDICATION
To my “boys”—Gordie, Brendon and Byron,

who share my passion for Basey.
Prologue
Coming to a Realization
Every night, after dinner, my parents used to sit in their rocking chairs
on the balcony of our ancestral house, facing the sea, to discuss daily events. It
was during one o f those nightly conversations in Basey, Samar, Philippines, my
first home, that I overheard my father, who was then a member of the Basey
Municipal Council, passionately oppose the establishment o f Basey Wood
Industries (BASWOOD) in Rawis. Although at the time I did not understand the
ramifications o f such an industry, I did know that the company was going to
harvest trees in the Samar rainforest.
Samar is the third largest island in the Philippines. It had an estimated
population of 1.4 million, as of 1990. One o f Samar’s most notable
characteristics is that it houses “the widest, contiguous forest formation that
contains some o f the oldest trees. . . found in Western and Eastern Samar,
notably the Basey-Sohoton-Borongan area” (Tandaya, 1995, p. 9). The trees
found in the Samar rainforest are so durable that they can withstand strong
winds and typhoons. Tragically, the entire forests of Samar had been licensed to
commercial loggers for exploitation, resulting in a massive population
displacement. Traditional ways of living, including upland rice farming and the
gathering of rattan (a shrub used as a raw material for furniture), were displaced
by logging. Rawis, a barrio located about 10 kilometres northeast of Basey, was
one of the bases used by the commercial loggers. After about ten years of
operation, the logging company based in Rawis, and those in other parts of
Samar, pulled out o f the area, leaving the entire island with a forest cover o f
only 26.7 percent. This is far from the 40 percent of forest cover required to
keep an area safe for living (Tandaya, 1995).
For about 10 years, people flocked to Rawis for employment and
prosperity. The village that once had fewer than 200 people swelled into a
boomtown of about 1,000-2,000. People there seemed to be partying all the
time. Loud music blasting from stereos could be heard coming from all
directions as one strolled along the streets. Noise generated by chainsaws used
to cut trees seemed to be the coda for the stereo music. The streets were
practically paved with thick sawdust, so it was inevitable that one would inhale
it. But the people, blinded by their sudden affluence, did not mind or care about
the pollution. They found nothing wrong with the presence of the logging
industry in their village. Other than the bothersome sawdust that I inhaled and
that would get into my shoes as I walked on the streets, I, too, did not
understand the long-range, negative effects o f denuding the rainforest nearby.
At the time, the company provided jobs for the people and made political
promises to replace every tree it cut through a company-sponsored reforestation
program.
The company’s promises were made about 40 years ago. The people’s
employment lasted for only 10 years, and then they were abandoned to live by
whatever meagre harvest they could get from their lands. The short-term
benefits burned brightly, but quickly, and left a long trail of suffering in its
wake. Rawis went back to a population o f fewer than 200 people, although
currently it has a population greater than 500. What remains are stories and
experiences of dangerous floods that became all too common in Rawis. In 1988,
after several days o f rain, farmlands and villages were heavily flooded. Several
villages were buried in landslides, 76 people died, and 60,000 families in 36
towns were displaced. On one of my more recent trips to the rainforest, I was
pointed to a set o f about 30 concrete steps. The steps started from the bank of
the Golden River, a major river that runs outside the municipality, down to the
elevation of one o f the villages down the river from Rawis. I was horrified to
learn that during the yearly monsoon rains, the water level would rise past the
top of the stairs, and even beyond the village and all the way to the top of the
blackboards of their classrooms. Teachers teaching in the villages closest to the
rainforest often have to cancel classes because of the danger o f flooding. A
retired school administrator who used to visit the villages along the river to
supervise schools told me about how nice it was to walk around the villages
with the big tall trees that gave shade and healthy air. It is now excruciatingly
hot in those villages because o f lack of trees.
After the loggers left, the hills and mountains of Basey were almost bare.
Only the small trees that could not be cut by the loggers remained. The promise
o f reforestation seemed to have disappeared along with the trees of the
rainforest. It seemed that everyone was party to the destruction of the
environment: government officials, forest rangers, the villagers and town folks,
business men, ordinary citizens like myself, and so many more. We did not do
anything to stop the environmental damage.
The Philippine government has, in the last ten years, established a
logging ban that prohibits the cutting of trees, but only after all of the mature
trees were harvested. Those who can afford it resort to the use of concrete.
Because the creation of concrete requires the use o f a lot of sand, the mountains
and hills are mined, and rocks are taken from the seashores and sea floors to be
ground up. In some instances, corals from the seas are harvested as raw
materials. To make matters worse, the construction o f a dam inside the
rainforest has been proposed. Once again, it seems the destruction of natural
resources and the equilibrium of nature faces little or no opposition. This will
eventually cause further devastating environmental catastrophe.
The forest area is the location of Sohoton Natural Bridge National Park,
which is an archaeological site. Many artefacts that date back to the Stone Age
and Iron Age were discovered there. It is said to have been a dwelling place and
a burial ground during the Stone Age. It has an intricate cave system where
stalactites and stalagmites struggle to survive. These caves provided shelter and
a bulwark for fighters who resisted the Spaniards and the Americans. It is sad
that the lustre of the stalactites and stalagmites are being replaced by brown
eroding soil filtered by the surface run-off that is a consequence of the lack of
trees. Rocks from denuded mountains are washed into the riverbeds and
streams. The artefacts are rapidly being washed away.
Recalling that night on the balcony, I can finally say I understand why
my father objected so vehemently to commercial logging. I now share his
passion. Surely something can and must be done to save our beautiful seaside
town. In the insatiable quest for commercial profit, I hope that we do not banish
ourselves from the Eden that was once our home. I would like to help empower
the youth of Basey so that they may become aware of these environmental
issues. In time, I hope that they will find a way to stop the destruction and will
be in a better position to forge their own, less-destructive future.
My family and the Basaynons of Edmonton initiated a tree-planting
campaign in Basey. (This project is now sponsored by the non-governmental
organization Basaynon Katig-uban, USA & Canada.) We did this through the
schools, with the help o f teachers and students. We also solicited the help o f the
local Department of Environment and Natural Resources, which provided tree
seedlings to every school child. Because elementary schools in Basey had asked
us for sports materials, we promised to equip every school that generated a
successful tree-planting project with sports equipment, such as volleyball sets,
baseball sets, basketball sets, and other materials. Our campaign generated little
response. The lack of response made me believe that the schools were happier to
simply receive sports equipment than to contribute to the growing o f trees and
to witness the environmental care they could provide.
While it was understandable that children were eager to get materials
they could use and that would meet an immediate need, the adults’ complacency
about their conditions was perplexing. From my perspective as a Filipino, the
apathy of the Basaynons about pressing environmental issues could be attributed
to a number of factors. One of them might be the colonial mentality that
Filipinos developed as a consequence of the oppression inflicted on them by
those that invaded and colonized the Philippines. The instructors’ apathy might
also be due to their dependency on industrialization, or it might be a
consequence of structural violence. As an educator, it is my hope that as
Filipinos become critical thinkers, they will become empowered to turn their
apathy into positive action, thus allowing them to improve their circumstances.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION............................................................. 1
Do Teachers Understand What Their Students Must Learn?........................2
The Potential of Critical Thinking................................................................ 3
Social, Political and Economic Contexts of My View on
Critical Thinking............................................................................... 6
My View on Critical Thinking......................................................................16
Filipino Views on Critical Thinking............................................................. 17
Critical Thinking in Social Studies in the Philippines.................................. 21
Significance of the Study..............................................................................23
My Boundaries..............................................................................................23
Factors of Influence...................................................................................... 24
Playing by the Rules..................................................... 27
Summary.......................................................................................................27
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................. 30

Definitions of Critical Thinking................................................................... 30
Critical Thinking and Higher-Order Thinking Skills................................... 36
Studies on Critical Thinking Among Youth................................................. 38
Critical Thinking in Social Studies...............................................................42
Studies on Critical Thinking in Pre-Service and In-Service Teachers 44
Summary...................................................................................................... 52
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ..................................54

Choosing the Participants.............................................................................57
Data Collection.............................................................................................60
Interviews......................................................................................... 60
Observations.....................................................................................62
Field Notes....................................................................................... 64
Review of Artefacts..........................................................................65
Page
My Input...........................................................................................65
Data Analysis.................................................................................................66
Summary....................................................................................................... 69
CHAPTER 4: REVIEW OF ARTEFACTS............................................ 70

Review o f the Philippine Social Studies Curriculum 2002......................... 70
Review o f the Grade 6 Philippine Social Studies Textbook......................... 82
Review o f the Grade 6 Social Studies Teacher’s Manual............................. 88
Review o f the Grade 6 Philippine Social Studies Achievement Tests 93
Summary.......................................................................................................97
CHAPTER 5: THE PARTICIPANTS’ STORIES............................. 98

Mrs. Madrigal’s Story....................................................................................98
Mrs. Cortes’s Story........................................................................................ 109
Mrs. Manalo’s Story...................................................................................... 117
Mrs. Cruz’s Story...........................................................................................125
Mrs. Koronel’s Story..................................................................................... 134
Summary...................................................................................................... 142
CHAPTER 6: INTERPRETING THE PARTICIPANTS’ STORIES... 144

Critical Thinking as the Participants See It..................................................144
Critical Thinking Is Expressing One’s Opinion................................ 144
Critical Thinking Is Problem Solving................................................147
Critical Thinking Is Decision Making........................................... 151
The Rationale of Cultivating Critical Thinking in Social Studies................153
Strategies Used to Cultivate Critical Thinking............................................ 155
Problem Solving................................................................................ 156
Collaborative/Cooperative Learning..................................................158
Questioning........................................................................................160
Examining Current Events.................................................................162
Page
Challenges Encountered by the Participants..................................................167

Lack o f Economic Independence.......................................................167
Large Class Size.................................................................................169
Lack of Resources..............................................................................170
Lack o f Training.................................................................................173
Government Support......................................................................................174
Summary........................................................................................................ 176
CHAPTER 7: RECOMMENDATIONS AND

