Nuclear cementery, yes or no? A proposal for initial teacher training in critical thinking

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of citizens having critical thinking developed to face controversial issues with socioscientific implications. In this work we present an educational proposal to promote the development of critical thinking in initial teacher training, framed in a socioscientific context: nuclear waste management. The objectives are to describe the teaching-learning sequence by providing methodological guidance on how to implement it and examine the levels of cognitive activity and the critical thinking skills that are promoted, based on respective analysis frameworks. The sequence incorporates three different types of key activities: critical analysis of press news, representation of a role play and elaboration of a “map of the socioscientific issue”. The results of the analysis highlight that in all sessions cognitive processes of the highest level and higher order skills of critical thinking are encouraged.