Classroom interactions and critical thinking: Ideals, self-perceptions and actions

The present study examined classroom interactions which facilitate critical thinking within a theoretical perspective which emphasizes active construction of knowledge by students and the importance of a facilitative discourse environment for the development of critical thinking skills.;A survey was used to assess teacher classroom interaction behaviors. Ideal and self-perceived actual responses of 211 middle level basic subject teachers regarding 45 discrete behaviors were compared to one another and to the literature standard. Analysis of the survey responses identified teachers with and without formal training in the teaching of critical thinking and those whose beliefs about ideal classroom interactions matched or did not match the literature standard. Twenty seventh grade teachers were selected for observation based on scores on these two variables. Actual classroom behaviors of these teachers were analyzed using classroom interaction analysis and researcher/observer rating of the teachers. Finally, these observation ratings were compared to the perceived-actual and ideal responses they provided on the survey as well as to the response suggested in the literature.;The data from the survey and interaction analysis summary were analyzed using descriptive statistics, a factor analysis of the 45 discrete items, a 2 x 2 multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and paired t-tests. Nine subscales were identified. Results indicated that the teachers generally supported the ideal behaviors presented in the survey: however, their ideal behaviors agreed with the critical thinking literature standard less than half the time. Areas where their values were in greatest disagreement involved teacher-centered instruction and use of evaluative feedback. They also disagreed with the literature on the need for student decision-making, recommending these behaviors less frequently than suggested by the literature. Teachers' perceived-actual ratings differed from their ideal ratings concerning their ability to set up a facilitative discussion environment and their students' ability to use this environment to reason, question, and discuss issues appropriately.;Results of the observation segment are considered tentative. This study suggests that there are no effects of training on teacher classroom interaction behaviors; however, there are several effects of belief.