APA Committee on
Pre-College Instruction in Philosophy

One Approach:
Critical Thinking Skills

While there are many competing models for teaching philosophy, including traditional historical or philosophically thematic approaches, courses in critical thinking skills have been extremely popular in the past two decades.

The Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children (IAPC) supports an inductive approach. On the premise that it is better to teach students to "do philosophy" than "study philosophy", IAPC challenges the assumption that philosophy classes must include all the "great names" and their vocabulary and theory. IAPC stresses the study of daily situations and the thinking skills and processes which individuals and groups must develop to solve problems.

Two other organizations that promote critical thinking skills are the National Center for Teaching Thinking (NCTT) and the Center for Critical Thinking (CCT). Unlike IAPC, the NCTT and the CCT do not require a separate course or use of their own curricular material. Rather, they support infusing critical and creative thinking into content instruction across the curriculum.

APA Committee on Pre-College Instruction in Philosophy

One Approach: Critical Thinking Skills

APA Committee on
Pre-College Instruction in Philosophy

One Approach:
Critical Thinking Skills