Teaching Critical Thinking Through American History

Abstract

Introduction:  If the increasingly complicated problems of the world are to be solved, young people will have to be trained in problem solving.  The need for more complex thinking skills indicates that school children must be taught to think critically.  Because the growing demand for critical thinking results from the social tensions of our day, many educators believe that the area of social science should bear significant responsibility in the development of these cognitive skills.  How to go about providing this program, has, however, been the subject of much controversy.