Cognitive and socio-affective strategies in the critical thinking of Peruvian teachers

Abstract

Critical thinking is a fundamental skill in the teaching profession, but there is a lack of attention to its development or strengthening due to a lack of knowledge of appropriate strategies. Faced with this situation, the use of cognitive and socio-affective strategies has emerged as an alternative. The aim of this research is to check whether the use of cognitive and Socio-Affective Strategies (CSS) improves the critical thinking of regular basic education teachers. The study is a quantitative, quasi-experimental, longitudinal and explanatory study. We worked with 60 primary and secondary school teachers, of whom 40 were the Control Group (CG) and 20 were the Experimental Group (EG). A critical thinking questionnaire with adequate validity and internal consistency indices (á = 0.93) was used for measurement. The main results revealed that in the pretest there is no significant difference between the CG and the EG; whereas after the CST intervention the difference was high and significant in both groups (p < 0.05; TE > 0.5). In conclusion, CST significantly improves the critical thinking of basic education teachers.