Browsing by Author "Hyvättinen, Tuija"

Objectives. Previous studies have shown that the importance of learning content knowledge has decreased in a world where to apply knowledge has become a requirement in almost all branches. To meet these future needs, supporting thinking skills has come internationally as a top priority in teaching activities. However, research has shown teachers' ability to teach thinking skills inadequate. The purpose of this study is to clarify the concept of thinking skills and the development of these skills in accordance with the theory of Demetriou et al. (2011). In addition, the aim is to find out what factors, especially in relation to the teacher activities, support or undermine the development of pupils' thinking skills at school. Methods. The research was carried out as a systematic literature review. After choosing the topic, the data was collected from the Thinking Skills and Creativity -journal in accordance with the admission and exclusion criteria defined in my study. Four peer-reviewed articles published in 2016-2018 were selected as material, all of which deal with teachers or teacher students and the teaching of thinking skills. The key words were "teacher" or "teaching" combined with "teaching thinking skills". Results and conclusions. The results showed several shortcomings in supporting thinking skills. Teacher-oriented teaching style, poor understanding of the concept, persistent beliefs about learning, inadequate knowledge and skills, and the content of teacher education proved to be obstacles to the development of thinking skills. The results also showed that how to learn is relevant to the development of cognitive skills (not so much what to learn). The results showed that student-centered ways of working also supported thinking skills development. Teacher's self-efficacy towards thinking skills, as well as sufficient knowledge and skills in thinking skills, supported the development of pupils' cognitive development. In conclusion, there is enough evidence of student-centered work practices to support future skills learning and the need to reform teacher education to better support the development of future teachers' thinking skills.