FINAL REFLECTIONS.................................................... 178
Recommendations..........................................................................................178
Final Reflections............................................................................................ 182
REFERENCES......................................................................................... 186
APPENDICES............................................................................................ 199
Appendix A: Parent/Guardian Consent Form................................................199
Appendix B: Student Consent Form..............................................................200
Appendix C: Teacher Consent Form.............................................................201
Appendix D: Letter to Teachers, Requesting to Participate
in the Study........................................................................................202
Appendix E: Letter to the Philippine Secretary of Education....................... 203
Appendix F: Guide Questions for Interview................................................. 204
Appendix G: Confidentiality Agreement...................................................... 205
Appendix H: Letter to Parents/Guardians, Informing Them of Their
Child’s Participation in the Study..................................................... 206
Appendix I: An Overview of the Grade 6 Social Studies
Curriculum................................................................................207
Chapter 1
Introduction
In this dissertation, I present an argument that in order to help mitigate
the effects of colonization and globalization in the Philippines, Filipinos must
become critical thinkers (Floresca-Cawagas & Toh, 1989). This is the premise
that motivated me to undertake a study o f critical thinking. I believe that having
acquired critical thinking skills, Filipino youth can be empowered and better
equipped to affect their circumstances positively, and they may be able to
function knowledgeably in a global environment that tends to exploit the naive
and the ill informed. I believe that public education—despite its current
inadequacies—is the catalyst for appropriate development in the Philippines
because it can enable people to learn skills that may bring economic and social
growth to the country. This thought is inspired by Dewey’s claim about the
function of schools:
School is the essential distributing agency for whatever values and
purposes any social group cherishes. It is not the only means, but it is the
first means, the primary means and the most deliberate means by which
values that any social group cherishes, the purposes that it wishes to
realize are distributed and brought home in the thought, observation,
judgment and choices o f the individual. (Dewey, 1916 in Estioko, 1994,
p. 9)
Because education prepares students for their eventual public and private lives, I
argue that students need to be taught critical thinking skills so they are better
prepared to fulfill their roles in a democracy—one where they can participate in
necessary critical analysis and forge their own futures and the futures of their
communities.
Do Teachers Understand What Their Students Must Learn?
My study represents qualitative research about elementary social studies
teachers’ experiences with critical thinking in Philippines schools. I investigated
elementary teachers’ views on critical thinking as they incorporated it in the
teaching of social studies in the Philippines. I wanted to determine if the
curricular content o f social studies was taught in a manner that provided
children in elementary grades with opportunities to develop critical thinking
skills. The following question provided focus for my research:
What are elementary social studies teachers’ experiences with critical
thinking in Philippine schools?
The research aimed to identify Filipino elementary social studies teachers’
perspectives on critical thinking. It attempted to confirm whether or not
instructors taught critical thinking in the classroom in accordance with how they
defined it. My study also examined whether or not the Philippine educational
system, through the prescribed materials, promoted the development of critical
thinking skills in its students.
Societies are changing rapidly and schools have to teach students critical
thinking skills to help them hone the decision-making processes they will need
to deploy to determine what strategies and opportunities are worth adopting and
which need to be discarded. Schools must provide educational opportunities and
training that effectively develop children’s critical capacities that may,
eventually, help them manage and ameliorate the impact o f the changes that
occur in their environment. With the development and application of critical
thinking, students should be able to form their own views—views that will be
supported by the intrinsic worth of foundational arguments (Wright, 2002). The
development of critical dunking capacity within students can make teaching and
learning interesting, and, ultimately, may empower youth to transform their
realities into positive opportunities.
The Potential o f Critical Thinking
Ian Wright (2002) identifies several important rationales for teaching
critical thinking:
• As citizens, we have to make decisions about who to vote for and
what stance to take on issues.
• Understanding any discipline or subject requires that we understand
and critique the claims made within that discipline or subject area.
To do this requires critical thinking skills.
• We often confront conflicting claims, whether in science, history or
the media. Critical thinking can help us sort out which claims are
most credible.
• Without critical thinking, there would be little human progress.
• Critical thinking is useful when making personal decisions.
• Many of the problems we face are moral. It is better to think
critically about these than to appeal to emotions, self-interest or the
use o f force.
• If we respect children and want them to become independent
decision makers, then we should teach them how to think critically.
• The use o f critical thinking helps empower people so they can reason
well about problems and issues.
• Employers want people who can think critically.
• You are more likely to win arguments if you can reason well.
• If you can think critically, you are more likely to think about your
own thinking and evaluate it. (p. 10)
To be able to act effectively in a democratic society, citizens need to be critical
thinkers so they can participate and render their services useful to the
community (Dewey, 1916). Education in a democracy must function to
strengthen students’ critical competencies. It must do so to prepare them to
serve their society, and so that they may become informed and independent-
minded persons. The goal of egalitarian and forward-thinking education is not to
develop people who are the submissive subjects o f an autocratic leadership, nor
merely obedient servants who will fulfill the functions imposed on them from
above. Education should develop responsible, critically thinking individuals
who have the capacity for independent inquiry (Bigge, 1971).
If instructors want their students to be independent decision-makers,
they must provide their students with opportunities to think for themselves, to
evaluate and generate their own ideas. Teachers have to deliver the curriculum
in such a way that it will promote critical capacities. Students must be respected
for their abilities and not be considered the mere receptacles for ideas and rote
knowledge. Students must not be denied their right to learn how to reason or to
analyze their circumstances (Michaelis, 1988). The level o f education and
literacy exercised by a country’s citizens will likely determine its progress and
development. To be considered literate and numerate today, a citizen must be a
critical thinker. The propensity of an enlightened populace is to rise above
poverty, to improve its conditions, and to assume civic duties (Laboga, 1997).
Preparing children to assume their civic responsibilities is one of the
goals of social studies education in democratic countries. An analysis of the
social studies curriculum at the elementary, secondary, and tertiary levels in
North America reveals that the primary task of building citizenship among
citizens is addressed by the curricular content of social studies (Maxim, 1995;
Michaelis & Garcia, 1996). However, I share the opinion of other authors such
as Allman (1999), Paul (1993), who reason that the traditional concept of civic
education that limits its purview to that of a particular national context is no
longer acceptable. Many societies now demand a form o f global education and
co-operation that will address the problems of environmental pollution, the
trafficking of drugs and humans, human rights abuses, militarization, and
western hegemony, all o f which need to be resisted and combated, which in turn
requires some form o f collaborative action (Bennett, 1990; Boulding, 1988). A
nation needs citizens who are empowered, reflective, and who are critical
thinkers in order to address these problems.
Social, Political and Economic Contexts o f My View on Critical Thinking
The Philippines has a history of foreign invasion. For four centuries, the
country was under Spanish rule. After that, the Americans seized control; later
the Japanese dominated the Philippines. The country eventually was given
independence after the Americans liberated the Filipinos from the Japanese
(Kaul, 1978; McCoy & de Jesus, 1982). During the foreigners’ rule, the
Filipinos had few or no rights, and they were continually made to believe their
race was of a lower status. This attitude o f disdain was eventually internalized
by the people, who looked upon themselves as inferior. The country’s
educational system established during colonial times and, as in other colonized
countries described by Sifuna (1990), discouraged critical thinking and self-
reliance, thus cultivating docile and passive citizens endowed with an
unquestioning attitude.
In time, the citizens acquired rights and freedoms, but the educational
system remained unchanged. The Americans tried to impart democracy to the
Filipinos, but its practice could not be exercised effectively as long as the
country was under American control. At the time, United States President
William McKinley assured the Filipinos of a better life through his “Benevolent
Policy of Assimilation,” which, paradoxically, instructed the military to extend
U. S. sovereignty over the Philippines. American imperialism, too, thus
involved itself in the educational system. It taught Filipinos obedience and
conformity (Estioko, 1994). Because they could not act against their oppressors,
Filipinos acquired a fatalistic view o f the future—an influence of the Catholic
religion propagated by the Spaniards. They were so subjugated that rather than
do something about the abuses, they left their destiny to fate.
The colonization o f the country has not yet dissipated. In fact, it has only
been replaced by another form o f control: globalization. Some authors argue
that globalization is not only a process o f economic integration, it is also the
universalization and commodification of knowledge, technology,
communication, culture, health care, heritage, genetic codes, and the natural
resources of the land, forests, air, and water (Barlow & Clarke, 2002; Reiser &
Davies, 1944; Smith, 2000).
Filipinos’ expectations were raised by the promise that globalization
would create a more prosperous and egalitarian world. Today, however, hopes
have been dashed because modernization has instead instigated a larger
economic disparity. Poor countries, such as the Philippines, have become
poorer, and rich countries have become richer (Bello, 2002; Smith, 2000; Toh,
2001). The foreign economic capital provided to help the poor countries is
attracted by the prospect of charging high interest rates. Debtor countries have
little banking control over these funds, so financial capital is free to move in and
out of the country by means of open trade policies. For the developing
countries, payment of their debt interest alone is almost impossible. In order to
repay their loans, debtor countries have to deprive their people of basic
necessities. Growing quantities of raw materials, such as logs, minerals, and
grain, are exported to earn foreign currency to cover the growing trade deficits.
Vast tracts of farmland once planted with subsistence crops are used to generate
cash crops that feed foreign traders, not the fanners who till the land.
Unregulated global market practices cause the sacrifice o f forests and vast tracts
of land for short-lived trade benefits. The governments of poor countries
radically cutback spending that reduces the availability of public and social
services and that creates massive unemployment. The “structural adjustment”
made by a government so it is able to repay its loans is often economically,
socially, and ecologically disastrous for its citizens and national resources
(Bello, Kinley & Elison, 1982).
As my understanding of the ideas and strategies for change advocated by
Peace or Global Education increased through my work for my master’s degree, I
became more convinced that the provision of education to Filipino youth must
address development issues (Basiga, 2004).
The marginalization of, and the blatant disregard for the Filipino
peoples’ rights have continued into the present day, long after gaining
independence from imperial forces. The people are continually forced off their
lands in the name of development. Western values are directly and indirectly
imposed on them through the means of technology and trade, which gradually
replace Filipino values and obliterate their cultural identity.
Although the country is now independent, it still receives a considerable
amount of foreign aid in the form of loans. The Philippines, which used to be an
exporter of rice in the 1960s, in recent years has been unable to feed its own
populace because its productive and fertile lands—owned by the nation’s elites
and by transnational agricultural corporations (Dahm, 1991; Hayami,
Quisumbing & Adriano, 1990, as cited by Miron, 1997)—arc planted with cash
crops, such as pineapples and bananas. Cash crop prices are fixed by
Transnational Corporations (TNCs), which are more concerned with profits than
with the welfare of local farmers. While corporations own or control vast
farmlands, many citizens do not own land they are able to farm even for
subsistence purposes. Agrarian reform programs in the country had been
unsuccessful because they had been unaccompanied by agricultural support,
such as irrigation systems, education about more productive farming techniques,
farm loans, and other elements (Floresca-Cawagas & Toh, 1989; 1993).
Similarly, the adoption of a mechanized chemical-intensive and fertilizer-
dependent rice technology drove many small farmers to bankruptcy, while
bringing windfall profits to farm machinery manufacturers, the fertilizer cartel,
and the U.S. pesticide monopoly (Bello, Kinley & Elison, 1982).
The structural violence inflicted on farmers by the Philippine
government is clearly illustrated in a press release issued by the IBON (Filipino
symbol o f freedom, not an acronym; a bird) Foundation, on February 21,2001.
IBON asserted that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo approved the
importation of 554,000 metric tons of rice from Vietnam, Thailand, China, and
the United States. This move resulted in the price decline of locally produced
grain and, in the long run, displaced local farmers who were not able to compete
with the cheap, imported rice. The IBON Foundation stated, “Instead of directly
addressing basic concerns o f farmers like insufficient post-harvest facilities,
farm-support programs, and the scrapping of the bogus agrarian reform
program, Malacanang (the President’s office) has perpetuated a cycle o f import-
dependency to offset the country’s perennial rice shortage”
(http://www.ibon.org/).
The current president was one o f the signatories o f the country’s entry
into the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1995 that allowed
the importation of rice and other agricultural products into the Philippines. This
globalization policy, put in place by the Philippine leaders, has been detrimental
to the entire country, not just to the farmers.
The economic structures of the country have been set up to continue the
exploitation of local resources to benefit Transnational Corporations (TNCs),
which seem to be the modern-day equivalent of the former colonial powers. A
passage from the Foreign Investment Laws demonstrates this:
REPATRIATION OF FUNDS
[SALES PROCEEDS, PROFITS, DIVIDENDS, ROYALTIES, LOAN
PAYMENTS, & LIQUIDATION]
There are no existing restrictive regulations on the repatriation o f funds
related to BSP (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas/Central Bank of the
Philippines) registered foreign investments such as sales or divestment
proceeds, profits, dividends, royalties, loan payments, and liquidation.
(www.chanrobles.com/default8.htm)
10
The BSP (Central Bank of the Philippines) registration of foreign investments is
necessary only in cases where the foreign exchange required to service the
repatriation of capital and remittance o f profits, dividends, royalties, loan
payments, or liquidation proceeds is sourced from the banking system. Further,
it should be emphasized that investments in government or listed securities,
money market instruments, or bank deposits need not be registered with the
BSP or with the designated custodian bank o f the investor concerned. The
Foreign Investment Laws of the Philippines make it easy for foreigners to do
business in the country while generating little or no benefit for the host country,
other than employing local people at exploitive wages. Foreign investors can
siphon off, without restrictions, whatever savings and earnings they generate
from the employment of highly qualified but underpaid local workers that often
work in poor conditions.
The Philippine government encourages foreign domination by allowing
foreigners ownership of up to 100% of a business in the country. This is enabled
by the Act Liberalizing Foreign Investments passed in 1996:
AN ACT TO FURTHER LIBERALIZE FOREIGN INVESTMENTS,
AMENDING FOR THE PURPOSE REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7042, AND
FOR OTHER PURPOSES
[Republic Act No. 8179]
SEC. 2. Sec. 7 of Republic Act No. 7042 is hereby amended to read as
follows:
11
Sec. 7. Foreign investments in domestic market enterprises. - Non-
Philippine nationals may own up to one hundred percent [100%] of
domestic market enterprises unless foreign ownership therein is
prohibited or limited by the Constitution and existing laws or the
Foreign Investment Negative List under Section 8 hereof.
(www.chanrobles.com/default8 .html
Unless a business is linked with the manufacture, repair, or storage of
ammunition, lethal weapons, explosives, military ordnance, and other similar
products, any non-Filipino can control 100% ownership of a given business.
Although the amendment is supposed to improve the economic situation of the
country—because, in theory—it entices the investment of foreign capital in the
country, it may prove disastrous in the long run.
Globalization has become the economic trend in the world, such that
everything must be liberalized and markets must be free. Neo-liberalists believe
that globalized countries provide their citizens with boundless opportunities for
prosperity and those that do not integrate into the fiee market will fall into
financial crisis (Tujan, 1999).
Globalization underpins the theory o f interdependence, which takes
three forms (Martinussen, 1997). The first form is demand dependence, which
points out that demand for a country’s production is dependent on domestic
consumers and, in part, foreign consumers. The industrialized countries are
concerned with generating growth in domestic markets because this will trigger
a demand for goods from the industrialized countries, which will eventually
12
result in the shared growth of the countries involved. This has not occurred in
the real world. Because underdeveloped countries are unable to compete with
the huge capital and technological resources available in developed countries,
economic growth has been asymmetrical in favour of developed countries.
The second form of interdependence suggests that industrialized
countries are dependent on goods from underdeveloped countries because First
World countries have no access to certain raw materials and that these are
available only from Third World countries. This relationship has only resulted
in the depletion of the Third World countries’ natural resources.
Martinussen (1997) labels the third form of the theory of
interdependence as welfare dependence. He explains that “different countries
have different comparative advantages to produce individual products Each
country’s unique resources must be exploited in the best possible way in
deference to other countries’ comparative advantages. This way, the highest
level of welfare will be achieved on a global scale” (p. 71). Not surprisingly,
this praxis has again brought more gains to developed countries than to
underdeveloped countries. Martinussen further declares that the theory of
interdependence, which supports globalization, has raised concerns because it
has been used to justify the flow of resources from developing countries to the
wealthier countries.
The application of the neo-liberalist theory of interdependence has been
devastating for Filipinos. Transnational Corporations (TNCs) control production
and services in the Philippines. They manipulate government policies to their
13
advantage and drive the local competitors out of business. TNCs in the
Philippines have been involved in mining, logging, the production of energy,
and the construction of highways. These businesses have been largely
responsible for the irreversible environmental destructions in the country.
Forests are denuded and people are unjustly bought out of their land when
corporations build highways for easy access to their plants, factories, and tourist
resorts, and to facilitate the transportation of products. Floods that are
consequences of mining and logging activities wash away villages, kill
villagers, and render the land unproductive. Sources of water are polluted by
chemicals that drain from processing plants. People are displaced and water
species are obliterated to pave the way for electricity generating dams.
Witnesses testifying at an international people’s tribunal made the following
observations:
We are at a loss on what to do; we have been forced to relocate so the
dam could be built in our area, but we have nowhere else to go and the
compensation offer is not just. We are being treated like chickens being
driven away. We were forced to move because if we stayed, our houses
would be demolished. Some of us received partial payment; some
received no assistance at all. Ninety percent o f the relocated families are
still without stable sources of livelihood, in spite of their willingness to
work. Now they have no means to support themselves, they cannot even
afford to pay for their water and electric bills. We were better off in our
former communities in the mountains. We could sustain ourselves
14
through farming, gold panning, gathering forest products, fishing,
gardening. In the resettlement site, we have very limited space to plant
crops and have no place for our animals. We may be forced to do
criminal activities just to survive. Robbery in the resettlement site is
becoming common.
http://www.im.org/basics/ard/index.php?id==rivers.html
Such stories are commonly told by people whose homes, along the Agno River
in the Cordilleran Region of the northern Philippines, have been destroyed to
make way for a dam. “The relocation plan for th e . . . citizens [removed] by the
dam from their good farmlands and ‘abundant natural resources base’ [turn] out
to be a social disaster. . . The relocation program [is] plagued by the lack of
preparation o f the resettled population for new livelihood, inadequate farm lots
and poor soil, poor domestic water supply, and soil erosion” (Bello, Kinley &
Elison 1982, p. 87). Despite their strong opposition to the dam’s construction,
the residents have no choice but to give up everything—their livelihood, their
culture and their community life, and sometimes their dignity.
The government has acknowledged the importance of preserving the
nation’s natural resources and has made plans to protect the forests, national
parks, fisheries, and coastal waters, and to control waste disposal, air and water
pollution (World Bank 1993, cited by Miron, 1997). “However, these plans are
often compromised in favour of attracting foreign firms to invest in the national
economy” (Miron 1997, p. 37).
15
To prevent further ecological damage to the Philippine rainforests, and
to minimize the adverse social and economic impacts experienced by the
Filipino people, the development of critical thinking skills in student
populations must be a curricular priority for social studies. I am convinced that
critical thinking allows individuals to see and know what needs to be changed
and to act in situations so that whatever needs changing can be changed. Any
subject matter can be taught with the application o f critical thinking strategies
when students are required to engage in analytical, reflective, and evaluative
thinking.
My View on Critical Thinking
Paolo Freire inspires my view on critical thinking, particularly with his
idea of conscientization. Cited by AJlman (1999), Freire (1972) defines
conscientization in this way:
[It is the] process of developing critical/dialectal perception. It expresses
the inseparable unity between critically acting to transform relations and
the critical transformation o f consciousness. In other words, it is only
within the experiences of struggling to transform relations and the
experience o f the transformation that our critical consciousness can fully
develop, (pp. 95-96)
Critical thinking is not only the recognition and acknowledgement that a
problem exists; it also requires that one address the problem. Critical thinking is
a transformative process that not only enables people to discuss their conditions,
but also allows them to find a way to improve them through empowerment. It is,
16
for example, the simultaneous confirmation of a flaw in the status quo and the
action required to challenge and alter the status quo. The introduction of critical
pedagogy in Philippine classrooms can prepare Filipino youth to confront
colonization and globalization concerns.
My view on critical thinking is further encouraged by Giroux,
Lankshear, McLaren, and Peters (1997) as they suggest that critical pedagogy
enables the exposure of life’s exploitive and oppressive situations. Hence,
educators can employ it in their effort to introduce democratic social values in
their classrooms. Critical pedagogues not only censure the injustices of neo
liberal capitalism, they also call attention to the establishment of conditions for
a new social and economic democracy through critical pedagogy in schools.
Filipino Views on Critical Thinking
Critical thinking has not been promoted in Philippine classrooms. It is
therefore not surprising that virtually no literature about critical thinking in the
Philippine context was found in the review of related literature conducted for
this study. Although the development o f critical thinking is now one of the goals
o f elementary social studies education in the Philippines and is being
encouraged as a course offering at college and university levels, actual teaching
of the skill is not a common practice. My search revealed that no studies on
critical thinking had been conducted at any level of schooling in the Philippines.
Therefore, the data presented in this part of the study was drawn primarily from
my personal experiences.
17
Critical thinking is not encouraged in Philippine classrooms because it is
misconstrued in a number of ways; among these, it is perceived as a form o f
criticism that places blame or finds fault in an attempt to discredit someone’s
efforts. The features of critical thinking are also misconstrued as a sign of being
difficult or a showy manifestation of superiority that puts others down—or
simply as bad manners. This must be understood in the cultural context of the
Philippines, where the characteristics of obedience and of being agreeable are
valued and highly regarded. Consequently, students are likely to readily
conform to a leader’s—or the majority’s—wishes, rather than make an effort to
think critically about a position and present a disparate assessment. This is not
to say, however, that Filipinos are incapable of thinking critically. It is quite
acceptable for a person o f authority to pass critical judgment on the action of a
subordinate, as a parent would judge and correct a child’s behaviour. But the
opposite is not conventional or readily accepted. Critical thinking skills are
acknowledged as adult skills and are not encouraged among Filipino youth, lest
they grow up to be argumentative and non-conformist. In the Filipino culture,
being pleasantly harmonious is considered to be a virtue that every child should
possess.
The Filipino perspectives on critical thinking can be attributed to
centuries of colonization and to the legacy o f the Spanish friars’ version of
Catholicism. One of the aims of the Spanish conquest in the country was to
spread Christianity. In the early years of the Spanish rule, Catholic religious
orders wielded great power over the Filipino people. Over time, the majority of
18
the Natives were converted to the Catholic faith. In exchange for their efforts in
looking after the spiritual well being o f the Filipinos, the religious orders were
awarded vast tracts o f land, which were previously owned and developed by the
people. The friars enforced unpaid labour in lieu of taxes which were owed to
them by their colonial subjects. The friars supervised various governmental
services such as collection of taxes, running o f schools, census, public works,
charities and other political affairs. Their rule was oppressive such that their
subjects were under their control from birth until death. The Natives who
disagreed with them were witch-hunted and condemned as heretics and
subversives (Chapman, 1987; Guerrero, 1971; Kaul, 1978). Guerrero (1971)
describes the classic feudalism exercised by the friars, where the union of
Catholicism and state permeated the colonial will:
The pulpit and the confessional box were expertly used for colonial
propaganda and espionage. The catechetical schools were used to poison
the minds of the children against their own country.... Among the
masses, the friars propagated a bigoted culture that was obsessed with
novenas, prayer books, hagiographies, scapularies, the passion play, the
anti-Muslim moro-moro and pompous religious feasts and processions.
The friars had burned and destroyed the artifacts of pre-colonial culture
as the handiwork of the devil and assimilated only those things of the
indigenous culture which they could use to facilitate colonial and
medieval indoctrination, (pp. 14-15)
19
The friars assumed an important role in the Spanish conquest by totalling
controlling the parish life of the Filipino people through their quest for “God,
gold and glory.” During the Spanish regime, the intellectual lives of the Natives
were also shaped by the friars, who educated students through the doctrines of
the Catholic religion, consequently repressing their understanding and
creativity, rather than cultivating and liberating them (Chapman, 1987).
The following passage written by Jose Rizal, the Philippine national
hero who was executed by the Spaniards for supposedly inciting rebellion and
for preaching sedition, describes the effects of the country’s Hispanization.
Then began a new era for the Filipinos; little by little they lost their old
traditions, the mementos o f their past; they gave up their writing, their
songs, their poems, their laws in order to learn by rote other doctrines
which they did not understand, another morality, another aesthetics from
those inspired by their climate and their manner of thinking. Then they
declined, degrading themselves in their own eyes; they became ashamed
of what was their own; they began to admire and praise whatever was
foreign and incomprehensible; their spirit was dismayed, and it
surrendered. (Cited by Kaul, 1978, pp. 6-7)
Rizal’s account above also explains the negative impacts of colonization by
other countries on the Filipinos.
For a country where social and economic problems have stemmed from
colonization and globalization, it is not surprising that the development of
critical thinking skills is discouraged in its populace. The absence of relevant
20
literature and the dearth o f studies on critical thinking in the Philippines may
justify the need for this study.
Critical Thinking in Social Studies in the Philippines
Due to the westernization of Filipino culture, and in response to the
globalization of the country’s markets, industries, physical labour resources,
natural resources, and economy, I argue that the populace must become critical
in its thinking. Critical thinking can be efficiently promoted through education,
particularly in social studies education. The curriculum design adopted by the
2002 social studies curriculum, issued by the Department of Education, Culture
and Sports, which integrates social studies with arts, music, and physical
education, focuses on citizenship education.
Social Studies is composed o f the following subjects:
• Civics and Culture; Geography, History, and Civics
• Music, Arts, and Physical Education
• Home and Livelihood Education
• Good Manners and Right Conduct (Department of Education,
Culture and Sports, 2002, p. 2).
The curriculum’s integration of these disciplines made me assume that
Philippine curriculum developers believe individuals who develop well-rounded
physical, social, academic, and personal faculties are socialized for “good”
citizenship in a democratic society. This objective is in keeping with the general
aims of Philippine education found in the country’s constitution—which “are
designed to accelerate individual growth or self-discipline, social growth, and
21
economic development o f the [country]. It is also the purpose o f . . . education
to attain a high moral regeneration and improve the people’s character, attitudes,
and habits necessary in national development” (Gregorio & Gregorio, 1976, p.
175). Social studies draws from other fields o f study to make the students’
learning experiences meaningful. Good citizenship means taking on
responsibilities to protect one’s individual rights and freedoms and those of
an entire community, participating in creating and evaluating public policies,
and being just and law abiding (Parker, 2001).
Good manners and right conduct, or character, education used to be a
separate subject taught in Philippine schools. The 2002 social studies
curriculum, however, integrates character education through the development of
citizenship values that bring people together as one and serve as guidelines
about how Filipinos interact with each other. Some of the values include the
following: justice, honesty, respect, loyalty, equality of opportunity, human
worth and dignity, and patriotism. These values give Filipinos a common
ideology upon which their social and civic lives are based.
While Philippine social studies courses seek to prepare Filipino youth
for life in a democracy, it puts emphasis on, and provides little direction about,
the development of critical thinking. One of the goals of the integrated
curriculum indicated in the social studies curricular document is the
development of “critical and creative thinking towards responsible decision
making on issues that are encountered” (Department of Education, 2002, p. 2).
It is clearly mandated that elementary social studies teachers teach critical
22
thinking to their students. However, determining whether or not this
transmission actually occurs in classrooms was one of the main objectives of my
study. My teaching experience in the Philippines and a general examination of
the skills listed in the curriculum revealed little or no attempt were made to
develop any of the critical thinki ng skills.
Significance o f the Study
The study is significant because it may have brought to teachers’
awareness that critical thinking provides tools of the mind, which one needs to
think through anything and everything that requires thought in life (Paul &
Elder, 2006). It tried to make the participants become cognizant that critical
thinking, according to Paul (1993) is central to global social, economic
development and prosperity. “Critical thinking is the essential foundation for
adaptation to the everyday personal, social, and professional demands of the 21st
Century and thereafter” (p. v).
The study may have encouraged teachers to become critical thinkers
themselves: to discover their own thinking processes and their implications. In
doing so, they would be in a better position to impart the skills to their students.
The lack of literature and the absence of studies on critical thinking in
the Philippines, as I found out in my search for related literature, also made this
study important.
My Boundaries
The study was delimited to six teacher-participants, who were teaching
Grade 6 social studies in the Philippines. Grade 6 teachers were chosen because
23
it is at this grade level that social studies is departmentalized; one teacher is
assigned to teach the subject in a number of classes.
For purposes of comparison and contrast in the study, three of the six
participants were social studies teachers who taught in rural areas, while the
other three taught in an urban setting, although one teacher withdrew from the
study. An examination of the Philippine social studies curriculum was
undertaken. This was delimited to the recently developed curriculum o f2002.
Other social studies resource materials issued free of cost to school districts and
prescribed by the Philippine Department of Education, Culture and Sports were
also reviewed, such as textbooks and the teacher’s manual.
Factors o f Influence
The study’s methodology considered the values, practices, and beliefs of
the participants so that I could conduct the research without causing offence to
anyone. It “approached cultural protocols, values, and behaviours as an integral
part of methodology” (Smith, 2001, p. 15). While conducting the study and
analyzing the data, I was both an “insider” and an “outsider” (Griffith, 1998).
Griffith cites the controversy over the relationship between the researcher and
the participants of the research from various contexts. She argues that different
groups such as people with disabilities, gay and lesbians, women and
indigenous peoples resent the intrusion of researchers who belong outside of
their communities. She points out that a research that studies the experiences of
marginalized groups should be conducted by people within their community
24
because an outsider researcher can not truly understand nor can s/he represent
the experiences of the participants.
Although I had given up my Filipino citizenship, I had never ceased
being a Filipino. I understand the hopes and aspirations o f those in the
Philippines who are struggling for a better future for themselves, their children
and their families. As an advocate of Filipinos, I have supported a number of
initiatives that addressed poverty and social injustice in the Philippines. While
conducting my study, I considered myself as an insider researcher who shared
the experiences of the teacher-participants, especially because I taught in the
public and private school systems in the Philippines. For example, I heard my
own voice in the stories of the participants as they relayed their frustrations
about the lack of government support. I could imagine the teacher over
extending herself in trying to reach all the students in her large class. I could
feel the pressure exerted on teachers to cover the large number of topics in
preparing their students for the year-end achievement tests with little or no
resources to help them. Poor physical conditions of classrooms and lack of
teacher-training were other constraints teachers faced. Our common experiences
put me in a unique relationship with my study’s participants; such a relationship
is the essence of an interpretive inquiry (Nielsen, 1990, cited by Nagy Hesse-
Biber & Leavy, 2006).
However, because I was the researcher, I was considered an outsider.
Razavi (1992, in Bridges, 2006) claims that, “By virtue of being a researcher,
one is rarely a complete insider anywhere...” (p. 161). As an outsider, however,
25
I was able to offer a disparate perspective to some of the participants’
experiences. Barone (1992), cited by Bridges (2006) elaborates on this point:
People from outside a community clearly can have an understanding of
the experience of those who are inside that community. It is almost
certainly a different understanding from that of the insiders. Whether it
is o f any value will depend among other things on the extent to which
they have immersed themselves in the world of the other and portrayed it
in its richness and complexity; on the empathy and imagination which
they have brought to their enquiry and writing; on whether their stories
are honest, responsible and critical, (p.3)
Although I consider myself to be an insider and a member of the Filipino
community, I was careful not to assume an “expert role,” and to conduct the
research with humility and respect. With my outsider’s eye, I looked at some of
the participants’ stories in a different light.
The findings of the study focused on the views expressed by the teacher-
participants, which were obtained through interviews. My interpretation of the
responses and the data gathered through observations might have generated bias
in the results. The participants’ perspectives were recorded in the contexts of
their situations and experiences. The findings were confined to the specific
setting of each participant and were not generalized to other areas. I have an
excellent command of the Filipino national language; nevertheless, some o f the
nuances of the Filipino language might have been lost in the process of
26
translating the transcripts, and parts of the artefacts from Filipino to English.
The process might have further prejudiced my interpretation of the documents.
Playing by the Rules
The study adhered to the ethical guidelines set by the University of
Alberta in the “University Standards for Protection of Human Research
Participants.” The participants willingly and voluntarily took part in the study,
which was indicated in their signed consent forms. All participants were
informed in writing o f the nature and the significance of the study, and the
extent to which the collected data would be used. They were free to withdraw
from the study at any time.
Participants were guaranteed anonymity during the gathering and
reporting of data. The names o f the participants, principals, and schools were
not identified in the publication of the study’s findings. Participants were given
an opportunity to review, amend, or delete audio/video recordings and
transcribed comments before the publication of results.
Summary
This study investigated Philippine elementary social studies teachers’
understanding of critical thinking and verified how they engaged the students in
their classrooms in a manner that promoted the cultivation of the skill. As
students become critical thinkers, they can participate in community decisions
27
and thus take positive, appropriate actions for themselves and for others in the
country. I suggest that effective critical thinking skills can be instrumental in
addressing and abating the detrimental effects o f colonization, and inappropriate
development brought about by globalization. The development of critical
thinking skills may “enable people to act more strategically in ways that may
change their context for the better” (Allman, 1999, p. x). However, teachers can
only empower their students if they themselves are empowered. According to
Giroux (1988), teachers are transformative intellectuals whose responsibility is
to provide students with the opportunity to develop critical reflection and action
that would give them the courage to struggle against economic, political, and
social injustices. My conviction of the need to foster critical thinking among
Filipino youth is equalled by my faith in the teachers who carry out that
undertaking.
The dissertation is structured as follows:
The Prologue describes the inspiration of my study; followed by the
statement of the problem and the rationale of the study in Chapter 1,
Introduction. Chapter 2, Literature Review informs the study through the
various related literature that were reviewed. Chapter 3, Research Methodology
explicates the data collection and data analysis methods used. Materials
prescribed by the Philippine Department of Education, Culture and Sports and
school district achievement tests in social studies are examined in Chapter 4,
Review o f Artefacts. Chapter 5, The Participants ’Stories contains the data of the
study—the narratives of the participants, while the analysis of the participants’
28
stories is presented in Chapter 6, Interpreting the Participants ’ Stories. My
recommendations and my final thoughts are offered in Chapter 7,
Recommendations and Final Reflections.
29
Chapter 2
Literature Review
Literature related to this study was reviewed for a number o f reasons: to
justify the current study, to extend past research, to address a population that
had not yet been studied, to avoid duplicating research that already exists, and to
gather key elements from other research (Creswell, 2002). Suggestions about
research design that was common to the area of study, scholars o f the topic, and
relevant facts and discussions about the subject of research were provided by the
related literature (Mauch & Birch, 1998). The current study benefited from a
literature review for all the reasons earlier stated.
In reviewing the substantive literature related to my study, I felt it
necessary to categorize it into various sub-topics. A range of definitions of
critical thinking that enhanced the analysis of data were offered by a number of
authors. Critical thinking was compared with higher-order thinking skills in an
attempt to better define its nature. Fundamental issues in the literature were
presented through the Filipino views and my own perspective of critical
thinking. Finally, previous studies in the field were examined to shed light on
how their findings had bearing on my own study, which, most importantly,
helped frame and structure my study.
Definitions o f Critical Thinking
Critical thinking is defined in a number of ways: as a way o f thinking
akin to social philosophy (Seiler, 2005), as a set of skills that comprise higher
order thinking (Beyer, 1985), as a set of processes, and as a set of procedures
30
(Bailin, Case, Coombs & Daniels, 1999). However, only the first two ways are
pertinent to this dissertation. In its social philosophy mode, critical thinking is
inspired by the critical theory developed by the Frankfort School o f Social
Theory, founded in the 1930’s in Germany. Kanpol (1994) outlines the early
thrust of the Frankfort School this way:
World War II propelled the Frankfort School (which included a handful
of German intellectuals who viewed the atrocities of the wars with both
anger and disdain) to its most critical points of society. In short, the
Frankfort School sought out a new moral social order, a social
emancipation from the various economic, social, and cultural oppressive
qualities, such as social prejudices and economic inequalities, (p. 29)
Critical theory describes a society’s relationship with its economy. In education,
for example, critical theory explains how students are divided into low-, middle,
and upper-class categories according to their parents’ economic standing. This
categorization predicts which students will fail to acquire and which will
successfully attain “cultural capital”—the knowledge, skills, and values that
carry and reflect social worth. While critical theory literature asserts that schools
now produce unequal social relations in terms of race, gender, and class, critical
theorists (Bowles & Gintis,1976; Willis, 1977) argue that alternatives to
oppressive educational systems should be established so that schools work
towards securing equal opportunities for all students.
Critical theory is defined as “any theory of society or social life that
distinguishes itself from scientific theories of society by a willingness to be
31
critical as well as factual” (Lemert, 1997, cited on p. 24 by Scott & Usher,
1999). As such, critical theory is the basis of critical pedagogy, the aim of which
is emancipation. Scott and Usher make the point that the crucial, and critical,
objective of this pedagogy is that “it does not simply seek to generate
knowledge of the world as it is but to detect and unmask beliefs and practices
that limit human freedom, justice, and democracy” (1999, p.30) and then works
to engender freedom, justice, and democracy. A similar view of critical
pedagogy is held by Apple (1982), Freire (1978), Giroux (1988), Kincheloe
