Paper presented at the 1st International Conference on Technology and Innovation in Learning, Teaching and Education (TECH-EDU 2018), June 20-22, 2018, Thessaloniki, Greece. Read more at: http://bit.ly/techedu7

1. TEACHERS' CRITICAL THINKING
DISPOSITIONS THROUGH THEIR
ENGAGEMENT IN ACTION
RESEARCH PROJECTS: AN
EXAMPLE OF BEST PRACTICE
Catherine Dimitriadou, Agapi Vrantsi, Angeliki
Lithoxoidou, Eva Seira
International Conference on Technology and Innovation in
Learning, Teaching and Education. June 20-22, 2018-Aristotle
University of Thessaloniki
University of Western Macedonia

2. PRESENTATION OUTLINE
 Theoretical Background
o The School’s Challenge
o Critical Thinking
o Critical Thinking Dispositions
 Description of the Project
 Methodology
 Results
 Discussion
2

3. Ongoing change of today’s world
and the school’s challenge
Values
Education
Academic
Performance
3

4. Students starting from primary
education should have the
opportunity:
 to develop their identity
 to give meaning to life
 to consider conflicting values
 to examine their perceptions, beliefs and
attitudes
 to contribute to evolving democracy and
sustainability in a global world
4

5. Critical Thinking (CT)
5
Responding to this challenge presupposes the
development of CT which has been
continuously expanded to more areas of
thought.

6. In the APA Delphi Report, 7
dispositions are conceptualized.6
Inquisitiveness
Open-
mindedness
Systematicity
Analyticity Truth-seeking
Self-
confidence
Maturity
(Facione, Giancarlo, Facione & Gainen, 1995
p.4)

7. Students and Teachers’ CT
dispositions7
Develop moral reasoning,
democratically express
personal opinions, share
and debate points of
reasoning
Encourage investigation
into the topic, use critical
questioning, promote
arguments, work
deductively, be
conversational, reflect in
action

8. Description of the Project
8
 Development of resilience, peer counseling and
citizenship awareness among students. The
implementation of an intervention project
 in progress at the University of Western
Macedonia, Greece
 Based on the principles of participatory teaching
methods and action research
 Involves students, teachers, parents and
researchers holding the role of “critical friends”
(Kember et al, 1997).
 8 primary schools of Western Macedonia and 3
Lyceums of Thessaloniki (Central Macedonia)

9. Three interrelated components
9
Resilience (RSL)
• Teaches students to
deal with perilous life
conditions
• Promotes empathy
and emotional
intelligence
• Utilizes intrinsic
motivation
Peer Mediation
(PMD)
• Promotes conflict
resolution
• Reduces violence in
school settings
• Teaches tolerance
• Safeguards peaceful
school climate
Citizenship (CZE)
• Encourages moral
and emotional
development
• Teaches active
participation in
community
• Develops active,
social, cooperative
critical learning

10. The Rationale of the Project
10

11. At the initial phase of the
project…11
 The extent to which teachers participating in
the project were ready to hold an active and
participatory role cooperating with the
researchers and applying new teaching
processes was examined.
 This readiness was explored in the light of
teachers’ CT dispositions.

12. Research Questions
12
 To what extent do teachers’ CT dispositions
include characteristics that can contribute to the
promotion of students’ moral, emotional and social
empowerment?
 Which particular aspects of teachers’ CT
dispositions can be correlated with their ability to
support resilience, peer mediation and citizenship
education among their students?
 Which educational initiatives can be delivered
through this project, so that teachers’ CT
dispositions can be utilized in the direction of the
attainments of the project?

13. Participants
13
The axes
of the
project
Teachers’
number
Teacher’s
age
Teachers’
gender
Teachers’
working
experienc
e
Students’
age
RSL 5 47-55 4 women
1 man
15-27 9-12
PMD 5 48-55 3 women
2 men
25-28 9-11
CZE 3 39-55 1 woman
2 men
10-25 15-16

14. Data Collection
14
Resilience
• Semi-structured
interview (40-50
minutes)
• Questions
regarding
routine in
primary school,
classroom
settings,
personal and
professional
profile
Peer Mediation
• Focus group (1
hour)
• Questions
regarding
students’
conflicts,
reasons,
frequency,
consequences,
teachers and
parents’
intervention
Citizenship
• Semi-structured
interview (30-40
minutes)
• Questions
regarding
teachers’
perceptions of
the role of
school and
themselves as
well as the
development of
citizenship
education

