CRITICAL THINKING AND TEACHING ATTITUDES OF PRESERVICE TEACHERS

Although definitions of critical thinking are quite varied, there appears to be a great consensus among educators nationally that we must teach students to think independently and originally at all grade levels. From a population of 269 preservice teachers, a 12% sample was drawn by strict random. Individuals in the sample volunteered responses to the Watson - Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (1980) and The Survey of Teachers Attitudes - Revised (White and Stanley, 1989). The wide range of scores of critical thinking suggested two quite different groups in critical thinking. Attitudes about teaching by preservice teachers were highly similar to teachers in prior state-wide research.