(2004), and McLaren (1989). They counsel teachers to become critical
educators who speak out against political, economic, and social injustices, and
that they should do so within and outside their classrooms. Critical pedagogy is
concerned with the alleviation of human suffering by identifying and opposing
the causes o f oppression. It encourages teachers and students to challenge
undemocratic and unequal practices through transformative social action and to
seek out alternative practices that are more egalitarian. The pedagogy develops
strategies that mitigate the effects of globalization by teaching students skills to
empower them (Kellner, 2005; Lankshear, Peters, & Knobel, 1996).
To focus now on critical thinking as a set of skills, S. Norris (1985)
describes them in his article “Synthesis of research on critical thinking,” as
“deciding what to do or believe. . . assessing the views of others and one’s own
views according to acceptable standards o f appraisal. . . [and] conceiving of
alternative courses of action and candidates for belief, before critically
appraising which alternative to choose”(Norris, 1985, p. 40). Each of these steps
32
represents a particular skill that makes up the larger skill set: critical thinking.
Norris’s article provides a brief summary of several research undertakings and
authoritative opinions on critical thinking that led me to related literature.
Similar definitions of critical thinking were collected from a number of
authors, including D’Angelo, Freely, Giroux, Glaser, and Russell. These
contributions are presented by Beyer (1985) in his article “Critical thinking:
what is it?” Freely (1976) states, “Critical thinking is the judging o f statements
based on acceptable standards” (p. 3). For Russell (1956), “critical thinking is
the skill of examining. . . materials in the light o f the related objective evidence,
comparing the objective or statement with some norm or standard, and
concluding [with] or acting upon the judgment then made” (p. 285). Similarly,
Glaser (1941) says, “critical thinking calls for a persistent effort to examine any
belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the evidence that supports
it and the further conclusions to which it tends” (p.16). D’Angelo (1971) defines
critical thinking as the skill of “evaluating statements, arguments, and
experiences” (p.7), while Giroux (1978) considers “an effective thinker [to be
one who] seeks to identify the set of filters through which [authors] view
information, select facts. . . [and] define problems” (p. 298).
Each o f these author’s definitions is a variant of the others’ in the sense
that each explanation is judged against a certain norm or evidence. Yet each is
distinct because every description offered involves a different skill. The authors’
statements do illuminate some of the significant proficiencies involved in
critical thinking. Beyer (1985) efficiently defines critical thinking as it is
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expressed by a number o f educators, he specifies associated abilities, and he
clarifies the characteristics o f skills that are operational in critical thinking.
Beyer then asserts that critical thinking skills accomplish these tasks:
• Distinguish between verifiable facts and value claims
• Determine the reliability of a source
• Determine the factual accuracy o f a statement
• Distinguish relevant from irrelevant information, claims, or reasons
• Detect bias
• Identify unstated assumptions
• Identify ambiguous or equivocal claims or arguments
• Recognize logical inconsistencies or fallacies in a line o f reasoning
• Distinguish between warranted or unwarranted claims
• Determine the strength of an argument (p. 272)
As a set of skills, critical thinking refers to cognitive and intellectual
processes that are evaluative and analytical in nature; critical thinking as a
philosophy, on the other hand, is aligned with social consciousness that, when
applied practically in the classroom, becomes critical pedagogy. Critical
thinking skills are, in essence, higher order thinking skills; critical pedagogy is
the teaching process that encourages students to evaluate social conditions and
to then identify steps that can be taken to seek fairness, justice, and
emancipation (Kanpol, 1994; Kincheloe, 2005). Shapiro presents a distinction
between critical thinking and critical pedagogy as follows:
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The term critical thinking very often in the culture, and particularly
around schools today, is used to denote a very strictly intellectual task.
That is a capacity to problem solve, to develop the capacity for
analytical thinking on the part of students, to perhaps be able to analyze
things in different ways and reach different conclusions.. . . But the kind
of criticality you will find in critical pedagogy is really. . . about
focusing our critical capacities, our questioning capacity, on the
everyday world in which we find ourselves with a purpose. And that
purpose is rooted in moral vision. It has to do with looking at the world,
questioning the world as to whether, in fact, it treats people with dignity
and respect; whether the world is one in which certain groups of people
or individuals are limited or dominated, or whether the world that we
live in, in fact, lives up to its democratic and humanistic promises.. . . I
guess one way to see this is that a critical consciousness really, I think,
puts those critical capacities to work in some real way. (p. 168)
Critical thinking skills are cognitive skills that are put to work in the framework
of critical pedagogy. Critical pedagogy provides a venue for the application and
refinement o f critical thinking skills to pave the way for the development of
social consciousness.
Critical pedagogy not only advocates for social change, it also fosters
critical thinking: “Freire always maintained that pedagogy has as much to do
with the effort to change the world as with developing rigorous forms of
analysis. In other words, critical pedagogy is not only interested in social change
35
but also in cultivating the intellect of teachers, students, and members of a larger
society” (Kincheloe, 2004, p. 21). Critical thinking, when trained and focused
by critical pedagogy, is a process that develops self-awareness, a liberated mind,
and a critical consciousness. Ideally, critical pedagogy and critical thinking
combine such that “[f|or teachers to act in an emancipatory manner involves
empowered actions—activities that contribute to the best interests o f students,
community members, and other teachers[,] and conduct that enables those
affected to employ their intelligence and ethics” (Kincheloe, 1993, p. 26).
Critical Thinking and Higher-Order Thinking Skills
Critical thinking is often associated with thinking skills and higher-order
thinking skills. Newmann (1991, p. 325) defines higher-order thinking as the
“challenge and expanded use of [the] mind, [while] lower-order thinking
represents routine, mechanistic application, and limited use of [the] mind.”
Higher-order thinking occurs in activities such as interpreting, analyzing, and
manipulating information. Lower-order thinking, on the other hand, involves
repetitive routines. Activities such as listing information from memory,
inserting numbers into previously learned formulae, and recalling facts are
categorized as lower order thinking.
Beyer (1985) claims that one major school system, the Los Angeles
Unified School District, asserts that critical thinking is a major category for all
thinking operations, such as comparing/contrasting, distinguishing facts from
opinion, formulating relevant questions, observing, classifying, generalizing,
predicting, and defining. Other authors, Beyer reports, equate critical thinking
36
with Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives. Some educators also refer to
critical thinking as the “thinking process,” “metacognition,” “critical reflection,”
or “reflective thinking.” The term reflective thinking is drawn from Dewey’s
notion of reflective thought, which he understands as the “Active, persistent,
and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form o f knowledge in the
light of the grounds that support it and the further conclusion to which it tends”
(Dewey, 1933, p. 9). While Beyer (1985) lists the operational skills that make
up critical thinking, Dewey (1916) outlines the components and processes
involved in reflective thinking. They are as follows:
• Perplexity, confusion, [and] doubt, because one is implicated in an
incomplete situation whose full character is not yet determined;
• A conjectural anticipation—a tentative interpretation of the given
elements, attributing to them a tendency to effect certain
consequences;
• A careful survey (examination, inspection, exploration, analysis) of
all attainable considerations [that] will define and clarify the problem
at hand;
• A consequent elaboration of the tentative hypothesis to make it more
precise and more consistent, squaring it with a wider range of facts;
• Taking one’s stand upon the projected hypothesis as a plan of action
[that] is applied to [an] existing state of affairs; doing something
overtly to bring about the anticipated result, and thereby testing the
hypothesis, (p. 176)
37
It is apparent that authors and educators have nuanced and individualized
interpretations o f what elements constitute critical thinking, and they do not all
agree on all points. However, their definitions have certain elements in
common. Beyer’s and Dewey’s characterization of the nature of critical
thinking, for example, both presume a certain mind set that a person must adopt
before engaging in critical thinking. Both proponents, together with other
educators, agree that critical thinking is active, is evaluative in nature, and
involves a certain amount of scepticism. Critical thinking involves a few
operations that can be used independently or that can be combined with other
operations (Duplass & Zeidler, 2000).
To provide a clear differentiation between critical thinking and other
thinking skills, and to define the distinct features of critical thinking, it is
important to guide teachers, themselves, to identify and employ specific critical
thinking skills as they teach their students. Substituting other thinking skills for
critical thinking skills can mislead educators into believing they are teaching
appropriate skills when in fact they are not. This means that students miss out
on opportunities to learn to think critically.
Studies on Critical Thinking among Youth
Though published in 1941, an experiment conducted by Glaser, “An
experiment in the development of critical thinking,” is still acknowledged for its
relevance to recent studies. Glaser developed materials for use by teachers of
upper elementary, secondary, and college students to encourage critical
thinking. The materials’ efficacy was evaluated in the same investigation.
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Glaser also attempted to determine if a relationship existed between the ability
to think critically and other factors, such as intelligence, reading ability, patterns
o f interest-values, home background, and sex. He sought to determine, too,
whether or not these factors were significantly associated with the amount of
gain on critical thinking tests demonstrated by students after they received
special instruction in critical thinking.
A series of tests, which included the Otis Quick-Scoring Mental Ability
Test and the Watson-Glaser Tests o f Critical Thinking were administered to
four Grade 12 English classes, an experimental group, and to four additional
Grade 12 English classes that constituted the control group. While the control
group received the standard Grade 12 lessons in English class for ten weeks, the
experimental group was subjected to special instructions derived from lessons
created to stimulate critical thinking. After ten weeks, the two groups were
tested once again and their test results were analyzed. The analysis showed the
experimental group tested significantly higher on the composite score. This
supported the conclusion that such lessons can effectively aid the development
of critical thinking. Among the 27% who scored high and the 27% who scored
low, age, sex, home background, and scores on the Interest-Values Inventory
were not found to be significant influential factors. Students whose IQs were
assessed to be lower than 100 in the pre-test of the Otis Quick-Scoring Mental
Ability Test were among those who showed the most gain from the lessons. Six
months after a return to normal instructional practices, the improvement gain in
the ability to think critically was still observable in student behaviour and in
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retest scores. The major objective o f the study—that is, to prepare instructional
materials that could effectively develop critical thinking skills—was
successfully accomplished.
The Watson-Glaser Tests o f Critical Thinking Skills, the assessment
instrument used in Glaser’s pioneering research, served as a reference for
formulating interview questions for the qualitative inquiry I undertook. It should
be noted that the study was criticized by Fawkes, Adajian, Flage, Hoeltzel,
Knorpp, O'Meara, and Weber (2001), for its emphasis on the preparation of
materials for teaching critical thinking rather than determining how, why, and
by what means students drew conclusions about contemporary issues.
Janis Martin (1973) presented a quantitative study of critical thinking,
cited by Cotter (1951), which explored the relationship between Piaget’s and
Vygotsky’s stages of cognitive development in children. The material appears in
her dissertation, “A comparison of the developmental stages proposed by L. S.
Vygotsky and J. Piaget.” Martin studied 104 children between 4 and 16 years of
age, all o f average intelligence. They all attended school at appropriate grade
levels, and none had a history of neurological or emotional difficulties. Piaget’s
model of cognitive development and Vygotsky’s model of conceptual
development were administered to each child to determine each participant’s
cognitive level within both systems. The results were then correlated for the 104
children.
The basis of the Piagetian model was a child’s speech cognition,
perception, socialization, and moral principles, while Vygotsky used only one
40
assessment instrument, called the Vygotsky Block, or the Concept Formation
Test, to determine the conceptual level of the participants. One result of the
study indicated that given a child’s performance within the Piagetian model, one
could predict the child’s performance within the Vygotsky model. Both systems
showed that children displayed significantly different performances at different
age levels, which revealed disparate stages o f sophistication in performance.
However, an analysis of male and female performance showed no difference.
The reliability of the study’s results appears questionable, however, because the
points of comparison differ greatly. Whereas Vygotsky used only one method to
measure a child’s conceptual level, Piaget devised a tool that measured a child’s
cognitive level across numerous tasks. There was no one-to-one correspondence
for the items tested by both models. Although the two systems aim to assess the
cognitive abilities of the participants, it cannot be determined conclusively that
either test verified the critical thinking skills of the children. Although Piaget
and Vygotsky are referred to as early proponents o f the development of critical
thinking, it appears their work focused more on higher-order thinking skills than
on critical thinking.
French and Rhoder (1992) explore various thinking skills and strategies
of teaching, which provide a framework for the development of the skills in the
classroom. I referred to their work to help me distinguish the differences
between problem solving and locating specific answers as strategies used in
teaching critical thinking. Their work was also an invaluable resource which I
used when I examined artefacts for this study. The teacher-training and
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assessment procedures they outlined could further help educators in preparing
an intervention program that endorses critical thinking.
Critical Thinking in Social Studies
Although fewer studies have been conducted on critical thinking in
social studies than in other fields, such as in reading and in writing, some
scholars have asserted that citizens who can think critically are necessary if
democracy is to survive (Dewey, 1916). It is no longer sufficient to vote for a
country’s leaders every so often. Citizens must become aware o f contemporary
issues that affect their societies. Effective citizens must question government
decisions when necessary and become participatory members of their
communities (Sears & Parsons, 1991). Public conflict and political controversy
are the major features of a democratic government in a multicultural society;
consequently, citizens should be equipped with critical thinking skills
(Newmann & Oliver, 1970; Oliver & Shaver, 1966; VanSickle & Hoge, 1991).
Articles written by Kownslar (1985) and Beineke (1985) emphasize the
instruction of critical thinking in social studies. Kownslar claims that students
who acquire critical thinking skills will do well in history and government
courses and will excel in standardized entrance examinations. The skills, he
believes, also have practical applications outside the classroom: students will
apply them when they read newspapers, advertisements, or propaganda; when
they listen to news broadcasts and political speeches; when they prepare to vote;
when they decide whether or not to marry; when they seek to resolve
42
controversial issues; raise children; and when they make other significant life
decisions.
A search of the Thesis and Dissertation database yielded a quantitative
study done on critical thinking in social studies by Katherine Cotter for her
Ph.D. dissertation at Fordham University (1951). The study aimed to “determine
the ability o f the pupils in the sixth grade of the public schools o f the city of
New York to think critically in the social studies” (p. 3). The Wrightstone Test
of Critical Thinking in the Social Studies, the Stanford Achievement Test in the
Social Studies, and the Pintner General Abilities Test, Intermediate, Verbal
Series, were administered to 774 sixth-grade pupils (414 boys and 360 girls) in
five public schools in New York City. The tests were administered to determine
the relationship between students’ ability to think critically and their ability to
retain facts in social studies. The study also set out to identify any significant
differences between the participants’ ability to think critically in social studies
as determined by their sex. Participants were selected as representatives of low,
average, and high socio-economic neighbourhoods in each of the boroughs of
New York City. The research found that both boys and girls scored below the
grade norm on the Test of Critical Thinking in Social Studies. Girls obtained an
insignificantly higher mean score (by three months) than did boys. The
investigation also showed there was a “substantial degree of relationship
between the ability to think critically. . . and the ability to retain facts in the
social studies” (p. 171). However, the validity of the measurement instrument
used to assess critical thinking skills is questionable. The three parts of the Test
43
of Critical Thinking in the Social Studies do not test for critical thinking; rather,
they test for “obtaining facts, drawing conclusions, and applying general facts”
(p. 221). This crucial characteristic is explicitly acknowledged by a
recommendation made by Cotter to further study “the construction of a test of
critical thinking in social studies, which places less emphasis on the various
study skills and more emphasis on those items which call for the actual exercise
of the reasoning process” (p. 172). The fact that the study was conducted in
1951 on sixth graders suggests that critical thinking has long been an
educational focus, which may reinforce the value of developing critical thinking
in youth, as early as the sixth grade. The study’s related literature attributes the
study of children’s critical thinking to Vygotsky, Piaget, Taba, Glaser, and other
proponents. It directs the reader’s attention to 1928, when Piaget’s Judgment
and reasoning in the child was published in English.
Studies on Critical Thinking in Pre-service and In-service Teachers
In order for teachers to teach critical thinking skills to their students,
they must first be critical thinkers themselves. Teachers disseminate knowledge
and serve as conduits between the practical and the theoretical worlds. Hence, it
is important to learn more about teachers’ perspectives on critical thinking. Two
University of Victoria assistant professors, Court and Francis, conducted a study
on Teachers ’ Conceptions o f Critical Thinking to look into teachers’
understanding and practice of critical thinking. The researchers felt that in order
to “improve both pre-service and in-service teacher education, develop materials
that will be helpful for teaching and evaluating critical thinking, and [to] begin
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to change some of the environmental factors that make schools infertile ground
for critical thinking,” it was necessary to know teachers’ perspectives about
critical thinking (1993, pp. 480-481). This particular study was part o f a larger
study conducted by the same researchers, in which 120 teachers completed
questionnaires about critical thinking. Seventeen teachers of kindergarten
through Grade 12 students, of the 120 respondents, agreed to be interviewed on
the telephone. The interviews were conducted over six weeks and each
interview took half an hour to complete. Seven elementary generalists and 10
high school teachers, nine of whom were male and eight were female,
participated in the research. O f the high school teachers, four were English
teachers, one was an English and Social Studies teacher, one was a Science and
Computer Science teacher, one taught Business Education, one taught Industrial
Education, and two taught Fine Arts. From the responses, four themes were
identified: attitude o f open-mindedness, method that allows interaction,
activities that involve problem solving, and argument.
The findings of the investigation showed that although some teachers
experience a “feeling of inadequacy” when assessing critical thinking, all
interviewees expressed commitment and dedication to promoting critical
thinking. They suggested that critical thinking could be taught without great
expense. The strength of the study was its utilization o f a wide sampling of
participants from disparate teaching specializations, which reinforced the
importance of teaching critical thinking in all subject areas. The study also
demonstrated that teaching critical thinking does not have to be an isolated
45
endeavour, because it can be facilitated in any field of study. The weak point of
the study, however, lay in the methodology employed in gathering of data. It
would have been a challenge to establish rapport with the participants and
attempt collection of their information in a thirty-minute telephone interview,
which might have skewed the data collected. Bogdan and Biklen acknowledge
this point when they write, “Good interviews are those in which the subjects are
at ease and talk freely about their points of view” (2003, p. 96).
A study about critical thinking in social studies was undertaken by
Dinkelman (1999). It purported to study the “extent, nature, and development of
critical reflection among three pre-service teachers in a semester-long secondary
social studies methods course” (p. 329). Three students, enrolled in the social
studies methods course, were randomly selected to participate in the study. Data
were collected through a series of interviews held at the beginning, midpoint,
and end of the semester. The students’ work, participation in class, and their
written assignments were also assessed, through observation, for evidence of
reflective thinking. The study found all three participants demonstrated critical
reflection, although not strongly pronounced, for the duration of the course. The
moral and ethical foundations of their reflections were evident in practice. The
students also acquired appropriate language to describe their critical reflection.
The study concluded that there was potential for social studies methods courses
to promote critical thinking, a skill that beginning teachers should acquire
before entering the teaching service. I believe the study’s recommendation is
valid, in that those who enter the teaching profession should be encouraged to
46
become critical thinkers and should possess critical thinking skills they can
impart to their students.
McBride, Xiang, Wittenburg, and Shen (2002) undertook a similar
exploration with a quantitative research project that analyzed pre-service
teachers’ dispositions towards critical thinking. The researchers examined and
compared the critical thinking dispositions of 218 Americans and 234 Chinese
pre-service physical education teachers. The 218 American participants, whose
ages ranged from 20 to 25 years, represented nine universities in the United
States. The universities were selected according to a geographic sample o f
physical education programs that included a methods course. The 234 Chinese
participants were purposefully selected from the Shanghai Institute of Physical
Education, because the researchers had limited access to Chinese students.
Although the participants were not a true representation of either population
group, they were matched to each other according to age, programme
characteristics, and educational standing. The data collection and analysis
instrument was the California Critical Thinking Dispositions Inventory,
developed by Facione and Facione (1992). This instrument was based on the
Triadic Theory, which comprises ability, sensitivity, and inclination, and was
created by Perkins (1993). The results revealed that the American participants
scored significantly higher than the Chinese students on 4 of 7 subscales,
particularly on Critical Thinking Maturity and on Self-confidence. The findings
for the three remaining subscales, “Analycity, Systematicity, and Open-
mindedness,” were not employed due to the low alpha coefficients generated by
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the Chinese sample. No differences were noted for the Inquisitiveness and the
Truth-seeking subscales. I would have expected significant differences in the
results of the two general samples of students from the two countries, due
primarily to differences in cultures and values. It was predictable that the
American students would score higher on most of the subscales, given that the
measurement tool was based on North American assumptions and biases.
The need to develop critical thinking skills has been noted not only in
the western hemisphere, but in other parts o f the world, too. Salem Ali al-
Qahtani (1995) explored the teaching o f thinking skills in the social studies
curriculum of Saudi Arabian secondary schools through qualitative research. He
wanted to learn how thinking skills were taught in five Saudi Arabian secondary
schools in the Abha Educational School District. Purposeful random sampling
was used to choose the students and teachers who participated in the study. The
teachers were classified into Group A—those categorized as “excellent”
teachers—and Group B—or “medial” teachers—as rated by their supervisors.
The teachers were interviewed and all had their classes observed five times to
determine their perceptions of thinking skills, how successful they were in
teaching the skills, and what factors contributed or impeded the teaching of
thinking skills. Classrooms were observed to spot classroom activities that
encouraged teaching of the skills. All teachers articulated the importance of
teaching the skills, but all had some difficulty defining or listing specific
thinking skills. Some teachers indicated that such skills involved knowledge of
textbook contents; others stated the skills involved discussion o f Islamic values.
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There was also a disparity between the teachers’ positive response to conducting
activities that promote thinking skills and the actual application and practice of
those skills in the classroom. Teachers mentioned a number of factors that
impede the development of thinking skills, such as a standardized curriculum,
pressure initiated by achievement tests, the passive attitudes of students, a lack
o f time, outdated textbooks, and a lack o f resources. Informal conversation with
students after class showed that students had raised levels of anxiety, as
manifested in facial expressions, when asked thought-provoking questions.
“Puzzlement” was considered a source o f embarrassment. Nevertheless, the
study recommended the inclusion of activities that promote thinking skills in
classroom practices and a strong commitment on the part of all educational
stakeholders to develop thinking skills. Although the investigation focused on
the teaching of thinking skills, it is relevant to my study on critical thinking
because critical thinking is one of the thinking skills. The interview questions
shared at the end of the Al-Qahtani article prompt ideas about the kinds of
questions one might ask in a related study. The researcher listed a number of
scholarly works whose theories he used to analyze the data. However, I believe
he would have been more effective if he had prepared or used a specific
checklist based on the critical thinking skills listed by proponents such as Beyer
(1987,1988), Norris & Ennis (1989), and Paul (1993).
Chiodo and Tsai (1997) investigated secondary school teachers’
perspectives about teaching critical thinking in social studies classes in Taiwan,
an invaluable resource for my study. The study was both qualitative and
49
quantitative, and it sought to verify the depth of inclusion o f critical thinking in
the teaching of social studies. Twelve secondary social studies teachers from
three senior high schools and two junior high schools in Taiwan were
interviewed, although only 11 sets of data were analyzed as a consequence of
incomplete responses received from the twelfth participant. The participants
comprised thee male teachers and eight female teachers, with a mean age of
36.5 years. Their individual teaching experience ranged from 2.5 to 24 years.
Questions were prewritten in English and Chinese, and each interviewee
was given a choice of the interview language used. At the interview, participants
were asked to rate the extent to which each o f several teaching methods
promoted critical thinking, and these were ranked on a five-point Likert scale.
Observations of classroom activities were video taped to “identify teachers’
instructional methods and to discover to what extent the methods promoted
students’ critical thinking” (Chiodo & Tsai, p. 5). Materials issued by the
Ministry of Education, such as educational guidelines, senior high and junior
high school curriculum criteria, teachers’ brochures, textbooks, and teachers’
manuals, were also analyzed. The findings showed that the teachers could not
define what constitutes critical thinking, nor could they identify teaching
strategies to develop the skill in their classrooms. Yet every teacher claimed he
or she taught critical thinking. Repeated classroom observations revealed that
activities that promoted critical thinking were not present in their teaching.
Analysis of the results suggested that critical thinking is not favoured in
Taiwanese schools. The reason for this, researchers determined, was that “the
50
Chinese culture in Taiwan strives for harmony and security. Questioning is
viewed as opposing the accepted way of doing things; thus, it is not promoted
by the educational system” (p. 6). The teachers also stated that time constraints
prevented them from engaging in critical thinking activities in classes with
approximately 50 students each. One participant claimed that at the grade level
in question, the students did not need the skills, but that they would need them
when they entered adulthood. Emphasis on passing the state exams for
admission to post secondary schools was considered a significant impediment to
the development of critical thinking skills because the exams were content-
based and did not test for critical thinking. As a result, teaching critical thinking
was not considered necessary. The knowledge component that had to be taught
within the required curriculum was overwhelming, so no time was available for
the development or application o f critical thinking strategies. In China, teachers
are instructed to assume a neutral position when it comes to addressing political
issues; consequently, no political discussions ensued in classrooms.
Furthermore, teachers’ manuals do not include teaching strategies for the
development o f critical thinking and there is little accessibility to materials that
promote critical thinking. The study emphasized the responsibility that schools
have to develop critical thinking in students so that youth have associated
advantages in later life.
I undertook a similar study of elementary teachers’ perspectives on
critical thinking in social studies in the Philippines. It was interesting to note
that some of the values expressed by the Filipino teachers are similar to those of
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the Chinese. A highly centralized educational system is common in both
countries. Similarities in cultural practices and beliefs are also found in Taiwan
and the Philippines. My research methodology was also similar, although my
study was entirely qualitative, and participants from rural and urban areas were
interviewed.
Summary
A review o f related literature on critical thinking gave me the
opportunity to examine the subject from a historical perspective. Several articles
presented under the sub-topic Definitions o f Critical Thinking defined the nature
o f critical thinking and clarified my view on the subject. The definitions
differentiated critical thinking, which is based on critical theory, as a social
philosophy (critical pedagogy), from critical thinking as a set of higher order
thinking skills. Although seemingly dichotomous, both definitions are, in fact,
inter-related because it maybe through critical pedagogy that critical thinking
skills are developed, just as it maybe through critical thinking skills that critical
theory is practised. From the findings of the studies reviewed under Studies on
Critical Thinking in Youth, Critical Thinking in Social Studies, and Studies on
Critical Thinking in Pre-service and In-service Teachers, I found that a number
o f tools were available for use to evaluate critical thinking, which also served as
points of reference when I looked for critical thinking practices in the
classroom. A review of the methodologies employed by various researchers,
both quantitative and qualitative, supplied me with practical and evaluative
ideas when I formulated guide questions and guidelines for analysis of data. The
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literature review I conducted informed my study and emphasized the instruction
o f critical thinking. The related literature, furthermore, helped me refine and
conduct my own research on a similar topic.
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Chapter 3
Research Methodology
Qualitative research grounded in interpretive inquiry was the
methodology I used to gather and analyze the data in this study. I chose
qualitative research because my inquiry lent itself to this methodology. The
study’s methodology agreed with Woods’ (1999) view of qualitative research in
that it focused in part on a teacher’s “life as it is lived, things as they happen,
situations as they are constructed in the day-to-day, [the] moment-to-moment
course of events” (p.2). The study was descriptive research that considered the
literal setting and context of instruction to be the direct source of data. The
research focused on meaning and process rather than on outcomes or products
(Bogdan & Biklen, 1992). Qualitative methodology allows the researcher to
generate a deeper understanding of the participants’ realities in their own
setting. Denzin and Lincoln (2000) describe the role of the researcher in a
qualitative research:
Qualitative researchers stress the socially constructed reality, the
intimate relationship between the researcher and what is studied, and the
situational constraints that shape the inquiry. They seek answers to
questions that stress how social experience is created and given
meaning, (p. 8)
The inquiry involved an interaction between myself, as the researcher,
and the participants and how we influenced each other. Ezzy (2002) compares
the hermeneutic framework that I used to a “dance in which the interpretations
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of the observer and the observed are repeatedly interwoven until a sophisticated
understanding is developed” (p. 25). To find out about the participants’
perspectives on critical thinking, I became actively involved in interviews with
teachers and in observing classrooms. Although people shared commonalties,
participants’ responses varied according to their realities, their experiences, and
their personal visions of the social world (Guba, 1981; Locke, 1989).
The study utilized the interpretive inquiry paradigm, which favoured
naturalistic forms o f data collection. It used narratives and descriptives, and it
sought understanding rather than statistical data. Hermeneutics, or interpretive
inquiry, Gallagher (1992) states, “investigates the process of interpretation, the
communication of meaning through a text, linguistic competence in
conversation ... [and] also deals with social processes, human existence, and
Being itself’ (p. 6). In order to provide a working concept of interpretive
inquiry, the following definitions o f hermeneutics were borrowed from
Gallagher (pp. 3-4):
Schleiermacher’s definition—the art of understanding; an art or practice
that relates discourse and understanding (Verstehen) to each
other.
Dilthey’s definition—a critique of historical reason that formed the basis
for the methodology of the human sciences; the art of
understanding permanently fixed expressions of life.
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Heidegger’s definition—the existential, phenomenological analysis of
human existence insofar as understanding is an existential-
ontological characteristic o f human beings.
Gadamer’s definition—a theory that illuminates the conditions of
possibility of understanding; to let what is alienated by the
character o f the written word or by the character of being
distantiated by cultural or historical distances speak again.
Habermas’s definition—an ability we acquire, to the extent to which we
learn to master a natural language; the art of understanding
linguistically communicable meaning and to render it
comprehensible in cases o f distorted communication.
These definitions highlight commonality in that they pair understanding
and interpretation as they relate to language and text and, as such, become the
subject of hermeneutics and interpretive inquiry. Ellis (1998a, pp. 15-16), in her
presentation of three central themes o f hermeneutics, incorporates most of these
definitions and includes Smith’s view. She expounds that the “first theme of
interpretive inquiry is the creative character of interpretation,” which should be
generated holistically. The holistic process leads to the second theme, which
involves “a playing back and forth between the specific and the general, the
micro and the macro, because to understand a part, one must understand the
whole, and to understand the whole, one must understand the individual parts”
(Smith, 1991, p. 190). The third theme Ellis identifies is the condition set by
language as a factor in constructing understanding of text. Language limits or
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enhances one’s ability to interpret an author’s intent. Because one’s language is
defined by the individual’s historical epoch, and social and cultural context,
language must be a central theme of hermeneutics: it directly affects the process
of understanding.
Interpretive inquiry, according to Ellis, is a research process that is not
concerned with seeking a “uniquely correct or ‘accurate’ interpretation, but
rather the most adequate one that can be developed at the tim e... It is the search
for an interpretation [that is] as coherent, comprehensive, and comprehensible as
possible” (p.27). For the purposes of my research, Ellis’s definition of
interpretive inquiry was the referent definition because my study aimed to
explore how teachers gave meaning to and expressed an understanding of their
experiences with the teaching of critical thinking.
Choosing the Participants
Initially, permission was requested from the Office of the Secretary of
Education at the Department of Education, Culture and Sports in Quezon City,
Philippines, to gather data from the elementary schools in Basey, Samar, and in
Tacloban City, in the province of Leyte. I was, however, directed to seek
permission from the Regional Office o f Region 8, which covers Samar and
Leyte. The forms that outlined written permission were later brought to the
Division Superintendent’s Office in Catbalogan, Western Samar, and to the
Division Superintendent’s Office in Tacloban City. The endorsement of the
superintendent of Samar was presented to the school district supervisors in
Basey, who chose the teacher-participants in the rural area. The endorsement
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from the superintendent of the Tacloban City schools was taken directly to the
principals o f three different city schools. They subsequently requested the
participation o f three Grade 6 social studies teachers. Although I had forms
ready (See Appendices A, B, & H), to be sent out to parents/guardians and to
students requesting permission to observe and video tape students during my
classroom observations, permission was not solicited because school
administrators felt that it was culturally inappropriate to do so. In the Philippine
context, schools and their staff are esteemed and trusted, which give school
personnel an unwritten permission from parents, generally allowing their
children to participate in activities conducted in schools. The school
administrators believed that requesting permission might undermine the
confidence and respect community members bestowed on the schools.
My access to participants in the rural area was facilitated by one o f the
Basey district supervisors. Upon receiving the letter from the superintendent of
schools o f Western Samar, which I obtained with no difficulty, the district
supervisor immediately communicated with the teachers whom she chose to
participate in the study. She set up an appointment with the teachers so that I
could meet with them to conduct the interview and the class observation. Every
participant was sent a letter that explained my visit, the nature of my study, and
how the data would be used. Because a new mandate, called “time on task,” was
recently disseminated to instructors by the central office in Quezon City,
specifying that teachers should spend every minute of school time with the
students, the district supervisor appointed a substitute who travelled with me
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from one school to another because two teacher-participants indicated an
interview time scheduled during the regular teaching day.
The spirit of advocacy practiced by the district supervisor on behalf of
the staff and students was heart warming, and I truly appreciated her efforts. In
keeping with cultural protocol, the same caring district supervisor accompanied
and introduced me to the Superintendent o f City Schools in Tacloban City, who
wrote three notes, each addressed to principals of different city schools
requesting the participation o f various teachers. Two of the city school
principals accommodatingly set up interview and class observation schedules
for the teachers and me.
The principal of a third school, however, was new to her position and
showed little enthusiasm for allowing me to conduct my study in her school
because of the “time on task” mandate. She had a staff member take me to the
classroom of the Grade 6 social studies teacher. I explained my research to the
teacher and she eventually agreed to be interviewed after school hours on a
weekday two weeks later, and to be observed on yet another day. Two days after
my interview with her, she withdrew from the study because she felt the
administration would not allow her to spend any more time away from class.
When I explained she would not have to leave class because I would be
watching her teach in class, she expressed considerable anxiety about not being
able to teach a lesson that promoted critical thinking. She promised to get back
to me but she never did.
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The teacher-participants o f my study were all female Grade 6 social
studies teachers in the public schools. The length of individual in-service
teaching experience ranged from 2 to 37 years. The school administrators did a
wonderful job o f introducing and explaining my study to their teachers, such
that each participant was cooperative, obliging, and even served me snacks.
Data Collection
Interviews
The interview was chosen as a means o f collecting data because it is
easy to employ; it is one of the most common and preferred methods of data
collection because it provides data more efficiently than other methods. Patton
(1990) rationalizes the use of interview in this way:
We interview people to find out from them those things we cannot
directly observe.... We cannot observe feelings, thoughts and intentions.
We cannot observe behaviours that took place at some previous point in
time. We cannot observe situations that preclude the presence of an
observer. We cannot observe how people have organized the world and
the meanings they attach to what goes on in the world. . . we have to ask
people questions about those things. The purpose of interview, then, is to
allow us to enter into the other person’s perspective, (p. 196)
Burgess (1984) suggests some guidelines to conduct a successful
interview:
First, it is essential to listen carefully in order to participate in the
conversation, to pose particular questions on topics that have not been
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covered or need developing. Secondly, it is important not to interrupt the
person or persons who are being interviewed.. . . Thirdly, interviewers
need to monitor their own comments, gestures and actions as they may
advance or impede the interview, (p. I l l )
In this study I used an open-ended, unstructured interview with each of
the participants. In an unstructured interview, open-ended questions are asked,
allowing the participant to create his/her own response options. Open-ended
questions are asked in qualitative research “so that participants can voice their
experiences unconstrained by any perspectives o f the researcher or past research
findings” (Creswell, 2002, p. 204).
I engaged the participants in open-ended, unstructured interviews
without using a set of predetermined questions. The questions I formulated were
only used as a guide. (Appendix F lists some o f these guide questions.) In the
open-ended, unstructured interview, “specific topics were pursued as they arose
naturally” (Tisdell in Merriam, 2002 p. 62). The interviews lasted from one and
a half to four hours. The informal nature of our dialogue allowed me to discuss
tangents and to probe beyond the main questions to elicit authentic responses
and gather clarifying information. Each interview was audio taped.
To make the interview a non-threatening process, the participants spoke
intermittently in either Pilipino (the national language), English (the second
official language in the Philippines), or in Waray-waray, a language spoken in
Samar and Leyte provinces and the participants’ native language, as well as my
own. As each participant developed a sense of comfort with the process, her
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responses became more elaborate and involved. The depth of the information
that each participant provided varied according to her interest in, and the
involvement the individual had had, with specific points.
Participants were given the opportunity to listen to the audiotapes of the
interviews so that they could modify, elaborate, or delete any o f their
statements.
Observations
At the completion of each interview, I requested the participant’s
permission to informally observe a social studies class in which the participant
taught critical thinking. Knowing that they were going to get feedback after the
lesson, the participants showed no qualms about letting me observe them.
During observation, I scanned the classroom, took mental notes about the
environment, and I jotted down only a few field notes so as not to appear to be
evaluating the teacher’s teaching style. While the lesson was in progress, I did
not interrupt or ask questions of the participant. After the lesson, each