15. Sample Questions
15
Resilience
Peer
Mediation
Citizenship
• Have you noticed any changes in
your students over the last years?
Can you describe the reasons for
these changes?
• In what way do you believe that
students’ academic performance
is influenced because their
families are experiencing
problems because of the financial
crisis?
• What are the most common
reasons for students’ conflicts?
How do you tackle conflicts
between students in school
settings?
• What are the possible results of
parental intervention in students’
conflicts? Why?• In your opinion, what are the
targets that school and teachers
should serve? Do you believe that
these targets are accomplished? If
yes, how? If no, why?
• In your opinion how do you define
a democratic citizen? How
important is the role of school in
the development of citizenship?

16. Data Assessment
16
Method
• Content Analysis
Material
• Facione’s Research Tool for CT
dispositions (APA, 1990)
• 7 categories, 1 for every disposition (κ =
.91 (95% CI, .89 to 0.93), p < .001,)

17. Results (1/4)
17
Disposition Teachers’ number Quotation/Code
Truth-seeking 11/13 “Something else may be hidden and
we have to look into it”
(PMDT4_29/9/2017)
“How many times do I leave
school and reflect”, “Did I do
this well?" or "Didn’t I do the
other thing well?", "How could I
do better?", "Didn’t I behave
well?"” (RSLT5_24/11/2016)
Open-mindedness 12/13 “And I think that where there
are people and different
opinions and some try to
impose their point of view to
others…conflicts are expected”
(PMDT3_29/9/2017)
“I believe that teachers should
be open-minded regardless

18. Results (2/4)
18
Disposition Teachers’ number Quotation/ Code
Analyticity 13/13 “When there is cooperation
between us (the teachers), the
children themselves learn to
cooperate, otherwise the
opposite happens”
(RSLT3_24/11/2016)
“I read a piece of news in
classroom and students start
decoding it and learning this
kind of language”
(CZET2_27/7/2017)
Systematicity 13/13 “I was very thrifty with the
materials they had in their bag
and with what they had to buy
... I adapt my lesson to my
students’ needs”
(RSLT5_24/11/2016)

19. Results (3/4)
19
Disposition Teachers’ number Quotation/Code
Self-confidence 11/13 “I believe we will be able to
cope, because I believe that
people are very strong and can
fight ... we have faced
difficulties over the last years
but we will overcome them…”
(RSLT2_18/5/2016)
“They have a huge
responsibility for tomorrow's
citizens ... and tomorrow's
societies. So their role should
be particularly well taken care
of” (CZET1_28/6/2017)
Inquisitiveness 13/13 “…further training, yes.”
(RSLT2_18/5/2016)
“We, the teachers, will probably
have to be further educated in

20. Results (4/4)
20
Disposition Teachers’ number Quotation/Code
Cognitive Maturity 13/13 “Dealing with time is a really
pressing issue …and this is
the reason why we behave in
a certain way, it is because
we have to…”
(RSLT5_24/11/2016)
“We need parents’
cooperation; they love their
children but they should also
trust teachers and not
underestimate
them”(PMDT3_29/9/2017)
“Students should be
responsible for the operation
of the school, they have to
fully understand what
democracy means”
(CZET3_30/7/2017)

21. Discussion (1/2)
21
Teachers’ CT dispositions
reveal their
readiness to
adopt a
responsible role
in school settings
can be instilled
into teaching
processes
potentially
contributing to
the successful
implementation
of the project
will be
potentially
extended
beyond
classroom limits
leading students
to global
sensitivity

22. Discussion (2/2)
22
Resilience
• Students’ self-confidence, social skills and readiness to
challenge life difficulties
• Academically effective agency, self-determination and
self-control.
Peer Mediation
• Understand the causes of a students’ conflict
• Teach students how to be flexible, work out solutions, alleviate
disagreement
Citizenship Education
• Students developing democratic personalities
• Promote practical, ethical, socially oriented, responsible self-
management of pupils and their participation in the society they
belong to.

23. 23
Thank you for your attention!