Utilizing Local Environmental Issues in Developing Critical Thinking Among High School Students

Abstract

Case studies of six second year public high school students were con­ducted to determine the significant improvement in the students' thinking skills after analysis and discussion of local environmental issues, describe the thinking processes that the stu­dents employed before and after class discussion on the topics, and identify the teaching strategies most useful in analyzing environmental issues. A pretest-posttest instrument with three to four open-ended questions on four local environmental issues was administered to the students, with interviews to verify their analysis. Intervention strategies used in class discussions were issue analysis, lecture discussion, small group discussion, concept mapping, film showing, role playing, and a combina­tion of film showing and small group discussion. Results reveal that critical thinking abilities indeed improved when the students analyzed local environmental issues. They used different critical thinking skills, along Freedman's model of critical thinking strategies. Improvement was noted in the posttest as more concepts, ideas and reasons were observed in the students' analysis. The most useful teaching strategies was role playing.
This was followed by a combination of film showing and small group discussion.