Encouraging Critical Thinking in Students through an

Excellent Teaching Practice Example

On Thursday, November 28, we organized a lecture titled “48 Questions about the Development of Critical Thinking” at the Institute for Contemporary Education. The lecture was given by Suzana Miljković, class teacher, author of the “Cloud of Knowledge for Teachers” and the holder of the “Best Educator in Serbia” award for 2015.  

Attendees were introduced to a work model that activates focused thinking, situational assessment and objective perception in students. This lecture underlined the importance of developing life skills in students that will help them to shape their entire environment in accordance with their attitudes. The lecturer repeatedly emphasized that critical thinking can be implemented in teaching in the form of debates about particular phenomena, which allow teachers to shape student attitudes toward scientific and occupation facts. In addition, the lecture presented examples of good practice which illustrate how critical thinking can help teachers to develop peer relations. 

Our colleagues attending the lecture were given critical questions classified into six categories which can be successfully implemented in practice. Teachers opened a discussion about the effectiveness of such a model, and were curious to learn about the impact of critical questions on the achievement of students between the 5th and the 8th grade, as well as high school students.  

The lecturer Suzana Miljković and the Institute for Contemporary Education have enabled all interested teachers to access the presentation from the lecture which can be found HERE. In case you cannot access the material, please email us at: office@institut.edu.rs or call us at: +381 (0)11/40-11-260.