Book part:

Critical Thinking in Teacher Education Matters to Face Ecological Crises

Young people obtain information primarily from social media. In the context of ecological crises, however, public discourse on social media is highly emotional and polarised, and misinformation is often difficult to identify. CT is essential to deal with this type of discourse and misinformation. It is therefore particularly important for (prospective) teachers to understand critical thinking as part of their training, so that they can promote critical thinking in their students. This article introduces the Synergy Model of Critical Thinking as an offer for higher education and school teachers alike to explain critical thinking as well as to reflect on their own and others perceptions of critical thinking. The Model shows that critical thinking results when knowledge, skills, dispositions and norms, values and emotions interplay when dealing with a subject or an object to take a position and this process is controlled by intellectual standards and self-regulation.