participant was given feedback. As soon as I was out of the classroom, I
recorded as many relevant observations as I could recall. The observation was
structured around evidence of the teaching of critical thinking.
Classroom observation was necessitated in the study because, “[in]
general, the richest vein of information is struck through direct observation of
school and classroom life” (Eisner, 1991, p. 182). The classroom observation
led to a better understanding of a participant’s views on critical thinking because
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it provided the context in which critical thinking was expected to occur.
Observation verified and/or nullified the information given during the interview.
It also gave me the opportunity to identify the strategies used to teach the skill
and to gauge the extent to which the instructional method promoted critical
thinking among students.
Videotaping equipment, which was mounted on a tripod at the back of
the room and auto recorded the classroom activities, documented the
observation. The equipment was set up before the class started so the process
was less intrusive for the teacher and students. The video-tapes were viewed by
each participant to provide the teacher-participant an opportunity to review,
comment on, clarify points or to delete any part o f the recording the instructor
wished to address. The videotapes explained, clarified, and provided an
illustration of what was observed, and additional field notes were taken from
them. Except on one occasion, in one of the rural schools where students were
all eager to be video-taped before the class started, the video equipment did not
pose any distractions to the participants and to any of the classes.
As drawn from my Filipino cultural experience, I anticipated participants
would feel ill at ease about being observed while teaching, and would be
reluctant to grant permission for the classroom observation. With the exception
of one participant, who eventually withdrew from the study, this did not happen
among the five participants whose classes were observed. Each one o f them
looked confident about their teaching skills and showed enthusiasm while
working with the children.
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Field Notes
Field notes were an important source o f data because they supplemented
and complemented the other methods I used in data gathering. They established
the context in which data was collected. They captured the participants’ and my
own feelings, impressions, and additional remarks, made before and after the
interview, and observations. They also enabled me to keep track o f the
development of the study and provided me with reminders o f “things to do.”
Descriptive notes were written to record the details of what occurred in
the classroom during observation. Notes about actual happenings were taken
down so that specific actions could be noted as they occurred; this meant I did
not have to rely on a general summary of events produced after the fact.
Although video recording was done, word-pictures of setting, actions, people,
behaviour, and events were drawn to provide a more personal log. Field notes
also included summaries of interviews and descriptions that were considered
unique to the situation or environment.
Reflective notes included my personal account of how the inquiry
progressed, and they contained such elements as problems, apparent prejudices,
ideas, hunches, and feelings. The notes also acknowledged mistakes made and
suggestions about how to correct them, learning that took place, and themes and
patterns presented. My field notes also integrated information about who was
involved (pseudonyms), and when and where the observation took place. Notes
were recorded as soon as possible after the observation (specifically, on the
same day the observation was made) to minimize problems of memory recall. It
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was easier to write the notes in several paragraphs and to code whenever
possible in the margins of the paragraphs. Taking field notes allowed me to
relive what was observed and consequently improved my recollection. They
provided me with the opportunity to commit to memory and internalize the
responses and ideas presented by participants (Bogdan & Biklen, 1982).
Review o f Artefacts
The 2002 edition of the Philippine social studies curricular document
was examined in depth to determine whether or not the teaching of critical
thinking was emphasized. Other social studies resource materials, issued free
and prescribed by the Philippine Department of Education, Culture and Sports,
such as the Grade 6 social studies textbook with its corresponding teacher’s
manuals, were also analyzed to find evidence o f the promotion of, or resistance
to, the teaching of critical thinking. Teachers’ lesson plans were also examined.
The review of the social studies documents provided background information
for the research, while the lesson plans supported and further illuminated a
given participant’s conception of critical thinking.
My Input
My personal input, which drew on my experiences as a former Filipino
citizen and a former teacher in the Philippines, was an additional source of data.
As a former resident of Basey and Tacloban City, and as one who now lives in
Canada, I continued to value my roots in, and ties to, the islands of Samar and
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Leyte— connections that informed my selection o f these sites as the base for my
investigation.
Data Analysis
The interpretation of participants’ stories was my attempt to understand
the meaning of each teacher’s account in her own context. Although influenced
by the experiences I brought to the process, I tried to interpret the perspective of
another in its entirety by relating parts of the data to the whole and vice-versa,
thus shaping a cohesive piece of work. Ellis (1998b, p. 17) elucidates the
process in this way: “The interpreter works holistically, rather than (for
example) using classification systems, in an effort to discern the intent or
meaning behind another’s expression.” It was not my intent, however, to present
fixed meanings, as Richardson (2002) explains:
Hermeneutics is not to be equated with the search for absolute meaning
or even with the reinvention of some more human and humane
metanarrative. Rather, it is a difficult and tentative exploration in which
the role of interpretation, in David Smith’s terms, is “to show what is at
work in different disciplines and, in the service of human generativity
and good faith, is [to be] engaged in the mediation of meaning.” (p. 21)
The interpretations I offered represented my understanding of how each teacher-
participant made sense of her realities and experiences of teaching critical
thinking, which were uniquely shaped by her situation, culture, and position in
the community.
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I analyzed the collected data by using a qualitative methodology. I
personally transcribed the interviews with the participants, which were
conducted in English, Waray-waray, or Pilipino, depending on each
participant’s comfort level. Transcripts o f non-English dialogue were translated
by me. I verified the interview transcripts by reading the transcriptions while
listening to the recorded interviews. I repeatedly reviewed the interview
transcripts, observation notes, field notes, and the teacher’s lesson plan of each
participant until I became familiar with her ideas. The information I gathered
from the participants was woven together and rendered into narratives
(Clandinin & Connelly, 1994). Each narrative is presented in the following
chapter, “The Participants’ Stories.”
The first efforts I made to analyze the narratives entailed reading each
participant’s account several times. This allowed me to formulate several
general categories into which data were then placed; Ellis (1998b) considers this
the “first loop.” A clearer understanding o f the data, which was achieved by
entering into the second and subsequent loops in a spiral motion, resulted in the
emergence of commonalities in and more detailed assessments of participants’
perspectives on critical thinking. Each loop created new and different questions
in my mind, causing me to alternate between analysis of the narratives, on the
one hand, and data, on the other, to identify supporting evidence or answer a
query. As I read through the data, certain words, phrases, and patterns surfaced
that enabled me to eventually group similar data together. These words and
phrases became coding categories (Bogdan & Biklen, 1992; Creswell, 2002;
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Patton, 1990). Themes were identified with interrelated data. Polkinghome
describes this process as follows: “The paradigmatic analysis of narratives seeks
to locate common themes or conceptual manifestations among the stories
collected as data” (1995, p. 13). My interpretation of, and the nuances I detected
in, each participant narrative shifted and changed each time the story was read.
However, Packer and Addison (1989), cited by Ellis (1998a), warn that “[A
participant’s narrative] is neither a guess nor a speculation. It is instead, the
working out o f possibilities that have become apparent in a preliminary, dim
understanding of events” (p. 29). As themes were identified, dialogue that
supported the themes was noted. I had to make careful judgments when
considering which data was significant and meaningful. Linking key ideas in the
narratives to relevant literature facilitated the productive interpretation of
accounts. In keeping with the interpretive paradigm, the validity of data was not
the principal concern; rather, the primary objective was to determine whether or
not my study had been advanced.
The analysis o f data was influenced by my experiences and situation,
which, as Rossman and Rallis (1998) observe, is a legitimate aspect of a
qualitative inquiry:
The qualitative researcher assumes that understanding and representing
what has been learned are filtered through her/his own personal
biography that is situated in a specific socio-political, historical moment.
Through this lens the researcher tries to make sense of what she/he has
leamed[;] the researcher interprets the world that she/he has entered.
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(p. 10)
Initially, I interpreted data in keeping with the processes proposed by
Ellis (1998a, pp. 27-32). Creswell’s (2002), and Bogdan and Biklen’s (1982)
data analysis techniques, which facilitated the search for themes and common
threads, and coding, were then applied. Patton’s (1990) recommendations
regarding data processing were also considered in the treatment of data.
Clandinin’s and Connelly’s (1994) work on narrative inquiry was an invaluable
resource for helping me create a narrative structure for the data.
Summary
My study was an interpretive inquiry, which is a type of qualitative
research. Data collection involved dialogues with teacher-participants,
classroom observations, taking field notes and examination of artefacts. My
personal input was also used as a source of data. The data were rendered into
narratives, which were looked at holistically, and were analyzed in the context
of those being studied. As an interpretive inquiry, the study focused on how
people made sense of their situations and their realities. Interpretation of data
was negotiated between the researcher’s perspective and that of each of the
participants, thus moving in an ongoing circular process.
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Chapter 4
Review o f Artefacts
Review o f the Philippine Social Studies Curriculum 2002
Social studies, in many classrooms, is not considered to be as important
as other subject areas, such as language arts and math. It is sometimes
considered an “add-on” curriculum item. However, social studies can be an
exciting part of school life because it gives students an opportunity to learn
about themselves, their heritage, their future, and their government. It stimulates
learners’ curiosity and sharpens their perceptions as they participate in lively
discussions and debate issues that are relevant to them. It enables students to
learn about the world and its peoples, which, when taught well, can be
remarkably enriching. It also facilitates the development of the skills and values
necessary to students who will become effective citizens locally, nationally, and
globally.
I believe that the most effective way to develop values and skills is
through education, particularly social studies. Accordingly, I looked at the 2002
Philippine social studies curriculum for the elementary grades to identify its
objectives, content, and ideological foundations, and thereby determined how
critical thinking skills are promoted in the document. Tyler’s (cited in
Schaffarzick & Hampson, 1975, p. 17) traditional definition of curriculum is
used in this paper, which states that the curriculum is a set of “plans for an
educational program . . . including the identification and selection of educational
objectives, the selection of learning experiences, the organization of learning
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experiences, and the evaluation of the educational program.” Some of my
analysis benefited from the teaching experiences I gained when I taught at the
elementary level in the Philippines for a number of years.
To provide a more thorough understanding of the analysis I have
presented, some contextual information about the Philippine educational system
is provided here. Section 5, Article XIV, o f the country’s constitution requires
that the country have a democratic form o f government that prescribes the
nature of the country’s educational system. It requires that all schools aim to
develop moral character, personal discipline, civic conscience, and vocational
efficiency, and that they teach the duties o f citizenship (Fresnoza & Casim,
1964). The Philippine educational system is subject to government control and
supervision, through the Office o f the Secretary of Education, which directly
supervises the Department of Education, Culture and Sports. Within the
Department are two co-ordinate branches: schools established by the state
(Public Schools), and those established by private citizens (Private Schools).
Social studies in the Philippine educational system is supposedly
integrated with Home Economics, Arts, Music, and Physical Education. All
subject areas are taught together so that each student can demonstrate the
following elements:
• Adequate knowledge and awareness of national identity, the
environment and the development of livelihood, science and technology;
• Critical and creative thinking towards responsible decision-making on
issues encountered;
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• Appreciation for art, music, dances and other aspects of culture, as well
as pride in being a Filipino citizen and awareness of his/her rights and
responsibilities;
• Positive attitude towards work in order to live productively in a peaceful
country; and
• Ability to cope with rapid global change. (Department of Education,
2002, p. 2)
Social studies in the Philippines, it seems, is integrated with social sciences and
humanities to provide students with the opportunity to practice citizenship skills
relevant to critical social issues. A similar observation is shared by Barth (1991)
of the elementary and junior high school social studies in North America. The
practical implications of this approach are offered by Hamston and Murdoch
(1996) who assert, “Integrated curriculum draws upon many different
information sources to illuminate our understanding of people, places, and
events. It also more nearly mimics the way individuals actually reference
subject matter and construct knowledge in the world beyond the school walls”
(cited in Martorella, 1998, p. 303). The wide-ranging and potentially inclusive
nature of social studies lends itself to integration with other subject areas. It can
be taught in such a way that it integrates other subjects in order to illuminate
them. For example, social studies provides a medium through which students
can articulate their thoughts about various subjects; they can be encouraged to
express their views about critical issues through art forms, such as selecting
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music to convey their personal view of the world; analyzing historical artefacts
by means of a film or slide presentation; dramatizing a solution to or the
resolution o f an issue; and other such non-traditional means of representation.
The understanding and practice of citizenship can be elaborated by cultivating
student awareness of social, economic, and environmental interdependence in
the local and global contexts. The Nova Scotia Education and Culture (1999)
share the suggestions above: “Many of the ethical issues that confront today’s
students must be examined from the critical perspective provided through the
social studies. An appreciation of the changing nature o f our world is implicit in
this study” (p. 8).
The integrated, interdisciplinary method of organizing and presenting
the social studies curriculum encapsulates the potential to promote critical
thinking among teachers because to make it work effectively, one must draw
together related bodies of knowledge, perspectives, and methods of teaching
from relevant disciplines to better understand pivotal ideas and issues, persons
and events. However, one must be aware that comparatively insignificant
content and skills may be selected as the means to facilitate integration, with the
consequence that important knowledge is neglected. The result may be that a
mixture of learning is produced that includes representative subject fragments
that are not particularly meaningful: a smattering of art, a tidbit o f social studies,
a little bit of physical education, and so forth. Consequently, no depth in any of
the disciplines is necessarily achieved and learning is shallow. The teacher must
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ensure that what is taught about each subject area contributes significantly to
achieving the learning goals.
Confusion can also result among students when interdisciplinary
education engages with numerous bodies of knowledge simultaneously across
integrated subjects. Parker (2001) addresses this difficulty when he writes, “The
loss in analytic clarity and the increased difficulty [of study] would not justify
the gains hoped for by integrating social studies [with other disciplines]. Experts
in a field. . . do not attempt to tackle a problem by focusing their attention on
all its parts at once! That would make it a tangled-knof ’ (p. 415).
On the surface, the Philippine social studies curriculum is
interdisciplinary, as outlined on the second page o f the document. However,
practice is actually contradictory. Home Economics, Art, Music, and Physical
Education are taught separately by four different teachers at different times
during the day. It does appear that different subjects are integrated to teach
citizenship, an integrationist approach that is possible, but which may be time
consuming and energy draining for students and teachers because the individual
subjects are taught daily. It is no wonder, then, that in the Philippines, school
starts at 7:00 a.m. and ends at 4:30 p.m., with an hour’s break for lunch. When
social studies is taught at the end of the day, the amount of learning that may
occur after such a long day is questionable. In rural areas, some students have to
walk a few kilometres to and from school, often in the dark. The combination of
these circumstances suggests that the curriculum is neither child-centred nor
process-oriented.
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As a subject, social studies has its own specific set of goals and
objectives, topics, subtopics, and concepts, which are similar to the general
objectives identified in the earlier part of this analysis. It is taught daily for 40
minutes as a distinct subject by a teacher who teaches all social studies subjects
in Grade 5 or 6 at a particular school. Below are the specific goals of social
studies, according to the 2002 Philippines social studies curriculum:
Students will demonstrate:
Love of country and pride in being a Filipino, who has rights and
responsibilities; positive attitude and values that help cope with the
changing times; ability to care for the environment; critical and
analytical thinking and a global vision that allows one to cope with
global changes, (p. 4)
In keeping with one of the aims of the Philippine educational system,
social studies seeks to help learners develop values, skills, attitudes, and
knowledge that will help them become competent local, national, and global
citizens. The social and economic dynamics of the country, and the globe,
greatly influence the learning objectives o f the curriculum to socialize students
for global citizenship. The curriculum’s emphasis on citizenship is such that the
equivalent of the term social studies in the Philippine national language is
Makabayan, which, when translated literally, means one who loves his/her
country.
Citizenship education in Philippine social studies focuses curricular
ideology on personal development. This is supported by the goals identified
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above and efforts made to integrate social studies with Arts, Music, Physical
Education, and Home Economics. It is assumed that individuals who are
physically, socially, academically, and personally developed will form an
“upright” society. It is believed that the humanities subjects, although taught
separately from social studies, address the social meaning and the social
interpretation of the arts to explain the essentials of life, which, in turn, may
help develop productive citizens. This is a progressivist point of view, the main
tenet of which is that education should help students acquire skills that will
enable them to discover and eventually learn, by themselves, about the changing
world around them. A progressive curriculum strives to meet student needs,
interests, and concerns.
(www.msubillings.edu/shobbs/educational_Philosophy.htm)
The Philippine social studies topics are organized within five different
categories: Culture, for Grade 1 and Grade 2; Livelihood, for Grade 3;
Geography, for Grade 4; History, for Grade 5; and Civics, for Grade 6. Within
each focused category are strands: in Grades 1,2, and 3 Civics and Culture are
emphasized. History/Geography and Civics are the strands o f the Grade 4
curriculum, which aims to develop the child’s awareness of his or her physical,
social, and vocational skills, as well as the geographical characteristics of the
country: land and water forms, animals, and population. The Grade 5
curriculum’s strand is History, which outlines the problems and events that
influence the current societal changes and the government’s efforts to achieve a
better future. The Grade 6 curriculum strand is Civic Education, which
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emphasizes citizenship. (See Appendix I) The aesthetic effort to make content
relevant to students links the curriculum to the personal lives of the learners.
The organization of topics is consistent with a progressive philosophy that
centres the curriculum on the students’ experiences and abilities.
It is significant that while the Philippine social studies curriculum seeks
to prepare Filipino youth for responsible citizenship through personal growth, it
neglects to develop critical thinking. An examination of the social studies
curriculum lists knowledge, values, and skills to be developed through the
curriculum, but provides little or no opportunities to develop critical thinking.
The curriculum document is a 16-page compilation of topics and subtopics to be
addressed in each grade at specific reporting periods. Under each topic are
specific concepts to be taught, most of which are articulated in such a way that
they require only low-level thinking. Teachers are allowed no flexibility to
select which topics/subtopics they want to cover at a given time o f the year. The
topics must be taught sequentially, as they appear in the curriculum. The topics
are too numerous for a class at any given grade level to cover, which creates
considerable pressure for teachers and students. For example, a Grade 1 teacher
must teach 32 different concepts under four different topics in a school year.
The Grade 5s must cover a minimum of 10 different subtopics under each of the
four major topics, while the Grade 6s address five major topics, each with about
10 subtopics. Under each topic and subtopic, the teacher must develop 10 skills
on average. There would hardly be sufficient time to plan and deliver a critically
assessed and creative lesson. The consequence o f this requirement to transmit an
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overwhelming amount of disparate knowledge necessitates an approach of rote
memorization in place of critical thinking. Learning could inevitably become
superficial and ineffective.
While a progressive school encourages students to interact with one
another to learn co-operation and respect for others’ views, students in the
Philippine schools rarely work in groups and, when they do, each student is
assigned an individual task that he or she hands in to a leader for collation.
Critical thinking may occur when students work together collaboratively;
however, because no sharing of ideas occurs in this form o f “group effort,” only
the leader may have an opportunity to practice critical thinking and to develop
related skills.
It is the responsibility of the Department of Education to prepare and
mandate school curricula for both private and public schools. In a long distance
telephone conversation on April 12,2006 with Ms. Rogelia K. Firmo, the
Department Head of Elementary Education for Region 8, in the Department of
Education Culture and Sports, Philippines, I learned that a standardized national
curriculum is handed down by the Department of Education, which ensures
classroom priorities are congruent with those o f the state. This practice reveals
that the government selects and organizes the objectives and contents of the
curriculum. Although teacher-input is solicited through the responses to
questionnaires sent to some teachers, the supervisor is unsure as to how much of
the teacher-concems are considered.
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The most recent social studies curriculum in the Philippines is a booklet
that outlines the scope and sequence o f concepts that are to be taught in each
elementary grade, including a list o f instructional goals and topics to be covered.
It provides neither the vision nor the rationale for teaching the subjects, nor does
it suggest any instructional strategies, resources, or activities. This could
conceivably indicate recognition and validation of teachers’ resourcefulness and
abilities. The implication is that the implementation o f the mandated curriculum
is the teachers’ role and prerogative in social studies education. Dewey’s
progressive philosophy supports this approach; he writes,
[Teachers] should be given to understand that they not only are
permitted to act on their own initiative, but that they are expected to do
so and that their ability to take hold of a situation for themselves would
be a more important factor in judging them than their following any
particular set of methods or scheme. (1904, pp. 27-28, cited by Ross,
1997)
Teachers are expected to deliver the curriculum through their choice of
strategies, with teacher-made materials and others they can avail themselves of,
because the Department rarely complements the curriculum with resources.
Granting teachers the freedom to use their own teaching methodology is a
liberal persuasion that alludes to the intellectual respect and autonomy given to
the teacher. This is “one o f the key concepts of liberalism [, upholding] the
dignity of the individual and the right to individual liberty”
(www.wordiq .com/definiton/Liberalism). Until recently, when textbooks were
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made available to schools, the ratio was commonly one textbook for every five
students or more. This method of handling the technical aspect of the
curriculum leaves much to be desired. It seems, here, that curriculum and
classroom instruction are considered separate entities. Easy access to knowledge
by students and teachers should be facilitated and straightforward.
The social studies standardized curriculum lends itself to presentation as
subject-centred or content-oriented material. The curriculum in this analysis is
concerned primarily with the transmission of knowledge. The fields o f study at
the elementary level require that students have a good command o f factual
knowledge, which in Philippine classrooms is often accomplished through
teachers’ lectures; the copying of notes from hand-outs, the board, or from
textbooks; and the completion of questions at the end of a given unit or the
filling out of worksheets. The acquisition of knowledge and content is socially
and culturally important to a certain extent because content is the basis for
discussion. However, this acquisition can be achieved by means of
problematizing topics and concepts so that the practice of critical thinking is
introduced and developed.
While knowledge of certain facts is expected o f every citizen—such as
general information about history, geography, and government—acquisition of
this information can be made active. The chronological history o f the country
can be made to come alive and made relevant by connecting past events to
current societal behaviours. Examining how the present is influenced by the past
can thus be made meaningful to Filipino students. For example, the country was
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colonized for more than four centuries, yet the topic o f colonization is hardly
mentioned in the curriculum. One could argue that historical events and dates do
not change, and therefore a passive imparting of historical knowledge cannot be
avoided. However, the problems engendered by colonization represent a crucial
set of issues that the Philippine social studies curriculum should address in light
o f the prevailing Filipino “colonial mentality” and the fatalistic attitude that
prevails, both of which are consequence o f centuries of colonization. The
oppression to which Filipinos were subjugated has been internalized, and the
people are actively discouraged from questioning authority. This may explain
why the social studies curriculum is centred more on content than on issues.
Currently, the country continues to be colonized by multi-national
corporations through the process of globalization. In fact, the Philippines has
been subjected to the IMF and the World Bank’s Structural Adjustment
Program for more than three decades, now. It is not surprising that the new
Philippine social studies curriculum for elementary grades, which was mandated
and taught for the first time during the 2002-2003 school year, excluded the
subject of globalization. For a country that is as thoroughly affected by
globalization as the Philippines, and whose social and economic problems stem
primarily from globalization, it is disappointing that the topic is excluded.
However, the subject is superficially addressed in the first level o f secondary
education, though this is not to say that elementary-grade children are incapable
of understanding the concept. The inclusion of the concept of globalization as
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early as the primary years might prove an effective tool for developing
responsible and critical citizens.
The ideological foundation o f the Philippine social studies curriculum
shifts between the progressive and the liberal perspective. Although its ultimate
objective—to develop good citizens—is a progressive objective, the
curriculum’s content- and outcomes-based instructions, delivered by means
determined by the individual teacher’s discretion and practices, emphasize a
liberal flame of mind. This typifies Dewey’s metaphor of the pendulum:
teaching swings back and forth between two extremes—fostering individual
growth on one end, and imposing controls on the other end.
I hope that various education stakeholders will be represented in the
process of formulating the curriculum to exert greater investment and
ownership. Other approaches, such as an issues-based approach and a
constructivist approach, can be tested as appropriate means to teach social
studies in the Philippines. Because colonization and globalization have
significantly affected the country and its people, I also suggest that these topics
be included in the curriculum (Basiga, 2004).
Review o f the Grade 6 Philippine Social Studies Textbook
Textbooks and other materials are necessary for the delivery of the
curriculum. They are often program materials that contain primary documents,
narrative histories, artwork, skills lessons, guide and review questions,
exercises, and additional suggested resources and activities. They provide an
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invaluable store o f information that teachers would otherwise have to gather on
their own. Parker (2001) underscores the importance of these resources:
Considering all that teachers must do in a day (from teaching reading
and math to teaching social studies and science; from mending hurt
feelings to phoning parents), we believe the social studies textbook
program is an indispensable aid to teaching and learning. Without it,
social studies tends to be slighted. A busy teacher cannot easily assemble
a rich stew of primary documents, explanations, examples, charts and
maps, narratives, artwork, and the lesson plans for using these things.
The wisdom that history affords, the intelligence that geography affords,
and the democratic values that civics afford—all are put at risk. (p. 287)
After examining the 2002 Philippine social studies curriculum, I looked
at the textbook issued by the Philippine Department o f Education, Culture and
Sports for use in Grade 6 to determine how it fosters critical thinking. The
Grade 6 resource, entitled Ang Bayan Kong Mahal, {My Beloved Country),
(Andal, 1999), written in Pilipino, is the only material made available by the
government to the instructors for their use in the teaching of civic education,
which is the curricular mandate for that grade level. The contents of the book
are organized into five units: Philippine Identity; The Philippine Landscape; The
Government and Its Citizens; The Philippines as a Democratic Country;
Becoming a Progressive Country. These are the same five required topics
outlined in the curriculum. Each unit presents four different sub-topics, and each
sub-topic tries to develop an average of seven different concepts.
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The material is user-friendly in the sense that the language and the
readability level employed are within the children’s level o f comprehension.
The information is presented in segments that make it is easy to understand and
in which to locate specific information. Review questions are found at the end
of each unit, followed by a unit test. However, the contents of the book
comprise mostly o f narratives and facts—content that, when unmediated by a
teacher’s pragmatic interpretation and presentation encourages only rote
memorization. The textbook does not do much to help students learn skills other
than recalling facts. It does not indicate what, how, or when skills should be
learned. The questions and activities provided require only the regurgitation of
facts, and none specifically promote critical thinking. No critical issues are
raised, which renders reading a dull and a sterile activity. The unit tests also lead
to and reward memorization of facts. For example, consider the following test
items:
A. Choose the best answer.
1. Which of the following does not describe the various ethnic groups
in the country:
a. reside in different regions o f the country
b. have their own music, religion and ways of doing things
c. originated from one race
d. speak a common language
2. Which of the following form the cultural minorities:
a. those that comprise the majority of the ethnic groups
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b. the ethnic group which is composed of only a few members
c. the ethnic group that shows primitive ways
d. those that have their own traditions
B. Describe how the following groups immigrated to the Philippines:
1. The Pygmies
2. The Indonese
3. The Malays
These questions are patterned after the information found on and between pages
32 and 35 of the Grade 6 textbook. Unit test items at the end of each unit are
similar in nature.
The visual sources may benefit from enrichment with the inclusion of
primary documents that would encourage students to interpret, analyze, and
draw conclusions from original sources. Pictures and paintings can be examined
with a critical perspective. These can serve as sources of interpretable messages
and symbols, promoting critical thinking in students (Association for
Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), 1992; Nova Scotia
Education and Culture, 1999).
Numerous illustrations included in the social studies textbook help
explain concepts and allow students to study the history, values, and beliefs of
Philippine society within specific time frames. The graphics are closely related
to the substance of the materials. Cartoons can lead to debate and the critical
discussion of issues, but they fail to do so in the way they are presented in the
textbook because they simply reiterate the facts in the book. An example of this
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point is depicted in the picture on page four of the student-textbook, Ang Bayan
Kong Mahal. The translated description o f the picture explains how people
show self-discipline by waiting for their turn to cross the road at a busy city
intersection, in an organized manner: everybody walks orderly within the
pedestrian lane.
The textbook lacks suggestions about strategies and activities
appropriate for teaching the curriculum. This element can help teachers consider
implementing the curriculum using innovative methods of teaching, such as the
use of critical thinking activities, collaborative learning, creative activities,
debates, and other non-traditional avenues.
The information is written from a single perspective, and students are
given no opportunity to make choices about which point of view to consider.
Only one interpretation of an idea is presented, and no distinction is made
between fact and opinion. Consider the following translated text taken from the
textbook, My Beloved Country:
We, Filipinos value education so much. It is every parent’s aspiration to
see their children graduate from a college or university such that parents
would do every thing to put them through. The majority of Filipinos
look down upon labour and skilled workers—a negative attitude we
acquired from the Spaniards.
Although, a college or university degree is an asset, getting one should
not be the measure of success. Earning a living that can adequately
support oneself and his/her family is more important, (p. 65)
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The above declaration is an assortment of facts and opinions that are not
distinguished from each other. Readers are not given the chance to create their
own opinions on the matter. Significantly, no citations refer to original or
secondary sources from which narratives, or facts about events and people are
taken. There is also no mention made o f additional resources that students and
teachers can avail themselves of for further details about and explanation of a
topic or concept.
The materials are well organized, in that they contain clear headings and
directions, and topics are sequentially presented as they appear in the curriculum
document. The book, however, manifests little variety in the kinds of questions
raised or the activities they suggest, if they suggest any. Further, the textbook
makes no accommodation for different learning styles or disparate learning
abilities.
The textbook issued by the Department of Education, Culture and Sports
of the Philippines to implement the social studies curriculum in Grade 6 is an
important resource for information that can provide the basis for the acquisition
of knowledge, and the development of values, attitudes, and skills. However, the
text leaves much to be desired in terms o f providing an instructional or
ideological framework within which to develop skills that will enable learners to
become responsible citizens. The text does not cultivate or promote elements of
critical thinking, research, debate, attaching valuing, interpretation, analysis,
evaluation, or other higher-order thinking skills. While the topics identified are
consistent with the curriculum, they are ultimately presented in uninteresting
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ways. The text fails to provide any variety of activities or questions. Information
is presented from a single perspective, and the credibility of the information is
questionable because no sources are cited. The visuals support the content of the
curriculum, but they do not stimulate discussion or opportunities for alternative
and questioning interpretations. For busy teachers who do not have time to
independently research the information necessary to teach the curriculum, the
accessibility of information afforded by the textbook is certainly valuable.
Review o f the Grade 6 Social Studies Teacher’s Manual
While textbooks provide a body of organized knowledge that is used as
the framework for understanding a specific subject, teachers make sense of such
knowledge by transforming it into lessons and learning units. Because teachers
affect the implementation of the curriculum, they must have proper training and
should be provided with support that enables them to create meaningful learning
experiences (Parker 1987; Ross 1997). Ross (1997) cites Shaver, Davis, and
Helbum (1980), who assert that the key to successful social studies curriculum
delivery is the teacher:
[A] teacher’s belief about schooling, his or her knowledge of the subject
area and of available materials and techniques, how he or she decides to
put these together for the classroom—out of that process o f reflection
and personal inclination comes the day-by-day classroom experiences of
students, (p. 16)
The Grade 6 social studies textbook, My Beloved Country, is
accompanied by a teacher’s edition with the same title. The five topics in the
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teacher’s manual match the scope and sequence of the five main topics
presented in the student’s textbook, which constitute the curricular topics to be
covered in the 6th grade. However, the skills and concepts to be developed in
both editions are not always similar. For example, in Unit 1, “Philippine
Identity,” the student text lists several skills to be developed under the first
subtopic, including the following:
• Identify the characteristics of a population that will help make a country
become progressive.
• Explain the importance of a healthy and intelligent populace for the
nation’s prosperity.
Neither of these objectives, however, is found in the teacher’s edition. The same
disparity holds true in other units. Contrary to my expectation, the teacher’s
edition contains less information than does the student text. The facts found in
the student version are not supplied in the teacher’s version; to have access to
this information, a teacher must have a copy o f the student’s edition. In the
Philippine setting, this is an inconvenient necessity because often the number of
books issued is limited to the number of students in the class, and in some cases
there are not enough copies for all the students. Moreover, no additional
material that provides teachers with background information and useful
clarification about the topics they must teach is made easily accessible to them.
This dearth of background information hampers the teachers’ effective
implementation of the curriculum, as Stanley (1991) claims:
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A teacher’s knowledge o f subject matter influences how he or she
modifies the materials used. . . to teach the concepts and other forms of
knowledge.. . . The more knowledgeable teachers not only [know] more
subject matter, but also [know] more about the relationship among the
parts of this knowledge; how this discipline or field [relates] to other
areas of knowledge; and equally important, how best to represent this
knowledge so students [will] come to understand it. (p. 250)
Without access to basic background information about the topics they must
teach, the effectiveness of Filipino teachers will be limited, especially in
promoting critical thinking.
One thing the Grade 6 teacher’s manual does do is list lesson objectives
and provide a collection of focus and follow-up questions that aim to advance
discussion. However, the questions advanced for discussion require lower-level
thinking for the most part. The following examples are noted on page 82 o f the
teacher’s edition: “What is the composition o f the national government? What is
the composition o f the local government? What are their functions?”
Answers for these questions are plainly provided on pages 120-121 of
the children’s text. Such low-level-thinking questions necessitate only base-
level answers that rob students of the opportunity to think critically unless
prompted in other ways to do so. Another set o f examples is found on page 25
of the manual:
What is the meaning of equality among people?
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How does the constitution guarantee equal rights among men and
women?
How does this help define Philippine identity?
The questions initially appear to be thought provoking in a way that may
encourage discussion. However, upon examination of the contents of the student
text (pp. 56-57), I found answers to these questions had also been provided. The
text’s provision of answers hinders students from exercising their own thinking
and assessment processes. Wilen and White (1991, p. 48) observe, “Process
product researchers have reported that the frequency of questions asked by
teachers is positively related to student learning.” Furthermore, asking more in-
depth questions also enhances the quality of learning.
I located a number o f questions posed in the teacher’s edition that might
promote critical thinking. Among them were the following:
• Should all Filipino cultural and traditional customs be perpetuated? Why
or why not? (p. 25)
• Do the Filipinos enjoy the freedoms provided by a democratic
government? (p. 84)
• Are there countries that do not enjoy the same freedoms that we do?
Explain your answer, (p. 84)
Although these questions have the potential to stimulate critical thinking by
requiring students to make judgments, their opinions are likely to be
uninformed speculations, because there is insufficient information in their texts
to support views one way or the other. In the first question, children may or may
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not know what practices constitute Filipino customs and traditions. For the
second and third questions, children would need to be familiar with the
freedoms enjoyed in a democracy. The third question would also require
contextual information about other countries’ governmental systems. None of
this information is provided in the student text, nor is it in the teacher’s edition.
The teacher’s manual suggests practical activities that the teacher can
employ to achieve lesson objectives. I am compelled to assume that a teacher
can select the activities that she/he decides are most relevant to her class,
otherwise—if the text’s suggestions were followed sequentially, as is the
practice in the curriculum guide, directed by the Department o f Education—the
teacher would require considerable time to teach the concepts in a given unit.
Nevertheless, an inexperienced teacher can benefit from the presence of these
practical activities. However, most of the activities are repetitive and
uninspiring: they ask learners to read certain pages of the book to locate specific
information; they recall facts introduced earlier in the text; they respond to
pictures and “sayings”; and each unit concludes with a test that requires only
rote memorization. Most significantly, no issues that specifically require critical
thinking on the part of the students are offered. It must be noted that the
materials required by teachers to develop the concepts and skills associated with
the suggested activities are not accessible to most teachers. Almost every lesson
asks for certain pictures; other requisite materials include a globe, various types
of maps, a cassette tape recorder, an overhead projector, and charts. While
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teachers can ill-afford to buy these materials on their own, the government
provides none of them.
By following die sequence of topics indicated in the teacher’s edition of
the Grade 6 social studies textbook, the teacher is assured of covering the
required learning for the Grade 6 curriculum. Although the suggested activities
