Facilitating the development of critical thinking skills and self-directed learning: An exploration of leadership and curriculum practice in a Palestinian kindergarten.

摘要

AbstractudDeveloping critical thinking in early childhood is vital especially in Western culture since udit improves an individual’s skills in creative thinking and enhances a person’s sense of udresponsibility. This is the fundamental contention of this thesis. These skills assist in uddeveloping and implementing a state of mind of not accepting negative situations and udinstead directs the individual towards trying to resolve and improve it. These issues have udnot yet been fully explored in Arab-Palestinian society in Israel. The development and udapplication of notions of personal responsibility, critical thinking, and kindergarten-age udchildren’s involvement in learning has yet to emerge as a reality in this community. This udis needed because existing theory and practice involving these aspects of learning within udthe Palestinian system is problematic. Moreover, the development of a new approach to udteaching and parenting of kindergarten-age children that fosters critical thinking and personal udresponsibility may not be a reality that is immediately achievable, but it is a possibility.udThis study aims to investigate how educational leaders can help kindergarten children udaged 3-5 years to develop critical thinking and personal responsibility skills. The research udfocuses on Arab (Palestinian) children in Israel as these skills are not traditionally taught udin the home or in educational settings in this culture. The literature shows that there is a udmarked disparity between the educational achievements of Arab and Jewish children in udIsrael, making the implications of this study salient not only to practitioners, but also to udpolicymakers and educational institutions.udIn order to examine these goals, a case study involving qualitative research approaches of uda kindergarten classroom has been conducted. The context of this study is an important and udcomplex set of factors determining and shaping the content and form of the thesis and of udthe research that is embodied in the text. This study has been conducted in a kindergarten udbelonging to an Arab Municipality located in Northern Israel that was established in 2010 udand is situated in a rural area in the north of the country. Lesson plans following the National udCurriculum for Kindergarten Education were infused with teaching activities designed to udfacilitate the acquisition of critical thinking skills.udThe findings of the project showed that the presence of a strong educational leader had a udpositive impact on facilitating kindergarten children’s development of personal responsibility udand critical thinking skills. This was especially the case if the leader played an active udrole in facilitating a learning environment at home and in school in which children were udacknowledged and given greater autonomy and access to opportunities in which they could udengage openly with parents and peers. This study calls attention to the need to further explore udeducational leadership in the context of early childhood education, as its implications for udchildhood development, particularly regarding critical thinking and personal responsibility, udhave not been sufficiently examined. This study claims to open possibilities for doing this in udat least the Palestinian Kindergarten communities in Israel and perhaps beyond.