Critical thinking about socio-political topics among students at Vocational Education and Training level 2: Metacognition and empathy as facilitators to stimulate critical thinking

Abstract

This study will gain insight into the critical thinking process of students at VET level 2 and whether stimulating empathy and metacognition stimulate the critical thinking process. It is assumed that critical thinking consists of two components: a disposition and an ability. In the first component the attitude of a critical thinker is reflected and the second component consists of the required critical thinking skills. Interviews based on cases about socio-political topics were held with 35 participants at VET level 2. Cases were manipulated by stimulating empathy and metacognition in order to test whether these factors stimulated the critical thinking process. The results were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. The observed critical thinking skills differed between participants, which shows a heterogeneous population at VET level 2. Furthermore, no significant differences in the use of critical thinking skills were found between manipulated and not manipulated conditions. In conclusion, stimulating empathy leads to a disposition to think critically but not automatically to more use of critical thinking skills. Personalized help structures should be provided in order to stimulate the critical thinking process of students at VET level 2.