and strategies provided in the manual can guide teachers’ implementation of
their mandate, especially inexperienced teachers, the activities hardly encourage
the development o f critical thinking. Most of the questions demand only lower-
level thinking. Where opportunities exist for students to practice critical
thinking, sufficient information to enable them to generate enlightened views on
a given topic is lacking. I suggest that presenting concepts as issues that require
critical thinking may persuade students to be involved in a discussion and rouse
them to think in more complex ways.
Review o f the Grade 6 Philippine Social Studies Achievement Tests
As with other content areas, school children in the Philippines are given
an achievement test in social studies at the end of the school year. Traditionally,
an achievement test is administered to evaluate the quality of the social studies
curriculum gauged by student-responses. It is used to check the correlation
between the planned curriculum and the curriculum that is taught. It determines
whether the mission and objectives of the curriculum are accomplished, whether
the content of the curriculum is covered, and whether instruction is based on the
curriculum. The evaluation clarifies the types of resources that are used and the
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time allotment necessary in classrooms, training, and supervision to successfully
implement the curriculum (Jurg, 1992).
In the Philippines, achievement tests are used principally to evaluate
teacher-effectiveness, student-knowledge and skills, and the conduciveness o f a
school’s environment to learning. These elements are used to rank a school
against other schools in the district Consequently, there is a great deal of
pressure on students, teachers, and schools to do well with the achievement
tests. This may cause instructors to “teach to the test.”
Grade 1, Grade 4, and Grade 6 students in the Philippines are
administered a non-standardized social studies achievement test. The
achievement tests are prepared by a committee that comprises Grade 1,4, and 6
teachers who have been ranked by the district schools as “master teachers.” The
committee is formed to prepare, administer, and mark the test. Grade 1 master
teachers form the committee for Grade 1, Grade 4 master teachers form the
committee for Grade 4, and so on.
Assuming that the complexity of the Grade 6 test is greater than that of
the exams for the earlier grades and critical thinking questions would be found, I
decided to concentrate on the Grade 6 tests only. I examined the 2004-2005
social studies achievement tests for Grade 6, prepared by the rural and urban
schools that participated in my study. My objective was to determine if the
instruments used to measure student-achievement tested for critical thinking,
given that one of the goals articulated for social studies education is the
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development o f critical thinking. The following are examples o f test questions
administered in the urban area:
• Today, in 2005, the Philippine population has reached
approximately:
A.65M B.75M C. 85M D. 100M
• Which of the following is not a Philippine ethnic group:
A. Cebuano B. Muslim C. Ilokano D. Samar
• Which of the following shows self-reliance:
A. Dependency on others B. Borrowing or begging for
money
C. Being idle D. Personal development
The following are questions taken from the rural district achievement test:
• What do we call the total number of inhabitants in an area?
A. Population C. Production
B. Modulation D. Transportation
• Which institution protects the rights of the citizens?
A. The church C. The government
B. The school D. The family
• The country’s population who holds a job or provides a service is
called:
A. Human resources C. Assistants
B. Employees D. Neighbours
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Neither the rural nor the urban district achievement tests I examined test
for critical thinking. Both achievement tests use multiple-choice questions
(although it should be noted that a highly structured multiple-choice question
can also assess for critical thinking). I assume that relative ease of
administration and marking was the major consideration when selecting the
multiple-choice format. The questions are deficient in their exploration and
assessment of critical thinking, especially because they require the identification
of only one correct answer, and in neither exam does selecting the correct
answer reflect a student’s ability to think critically. A test structure that
necessitates critical thinking often presents a number of choices and, further,
requires students to articulate how and why they arrive at an answer (French &
Rhoder, 1992). While the Philippine achievement tests score students according
to their ability to remember facts, a test that develops critical thinking marks
“students according to the cogency of their analyses. If a student provides a
brilliant defence for a weak paragraph, he or she can still receive a top grade”
(Ennis & Weir, 1985, p. 17). In a test that allows students to respond to a social
studies concept in the form o f a critical essay, students are marked not on how
well they write, but on how they respond critically.
Although the district achievement tests for rural and urban community
schools in the Philippines measure a broad knowledge of content, as outlined in
the 2002 social studies curriculum, they fail to measure critical thinking. They
only require the regurgitation o f facts, and the multiple-choice format likely
promotes guessing. Most questions are patterned after the information provided
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in the textbook. In light of the fact that schools are ranked according to the
students’ achievement results, schools’ motivation to test only low-level
thinking is understandable. Considering, also, that questions that require only
one correct answer are easier and faster to mark, it is no surprise that
achievement tests tend to cover only content knowledge. This practice frees the
testing committee to pursue additional responsibilities, given that they must
mark tests after regular school hours.
Summary
The new social studies curriculum claims to develop critical and creative
thinking. However, active promotion of these skills is not evident in the
document. The large number of topics that must be taught in one school year at
each grade level, combined with the disjointed nature o f their delivery, is not
conducive to the effective transmission of knowledge. Little time is made
available to cultivate or practice the skills of critical thinking about, reflection
on, or evaluation o f substantive concepts in any of the prescribed materials
issued by the Department of Education, Culture and Sports. One goal of the
purportedly interdisciplinary social studies curriculum, supported by the
student’s textbook, teacher’s manual, and achievement test, is to develop critical
and creative thinking skills. However, I conclude that the content, organization,
and ideology of all the documents reviewed ultimately neglect to support a
classroom structure that can ensure critical thinking does occur and,
consequently, fall short of their objective to mould responsible local, national,
and global citizens.
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Chapter 5
The Participants ’ Stories
The stories told in this chapter were generated from the information I
gathered from the interviews, the classroom observations, field notes, and the
lesson plans of teacher-participants. Weaving all the information gathered from
one participant into a cohesive narrative helped me clarify conflicting data,
which I did by looking holistically at the interdependence and interrelatedness
of the information. The first two stories represented the perspectives of two
urban school teachers, while the three stories that followed were those of rural
teachers.
Mrs. Madrigal’s Story
Despite my best efforts to be inconspicuous, the unusual presence of
video camera and a group of Mrs. Madrigal’s colleagues watching from the
hallway, had Mrs. Madrigal’s Grade 6 students buzzing with curiosity. Once
settled, Mrs. Madrigal led the students in a Filipino rendition of “It’s a Small
World.” Although singing, the students were not the only ones who looked a
little excited—Mrs. Madrigal was also a little nervous. While the students were
being watched by the visitors, their teacher was also being observed by others
including myself.
Mrs. Madrigal’s anxiety was quite understandable. Having only two
years of teaching experience, she had only taught social studies for two
semesters. Despite the mentorship that was evident in the teaching staff, Mrs.
Madrigal still voiced some edginess: “I ask other teachers how to teach
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something.. .even the principal, especially that I started teaching later. I was a
bit concerned that you were going to watch me teach.” Knowing that my
intention was not to criticize, but to observe and provide constructive feedback,
Mrs. Madrigal had graciously agreed to my observation. O f particular interest
were her methods of promoting critical thinking amongst her students.
In fact, critical thinking was at the heart of our discussion. She believed
that she promoted critical thinking not only in her social studies class, but also
in her home economics class. Although she did not have an exact definition of
critical thinking, her intuition told her that she at least touched on such higher-
level thought: “Maybe, but in home economics, we teach mostly about
household work, how to plant plants, fixing the house, livelihood. Along the
way, I may have touched on critical thinking without knowing it.”
As the class continued, Mrs. Madrigal moved to the current events
section of her social studies class. She creatively sparked the students’ thoughts:
For tomorrow they had been given an assignment today. Ok, let’s
listen again; let’s watch television again because our lesson... is
about government. Who will be willing to share a current event
in front of the class about what is happening? We have current
events everyday.
The students were a little timid. No one raised his/her hand. But, Mrs. Madrigal
continued on. Her current events report consisted of news regarding a rally
against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s alleged acts o f illegal
electioneering.
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Once her lecture ended again, she tried to spark a class-discussion. She asked
the students whether or not they agreed to impeach the President With a
resounding condemnation of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ’s potential
impeachment, the students responded to her question. She then asked the
children to give their reasons for not impeaching the President. Some students
stated that the integrity o f the vice-president, who would replace Mrs. Arroyo if
she were impeached, was also questionable. Others retorted that more unrest
would occur after the impeachment, or that President Macapagal-Arroyo was
already fulfilling her duties. Mrs. Madrigal remained satisfied that “because
when we share news, they are able to answer questions,” her students were
engaging in critical thinking.
As the class continued, Mrs. Madrigal moved to a much more interactive
exercise. She had the children remove strips o f manila paper taped on to one of
the blackboards with written information on them. On the adjacent board a T
chart was drawn, outlining the “Features o f a Democratic Country” and
“Features of a Non-democratic Country.” One by one, the strips of manila paper
were taped under the appropriate heading on the T chart as the class read the
chart in unison. Once the chart was completed Mrs. Madrigal began the
interaction with the students: “Are the features of a democratic country actually
being practiced in the Philippines?” In unison, the students responded with a
“Yes.”
A single voice of dissent was heard amongst the students. Mrs. Madrigal
stomped her foot and demanded that the student repeat his answer. Sheepishly,
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the child edited his previous statement, answered in the affirmative, and grinned
at his mentor. Mrs. Madrigal smiled at him, at the camera and moved on.
Her next exercise was introduced when she further elaborated on her
notion of critical thinking: “reacting to pictures, expressing their views about the
picture or the activity that they had.” Mrs. Madrigal asked the students to
identify the government service being communicated via five pictures. The first
picture depicted a group of farmers tilling the land; the second illustrated
Athena holding the balance of justice; the third displayed an assembly of people
from different countries; the fourth showed armed soldiers; the fifth was a
picture of idle street children.
Once the instructions were given, the students instantaneously broke into
five separate groups where each group received one of the five pictures. There
was no bickering amongst the students, only efficiency. Within minutes, a group
leader/reporter was chosen. Each group was asked to respond and report the
answer to the following questions written on the back of each picture: “What
government function is being represented in the picture? In your opinion, is that
government function important? Why?”
The children in each group turned their desks to face each other, I
presumed to work collaboratively. According to Mrs. Madrigal, group work is
the best way to develop critical thinking. She stated, “They are in groups. If
you’re really asking for critical thinking, I put them in groups. They are in
groups. Then I give them activities. Every group has its own activities, and as a
result the expectation is met.” She elaborated why collaborative work promoted
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critical thinking, stating that she believed that “[b]ecause they are having their
own ideas to share with the group. They share their ideas.”
The picture that each group received was passed around for each
member to see and to read the questions. Each member was to independently
think of his/her own answers to the questions and write them on a piece of
paper. The answers were handed to the leader who decided which answers were
to be included in the group report. Once the leader’s decision was made, he/she
wrote the answer on a manila paper and read it to the class.
The students followed all of these instructions skillfully. In fact,
considering that no materials or references were given to the class to help with
the task, as well as the short time frame given to the class to complete the
assignment, I was impressed by each report. Each leader read a paragraph or so
about the picture, which gave the perfect explanation o f the importance o f the
service that the government supposedly offered. For example, Group 5 reported
that it was important to take care of the idle street children because, if given a
chance, their illegal tendencies would be curbed into allowing them to become
productive members of society. Group 1 reported that encouraging farmers to
work the land would not only make the farmers become self-reliant, but they
would also improve the country’s economy.
The groups’ reports were clear and concise, but I noted that those
students not reporting did not appear to be listening to any of the other reports.
Although their conversations were not overly disruptive, some children were
quietly visiting with each other; others were drawing, and some were still
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writing their answers on a piece of paper. I somewhat found a rationalization to
their behaviour in Mrs. Madrigal’s comments:
I think it is the way the pupils express themselves when they are doing
their activity. For example, my lesson tomorrow. . . I will show
[pictures] to them and I will let them examine it and let them tell me
what their opinion is about i t What they think about it, what is
happening in the picture. That’s my understanding. When they are
examining something, they are exercising their mind; whatever they can
think of, they are able to express it about the picture.
Mrs. Madrigal proceeded to summarize all o f the reports. She laid strips of
paper on the floor that were cut into the shape of sunrays and upon which were
previously-prepared statements written by Mrs. Madrigal before the start of
class. Eagerly, student-volunteers picked up the sunrays and taped them on to
the side of a circle, representing the sun. I noted that the statements on Mrs.
Madrigal’s sunrays were exact echoes of the students’ reports. I wondered if the
students were thinking critically or just recalling previously learned concepts.
Just as the students followed Mrs. Madrigal’s instructions, Mrs.
Madrigal followed the Basic Education Curriculum (BEC) which outlined the
concepts to be taught sequentially in class. The lesson objectives were patterned
after the BEC document such that Mrs. Madrigal only used critical thinking
when it was called for, “Because there are objectives that are asking only to
name things, just to list them. Not all of them, but maybe we can actually use
them so that the children can really express themselves more extensively about
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the lesson.” Despite the freedom to teach beyond the BEC in order to develop
critical thinking, she knew only to do so in order to vary her strategy so it did
not get boring for the children. She confided, “If possible I go further, especially
when it gets boring using the same method. I vary my teaching strategy.” Mrs.
Madrigal viewed critical thinking as a strategy synonymous with problem
solving:
Yes, it is a strategy also. It is a strategy because it is similar to
discovery method. Yes, it is similar to problem solving because
they are given an activity to do, and it’s up to them to decide
what to do, as long as there are questions to follow and then they
will express and they will write things about the questions,
focused on many answers, not just one, whatever they
understand.
Like the discovery method or inquiry approach where students were
given the freedom to seek out answers to the given problem, critical thinking
also provided the students with the opportunity to find their own solution to the
problem and to express their answers in their own way. This, according to Mrs.
Madrigal was the reason why critical thinking was problem solving.
Mrs. Madrigal admitted that she only enjoyed teaching critical thinking
to fast learners:
It depends on the children because there are some who finds it
easy to do it compared to those (what do we call them?) fast
learners and the slow learners since you really have hard time
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with the slow learners than the fast learners.
Although she acknowledged that the slow learners also needed to
develop the skill, the time allotted for social studies prevented her from
attending to their special needs:
They also need [critical thinking], but it’s easier to deliver
lessons [to fast learners] because we also have to follow the time
allotment for our teaching. The time allotment for that subject is
40 minutes, so you have to maximize your time. You will end up
not finishing your lesson. It will take two or three more periods
before you can complete it because they are really slow in
coming up with answers. You as a teacher also get frustrated
because they don’t get what you’re trying to impart.
In an effort to get the slow learners involved in the class, Mrs.
Madrigal brought the questions and lessons down to their level by giving
them easier questions—lower level questions. One of the problems she
pointed to was the distinct possibility that there was lack of support at
home, which might be a factor in their inability to think critically:
Sometimes [slow learners] are included, but you just get
frustrated because they are not able to come up to your
expectation. But when you go down to their level, they can get it,
although not the same as the bright children because sometimes
our children are not supported at home, especially that the
children in our area belong to squatter families.
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Although the urban school was located in a low-economic area o f the
city, she later realized that application of critical thinking to practical situations
at home could occur. This became apparent during the class discussion o f the
news that they saw on TV at home, which she shared with me:
For example today, they were saying, “Ma’am, President Arroyo
says that she has now resolved her problem. She won in the
impeachment process.” “What is going to happen to the
president?” I ask. They reply, “Maybe she can now sleep
soundly.” Others say, “No, because her conscience will bother
her according to my father.” Others say, “Why doesn’t the
president just step down since she has not helped the country,
anyway?” our neighbour said. Then I said, “Is that true that she
hasn’t done anything? What have you seen?” Someone
answered, “Yes, she had some roads repaired.” Conversation like
that goes a long way if it has something to do with the news.
Mrs. Madrigal agreed that one of the reasons why slow learners had difficulty
thinking critically was due to lack of exposure. Teachers avoided teaching it to
slow learners “because the child really has to think to express [himselfiherself].
Then it has to be put into writing, if they have the ability. It’s different from fast
learners because they are smart.”
Mrs. Madrigal claimed that the textbooks issued by the Department of
Education provided useful, but limited information about a topic. Mrs. Madrigal
often had to refer to other books, which she borrowed from private schools, to
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prepare for her lessons. She also photocopied information from other materials
for her students. Despite all of this, Mrs. Madrigal still affirmed that the
textbooks provided by the government did promote critical thinking in the sense
that they gave children ideas.
Aside from the problems that she encountered in teaching critical
thinking such as the difficulty in involving slow learners, time constraints, lack
o f support at home, lack of materials, and where the curriculum objectives did
not lend themselves to critical thinking, Mrs. Madrigal was encouraged to teach
critical thinking. In her words she expressed:
It is important so that [students] can exercise, practise, not just
their ability to respond, but also to deepen their thoughts. They
would have better understanding; they would extend their ability
to understand - that’s what critical thinking can give the
children.. . . and not to be content with just simple responses, but
a much extensive response, and be able to come up with other
possibilities. It encourages me when I hear them express
themselves. I’m happy to realize that they have a number of
responses to a certain question, and they can come up with
various activities.
Upon observing and discussing critical thinking with Mrs. Madrigal, it
was clear that her understanding of critical thinking was the ability to express
one’s opinion or share ideas. As a corollary to this, the ability to independently
think of numerous answers to a question was also believed to be critical
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thinking. She described her effort in prodding her students:
I will continue to ask for more responses, “What else? Give me
more answers. What else can you say about this?” Maybe that’s
one way of developing critical thinking. They will continue to
think of other answers when they realize that their answers are
insufficient. Maybe this is critical thinking, too. Give follow up
questions.
Mrs. Madrigal also believed that the ability to locate specific answers to
questions was another aspect o f critical thinking. She believed that since the
textbooks issued by the government disseminated specific information about a
particular topic, they were helpful in developing critical thinking. Although the
students were able to get ideas from the textbooks, the references only provided
limited information about the lessons.
She remained strong in her belief that the best way to teach critical
thinking was through collaborative effort. According to her, group work allowed
the students to come up with their own ideas and share them with the group.
However, it appeared that Mrs. Madrigal somewhat confused critical thinking
for problem solving which she observed were both teaching strategies. She
stated that although critical thinking could be promoted in other subject areas,
she used it more often in social studies, particularly to achieve an objective
mandated in the curriculum guide:
I was as grateful to Mrs. Madrigal as she was of me for participating in
my study:
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That’s a big help for me, too. I’ve been teaching social studies
this year and last year, and I might be teaching it for a while. So
I’ll have an idea. You can give me more ideas. Myself,
sometimes I find it difficult to teach something.
Being a relatively young teacher, hopefully Mrs. Madrigal would have
many years to learn and practice various strategies in her teaching, particularly
in teaching her students to think critically.
Mrs. Cortes’s Story
My quiet arrival to Mrs. Cortes’s classroom was matched by the
diligence o f the thirty or more students, silently reading their textbooks.
Counter-pointed by the noise of the children playing in the courtyard on the
main floor two stories down, the students’ focus was not disturbed by my
setting-up of my video camera or the student teachers also coming to observe
Mrs. Cortes’s class. Located in affluence, the manor-style school building was
set off from the local traffic. The school’s prosperity was embodied in the
classroom itself. Although crammed with students, adjacent to the teacher’s
desk was a plethora of learning materials: games, science equipment, reference
materials, books, magazines. Unlike any of the other classrooms I visited, these
treasures were readily accessible to the students.
The presence of the materials supported Mrs. Cortes’s dialogue when
she proudly asserted, “I teach critical thinking in various ways such as in games,
activity cards, questions, especially math questions.” Before the lesson began, I
casually tried to strike-up a conversation with some o f the children. Although
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shy, one o f the students informed me that they were reviewing yesterday’s
assignment. Still intrigued by the learning materials, I asked the students about
the frequency of their use. I was informed that the class hardly ever used them.
Mrs. Cortes arrived with an armful of instructional materials, laying
them on the table at the front, and then taping other items to the blackboard—all
o f which she planned to use during the lesson. The students simultaneously
stood and greeted Mrs. Cortes, myself, and the student teachers. And so the
lesson began.
Current events were to be the initial topic, and Mrs. Cortes asked for a
volunteer to read a piece of news to the class. Mrs. Cortes believed that through
current events, she was effectively able to develop critical thinking. She
claimed:
In fact, when I read the letter, which you sent to the, our superintendent,
when it comes to critical thinking, I think that comes in because my
social studies is a 40-minute period. My five minutes there is spent on
current events because I allow, I let my children buy the newspaper
everyday. So a newsboy sends or comes here to give us a copy. And then
I will assign somebody to make the report on any news article about the
day. So with the recent happening in Manila, we have the impeachment
process, so the children were exposed to the, because you cannot help
but talk about it with the students because they would hear it from the
radio, from TV. I think that’s critical thinking because I let them
understand about the situation.
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A volunteer walked to the front of the class and proceeded to read of the
death of a former election commissioner who lost her battle with ovarian cancer
in a Chicago hospital. The volunteer then asked the class to recall factual
information about the report he had just finished reading. Some were able to
recall the facts verbatim. However, for those whose rote memory was not as
accurate, the volunteer simply moved onto another student.
No discussion followed the report. The students were made privy to Mrs.
Cortes’s summary and her comments about appreciating the deceased election
commissioner’s efforts in dealing with the past controversy over notorious
former President Marcos’s embezzlement scandal. As quickly as her summary
was, so was her transition to the next lesson.
For the next activity, Mrs. Cortes asked the children to name the
barangay (community) where they lived. Mrs. Cortes clearly stated what her
objective was with her lesson. She was hoping to teach the power and functions
of the community government. In order to supplement her lesson, she used a set
of flash cards, containing the necessary vocabulary for the students to use
during their discussion. They were: participatory democracy, citizens, code,
decentralized, and empowerment. Although the class showed no difficulty in
reading the cue cards, I was intrigued with how participatory democracy and
empowerment would be demonstrated. As the children listened, one by one Mrs.
Cortes explained the words. The phrase participatory democracy was explained
by the word democracy, while empowerment was illustrated using an example
of the borrowing of funds from a financial institution in order to raise capital for
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a small business, empowering one to earn a living. Only two o f the five words
(namely citizen and empowerment) were to be the crux o f the government
lesson. Once she was finished with her lecture, Mrs. Cortes asked the children if
they understood the meaning o f the words, and all the students answered in the
affirmative. She then checked if her students had read their assignments. Once
again, the students answered, “Yes.”
Mrs. Cortes proceeded to lecture on the materials the students were
assigned to read. She mentioned the composition and functions o f the
community council, and the duties of its members. Using pictures, she explained
how the council assembled in order to fulfill its main purpose—creating bylaws.
Although she occasionally paused to ask if the class followed what she was
talking about, each time, the students responded, “Yes, Ma’am.”
When she reversed the roles, asking the students to explain to her what
she had been teaching, the students remained quiet. Mrs. Cortes trekked on. I
expected her to stimulate the variety of answers she claimed she tried to evoke:
“In fact, one question I ask them, I let them respond in various ways. That’s
critical thinking.” After the lecture, she checked for retention of information by
asking the class questions about the information disseminated in her lecture.
Most of the students’ rote memories were exceptional.
The lesson ended with an evaluation exam: the students were asked to
answer questions that were written on two sheets of manila paper taped to the
blackboard. The two-part test first consisted of recall questions about the
lecture, while the second consisted of paragraphs that outlined a co-operative
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project undertaken by a community council in the northern part of the
Philippines. Working in conjunction with a national governmental agency, the
main goal o f the project was to irrigate farmland. This co-operation was not
without its conditions. While the national government would provide the
technicians and the materials, the community council must agree to provide the
labour. The local citizens who could not work as manual labourers were taxed,
either by way of funds or land.
Beyond these paragraphs, other information was provided about the
community council that was neither spoken of nor referred to throughout the
lesson. However, I assumed that this was meant to give students additional
information about the duties o f the community council. Upon reading the test
the students were taking, I noticed some test items that were not mentioned nor
referred to in the lesson. The class continued to write the test without asking any
questions.
I took a closer look at the test the students were writing. Although most
o f the questions asked for a recalling of the facts, one o f the questions required
the students to make a value judgment: “Were government technicians justified
in setting the conditions they asked of the citizen?” O f great interest would be to
see how informed their opinions were, especially given that the paragraphs with
which the students were provided, lacked pertinent information. For example, it
did not mention if the community had ownership of the project, who had
initiated the project, or if government intervention had been requested.
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This question would have been a prime class-discussion, thus promoting
critical thinking. I speculated that discussion may be purposely avoided at this
time in order to allow the students to decide for themselves which side to take,
absent the risk of being influenced by other opinions. If, in fact, this were the
case, such a tactic would coincide with another of Mrs. Cortes’ perspectives on
critical thinking: “[Critical thinking] is giving the children, the children must
decide if they’re in or out. Like for example in an issue, but they are still young,
they don’t know.” Attributing ignorance to her students’ youth, she attempted to
enlighten them via probing questions such as the following:
If there will be continuous rally on the streets, what I applied to this
learning is the economy of the nation. What will happen to the country’s
economy? What will happen, for example to those market vendors?
They will have less customers because of the rally. They will lose their
income. If you were the earner, if you will participate in the rally, so
nothing will happen to the street rallies. What would happen to your
family? Or if you were a store holder or an owner of a store, what will
happen to your store? Your business will fail because you will have
fewer customers. And then I just let them decide. I could not also let
them share my view because that is only my opinion. So I did not tell
them any more.
Although her intention was to help the students formulate their own opinions,
the delivery of her inquiries may have bared her own opinion upon her students.
In an acknowledgment of whatever influence she might have had over the
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students, Mrs. Cortes dismissed her thoughts as, “my opinion. So I do not know.
Your parents might have other opinions.” Within the Philippine culture, an
expression o f opinion expressed by an authority like a teacher is tantamount to a
mandate that the students feel they must follow, lest they be shunned for non
conformity. Mrs. Cortes suggested that the protesters were merely expressing
their own opinions.
The lesson’s objectives were met through the transmission of
information, but no critical thinking was promoted. However, when asked, Mrs.
Cortes was readily able to comment on her views on critical thinking. For
instance, according to Mrs. Cortes, an expression of an opinion was a form of
critical thinking. She claimed that discussions on current events were mediums
she frequently used to develop critical thinking. Furthermore, Mrs. Cortes
believed that encouraging the students to come up with a variety of answers to a
single question was another form of critical thinking. However, the lecture-style
approach did not allow the students to demonstrate such variety. Finally, Mrs.
Cortes considered awareness of and opining on an issue as another form of
critical thinking.
Although no promotion of critical thinking was observed in her teaching,
Mrs. Cortes was particularly proud of the fact that her students were bright and
had no difficulty with what she believed to be critical thinking. She was unable
to relate any of her experiences with developing critical thinking in slow
learners because she said, “I do not teach slow learners, so I do not have any
experience teaching them critical thinking.”
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Another source of great pride to Mrs. Cortes was her other professional
responsibilities that she undertook only with smart students, one of which was
being the adviser to the school paper. Complementing her advisory duties, she
also taught a weekend journalism class where she again tried to promote critical
thinking in her students. Mrs. Cortes was quick to mention that the students’
parents give her an honorarium for her efforts. She acknowledged the problems
she encountered as a coach, in a speech she delivered at the regional training
program for school paper advisers, being the winning coach of the first place
competitor:
So as a sideline to my lecture, I talked on the joys and pain of a teacher-
adviser because I said that it is really hard work because when you
correct the written work of the child, the child will rewrite it. After the
child will rewrite that, you will still see errors. Then they have to rewrite
it again. So you have also to get a pupil who is also diligent because if
the child is lazy, she/he will get tired.
Her dedication and positive attitude toward her work has led her all over
the Philippines, taking her to National School Press competitions. These travels
gave her something to look forward to and a sense of pride about her teaching
profession. It was that same attitude and perseverance that she tried to bring to
the promotion of critical thinking in her students:
I’m used to this; it is our attitude that counts. If you really have the
intention of being a good teacher, you want to let your children learn
because we have the bible. We have what we call the PELC (Philippine
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Elementary Learning Competencies, the 1997 edition o f the curriculum
guide). So if it is really our desire to let, to impart quality education to
our children, you will do everything to let your children know the basics,
what is needed, what is for them to achieve quality education.
She shared a positive outlook for critical thinking in the Philippines,
particularly because the Philippine curriculum (the “Bible” as she referred to it),
mandated that critical thinking be promoted in the classroom. In fact, she
believed that all teachers should share the same positive mind-set, “Attitude is a
little thing that makes a lot of difference.”
Mrs. Manalo ’s Story
As I arrived to observe Mrs. Manalo’s class, I was greeted by many
familiar faces. The school itself was quite familiar, having visited here two
years prior to bestow some sports equipment to children as a token o f my
family’s esteem for aiding in our tree planting campaign. The low ceiling and
sparse classroom facilities typified the rural classrooms where Mrs. Manalo had
been teaching for over thirty years. But, oblivious to their simple surroundings,
the children were actively enjoying their recess time.
While setting up my equipment in the classroom, many of the children
broke from their play and curiously visited with me. The bell rang and in came a
thrilled Mrs. Manalo. She was as excited to be teaching today as I was to be
observing. In fact, during our discussion, Mrs. Manalo expressed her keen
interest to learn more about critical thinking:
It’s not so popular here in the Philippines. I have not come across it yet,
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even in seminars about critical thinking. So I said that maybe, she (the
researcher) should do a demo first. When she does, we will see what it
is. We may already be using the critical thinking technique. Then we can
say, “Oh, we are already using it.” As of now, I’m not sure if I’m
already using critical thinking. In my understanding, you can only get it
from the children, you can develop in them the ability to think critically
in the way that the teacher asks questions, in the art o f questioning with
the use of visual aids that will help the children to be able to talk, to say,
to express their idea about what the teacher is asking for. Because I’m
not so sure what critical thinking is, it would be best if she would do a
demo first because they already do it where she comes from. Here, I’m
not sure what it is. There has been no seminar on the topic. When
Ma’am (the school district supervisor) told me about you (the
researcher) observing me, I indicated that we should be the one to
observe her first. Through her demonstration and we realize that we are
not using it, then we can adopt it.
I was warmly introduced to the class, as Mrs. Manalo’s lesson began
with a review of the previous social studies topic they covered—a discussion
about the different forms of government such as totalitarian, monarchy,
dictatorial, oligarchy and democracy. Without breaking cadence, the children
easily enumerated them, as well as identified which person or groups of people
held the power in each respective government. The children’s recitation
impressed their teacher who proceeded to ask, “What do you think are the
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different branches o f a democratic form of government?” The students came up
with the following response: citizen, president, and executive. The teacher-
participant referred to this part of the lesson as the formulation o f hypothesis.
Mrs. Manalo continued on with the lesson. She wrote the three
responded words down on the board while telling the class—for the second
time—that the day’s lesson was about the different branches o f a democratic
government and their functions. Mrs. Manalo then asked the students what they
would like to know about the topic. An overwhelming majority of the students
spontaneously mimicked her and responded, “What are the different branches of
a democratic government and their functions?” She praised them and wrote the
question on the board.
Mrs. Manalo’s call and question, as well as the ease with which the
students formulated the problem of their study, made clear what Mrs. Manalp
meant when she said that she applied critical thinking in teaching through
problem solving. She explained:
Yes, especially in my class and the method that I use to bring this
[critical thinking] about is through problem solving. So most of the time
we are gathering data. In problem solving, I make the students do the
work, even the formulation of the problem is conducted by the students.
I do this during the motivation, and I just guide the pupils to formulate
the problem. Then for that problem, the pupils will gather data to answer
the problem.
Indeed, the children showed no difficulty at all in stating what the teacher
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considered as “the problem.” She wrote on the board the words “Democratic
Government.” From them she drew three vertical lines suggesting that there
were three branches of the government, but no explanation was given o f what
government branches meant. Now that the problem had been formulated and the
hypothesis had been given, it was time to gather data. I noted, however that the
problem to be solved was not a problematic issue; it was a simple factual
question whose answer could readily be found. She broke up the class into three
groups, who were assigned to collaboratively retrieve information about each of
the government branches from the materials she provided. After each group
readily picked a leader/reporter, Group 1 was assigned to read the information
written on the blackboard that discussed the functions of the legislative branch
of government. The blackboard outlined all of the information they needed.
Group 2 was given what Mrs. Manalo deemed a retrieval chart, with
information written on it about the judicial branch of government. In fact, there
was no chart on the page, only a couple of paragraphs, clearly outlining the
judicial branch o f government and its functions. Group 3 was asked to read
certain pages of their social studies textbooks, which disseminated an equivalent
amount o f information about the executive branch. Immediately after being
assigned to write a group report on their respective branches of government, the
students diligently set to work.
There were a few students who seemed to be having difficulty reading
the resource material. Although I offered my assistance, the students shied away
from accepting. They meekly shook their heads and politely said, “No.” As I
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observed the class dynamic, I realized that if, in fact the groups were working
co-operatively, these students could have been helped by the others.
According to Mrs. Manalo, the exercise she was currently conducting
was an example of problem solving. She explained:
I give them the materials, books, charts and I put them into groups.
Some would use the charts. Others would read the books, and another
group would use a retrieval chart that I prepare. All the groups have the
same problem, but each one uses a different way of gathering data.. . . I
require each one to write her own answer based on the material. For
example, this group, “You will read the topic that will answer your
problem. You write your answer and give it to your leader. Then if the
leader finds out that they have the same answer, so the leader will write
the answer of the majority of the group and that will be the answer that
will be reported during the reporting period. So each one has work and
so I find out that they enjoy it because they help in gathering data. Just
like the other group who is given a chart, everyone analyzes. Each one
should have work during the group work.
Unlike her explanation, each group was given a different topic to
research. All of the groups used a similar method of gathering data (reading the
information given), although their reading materials were different. Not a single
one of the groups discussed the answers.
Reiterating her methodology, Mrs. Manalo stated that she used problem
solving to develop critical thinking. She also retorted that critical thinking was
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not problem-solving but the steps taken in problem solving promoted critical
thinking.
Problem solving is not critical thinking. Not really. [Students] are able to
think deeper or in a higher level thinking through problem solving
because when they are able to solve. . . even when they are just
formulating the problem, they must have been involved in deeper
thinking But through the art o f questioning they are able to
formulate the problem, which is used as the basis of formulating
concepts after gathering data Formulate a problem, think for the
correct solution, also formulate the concept or the, and the generalization
is critical thinking.
The surface-level quiet belied a distraction amidst most, if not all of the
students who were not part of the group giving their reports. Two girls were
playing a silent version of “Tug of War” with a handkerchief; others were
daydreaming; some girls were quietly chatting with each other; some of the
boys were drawing or also chatting with each other albeit through hand signals
and facial expressions. It was a trend that I noticed throughout most of the
classes I observed. In an attempt to rationalize their distracted behaviour, I
speculated that many o f them might be hungry due to the close proximity to
lunch and/or a lack of proper breakfast. Given the impoverished community, it
would not be surprising for this to be true. Or, worse yet, perhaps the students
were indifferently disengaged from the presentations.
After the leaders delivered their reports, Mrs. Manalo asked another
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member to reiterate exactly what was just said. Only, this time, the rest of the
class participated by checking the accuracy of the report against the resource
material. Eventually, Mrs. Manalo continued with the lesson. This time she
drew three columns on the board. Each group leader was asked to write his/her
report (word-for-word) on the board in one of the three columns. I found out
that the exact same information was regurgitated several times over: once
during the group work; twice, when the leader read it to the class; for a third
time, when the class reviewed it for accuracy; and even for a fourth, when it was
written on the board. The children’s chatting had risen to a low roar. I had
assumed why the children were so inattentive. The information was fed to them
over, and over again.
At that moment, an epiphany dawned on me. In every classroom that I
had observed, where the supposed problem solving method was used, the same
information was given to the students several times over, despite being
presented in somewhat varying formats. It was ironic that the teachers
complained about running out of time. However, despite her own complaints
about the insufficiency of time, Mrs. Manalo liked to use problem solving as a
teaching strategy:
I enjoy problem solving as an approach because I find it suited to their
[grade] level. In the first place they are already in the intermediate
