From Oral Storytelling to Critical Thinking: A Design-Based Research Pedagogical Intervention

Abstract

Critical thinking is at the forefront of learning and gaining increasing attention as a 21stcentury skill that helps students make well-informed decisions that positively impact their learning and life opportunities. In early childhood services, children are viewed as intelligent and capable thinkers and communicators, and educators are encouraged to scaffold their thinking. Such a broad overview of thinking is vague and of limited pedagogical value. Specific reference to the concept of critical thinking or strategies to encourage it are largely absent from early education literature. According to educational literature, critical thinking should be taught at all levels of education and, if practised, will develop throughout a lifetime. This begs the question: if critical thinking develops over time, why do we not introduce these skills in early childhood? One reason identified as a pedagogical gap this study addresses is the view that more strategies and resources for educators to teach critical thinking in the early years classroom are needed. This thesis reports on a study that investigated the effects of an oral storytelling intervention in providing the opportunity for children to practice critical thinking in the classroom. This research focuses on an intervention programme implemented with preschool children from which critical thinking skills will emerge. The implementation of the programme can be passed on to educators during training. The study was conducted by adopting Design-Based Research (DBR) in education. This approach to educational research is a form of experimental interventionist research conducted with and for educators to improve or enhance the learning and teaching environment. Data was generated during iterative rounds of coding employing reflexive thematic analysis to categorise patterns that emerged from transcripts of the verbal interactions during the intervention. The analyses of the DBR resulted in generating six design principles that work as a framework to pave the way for educators from different settings to introduce the concept of critical thinking in the form of oral storytelling to their early years environments. Findings from this study indicate that preschool children engage in many critical thinking skills under specific pedagogical conditions. The thesis concludes with an overview of the contribution of this research to the field of critical thinking and early childhood pedagogy and the implications of the study for research, policy and practice.