Bringing Pedagogical Innovation into the University Campus: Promoting students' Critical Thinking and Teachers' Practices

Resumen

Regardless of the relevance that universities around the world bestow on it today, there are still efforts being made to assure the effective inclusion of critical thinking in university classrooms. Thus, the promotion of critical thinking is considered to be pedagogical innovation. In this chapter, we focus on pedagogical innovation in higher education, more specifically, on teaching practices aimed at the deliberate, explicit, and systematic promotion of students' critical thinking. We put forward the example from two different universities in two different countries – Portugal and Spain – of how critical thinking can be fostered via teaching–learning strategies that are oriented to its effective promotion. From the analysis of both cases of good practices, we identify a set of theoretical and practical guidelines to assist university teachers who wish to invite critical thinking into their classrooms. Considerations are offered regarding the importance of including critical thinking in faculty development. To make the promotion of critical thinking viable and sustainable, before teaching to engender critical thinking, teachers themselves need opportunities to learn how to do so.