[level], also because it makes them think, even just to find the answer in
the material. They are given the material, just finding the answer. I think
they are thinking. That’s critical thinking to me. I don’t know if that is
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critical thinking. But for me that’s the best method for social studies.
Bearing these thoughts in mind, it was now becoming clearer why Mrs. Manalo
used problem solving to teach critical thinking. She believed that critical
thinking occurred as the children go through the steps in what she called the
inquiry or problem solving approach. She further elaborated on her theories of
problem solving and the children’s development:
That’s how it is; developing in the pupils how to think critically through
the art of questioning of the teacher, with the use of the visual aids . . .
the child will be able to express himself because critical thinking is
really deep thinking by the children. The teacher needs to make sure that
the question she is asking is more complicated, high level.
Although I was heartened to hear her passion for developing her
students’ minds, as I paid closer attention to the questions she asked, all of the
questions she raised were low-level questions.
As she continued, Mrs. Manalo pulled out a visual aid, a chart, to help
her with the next segment of her lesson. The chart depicted the different
branches of the government through pictures. The children suddenly focused on
the lesson, wanting to see whose picture was on the chart. The executive branch
included pictures of the country’s president and military personnel. The
legislative branch displayed pictures of senators and lawmakers. The judiciary
branch illustrated people in court and the chiefjustice o f the Supreme Court. To
further the lesson, Mrs. Manalo launched into a lecture about the relationships
between the various government branches. And as an evaluation, Mrs. Manalo
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had the students write a fill-in-the-blank test recalling factual information from
the lesson.
Mrs. Manalo had a general idea of what critical thinking is and wanted
to learn more about it. On one hand, she thought it was a strategy, a
“technique.” On the other hand she thought it was a skill, which was their ability
“to talk, to say, to express their idea” about the topic proposed by the teacher.
After more than three decades of teaching, Mrs. Manalo realized that the
government had an essential role to play in developing critical thinking. The
teacher admonished the government for not doing more than providing
textbooks to support the mandated teaching o f critical thinking. She wondered,
“Why have they (the government) not given a seminar?” Schools had recently
been provided with new books, but she preferred the old ones because it had
more information and had longer discussions. However, due to the inaccuracy
of the information provided, the old textbooks were condemned and burned.
According to Mrs. Manalo, critical thinking had many roles to play. It
was a teaching method, a skill in expressing one’s opinion, a skill in formulating
questions and locating answer or answers to a question. Or it could even be
developed through her version of the problem solving approach, which relied
heavily on the teacher’s art o f questioning.
Mrs. Cruz’s Story
One of our car’s tires blew out as we were driving to Mrs. Cruz’ class
for my scheduled observation. Unfortunately, the car was not properly equipped
with the necessary tools to change the flat. After the car was towed to a garage
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for repairs, I was able to call the school district office and speak to the
supervisor, who then relayed the information about my mishap to Mrs. Cruz.
Once I arrived, my profuse apologies for delaying their class were met with
sincere acceptance. In fact, they were all genuinely excited to see me.
Without further delay, Mrs. Cruz began. A boy was asked to share a
news report in front o f the class. It was about a presidential decree prohibiting
teachers and students to join in any protest rally against the government. With
such a controversial topic at hand, I foresaw this to be a perfect avenue by
which to teach and promote critical thinking. I anticipated a spirited and fervent
discussion. After all, this decree specifically and immediately affected all o f the
students’ lives. I waited for the debate to begin.
However, an unrelated news story followed the first No discussion was
held; only a transition followed to another story. Mrs. Cruz’s students were not
given time to discuss the violation of the people’s fundamental democratic right
to express themselves. The common misconception, especially among those in
the rural community, was that rallying and or protesting was a public nuisance
and was, therefore, illegal. The other news story that followed was about a
newly promulgated policy of the Department of Environment and Natural
Resources (DENR) to convert certain agricultural land into a residential area.
Mrs. Cruz asked the class for their comments. With some prompting, three
students raised concerns about running out of places to grow food if farmland
were converted to residential places. Given the rural nature of the community
where many (if not all) of these students reside, these comments were not only
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highly valid, but also quite observant.
Mrs. Cruz, on the other hand, did not share the students’ opinions, and
expressed the opposing view - justifying DENR’s policies. Mrs. Cruz did not
lead the class in drawing the opposing view, let alone discussing the three
students’ comments. After hearing Mrs. Cruz’s view about the issue, a young
boy’s conformist soft comment is heard, berating one of the three as a “show
off.”
In an attempt to understand Mrs. Cruz’s actions, I thought that she was
playing the role of a “devil’s advocate” in order to encourage further discussion.
Among the Filipinos, disagreeing with an authority figure is considered highly
disrespectful, most especially in the rural areas of the Philippines. Mrs. Cruz’s
own words on her views on critical thinking directly impeached her own actions
in handling the three students’ dissenting opinions.
Like many o f the other teachers I have observed, Mrs. Cruz believed that
social studies was an ideal medium through which to promote critical thinking.
She explained one of her perspectives on critical thinking:
Well, for the strategy on critical thinking, for me, I use it especially in
my social studies class because most of the topics are more on reasoning
on the part of the children, so they can express what they have in mind
and what is their [opinion], about their understanding on the topics or
their view on the topics given to them.
According to Mrs. Cruz, her students enjoyed social studies more since they
were given the opportunity to express their own opinions. Mrs. Cruz believed
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that she taught critical thinking in other subjects, but social studies remained her
medium of choice. She elaborated:
And so as I observe, when I use the critical thinking process, my
children in my English class or in my science class, they are quiet more
in those subjects than in my social studies because. . . they are free to
say what they think about the topic. Anyway, I accept their reasons or
their answers as whatever they think about the topic. That is why I am
used to using that strategy or process because I can get the ideas o f the
children because they are free.
In essence, because the students believed they have more freedom to discuss
issues in social studies, they enjoyed that subject more than other subjects such
as English or Science.
As the afternoon continued, Mrs. Cruz led the class through a quick
review of the definition o f government and the characteristics of a democratic
form of government, which the children recalled with ease. The new lesson was
taught using her version of problem solving, which she also referred to as
discovery approach or inquiry method. The class was divided into five groups,
each choosing a leader/reporter, who received a question for the group to work
on. The groups each got two sheets of manila paper, one to be used for the
groups’ reports, and the other containing information about the assigned topic.
One group worked on the characteristics of a monarchical government; another
worked on a communist government; the third looked up the characteristics of a
democracy, which had already been studied as discussed in the review earlier;
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the fourth group located information about a dictatorial form; while the fifth
group was assigned to work on the definition of government, which had also
been previously taken up.
Mrs. Cruz continued to inform the students that each group member was
to work independently on the task and hand his/her answer to the leader. Not a
single student discussed his/her ideas with the other group members.
Once completed, the leader wrote the group report on the manila paper,
taped it to the blackboard and readied himself/herself to read the report to the
class. In turn, although each leader did his/her best to read their reports, the
leaders’ voices fell upon deaf ears. A vast majority of the students did not even
so much as glance toward the front of the class as the reports were read. They
were busy distracting each other. No questions were asked, no discussion
followed. However, Mrs. Cruz believed that the reports promoted critical
thinking through collaborative learning. In particular, she liked to use
collaborative learning in teaching critical thinking because she believed that,
“critical thinking is somewhat a higher level of thinking wherein [she] thinks
that only [her] fast learners can do it.”
Mrs. Cruz continued to explain that, unlike the English class where
students were grouped according to their learning level, Mrs. Cruz used mixed
groupings in social studies so as to promote more collaboration between the fast
and slow learners. She explained:
But these slow learners, they give a little idea, but the ones framing the
sentence are the fast and average. But [the slow learners] can still
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contribute; they are not just sitting there. I find it difficult for them to
express [their ideas] because they cannot write them down and they
cannot give a report. Though they have ideas, they have difficulty in
framing the sentence But in social studies, they are very noisy and
very active because I say to them, “Your recitation is very important.
You should take part in the [group work] because the [mark] is for the
group. If you don’t share your ideas, you will not get a [mark]. So they
keep even just listening to the others, as long as they are with the group.
But during the activity, of course it is the fast learners who are doing
[the work]. I think it is more relaxing for the teacher when I use that
process because the idea comes more from the pupils.
In using what she labelled the discovery approach, it was the information
from the manila paper that the students read to themselves that dictated their
ideas, not the collaborative work that was expected to (but did not) take place.
Although most students had no problems reading the textbook material and
working on their own, there were several students who had trouble with
comprehension.
The textbooks were helpful insofar as being able to look up information
on a particular topic. Given the fact that Mrs. Cruz had only 30 students this
year, she was able to provide each student with his/her own copy. The students
in previous years were not so fortunate. At some point, Mrs. Cruz has had as
many as 50 students. Bearing such a load, I did not hesitate to issue my praise:
“I don’t know how you managed 50 of them, 30 is more than enough.” She told
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me that because the students might move to and from the community, one year’s
enrolment can be vastly different from another’s.
After the presentation of all the reports, Mrs. Cruz summarized them by
raising the same questions she had asked her students, and asking the students to
reiterate the same answers. Her lecture continued with a one-sided
dissemination of the negative effects o f a communist government. Not a single
word about its benefits was heard. The opposite view, although equally as one
sided, was heard about a democratic government. It was obvious that Mrs. Cruz
was advocating for the democratic government. Although this could have been
another ideal opportunity to develop critical thinking amongst her students, the
lecture consisted only o f the negative effects of communism and the glory of
democracy.
Mrs. Cruz presented the same information for a fourth time. However,
the only variation this time was the use of pictures to illustrate the same points.
Adolph Hitler represented the dictatorial form, Queen Elizabeth II for the
monarchy, and the present President of the Philippines represented the
democratic government. Given the new visual stimuli, the students received this
activity with enthusiasm. After being exposed to the same information four
times in consecutive order, I doubted that any of the students would have any
trouble identifying the different systems of government.
It was also no mystery as to why the teachers would complain, as did
Mrs. Cruz, about the lack of time:
Most often, I have that group work in my social studies class because I
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[won’t] be talking so much because it’s the pupils’ activity. But
gathering the idea, about 15 minutes of that. And then they prepare [for
reporting], another five minutes, and we only have 40 minutes on social
studies. And then another 10 minutes for reporting. And sometimes I
cannot evaluate. It’s already the next day [when I find the time].
When asked during the application section o f the lesson, the students
preferred the democratic government. The teacher then asked the students to
express their opinions on the kind of government they would want, given, what
she considered, the unstable and chaotic situation in the Philippines caused by
student rallies and demonstrations against government corruption. A couple of
students decided that a communist government and a dictatorship would
certainly quell the unrest. Although I was encouraged to see students venture
their opinions, given the lack of information they were provided, I thought that
their opinions were unapprised.
In fact, a lack o f information was a complaint that Mrs. Cruz held in
concert with many other teachers I had observed. According to the teachers, the
textbook issued by the Department of Education, Culture and Sports only
presented one perspective, giving very little background information to both the
teachers and students. Worse yet, some information were simply incorrect. No
reference materials were provided for teachers in order to allow them to
effectively teach the topics mandated in the curriculum.
Finally, a paper and pencil test was given to evaluate learning, which
primarily consisted of the same questions repeatedly asked throughout the
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lesson.
After 20 years o f teaching, Mrs. Cruz had but a vague understanding of
what is critical thinking. Although she had heard o f it and had read about it on
the curriculum guide, she had not actually observed a lesson that taught critical
thinking. She believed, however, that some of the activities she did in the
classroom, especially in social studies, promoted critical thinking. She
expressed her excitement on learning how to teach critical thinking. “I am very
happy [to be] given a chance like this, to be interviewed in such a study. So I’m
very thankful for that because I want to learn.” She expressed the importance of
developing the skill in the students, not just for the present, but for the future,
too:
I think [critical thinking] is a need; it’s a great need. It must be
developed upon the pupils because as they grow up, things happen that
they need critical thinking, especially in practical situations.
However, she was unsure o f what critical dunking is and she openly
expressed her understanding of it in an effort to get clarification. She freely
divulged her definitions:
When I was responding to your [interview] questions, I thought that
when the children are able to answer the [questions] given to them, that
is already critical thinking.. . . Just because they are answering it in their
practical way, in their experience, or they can answer questions through
their experience at home, through their reading, I thought it was already
critical thinking.
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Mrs. Cruz recognized that critical thinking is higher level thinking,
which she thought was the ability to express one’s opinion and ideas, the ability
to independently locate answer or answers to a question. The skill could be
developed through collaborative learning because the group members shared
ideas and helped each other. Through the exchange of ideas in the collaborative
effort, weaker learners were helped. It was best taught in social studies because
the topics lent themselves to critical thinking. However, she found that the
social studies textbooks provided inadequate information and exercises to be
able to promote critical thinking. She wanted “to get more ideas on how to teach
critical thinking, specifically a list o f question words that will help [her]
formulate critical thinking questions.”
Mrs. Koronel’s Story
Epitomizing the lives of her students, the social studies lesson was about
the effects o f internal and external immigration. Coming from military families,
many of her students were no strangers to constant relocation. Due to the
differing military postings, the children were forced to follow their fathers to
whichever new station they were assigned. As a direct result, many o f Mrs.
Koronel’s students’ learning curves were greatly hindered by the constant
relocation. Living with such transience, the children have had a hard enough
time learning basic concepts, let alone practicing higher-thought processes such
as critical thinking. Mrs. Koronel was, understandably, quite concerned for her
students.
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The remainder o f her class came from rural, farming families who had
desperately few resources. In fact, they had so few resources at their disposal
that the children were all-too-often needed back on the family farm to help their
parents with the crops. Mrs. Koronel’s words embodied these students’ dire
circumstances: “[These students] belong to the lower category because o f the
conditions of the area, the rural area.” She continued to explain that beyond the
poverty in which her students lived, many of their parents were forced to
migrate to and from the community in order to find work. These significant
challenges led to poor scholastic performance. As their educator, Mrs. Koronel
was able to pinpoint the problem:
One problem is they that they lack comprehension, understanding of the
question, of the lesson. The other is that sometimes they come to school
with empty stomach. When they are already inside the classroom, some
are yawning, some are, some are doing something else.
That day I was observing, Mrs. Koronel and her students were in good
spirits. The children remained undeterred, laughing and joking with each other
before the lesson started. To begin with, three students enthusiastically
volunteered to participate in the first activity—they each read a story written on
manila paper, taped to the blackboard at the front of the meagre classroom.
After each story was read, Mrs. Koronel asked the students comprehension
questions such as “What is the story about? Where did the family come from?
Where did they immigrate to? Why did each family immigrate?”
Each of these questions was pre-written on strips of paper, which the
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teacher had creatively rolled up into balls and taped to the other blackboard. As
she read each question, she unrolled each to reveal the writing. The children
were entertained as they watched the teacher reveal each question. Many of the
children were eager to respond. However, there were still a few children at the
back who did not share the same enthusiasm. Despite their lack of participation,
they still appeared to be engrossed with the lesson.
In one o f the stories, the children were not able to identify where the
family had immigrated from. Although not specifically named, the family’s
place of origin was described as a place where the family grew vegetables and
crops to earn their living. I was baffled by the students’ inability to see the
relationship between their situation and that o f the family in the story.
Considering the fact that both the fictional family and their own situations were
similar, it was quite surprising. Both fact and fictional families lived in a rural
farming community, where crops were grown for sustenance and commerce.
Even more startling was the fact that many o f these students actually helped
their parents farm the land, and the school itself was located amidst rice and
vegetable fields.
Not a single student even ventured a guess. Mrs. Koronel continued to
ask probing questions, giving them more and more clues, trying to awaken their
cognition. At long last, a student blurted out “farm.” The student’s effort was
met with generous praise and smiles from Mrs. Koronel and the students alike.
This was a prime example of the mountainous challenges Mrs. Koronel faced.
During our discussion, Mrs. Koronel elaborated on her thoughts.
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Yes, the children here, I find it difficult for them to give their ideas
because most of the children here are low They do not know. One
problem is they lack comprehension. Another is that the children do not
participate with, in the discussion. There are only some pupils who can
formulate [ideas]. But those who are not interested, they can’t.
Mrs. Koronel emphasized the need for critical thinking. Her belief was
grounded in the ideal that critical thinking was necessary for the students so
“they can be independent and also they can become self-confident. . . to
become responsible people.” When asked what her understanding of critical
thinking was, Mrs. Koronel summarized:
In my sense, critical thinking is to comprehend a situation or question, to
give a clearer idea; to explain the meaning of something In my class,
I develop critical thinking through situations. I give them situations by
letting them observe some happenings in the classroom that are
reflective of real life situations. Then I let them give their ideas what
they can say about the situations.
On one hand, Mrs. Koronel believed critical thinking to be the
expression of an idea about a particular situation. On the other, she married the
concept of problem solving with critical thinking, as evidenced by her own
words: “When I hear that word [critical thinking], what comes to my mind is
that you will be facing a situation wherein you really have to give possible
solutions, possible answers to that problem.”
Although she generally tried to use social studies to germinate critical
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thinking, she understood that other classes might also be used as appropriate
media. “[Critical thinking] can also be done in some other subjects. But I think
mostly, this can be applied in social studies.” Her avenue o f choice was social
studies, which she rationalized:
The situations are about our surroundings, the situation of our
community; because there are lessons that are about families, about our
country, about transferring from one place to another, especially in our
place that we are near the camp, the military camp. The pupils are, they
go with their father wherever they are; that’s how.
As the lesson progressed, Mrs. Koronel then had the students restate
where each family immigrated from, only this time, the students were to identify
whether the immigration was internal (within the country) or external (outside
of the country). Mrs. Koronel had the students write their responses on a chart
drawn on the blackboard. The students’ enthusiasm matched by Mrs. Koronel’s
obvious dedication, allowed for the activity to run its course without any
problems.
Through this activity, the students were able to formulate generalizations
that they applied to their own situations. The students’ confidence was bolstered
as they were able to provide their own examples of internal or external
immigration. For instance, many of them spoke of relatives who have moved to
other places within the country as well as abroad. It was heart-warming to share
in Mrs. Koronel’s success, if only as an observer. Her conceptual approach had
led her students to a true understanding of the lesson’s objective.
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While discussing the lesson, Mrs. Koronel revealed her innovative
strategy. She employed several different approaches when teaching a lesson,
depending on the curricular objective, which she described:
I use different approaches, depending on the situation, on the objective,
if I should use or develop critical thinking or the conceptual approach
wherein the [children] are made to read facts. Then you ask questions,
checking out their comprehension through pictures and some other
[ways].
She further related that her resourcefulness also extended to her strategies in
teaching critical thinking. “I don’t really use a specific approach. I just look at
where my children can learn or what they can get out of my teaching.”
Continuing on the theme of the effects o f immigration, the class was
then split-up into three groups: Group 1, Group 2 and Group 3. The teacher tried
to explain the effects of immigration by moving the children around. Group 1
and Group 3 pupils were asked to find room with Group 2. Happily, the children
easily accommodated the request, squeezing themselves onto the benches
occupied by Group 2. Some children from Groupl and 3 were not able to find
space with Group 2, so they went back to their original respective groups.
The students showed no difficulty in communicating the negative effects
of immigration from the place of origin to the destination. For instance, the
students pointed out that some of the negative effects to the place of destination
were overcrowding, less room for housing, and sanitation problems. Regarding
the place of origin, the students determined that some of the negative effects
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were school closures due to lack of enrolment, and increased unemployment due
to lack of consumers. Despite the fact that few positive effects o f immigration
were mentioned, Mrs. Koronel’s activity was a splendid method of developing
critical thinking. The students were able to distinguish verifiable facts and value
claims. They were able to determine the factual accuracy of their statements and
the strengths of their arguments by actually seeing the physical effects of
immigration. Not only did every student participate in this activity, each one
was also given the opportunity to think critically. Mrs. Koronel was even able to
spark critical thinking among the slower children in her class.
A paper and pencil test was the evaluation tool used to test the students’
understanding of the lesson. The children were asked to match definitions in one
column with the terms that were defined in the other column. This was a simple
exercise on knowledge recollection.
Further in our discussion, Mrs. Koronel gave credit to the Department of
Education, Culture and Sports, by providing the teachers with lesson objectives
that must be covered. However, she stated that the Department did not help in
the promotion of critical thinking by providing them with incomplete textbooks.
The textbooks did not provide exercises for teaching critical thinking. They only
asked simple “what” questions. In an enlightened statement, Mrs. Koronel
created her own suggestions on what the textbooks should include:
The textbook given to us is Ang Bayan Kong Mahal, and most of the
time the facts provided are incomplete and there are insufficient
exercises included to develop the particular skill. That’s what the book
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needs to include. There are questions that are problematic for teachers
because the book does not give enough background information to
answer them. That’s how these books are.
Mrs. Koronel also criticized that the government had sponsored several
seminars on various topics, but there had been none on developing critical
thinking. With that realization, Mrs. Koronel expressed a strong desire to learn
how to better promote critical thinking. Ever the optimist, she conveyed a
profound sense of hope:
“It might be [easier to teach critical thinking], especially if we’re taught
how to use [some materials], how to develop critical thinking, what
method to use, what process to use to develop it. It would be easier,
especially if I had the materials.
Although Mrs. Koronel believed that she might have taken a course
during her teacher preparation program on how to teach critical thinking, after
twenty years have passed, it was difficult to remember.
It was an inspiring privilege to watch Mrs. Koronel teach. The passion
she had for teaching and the genuine concern she held for her students,
unequivocally translated to those under her guidance. The respect that she had
for her students directly correlated with the respect that the students had for her
and for the other students. Her patience with their learning nurtured the
students’ own patience with their fellow classmates - especially with those who
had trouble reading information from the board, or learning new concepts. The
students were never rushed for a response, nor were they ever pressured for a
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prompt answer. Mrs. Koronel never failed to provide them with the time they
needed to formulate their own ideas, and their own replies.
Her dedication was clearly evidenced by her continuous mentoring of
new thoughts and ideas. As a true educator, Mrs. Koronel, herself was eager to
learn. She was eager for feedback on her teaching and expressed a sincere desire
to improve her strategies as well as her effectiveness in the classroom.
I enjoy it when [my children] at least speak out, even if it is an
insignificant idea; even though it might contribute an incomplete idea, as
long as they can come up with a little idea. I try myself to pursue the
development of critical thinking.
That which Mrs. Koronel stated during our discussion was matched by her
actions with her students. Mrs. Koronel was well on her way to developing
critical thinking among her students. Despite being confused about critical
thinking and the inquiry approach, many of her perspectives on critical thinking
were congruent with some of the critical thinking skills. As demonstrated by her
success with the internal and external immigration lesson, many of her
classroom activities lent themselves to the promotion of critical thinking.
Summary
In this chapter I presented the teacher-participants’ experiences with the
teaching of critical thinking in social studies. In telling their stories, I
“experienced the experiences” that the participants entrusted to me. Ever
graciously and without consideration of censorship, they shared their thoughts,
their philosophies, their beliefs and opinions with me. The data were collected
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through interviews with the teachers, their lesson plans, fieldnotes and
classroom observations. The data gathered from each participant through the
various tools were woven together and made into narratives. If only vicariously,
I understood their aggravations and stymied efforts to better equip the students
for their future.
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Chapter 6
Interpreting the Participants ’ Stories
After reading and rereading, reflecting and analyzing, five themes
emerged from the participants’ stories. They were: the participants’
understandings of critical thinking, the rationale for teaching it, the strategies
they used to teach it, the problems they encountered, and the support or lack of
support made available to the teachers by the government. The interpretation
presented was discussed under each of the themes identified here.
Critical Thinking, as the Participants See It
Defining critical thinking is a difficult task. Indeed, many authors cannot
agree on its definition, a fact discussed earlier in this work. French and Rhoder
(1992, p. 184) assert, “Attempts to define critical thinking have differed along
several dimensions. It has been defined both by its form and by its function,
including the skills and strategies it encompasses as well as the levels of
complexity involved.” The participants also offered various perspectives on
critical thinking. Each one had her own views about it, although they all
concurred in one respect, namely, that one has the ability to express one’s
opinion.
Critical Thinking is Expressing One’s Opinion
Considering the complexities inherent in defining critical thinking, it
was not surprising that the study’s participants were unsure o f what constitutes
critical thinking, although all agreed it is the ability to express one’s opinion,
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one’s ideas. This was a corollary to another definition they offered—the ability
to formulate ideas about a topic, a problem, a picture, or a situation. Mrs.
Madrigal made this point:
I think it is the way the pupils express themselves when they are doing
their activity. For example, [in] my lesson tomorrow. . . I will show
[them pictures] and I will let them examine [the pictures] and let them
tell me what their opinion is about it. What they think about it; what is
happening in the picture. That’s my understanding [of critical
thinking]—when they are examining something, they are exercising
their minds; whatever they can think of, they are able to express it about
the picture.
The participants’ collective view was a valid one and was congruent with one of
the skills covered within the scope of critical thinking. The teachers’ definition
aligned with one o f Beyer’s (1985) skills of critical thinking: distinguishing
between verifiable facts and value claims. The participants’ definition of critical
thinking is validated by Beyer and is further elaborated by Norris’s view, which
is similar: “In order to think critically one must assess one’s own and others’
views, be able to produce alternative views and actions, make reasonable
hypotheses and inferences, and be disposed to think critically” (In French &
Rhoder, 1992, p. 185). Before one can express an opinion, an individual goes
through the process o f evaluating her own view and the facts that support or
refute it. One also has to check the reliability of the source o f facts. A person
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also goes through the same process when confronted by someone else’s views.
These processes require critical thinking.
Giving students the opportunity to take a stance on an issue was
practised on a superficial level in the classrooms I observed, in most cases
during discussions of current events. In one situation, for example, a student
was silenced when he expressed a dissenting opinion. In another case, students’
judgments were granted little or no value when the teacher opposed them with
her own perspective. Such practices inhibited students’ opportunity to critique
and to dissent, and effectively silenced their points of view. It must be noted that
children’s opinions were often uninformed because they had access to
inadequate information before they were asked to formulate their opinions and
arguments. More often than not, only the popular side of an issue was discussed.
The students’ right to convey their thoughts was effectively discouraged
because, as a number of situations I observed revealed, teachers expressed their
point of view before the children had the opportunity to formulate and express
their own. Among Filipinos, openly contradicting an authority’s analysis, such
as that of a teacher, is proscribed. When a situation arises in which the class
wants to hear the teacher’s opinion, Martorella (1998) suggests that it is wise to
do so when discussion has been completed and students have expressed their
views. The teacher may play the role of “devil’s advocate” to encourage
discussion. However, students must be made to understand the nature of the role
played by the teacher. Students should also be taught that when opinions
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contradict one another, an authority’s position is not necessarily the best nor, for
that matter, correct. Martorella (1998) emphasizes the following point:
Moreover, in many controversies authority figures (and often
“authorities” on the subject of the controversy) take competing positions.
The most prudent course for all citizens is to seek out all points of view,
to consider the facts, to come to a tentative conclusion, and to keep an
open mind to new arguments, (p. 247)
A caring and safe classroom atmosphere is necessary to encourage
students to express themselves freely. A classroom that reinforces critical
thinking is one in which children feel free from embarrassment and discomfort
when they share their ideas and arguments, no matter how simplistic or absurd.
The teacher deliberately shapes the classroom environment by cultivating her
own and students’ supportive behaviour, and by providing challenging, thought-
provoking activities.
Critical Thinking is Problem Solving
Critical thinking was often confused by most teacher-participants with
problem solving, which they also referred to as inquiry approach, or discovery
method, or scientific approach. Mrs. Madrigal explained why:
Yes, [critical thinking] is a strategy. It is a strategy because it is similar
to the discovery method. Yes, it is similar to problem solving because
[students] are given an activity to do. And it’s up to them to decide what
to do, as long as there are questions to follow and they will express
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[themselves]. . . write things about the questions—focused on many
answers not just one, whatever they understand.
Their so called problem-solving method seemed to be a popular teaching
strategy, such that 3 out o f the 5 participants used this method to teach their
social studies lessons. Although all the teachers who used the problem-solving
method complained about running out o f time, they continued to teach with this
strategy. Mrs. Manalo rationalized her decision this way:
I enjoy problem solving as an approach because I find it suited to [the
children’s] level. In the first place, they are already in the intermediate
[grades]; also because it makes them think, even [if] just to find the
answer in the material, I think they are thinking. That’s critical thinking
to me. I don’t know if that is critical thinking. But for me that’s the best
method for social studies.
During my classroom observations, I did not see any of the teachers use
the problem-solving strategy. The participants mentioned their familiarity with
and frequent use of this particular method, but I did not recognize it in their
teaching. After I observed all the classes, it occurred to me that what the
teachers considered problem solving was actually locating specific answers to a
question. In the problem-solving method they described, students were grouped
and each group was presented with a question—not a problem—along with
some reading materials in which they were to find the answer(s). What the
instructors identified as the discovery or inquiry approach, or scientific method,
was in fact a simple exercise that required students to locate the answer to a
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question assigned to the group. This was evident in Mrs. Cruz’s statement, when
she said, “I thought that when the children are able to answer the [questions]
given to them, that is already critical thinking.” Although the participants
followed the steps that constitute the problem-solving approach, they were not,
in practice, exposing students to the problem-solving method. For example, the
“problems” teachers presented to their students were not problematic: they were
merely low-level questions. In contrast, problem solving requires students to
generate one or more options to solve a problem. In the teacher-participants’
practice, however, students were presented with only one means to find the
answer to a question: they received materials to read. While students made a
decision about the best way to arrive at an answer using the inquiry method, my
participants determined how their students would find the desired answer. The
teachers practically pointed out sought-after answers through their use of
information that was only partially paraphrased. This made it fairly simple for
students to locate the response desired by each instructor. Problem solving
means finding different ways to get out of a difficult situation or to reach a goal,
and to choose which of several options will best take one there (Flower, 1981).
French and Rhoder (1992) echo Guysneir’s recommendation regarding
the distinction between the inquiry approach and the skill o f locating specific
answers to questions. They observe, “Guysneir recommends presenting
problems to be solved, not questions to be answered, in order to involve and
motivate students. He suggests that teachers use a ‘well-defined, controversial
problem’” (p. 176).
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I propose that the use of problem-solving activities in schools gives
students the opportunity to prepare for life in the outside world. As students get
older, they inevitably encounter more challenges that require problem-solving
skills. Schools train students to deal not just with the present, but with the future
as well. If one of education’s objectives is to enable children to become
responsible citizens, it must assume—as a formative component in training
students for this responsibility—the inclusion of controversial issues in current-
events teachings and in the social studies curriculum (Parker, 2001), and
education does so in conjunction with instruction in critical-thinking approaches
and methods of problem solving.
One of the teacher-participants refuted the idea that critical thinking was
equivalent to problem solving. Mrs. Manalo formulated her point this way:
Problem solving is not critical thinking. Not really. [Students are] able to
think deeper or [use] higher-level thinking through problem solving
because when they are able to solve [a problem]. . . even when they are
just formulating the problem, they must have been involved in deeper
thinking But through the art of questioning they are able to
formulate the problem, which is used as the basis for formulating
concepts after gathering data.. . . [To formulate] a problem, [think] of
the correct solution, and [formulate] the concept or generalization [is]
critical thinking.
I agree that Mrs. Manalo was on the right track when she insisted she used
problem solving to develop critical-thinking skills: the steps involved in
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problem-solving elements—such as requiring her students’ formulation of
problems would foster such skills. When formulating problems, making
generalizations, and conceptualizing, one has to distinguish relevant information
from irrelevant information, claims, or reasons; one must also recognize
fallacies in a given line of reasoning.
However, I suggest that Mrs. Manalo’s claim remains merely an
assertion because my observation of her methods suggested a discrepancy
between her understanding of problem solving and how it is practised. Notably,
what she required students to prepare was not a problem, but a question. During
my class observation, she effectively formulated the question for her class after
conducting a review of a democratic form of government. Mrs. Manalo
established the question’s framework when she asked, “What do you think are
the different branches of a democratic form of government?” She followed up
this question with a parallel statement when she introduced the new lesson this
way: “Our topic for today is about the different branches of a democratic
government and their functions.” Consequently, when the class was asked to
formulate the question for the lesson, the students readily mimicked her.
Critical Thinking is Decision Making
Critical thinking is also equivalent to decision making, according to Mrs.
Cortes, who asserted: “[I am] giving the children [decision-making exercises]..
. the children must decide if they are in or out.” She meant that children think
critically when they make a decision about which stance to take on an issue.
Decision-making necessitates critical thinking because the presence of
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alternatives and various choices require consideration and assessment before
one can make a decision. To go through decision-making processes, an
individual must involve various critical-thinking skills, such as determining the
factual accuracy o f statements and distinguishing relevant from irrelevant
information, in addition to other skills enumerated by Beyer (1985).
It was reasonable and predictable that the teacher-participants should
define critical thinking in many ways. French and Rhoder (1992) synthesize the
following remarks from various authors:
Stonewater views critical thinking as the umbrella and sees problem
solving as “an important aspect of critical thinking” (1980, p. 34). On
the other hand, Nickerson, Perkins and Smith see problem solving,
“enhanced by a number of metacognitive skills” (1985, p. 110), as the
umbrella and include creative thinking under it. Ruggiero (1988)
includes both critical and creative thinking as parts of the problem
solving [sic] process. Yinger (1980) views problem solving and decision
making as the umbrellas with critical and creative thinking as essential
elements. Beyer (1987) concurs: problem solving and decision making
are both complex strategies requiring critical and creative thinking,
which are not strategies, (pp. 151-152)
Critical thinking, problem solving, decision-making, and conceptualization are
all interrelated. To be able to solve a problem, one must understand what is
called for. Creativity and critical thinking enable an individual to engage various
means to confront a given problem. Conceptualization or generalization is
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required so one can make a decision about what steps to take to solve efficiently
a given problem.
The Rationale o f Cultivating Critical Thinking in Social Studies
Despite the lack o f clear or uniform views on critical thinking, the
participants shared the belief that it is imperative that students acquire critical-
thinking skills. Mrs. Cruz articulated her reasons:
I think [critical thinking] is a need, a great need. It must be developed
[in] the pupils because as they grow up, things happen that they need
critical thinking [to deal with], especially in practical situations.
Mrs. Cruz foresaw the students’ need to think critically not only in the present,
but also throughout their lives. As relevant literature suggests, the acquisition of
critical thinking may help students become empowered adults who may be
better positioned and able to seek out economic independence for themselves
and their families. Mrs. Koronel felt the same way, and she echoed Mrs. Cruz’s
point: “[Students must be taught critical thinking] so they can be independent
and also so they can become self-confident. . . [they can] become responsible
people.” The formative educating processes within schools, which serve as
civilizing institutions, must help children develop critical thinking skills so they
can make optimal choices and manage their circumstances to benefit
themselves.
Although participants tried to promote critical thinking in other
academic subjects, they asserted that the most applicable venue was social
studies. Mrs. Cruz noted:
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For me, I use [critical thinking] especially in social studies class because
most of the topics are more about reasoning on the part of the children,
so they can express what they have in mind and what their [opinions are]
about, their understanding [of] the topics, or their views on the topics
given to them.
The other participants shared the view expressed by these two teachers. They
also held that the topics and objectives in social studies lent themselves to the
development of critical thinking. This point of view was elucidated by Mrs.
Koronel:
Critical thinking can also be done in some other subjects. But I think
mostly, this can be applied in social studies [because] the situations are
about our surroundings; because there are lessons that are about families,
about our country, about transferring from one place to another.. . .
The participants’ vision of critical thinking in social studies is supported
by Dewey (1916) and by others identified in the chapter on related literature in
