Promoting Better Classroom Thinking

It is sometimes assumed that the promotion of classroom thinking is wholly the responsibility of the teacher. In this paper, it is contended that while the teacher has an important role in this regard, consideration must be given to the function of curriculum materials, as well as to the development of communal awareness among the students. A text that portrays students engaged in reasoning and whose deliberations follow the paradigm of the inquiry process can be an invaluable modelling instrument. It can also provide a protocol that shows students how young people in a community of inquiry might behave. The experience cited here has to do with elementary school philosophy interventions. It is argued that such interventions, when properly guided, can impressively stimulate the growth of critical and creative thinking.