this study. They suggest that citizens need to become critical thinkers if they are
to become participatory citizens o f a democracy. Participatory citizenship is the
extent to which a citizen influences public issues; it also represents the sustained
opportunity a citizen has to address common issues that affect public good
(Barber, 1989; Newmann, Bertocci & Landsness, 1977). In a democracy, the
power rests with the people, so a country’s citizens must influence the decisions
made by their leaders. Glaser (1985) proposes, “[critical thinking] ability helps
citizens to form intelligent judgments on public issues and thus contribute
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democratically to the solution of social problems” (p. 27). Social studies
prepares students for civic efficiency and enables them to assume that
responsibility; as such, students need to be critical thinkers.
However, practical constraints often dictate that critical thinking is not
given its due in social studies lessons. Depending on the curricular objective a
teacher seeks to meet, or the topic he or she tries to teach, critical thinking may
or may not be employed. After examining the contents of the curriculum (See
Appendix I), it did not surprise me to note almost all the lessons I observed
provided little or no opportunity to practise critical thinking because, according
to Mrs. Madrgial, “there are objectives that are asking only to name things, just
to list them.” Mrs. Koronel agreed: “I use different approaches, depending on
the situation, on the objective, if I should use or develop critical thinking or the
conceptual approach.”
It was logical that teachers thought this way, given that the curricular
topics and skills identified in the curriculum required only lower-level thinking.
Although the mission of social studies education in the Philippines is to
engender democratic citizenship, the curriculum does not encourage critical
thinking and, in fact, restricts opportunities for children to participate in the
discussion of public issues.
Strategies Used to Cultivate Critical Thinking
Teacher-participants identified a number of strategies and frameworks in
which to promote critical thinking, namely, problem solving, cooperative
learning, questioning, and current events.
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Problem Solving
All the strategies identified were appropriate means to teach critical-
thinking skills. However, there were discrepancies between what the teachers
spoke about in the interviews and their actual practices. For example, as I
described earlier, what they classified as problem solving was actually a
“question-answer” exercise. Mrs. Manalo expounded on the process:
Yes, especially in my class the method that I use to bring this [critical
thinking] about is through problem solving. So, most o f the time we are
gathering data. In problem solving, I make the students do the work;
even the formulation of the problem is conducted by the students. I do
this during the motivation, and I just guide the pupils to formulate the
problem. Then, for that problem, the pupils will gather data to answer
the problem.
Mrs. Manalo appeared knowledgeable about the processes called for in problem
solving and she applied them to her lessons, particularly in social studies. The
participants’ aim to expose their students to problem solving kept them on track
with respect to the development of critical thinking.
In practice, however, students were presented with a low-level question,
not a genuine problem, and they were asked to locate the answer from materials
provided to them in the form of paraphrased information written on either
manila paper, the board, or present on a textbook page. The alleged problems
could be answered easily by reading the specified materials. There was no need
for students to develop one or more solutions because the problem was merely a
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question that required a simple answer. The teacher predetermined how students
found the answer because she distributed the data to be read to the groups in the
manners identified above. Decision-making processes were not exercised by
students, except for group leaders who decided for the group if information
handed in by group members was irrelevant or relevant to the assignment.
Consequently, only the group leader was able to practise critical thinking. Fisher
(2003, p. 159) defines a problem in three ways; the first two definitions are most
applicable to this dissertation:
1. something hard to understand, to accomplish or to deal with, such as it
is hard to understand why children bully each other (Italics in original)
2. a difficult question requiring a solution, such as how to prevent
bullying is a problem (Italics in original)
3. a question to be resolved by calculation, such as a mathematical or
logical problem.
Engaging children with problematic questions that called for varied
solutions or resolution, the exercise o f judgment about whether the solutions
they generated were supported by facts, ensuring evidence was not based on
prejudices, and testing tentative solutions before jumping to a conclusion are all
processes cultivated by problem-solving processes, which, in turn, advance
critical thinking. To train children to become responsible citizens, they may be
immersed in situations in which they grapple with critical issues.
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Collaborative/Cooperative Learning
Collaborative, or cooperative, learning was recognized by the teacher-
participants as another strategy they used to teach critical thinking. Mrs.
Madrigal illustrated how collaborative learning functioned:
If you’re really asking for critical thinking, I put them [into] groups.
They are in groups. Then I give them activities. Every group has its own
activities, and as a result the expectation is m et. . . because they are
having their own ideas to share with the group. They share their ideas.
Mrs. Madrigal meant that critical thinking was advanced through cooperative
learning because, during group discussion and sharing, students learned to
formulate their own ideas and share them in group interaction.
However, the participants’ version of cooperative or collaborative
learning did not foster teamwork or partnership. Although students were sorted
into groups, a leader/reporter was picked for each group and was given a
question to answer. This process did not result in a cooperative effort because
group members did not interact with each other; no sharing of thoughts or
discussion of ideas occurred. Each student tried to find the answer to the
question assigned to the group. Perhaps the logic behind this was to make each
member accountable for the fulfillment of the assignment. Once a student found
the answer, he or she gave it to the leader to add it to other group members’
answers, and the leader/reporter eventually read the group report in front of the
class.
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Interaction is key to collaborative learning because it is through the
exchange of ideas that children learn from one another as they show care and
respect for each other’s judgment. When they have to respond to each other, the
children’s attention is focused on the task. While valuing each member’s
contribution to the completion of an assignment, the children give and receive
assistance from each other through cooperative learning. Mrs. Cruz offered her
observations about collaborative effort here:
Slow learners, they give a little idea; but the ones framing the sentence
are the fast and average [students]. But [the slow learners] can still
contribute; they are not just sitting there. I find it difficult for them to
express [their ideas] because they cannot write them down and they
cannot give a report. Though they have ideas, they have difficulty in
framing the sentence. . . it is the fast learners who are doing [that] work
for them.
Mrs. Cruz indicated that in collaborative learning, “fast learners” might be able
to put more into the teamwork process. However, each member’s involvement,
no matter how meagre was considered important.
The social climate in each o f the classrooms I observed was generally
advantageous for collaborative learning. Students each waited for their turn to
recite; they were patient and kind to those who were having trouble responding
to questions or reading a sentence. Nevertheless, they kept to themselves when
working on a task, even when grouped together. I agree with the teacher-
participants that group work is an important element in the development of
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critical thinking that may, ultimately, lead to more democratic and participatory
citizenship. Giving children exercises that require the sharing of responsibility
through expressly collaborative work may instil in them a set of values that may
later, as adults, prompt them to be accountable for upholding the democratic
principles of their country. A democracy requires citizens who care for and look
after their private lives, and who are also concerned with the preservation of the
common good.
Questioning
The most common strategy teachers used in teaching was questioning.
Questioning is a prevalent tool used for many reasons in every-day situations. It
was one of the tools teacher-participants cited in their teaching of critical
thinking. By asking relevant, penetrating, probing, and intelligent questions,
teachers compel their students to think critically. Mrs. Manalo articulated this
line of thinking:
In my understanding, you can only get [critical thinking] from the
children [if] you can develop in them the ability to think critically in the
way that the teacher asks questions, in the art of questioning with the use
o f visual aids that will help the children to be able to talk, to say, to
express their idea about what the teacher is asking for.
Appropriate questions can lead an individual to be reflective, to be thoughtful
about one’s world, and about the context in which one finds oneself. Mrs.
Madrigal, another participant, did not qualify the kind o f questions she raised,
but she agreed that questioning could bring about critical thinking:
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I will continue to ask for more responses. [I would ask], “What else?
Give me more answers. What else can you say about this?” Maybe that’s
one way of developing critical thinking. They will continue to think of
other answers when they realize that their answers are insufficient.
Maybe this is critical thinking, too. Give follow-up questions.
I suggest that the number of questions asked o f students by a teacher
matters little because it is by means of purposeful questioning that teachers elicit
specific responses from their students. It is the types o f questions posed that
guide the students’ focus to the topic at hand and, more importantly, cultivate
the kind o f thinking necessary to derive a nuanced assessment and response.
Follow-up and probing questions were employed to involve children in more
sophisticated thought processes.
Although the participants’ opinions about questioning were well
founded, asking higher-level questions was not manifested in their lesson. They
tended to ask low-level, simple, unchallenging questions. Examples of such
low-level questions were also found in the government-issued textbooks,
teacher’s manuals, and in teacher-prepared achievement tests and quizzes. (See
chapter 4.) The propensity of teachers to ask low-level questions is not true only
of the participants of my study. Parker and Jarolimek (1997) report similar
findings:
Research conducted over the past several decades on classroom
questions reveals that teachers use a high percentage of questions that
stimulate only recall of information that has been read or discussed in
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class. These questions are lower-level questions because they involve
simple memory rather than higher-thought processes that require some
manipulation o f information, (p. 211)
This adverse reality can be corrected by all teachers who are able to ask
questions that call for high-level thinking processes. If teachers are made aware
of their limited skill in formulating appropriately challenging questions—if this
is indeed the case—they can hone their proficiency with conscious, daily
practice. Like any other skill, instructors must practice asking pertinent, higher-
level questions on a regular basis to acquire the skill. As Chaffee (1991) points
out, “It is by asking questions, making sense o f things and people, and analyzing
that we examine our thinking and the thinking of others” (p. 37).
Examining Current Events
Mrs. Cortes commented, during the interview, how she brought current
events into play in the coaching o f critical thinking:
In fact, when I read the letter, which you sent to the, our superintendent,
when it comes to critical thinking, I think [current events] comes in
because my social studies is a forty-minute period. My five minutes
there is spent on current events because I allow . . . I let my children buy
the newspaper everyday. So a newsboy sends or comes here to give us a
copy. And then I will assign somebody to make the report on any news
article about the day. So, with the recent happening in Manila, we have
the impeachment process [of the current president], so the children are
exposed to the [issue] because you cannot help but talk about it with the
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students because they would hear it from the radio, [from] TV. I think
that’s critical thinking because I let them understand about the situation.
Students are interested in talking about current events because it brings
school life into a relationship with the outside world. Although it may be
difficult to find the direct relevance of current events to the identified social
studies objective, some issues deal with topics that are of interest to students and
thus serve as a catalyst for the promotion of critical thinking. Mrs. Cortes’s
example drew an immediate connection to the Grade 6 social studies curriculum
of civic education. She could plan a unit around the day-to-day development of
the current issue.
In class, I realized that Mrs. Cortes’s words did not accurately reflect her
practices. After the news report was delivered, the news reporter asked recall
questions of his audience, but no discussion took place. Mrs. Cortes believed
that allowing the children to decide which stance to take on an issue could foster
critical thinking. Because of their youth, however, she apparently felt the
children were not able to make their own choices and, consequently, felt obliged
to “make the students understand the situation.” In doing so, she influenced the
children’s decision with her own biases and opinions. She shaped the children’s
perceptions and conclusions by asking them to ponder her remarks about the
rallies held to protest government corruption:
If there will be continuous rally on the streets, what I applied to this
learning is the economy of the nation. What will happen to the country’s
economy? What will happen, for example, to those market vendors?
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They will have less customers because o f the rally. They will lose their
income. If you were the earner, if you will participate in the rally.. .what
would happen to your family? Or, if you were a store holder or an owner
of a store, what will happen to your store? Your business will fail
because you will have less customers. And then I just let them decide. I
could not also let them share my view because that is only my opinion.
So I did not tell them any more.
Unknowingly, Mrs. Cortes shared her opinion with the children by asking them
questions that carried her bias against rallies, swaying the children’s opinions to
her side. Regardless of her personal perspective, she powerfully influenced the
opinions the students were encouraged to consider and constrained the
conclusions they were allowed to draw about the value and effects of the rallies.
Furthermore, in Filipino culture, an expression of opinion by an authority, such
as a teacher, is tantamount to imposing that opinion on the children.
Mrs. Madrigal also seized the opportunity to utilize current events to
cultivate critical-thinking skills in her students. She claimed critical thinking
was developed through examination of current events “because when we share
news, [students] are able to answer questions.” In our conversation, she
recounted a class discussion:
For example, today [my students] were saying, “Ma’am, President
Arroyo says that she has now resolved her problem. She won in the
impeachment process.” “What is going to happen to the president?” I
ask. They reply, “Maybe she can now sleep soundly.” Others say, “No,
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because her conscience will bother her according to my father.” Others
say, ‘“Why doesn’t the president just step down since she has not helped
the country, anyway?’ our neighbour said.” Then I said, “Is it true that
she hasn’t done anything? What have you seen?” Someone answered,
“Yes, she had some roads repaired.” Conversation like that goes a long
way if it has something to do with the news.
According to Mrs. Madrigal, current-events issues could trigger stimulating
discussions and encourage critical thinking in the process. The exchange of
ideas represented in her example included those of a father and a neighbour,
bonding the learning experienced at home with that in school.
A different picture emerged, however, in Mrs. Madrigal’s class during
my observation. During current-events discussion, the children’s opinions were
sought about whether or not to impeach the president of the country as a result
of her alleged corruption. Everyone replied with a resounding “no,” and
alternative views were not solicited. Later on, when a child offered dissent on
another question, Mrs. Madrigal stomped her foot and demanded that the child
restate his answer. The child’s right to express his point of view was
dramatically disallowed, which caused me to assume that the teacher wanted the
children’s views to conform to her own and to popular opinion. This practice
certainly discouraged critical thinking.
In my view, a debate on controversial issues provides an engaging and
spontaneous way to develop critical-thinking skills. Issues are sufficiently
familiar to students that they feel confident about giving their views. A given
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event may also be a topic of conversation at home, which some children like to
share in school. When one engages in the discussion of issues of personal and
social importance, one is required to determine the strength of his or her
argument, to distinguish relevant from irrelevant information, to check the
inconsistencies and fallacies of one’s reasoning, to determine the accuracy of
the data that support an argument, to distinguish between warranted and
unwarranted claims, and to exercise other skills encompassed by critical
thinking (Beyer, 1985). I cannot agree more with Parker’s (1987) comments
about current-events issues:
There can be no doubt that the social studies teacher has a responsibility
to include controversial issues in the current-events social studies
curriculum.... It is the prime responsibility of the schools to help
students assume the responsibilities of democratic citizenship. To do
this, education must impart the skills needed for intelligent study and
orderly resolution of the problems inherent in a democratic society, (p.
160)
Examination of current events is a suitable strategy for teaching social studies in
Philippine classrooms, not only to develop critical-thinking skills, but also to
address two specific Grade 6 curricular topics: “The Nation’s Problems/Issues
that Hinder Progress” and “Suggestions in Solving the Problems o f the
Country” (Department o f Education, p. 15). However, examination of current
events may prove most successful if it is taught more evenly throughout the
curriculum and not only during the study of the topics noted.
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In their effort to develop critical-thinking skills, the processes of
problem solving, collaborative/cooperative learning, questioning, and
examining current events were popular strategies amongst the participants of my
study. Each participant mentioned her preference of a particular strategy over
the others, although they suggested teachers deploy all four. Varying the use of
teaching strategies may prove to be more innovative and effective, and may
make lessons more interesting.
Challenges Encountered by the Participants
When I think about the challenges encountered by the participants, as
they sought to help their students learn, I am humbled. Their commitment was
exceptional; they persevered despite the obstacles confronting them. Problems
such as poverty, big class enrolments, the dearth of resources, and a lack of
teacher training were experienced by most of the teachers in my study.
Lack o f Economic Independence
Mrs. Koronel was familiar with the problem of poverty in her school
community. She related that it was one o f the factors that affected student
learning:
One [of the problems] is that they lack comprehension, understanding of
the question of the lesson. The other is that sometimes they come to
school with empty stomach[s]. When they are inside the classroom,
some are yawning, some are doing something else.
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When students come to school hungry, they are unable to focus on the lesson;
they are lethargic and too tired to effectively absorb learning. When students are
malnourished, their intellectual faculties suffer, too. The lack of economic
independence creates other problems in the classroom, such as absenteeism.
Mrs. Koronel further explained that in their underprivileged community,
the children’s education was disrupted because they were often away from
school, helping their parents on the farm. Some families moved in and out of the
community to find work. The children tended to fall behind in school and thus
lost interest in their education. Mrs. Madrigal also noticed this problem in the
urban setting. She observed that children in her class belonged to squatter
families and their parents did not give their children support or help with their
schoolwork at home; consequently, the students performed below their ability in
class.
To make matters worse, the low-ceilinged classrooms got very hot on a
typical day, so that a teacher tended to carry a little towel around to wipe sweat
from her face while teaching. Most classrooms had no electricity, and therefore
fans and audiovisual equipment were unheard of. On two occasions—once in a
city school and once in a rural school—my battery-operated tape recorder
diligently recorded conversations as I interviewed teachers in the dark because
the classrooms were not wired for electricity. During rainy days, some
classrooms were flooded, so that students and teachers spent most o f the day
bailing water out of the class. In one of the city classrooms I observed, I noticed
the walls were bare and run down, the windows were broken, and no
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instructional materials were evident in the room. The teacher confided in me
that her classroom—without her permission or that of the school
administration—was used as an evacuation centre by the neighbouring urban
poor during typhoons and other periods of heavy rain. When a typhoon occurred
at night, she expected to find a few families crouched in different areas o f her
classroom, and in adjacent rooms, when she arrived at school the following
morning. She had to cancel classes until the families gave her back the
classroom, which she and her students were then required to clean up after
them.
Although students and teachers were not deterred by their classrooms’
deplorable physical conditions, one could only guess at the kind of learning
such an environment enabled. Teachers tried their best with whatever meagre
resources they had because they could not afford to equip their classrooms given
their small salaries.
Poverty is indeed one o f the greatest problems in the Philippines, and it
is one of the reasons why critical thinking should be fostered in Filipino youth.
In related literature, some experts declare that those who are equipped with
critical thinking are more likely to do something about their situation and to
secure better futures.
Large Class Size
The enrolment size of the classrooms I observed ranged from 30 to 47
students. The classrooms in the rural areas were so crowded that three students
sat on a three-foot bench with hardly any elbowroom. Benches occupied most of
169
the room and left only a narrow aisle to walk along. The classrooms in the urban
area were equally overcrowded and cramped.
Effective learning is greatly affected by the number o f students in the
classroom. Mrs. Cruz considered herself lucky that this school year she has only
30 students, compared with last year’s class when she had 50 students. Her
next-door neighbour, the Grade 4 class, contained 60 children. I could not help
but compliment the teachers on their efforts. It was difficult, if not impossible,
to imagine how I would attempt to reach every single one of the sixty students.
The effectiveness of teachers in classes with such large enrolments is
doubtful. Due to the excessive class size, teachers tended to teach by means of
the traditional method of simply transmitting knowledge and assigning
seatwork, the copying o f notes, rote memorization, and other low-level thinking
activities. Discussion merely comprised recitation of facts in unison and,
consequently, did not promote the furtherance o f critical thinking. This problem
was beyond the teachers’ control and could not be left to them to solve. The
government is quite aware o f this perennial crisis, yet it does nothing to alleviate
it.
Lack o f Resources
Except for one classroom o f five that I visited, I found hardly any
resources for teaching and learning. The only resources available were
textbooks for some of the subjects that were taught. In some instances, there
were not enough copies of the text for everybody. In one of the city schools,
Mrs. Madrigal disclosed that textbooks issued by the government provided
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useful but limited information about a topic. She often referred to other books
that she borrowed from private schools. She also photocopied information from
other materials for her students, which was costly. In fact, when I asked for a
copy of achievement tests, it took the teachers a while to furnish me with one. I
eventually realized my insensitivity to their situation in that I had not provided
them with funds to cover photocopying charges. I did not realize schools did not
have photocopiers at their disposal. As soon as I offered them money to cover
costs, I received the tests almost immediately.
Similar conditions existed in rural schools, where textbooks were the
only materials available for teaching any of the subjects. Unlike those in city
schools, teachers in rural areas did not have the luxury o f borrowing resources
from private schools because no other schools existed nearby. Moreover, one
had to travel several miles to gain access to a photocopy machine.
Textbooks and the teacher’s manual were helpful for looking up
information about topics, Mrs. Cruz boasted, but not for teaching critical
thinking. She observed that books presented only one perspective and provided
limited background information that was helpful to both teachers and students.
No additional references were issued to enable teachers to teach the many topics
mandated in the curriculum. Mrs. Manalo noted that she preferred the old
textbook issued by the government over the new one because it had contained
more information and longer discussion sections. I was aghast, however, when
she related, “They were condemned and burned because some of the
information in the old textbooks was incorrect.” She continued to tell me that all
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the elementary schools in the Philippines had used the old textbooks for at least
10 years, which further stunned me.
While I appreciate the initiative of teachers who are required to deliver
the curriculum despite the lack o f materials, I believe the limitations of
textbooks and the lack of references may be exploited in a limited but positive
way to enhance the promotion of critical thinking. For example, teachers can
encourage students to generate their own perspectives about certain topics.
Caution must be taken, however, to ensure that students’ views or accounts of
events do not supplant those that are historically accurate. When students create
their own perspectives about an event, the process can help them to think
critically about biases that have shaped the single sanctioned perspective offered
by textbooks. Using other approaches, such as issue-centred and constructivist
approaches may compel teachers to make lessons more interesting and
challenging and to encourage students to think critically. By engaging students
in dialogue or debate about an issue, students may learn to evaluate the
soundness and the validity of their arguments. Lack of information may be
alleviated by inviting resource persons to attend class or by taking the class on a
field trip. Taking the class to witness a community council meeting, for
example, is more meaningful than reading about it in a book. The use of a
battery-operated radio or tape recorder can complement current-events lessons
as students listen to different views about critical issues. The problems caused
by the lack of resources may be resolved in part by considering alternative
172
methods o f instruction that can be integrated in, and are appropriate for, class
activities.
Lack o f Training
The participants affirmed that they were unclear about what critical
thinking was, how to use it, how to develop it, and how to assess it. Mrs.
Manalo corroborated these circumstances: “It’s not popular here in the
Philippines. I have not come across it yet, even in seminars.” The teachers could
only speculate about what it was, and they offered varied interpretations. Mrs.
Cruz confirmed that she had heard o f it and had read about it in the curriculum
guide, but she had not observed a lesson that taught critical thinking.
Because they did not know what critical thinking is, it is simply
unrealistic to expect participants to be prepared to cultivate it in their students;
nor is it reasonable to suppose that they would know how to teach it. Mrs.
Manalo admonished the government for its lack of initiative: “Why have they
[the government] not given us a seminar?” Although the development of critical
thinking among students is stipulated in the social studies curriculum guide,
teachers received no training whatsoever about how to teach it. The teacher’s
manual and the textbooks did not contain exercises that support the teaching of
critical-thinking skills.
The teachers’ willingness to improve themselves demonstrated a concern
for their effectiveness in the classroom. It impressed me that the participants
were eager to improve their teaching skills. They were aware that they lacked
the skills necessary to foster critical thinking and were grateful for an
173
opportunity to grasp its basic tenets and explore them. Their positive attitude
towards learning new things was gratifying.
Students and teachers inevitably confronted challenges while learning
and teaching. Teachers talked about these problems, but they were grateful to
have employment. Without making excuses, they tried their best and felt
accountable for their students’ educational development. Mrs. Koronel gave me
advice: “You have to like your job, otherwise you will be miserable every day.
It is not only a source from which I send my own children to school, it is a
responsibility.”
Government Support
All the participants asserted that the government gave teachers little
support to promote or develop critical thinking. Classrooms were provided with
student textbooks, which were accompanied by a teacher’s manual. (See chapter
5 for review.) Because students were able to retrieve ideas from the
government-issued books, Mrs. Madrigal felt the government helped her teach
critical thinking. Mrs. Cruz concurred, stating that textbooks were useful for
providing information with which critical thinking could be explored. The
curriculum guide was also helpful, according to Mrs. Koronel, because it
identified for teachers the topics they must teach.
I agree that the government contributed little to help teachers deliver the
curriculum objectives more effectively, which includes the development of
critical-thinking skills. Classrooms were poorly built, and their maintenance was
often funded by teachers’ fundraising initiatives. Most schools did not have
174
electricity, indoor plumbing, or running water; indoor toilets were unsanitary
due to the lack of water supply and maintenance services. The deplorable
conditions of so many classrooms were not conducive to learning.
Equipment for sciences, physical education, social studies, and other
activities were rarely supplied, if at all. Mrs. Cruz wished she could afford to
buy a globe to show her students features of the planet such as latitude and
longitude lines and the geographic elements of countries. Basic school supplies
that teachers needed to make instructional materials, such as manila paper,
paper clips, and glue, were furnished by the teachers themselves. Because of the
drain on the personal financial resources of teachers that these costs represented,
teachers tended to avoid using instructional materials when teaching.
Reference materials, such as a dictionary, an encyclopaedia, maps, and
audiovisual materials, were rarely available in schools. Storybooks and
children’s literature were rarely accessible to children, and school libraries were
even scarcer.
Teachers are often held solely accountable for the students’ educational
success or failure. However, it is unfair and unreasonable to expect teachers to
produce miracles when schools are afforded little in the way of public equity,
when classroom sizes are unmanageable, when few instructional materials are
accessible and those that are available are dull, and when the physical
conditions of classrooms are not conducive to learning. Teachers, when given
support for their dedication and endeavours will achieve more success.
175
Summary
The views expressed by instructors teaching in rural areas were
compared with those articulated by teachers in the urban centre, but they yielded
no significant differences. Participants in both settings were unclear about the
nature of critical thinking. Although they all agreed about the importance of
upholding critical thinking in their classrooms, they were uncertain whether or
not they actually promoted or taught i t All instructors held the same belief: they
required training about how to cultivate critical thinking in their students. The
obstacles participants encountered when they attempted to develop these skills
were ubiquitous: poverty, the lack of resources, support, or training, combined
with the limited ability shown by their students.
The advancement o f even basic critical-thinking ski lls in classrooms was
critically hampered by the elements identified in the participants’ narratives.
The physical classroom environment and the instructions established by the
Department o f Education, Culture and Sports greatly affected the kind of
learning that took place.
Teachers who are able to provide a motivating and challenging
classroom atmosphere that reinforces and supports the acquisition o f critical-
thinking skills may be the most successful in attaining the curricular objective.
Teachers who model critical thinking and are knowledgeable about the nature of
the skills will undoubtedly be in a good position to inculcate them in their
students because they understand the processes critical thinking involves. The
strategies used by teachers to teach any concept or objective directly affect the
176
quality of learning that takes place. It is therefore important that teachers are
endowed with strategies that can help them successfully promote critical
thinking. Finally, government support is necessary to promote and cultivate
critical thinking. This means financial commitments and the provision of
sufficient instructional materials are crucial, as is a curriculum that stimulates
students’ involvement in their own learning processes. Ultimately, the objective
is to graduate students endowed with critical-thinking skills who will act as
responsible citizens and who can and will participate actively in the nation’s
democratic structures.
177
Chapter 7
Recommendations and Final Reflections
Recommendations
Teachers play a vital role in the education of students. Teacher-related
attributes, such as their commitment, attitude, methods of teaching, skills, and
beliefs, are some of the factors that influence the quality o f education students
receive. Indeed, not only are teachers responsible in a significant way for
shaping youth, they are also responsible, in the long run, for the development of
community. However, while students are expected to develop critical thinking
skills that they can apply in practical life, in their jobs, and in their communities,
it cannot be assumed that teachers themselves are critical thinkers. And yet
before teachers can teach critical thinking, they must be critical thinkers
themselves: “Teachers, Freire and Horton [agree], must model rigorous thinking
and compelling ways of being a scholar for their students” (Kinchloe, 2004, p.
21). Instructors have to be critical thinkers themselves in order to teach their
students to become critical thinkers. Teachers cannot empower children if they
are not empowered adults.
When conducting my research, I had a main goal in mind: to investigate
elementary social studies teachers’ experiences with critical thinking in
Philippine schools. I tried to find out what perspectives elementary school social
studies teachers in the Philippines held regarding the teaching of critical
thinking.
Based on the findings o f my research, I have these recommendations.
178
First, I recommend that a similar study be conducted in a different
setting in the Philippines. In particular, the focus might be the affluent, private
schools located in wealthy communities. It has been my experience that the
realities o f those teachers who work amidst the upper echelon are substantially
different than those in the “barrios.” Specifically, because I have taught in a
private school, I am anxious to know whether or not there would be different
results from this study, conducted with public school teachers, and results of a
future study involving private school teachers.
Second, while the government, through the Department of Education,
Culture and Sports, endorses the promotion and training of critical thinking in
its 2002 social studies curriculum, it is clear that this ideological and
pedagogical endorsement lacks practical and material follow-through. The
government provides no training that enables the teachers to acquire the skills
they are meant to teach. The government also neglects to supply classrooms
with the materials required to impart the mandated critical thinking skills.
Unfortunately, the government has left teachers, already financially strapped
and constrained by time limits and large student populations, to make do with
their own creative initiatives; instructors are also dependent on their own
resourcefulness to find equipment and prepare the instructional materials that
will help them impart curricular objectives. The many topics identified as
mandatory subjects to be covered scarcely allow room or time to address critical
thinking as a crucial skill requiring development.
179
The materials provided to instructors are barely adequate for the task of
developing critical thinking. At best, the syllabus, textbooks, teachers’ manuals,
and handbooks bring about rote learning. Consequently, students’ thought
processes are not honed as instruments of critical thinking; they are turned into
passive vessels for memorization.
Large student populations in each classroom further exacerbate these
problems. Suffering from overcrowding, teachers’ abilities are stretched far
beyond their capacity to teach effectively.
My recommendations are practical and aim to reverse the concerns I
outlined above. The Department of Education, Culture and Sports should
provide teachers with the training and support they need; reduce the number of
topics addressed by the curriculum to allow more time, resources, and focus to
be brought to bear on the development of high-level thinking and critical
thinking. At a minimum, the department must provide more stimulating
materials for learning and reduce classroom sizes to enable teachers to address
their students’ needs effectively and thoroughly.
Third, teachers, I consider, are the greatest influence on their
students’ abilities to better their circumstances. It is my fundamental belief that
the teachers, themselves, must be critical thinkers before they can teach their
students to adopt this way of thinking. With the benefit of this critical skill, it is
my sincere hope that Filipino youth will grow to become meaningful
contributors to a globalized country like the Philippines. Therefore, I strongly
recommend that teachers be made aware of the need to change their perceptions.
180
In our world of accelerating change and complexity, a different type of thinking
and learning is demanded of them; one that requires skills o f self-evaluation and
more intellectual discipline (Paul, 1993). They need to become conscientized
such that they may become critically reflective o f their location, their history,
their practices and prejudices. They have to analyze, problematize and evaluate
the socio-political, economic and cultural realities that affect their lives ( Freire
& Macedo cited by Leistyna, Woodrum & Sherblom, 1999). A teacher must not
only teach what is mandated of him/her, he/she must also be willing to go
beyond oneself, and to criticize the mandated “truths.”
One way of bringing about teacher-social consciousness is through the
provision of an intervention program for critical pedagogy that can be
established and made available through professional development activities,
workshops, seminars, and courses in teacher-colleges and universities for pre
service and in-service instructors. The program should aim to provide teachers
with opportunities to polish their skills and learn new strategies for the effective
instruction of critical thinking and other curricular mandates as well.
The participants’ total dedication to their students, in spite of their
difficult situations, epitomizes perseverance. It is also my recommendation that
teachers continue in their quest to find new ways to impart knowledge, attitudes
and skills to their students, and seek to improve their own methods of
developing critical thinking skills.
Complacency about the current conditions will not lead to improvement.
It is my hope that teachers will make it known to school administrations and,
181
ultimately, to the Department of Education, Culture and Sports that their present
scholastic conditions are unacceptable. Paired with this objection to current
conditions, teachers must suggest methods to bring about sustained change and
improvement, and in the process remind political and administrative leaders
how valuable and necessary effective and empowered teachers are to students.
Awareness is only a beginning, of course; awareness combined with resources,
action, and the support necessary to solve identified problems, generates critical
thinkers and effective citizens, which is what the educational mandate calls for.
This study is important for a number o f reasons. It assessed and qualified
elementary social studies teachers’ understanding of critical thinking. It
heightened teachers’ awareness of the importance of critical thinking, and
consequently it might have advanced the development of critical thinking skills
among Filipino youth, which could enable them to identify better the causes of
the conditions they might be subjected to and, subsequently, to take action to
either maintain or improve their circumstances. The study also sought to bring
awareness to elementary social studies teachers about how critical thinking
could better prepare students for global citizenship in this age of economic
interdependency. Finally, I hoped the Philippine Department o f Education,
Culture and Sports would emphasize the promotion of critical thinking in
Philippine schools as a result of reading my study’s findings.
Final Reflections
It has been more than three decades now since that memorable evening
on the balcony of our ancestral house in Basey, when I overheard Tatay (my
182
father) express his passionate refusal to allow BASWOOD Industries to log the
rainforest of Basey. Nevertheless, my memory of that moment is still quite
vivid. After having been practically denuded, it was predicted the rainforest
would require four decades o f rest in which to recover. Despite my father’s best
efforts, however, I was gravely disheartened to learn that commercial loggers
have once again been given authorization to log within this precious rainforest.
To make matters worse, another group has been granted free reign to mine the
minerals around the rainforest. Such destruction flies in the face o f years of
protests.
With the government’s failure to keep the greedy beast of destruction
away from the rainforest, the profit-hungry commercial Titans have won a tragic
victory. I began to wonder: perhaps our opposition to the devastation caused by
commercial interests was not strong enough. Perhaps there was too few who
cared to continue battling these Goliaths. Perhaps the inebriating intoxicants of
industry were too much for the local governors to resist. Or worse, perhaps the
reality of the locals’ poverty overwhelmed the principles they once held dear to
preserve the environment. Though I continue to speculate about the cause of this
failure, the sadness I feel for our loss only fuels my fervent belief in the need for
a more sustainable solution: education.
My research is merely a beginning step toward my ultimate goal of
helping improve Filipinos’ living conditions. Despite boasting of itself as a
“democratic” country, the vast majority of Filipino citizens do not enjoy even
the most basic necessities. Their social and economic existence is dependent
183
upon perpetuating a seemingly endless cycle of destruction. I am not obtuse
about the daunting nature of the task I have undertaken. It would be sheer
ignorance if I failed to recognize the difficulty of achieving such an idealist
goal. However, I will forever remain firm in my optimism that even the smallest
change can lead to fundamental improvements. It is with this principle in mind,
and heart, that I have approached my research.
I realize that tremendous effort is required o f me to make even the
smallest improvement in Philippine society. However, I am confident my
journey o f a thousand steps has begun with the right steps. I will continue to
speak to the issues o f environmental degradation, poverty, injustice and
encourage teachers to employ different means to empower their students. I will
pursue my advocacy for a better future by helping teachers hone their skills to
teach critical thinking through flexible, practical strategies. Although
intellectual competence maybe the initial goal, if students are provided activities
that achieve no more than this objective, teachers maybe ineffective in nurturing
student-thinking. In the Philippines, critical thinking maybe promoted in a
philosophical context (critical pedagogy), which challenges and assesses
existing social and economic injustices. It is my contention that when Filipinos
acquire critical thinking skills through critical pedagogy, they will be better
equipped to deal with the effects of colonization and globalization.
Given the upheaval over government corruption, the curtailment of
citizens’ fundamental rights and other government atrocities that occur on a
daily basis, the Philippines appears to be in a tailspin of decline. Discussing the
184
issues is no longer enough. Words must be accompanied by the right actions.
More than ever, teachers need to understand how to promote and stimulate
critical thinking—to become critical thinkers themselves, and to be better
prepared to instruct their students.
The Samar rainforest is doomed to destruction, but I remain hopeful that
concerned citizens will be able, at the very least, to pressure loggers to employ
selective logging and replenishing practices. I am optimistic that students will
eventually be taught the necessary skills to think critically so they can become
more informed, be in a better position to improve themselves and their
circumstances, and can become much better leaders than those currently in
power. In doing so, they may bring prosperity, social and economic justice to
the majority of the Filipinos.
185
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Appendices
Appendix A
Parent/Guardian Consent Form
I ,_____________________________________, hereby give the researcher,

Brenda
Basiga, consent for my child,__________________ to

be:
• video taped by the researcher and allow her to use the video tape as part of
her dissertation, presentations and written articles for other educators.
I understand that:
• my child may withdraw from the research at any time without penalty
• all information gathered will be treated confidentially
• any information that identifies my child will be destroyed upon
completion of the research
• my child will not be identifiable in any documents resulting from this

research other than in the video tape.
I understand that the results of this research will be used only in the
researcher’s dissertation, presentations, and written articles for other educators.
Signature: _____
Date________ _______________
The following are names and contact information for persons who may be
contacted in the case of concerns, complaints or consequences:Researcher: Brenda
Basiga—717 Wells Wynd, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6M 2K1 Phone l-(780) 444-
3821; Email Address - [email protected] Supervisor: Susan E. Gibson, PhD.,
Associate Professor, Department of Elementary Education, 551 Education South,
University of Alberta,Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2G5; Tel. Phone l-(780) 492-0545 Fax
l-(780) 492-7622; Email [email protected]
“The plan for this study has been reviewed for its adherence to ethical
guidelines and approved by the Faculties of Education, extension and Augustana
Research Ethics Board (EEA REB) at the University of Alberta. For questions
regarding participant rights and ethical conduct of research, contact the Chair of the
EEAREB at l-(780) 492-3751.”
199
Appendix B
Student Consent Form
I ,_____________________________________ , hereby give the researcher,
Brenda Basiga, my consent to be:
• video taped by the researcher and allow her to use the video tape as part of
her dissertation, presentations, and written articles for other educators.
• I understand that:
• I may withdraw from the research at any time without penalty
• my name will not be used
• no one will be able to tell who I am.
I understand that the results of this research will be used only in the
researcher’s dissertation, presentations, and written articles for other educators.
Signature:_________________________________
Date_______________________
contacted in the case of concerns, complaints or consequences:
Researcher: Brenda Basiga—717 Wells Wynd, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

T6M 2KlPhone l-(780) 444-3821; Email Address - [email protected] Supervisor:
Susan E. Gibson, PhD,, Associate Professor, Department of Elementaiy Education, 551
Education South, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2G5; Phone l-(780)
492-0545 Fax l-(780) 492-7622; Email Address-susan.e. [email protected]
EEA REB at 1<780) 492-3751.”
200
Appendix C
Teacher Consent Form
After discussing with the researcher, Brenda Basiga, the full particulars of her
qualitative research, I ,______________________ , hereby give her
my consent to be:
• interviewed
• observed
• video taped
I understand that:
• I may withdraw from the research at any time without penalty
• any information that identifies me will be destroyed upon
completion of the research
• I will not be identifiable in any documents resulting from this research

other than in the videotape.
• I understand that the results of this research will be used only in the
researcher’s dissertation, presentations, and written articles for other
educators.
Signature:__________________ ______________ Date________________________

T6M 2K1,Phone l-(780) 444- 3821; Email Address - [email protected]. Supervisor:
Susan E. Gibson, PhD., Associate Professor, Department of ElementaryEducation, 551
Education South, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2G5; Phone l-(780)
492-0545, Fax l-(780) 492-7622; Email [email protected]
EEA REB at l-(780) 492-3751.”
201
Appendix D
Letter to Teachers, Requesting Permission to Participate in the Study
Date_________________________
Dear__________________,
Kumusta ka! (How are you?) I am a Basaynon, who is now residing in Edmonton,
Alberta, Canada. I am doing a research on Elementary Social StudiesTeachers ’ Experiences
with Critical Thinking in Philippines Schools, as my dissertation. This is one of the
requirements I have to fulfill to obtain a Degree in Doctor of Education from the University
of Alberta in Edmonton, and I would like to request your participation in the research.
In order to mitigate the effects of colonization and globalization in the Philippines, Filipinos
must become critical thinkers. This is the premise that motivates me to undertake a study of
critical thinking. I believe that having acquired critical thinking skills, the Filipino youth
will be empowered and better equipped to positively affect their situation, and they will be
able to function knowledgeably in a global environment that tends to exploit the naive and
the ill-informed. If instructors want their students to be independent decision-makers, they
must provide their students with opportunities to think for themselves, to evaluate and
generate their own ideas.
I would like to find out what your perspectives on and experiences in teaching critical
thinking skills in elementary social studies classes in the Philippines by asking you
questions in a one and a half-hour interview. I would also like to request to observe you
teach a 45-minute to an hour lesson that promotes critical thinking.
I would appreciate it very much if you would agree to help me with my research. Thank
you and best wishes.
Yours truly,
Brenda Basiga
Researcher: Brenda Basiga—717 Wells Wynd, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6M 2K1
Phone l-(780) 444- 3821; Email Address - bbasiga@,shaw.ca
Supervisor: Susan E. Gibson, PhD., Associate Professor, Department of Elementary
Education, 551 Education South, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2G5
Phone l-(780) 492-0545; Fax l-(780) 492-7622; Email Address-
[email protected]
“The plan for this study has been reviewed for its adherence to ethical guidelines
and approved by the Faculties of Education, extension and Augustana Research Ethics
Board (EEA REB) at the University of Alberta. For questions regarding participant rights
and ethical conduct of research, contact the Chair of the EEA REB at l-(780) 492-375.”
202
Appendix E
Letter to the Philippine Secretary of Education
Date
The Honourable Secretary of Education

Department of Education, Culture and Sports
Manila, Philippines
Dear Sir/Madam:
Kumusta po kayo! (How are you?) I am a Basaynon, who is now residing in

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. I am doing a research on Elementary Social Studies Teachers ’
Experiences with Critical Thinking in Philippines Schools, as one of the requirements for
the Degree of Doctor of Education in the Department of Education in the University of
Alberta I would like to request permission to interview elementary social studies teachers
in Basey, Samar and in Tacloban City for the data collection of my study. I would also like
to request permission to observe and video-tape classes while the teachers are teaching
critical thinking.
One of the goals of elementary social studies education indicated in the Philippine
curriculum 2002 is the development of “critical and creative thinking towards responsible
decision-making on issues or cases that are being encountered.” My study will assess and
qualify teachers’ understanding of critical thinking. It will determine if the curricular
content of social studies is taught in such a way that elementary grades children are
provided with opportunities to develop critical thinking skills.
Furthermore, the research will bring awareness to the teachers of the importance of
critical thinking and consequently, advance the development of the skills among Filipino
youth. The results generated by the study can suggest strategies teachers may use to
promote the acquisition of critical thinking skills.
Thank you and best wishes.
Yours truly,
Brenda Basiga
contacted in the case of concerns, complaints or consequences:Researcher: Brenda Basiga
- 717 Wells Wynd, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6M 2K1
Phone (1-780) 444- 3821; Email Address - bbasiga@,shaw.ca
Supervisor: Susan E. Gibson, PhD., Associate Professor, Department of

Elementary Education, 551 Education South, University of Alberta, Edmonton,
Alberta T6G 2G5 Phone (1-780) 492-0545; Fax (1-780) 492-7622; Email Address
[email protected]. “The plan for this study has been reviewed for its adherence to
ethical guidelines and approved by the Faculties of Education, extension and Augustana
Research Ethics Board (EEA REB) at the University of Alberta. For question regarding
participant rights and ethical conduct of research, contact the Chair of the EEA REB at (1-
780) 492-3751.”
203
Appendix F
Guide Questions for Interview
1. What is your understanding o f critical thinking?

Probe:
a. What does critical thinking mean to you?
b. What are some key words or ideas that come to mind when you
hear the phrase “critical thinking?”
2. What does the Department o f Education, Culture and Sports (DECS) say
about the teaching of critical thinking?
Probe:
a. Does (DECS) think it is important to teach critical thinking in the
elementary schools?
b. How do you feel about teaching critical thinking?
3. What are some of your experiences in teaching critical thinking?

Probe:
a. How do you like teaching the skill? What do you like or dislike
about
teaching it?
b. What are some of the difficulties you encounter when teaching
it?
c. How often do you involve your children in critical thinking
activities?
d. Do you design your own critical thinking activities or do you rely
on
some materials?
4. Would it be all right for me to come to your class and watch you teach a
lesson that develops critical thinking?
5. How would you like to look at materials and lesson plans that promote
critical thinking? What do you think o f the idea of me teaching your
class a lesson that involves critical thinking?
204
Appendix G
Confidentiality Agreement
Project title - Elementary Social Studies Teachers’ Experiences with Critical Thinking in
Philippine Schools.
I, ------------------------------------- , the--------------------------------------------------
(specific job description, e.g., interpreter/translator) have been hired to ______________

and I agree to:
1. keep the research information shared with me confidential by not discussing or

sharing the research information in any form or format (e.g., disks, tapes,
transcripts) with anyone other than the Researcher.
2. keep all research information in any form or format (e.g., disks, tapes, transcripts)
secure while it is in my possession.
3. return all research information in any form or format (e.g., disks, tapes, transcripts)
to the researcher when I have completed the research tasks.
4. after consulting with the researcher erase or destroy all research information in any
form or format regarding this research project that is not returnable to the
researcher (e.g., information stored on a computer hard drive).
(Print Name) (Signature) (Date)
Researcher
___________Brenda Basiga________ _____________________________ ______

(Print Name) (Signature) (Date)
Researcher: Brenda Basiga—717 Wells Wynd, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6M 2K1
Phone l-(780) 444-3821; Email Address - [email protected]
[email protected]
“The plan for this study has been reviewed for its adherence to ethical guidelines
and approved by the Faculties of Education, extension and Augustana Research Ethics
Board (EEA REB) at the University of Alberta. For questions regarding participant rights
and ethical conduct of research, contact the Chair of the EEA REB at l-(780) 492-3751.”
205
Appendix H
Letter to Parents/Guardians, Informing Them of Their Child’s Participation in the

Study
Date
Dear___________________,
Kumusta kamo! (How are you?) I am a Basaynon, who is now residing in Edmonton,
Alberta, Canada. I am doing a research on Elementary Social StudiesTeachers ’
Experiences with Critical Thinking in Philippines Schools, as my dissertation. This is
one of the requirements I have to fulfill to obtain a Degree in Doctor of Education from
the University of Alberta in Edmonton.
I would like to find out teachers’ perspectives on and experiences in teaching critical
thinking skills in elementary social studies classes in the Philippines. Your child’s
teacher_______________________________ is one of the participants of
the study and she/he has agreed to be interviewed by me for no more than one and a
half hours. She/He has also given me permission to video-tape her/him while teaching a
social studies lesson that promotes critical thinking. I would like to request your
permission to video-tape your child, while she/he is attending
___________________________’s class that I will be observing.
I would appreciate it very much if you would agree to help me with my research. Thank
you and best wishes.
Yours truly,
Brenda Basiga

T6M 2K1 Phone l-(780) 444-3821; Email Address - [email protected]
[email protected]
regarding participant rights and ethical conduct o f research, contact the Chair of the
EEA REB at 1<780) 492-375.”
206
Appendix I
An Overview of the Grade 6 Social Studies Curriculum
The Philippine social studies curriculum, entitled Basic Education Curriculum
(Makabayan), which is written in the Philippine national language covers the curricular
expectations for the elementary grades. The document is divided into six columns, one
for each grade level from Grade 1 to Grade 6. The Grade 6 curriculum is contained on
the sixth column, which basically lists the major topics and sub-topics to be taught, and
skills to be developed in that grade level. A sample curricular content of the Grade 6
curriculum is presented here. The rest of the topics are stated in the same manner.
Topic I: Philippine Identity

Subtopic A: The people are an important element o f the state
Skills:
1. Identify the characteristics of a population that will help make a country
become progressive
2. Explain the importance of a healthy and intelligent populace for the
nation’s prosperity
3. Identify the country’s total population
4. Identify the factors that affect population growth
5. Graph the population according to gender and age
6. Compare the rural population with urban population
7. Identify the distribution and density of population
8. Enumerate the reasons for immigration
9. State the effects of immigration to the place of origin and to the destination
10. Correlate the population of an area to die country’s with the help of a map
11. Identify the peoples comprising the Philippines
12. Give evidence to show that Filipinos share commonalities as a result of
events in the country’s histoiy and its geography
13. Identify the characteristics that make Filipinos unique.
14. Show appreciation for the equality o f people
15. Show appreciation for the dedicated service provided by employees, and by
government officials
16. Identify important Filipino traditions
17. Explain how appreciation would improve or prevent die country’s growth
18. Conclude that national unity is the result of common values and beliefs.
207

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UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA

ELEMENTARY SOCIAL STUDIES TEACHERS’ EXPERIENCES

WITH CRITICAL THINKING IN PHILIPPINE SCHOOLS

BRENDA FROILAN CABIGON BASIGA

A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES

AND RESEARCH IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS

FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF EDUCATION

DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

Published Heritage Direction du

395 W ellington Street 395, rue W ellington

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The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur

In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne

While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires

Critical thinking skills, I argue, may empower youth to function

effectively in a global environment. They can apply critical thinking in daily

life, at work, and in their communities.

This research aimed to examine Filipino elementaiy social studies

teachers’ experiences and application of critical thinking and to determine

also investigated whether the Philippine educational system, as manifest in

prescribed materials, works to promote students’ development of critical

The study’s data were collected through classroom observations of and

interviews with social studies teachers—three in rural settings and two at an

curricular document was scrutinized, as were other social studies resources

prescribed by the Philippine Department of Education, Culture and Sports

(DECS), to find evidence of institutional promotion o f and resistance to critical

The collected data were analyzed by means of a qualitative

methodology, grounded on interpretive inquiry. The information gathered was

woven together and was presented herein as narratives.

The views expressed by teachers in rural and urban locales were

compared. Teacher-participants were unclear what constituted critical thinking,

Teachers’ calls for training to effectively cultivate critical thinking in students

were consistent. Economic poverty and the paucity of educational resources,

The study was significant because it helped Filipino elementary social

processes. The study heightened instructors’ awareness of how Filipino youth

of colonization and globalization in this age of economic interdependency.

Finally, it is anticipated that the Philippine Department of Education, Culture

make a concerted effort to promote critical thinking in Philippine schools.

My doctoral thesis is an expression of my concern for the plight of the

through his commitment to bringing about appropriate development for the

Inspiration, however, was not enough; I needed the guidance and

direction of my supervisor, Dr. Susan E. Gibson, to clarify and define my work.

Harawira, to whom I am also indebted, challenged my thinking and brought me

questioning allowed me to push myself and to continually refine my research

through my oral examination. Her suggestions and assurances boosted my

confidence, and made me better prepared to defend my thesis.

My examining committee, composed of Dr. Ali Abdi, Dr. George

Richardson and Dr. Maxine Stephenson, graciously provided my study the

knowledge and expertise, I am thankful.

invaluable contributions of the Filipino social studies teachers, who willingly

participated in my investigation. Credit is also due to the participants’

Department of Education, Culture and Sports for allowing me access to the

My own school administration, as well, played an important part in this

study. I appreciate the opportunity afforded me by the Edmonton Public School

Board by letting me go on a sabbatical leave of absence from my teaching

complete my doctoral program.

My graduate work was a family endeavour. My youngest son, Byron,

constantly provided technical assistance, even throughout his final exams. My

Filipinos. Their support and encouragement kept me focused.

into the expression that it has become.