Page 54 - THE ONTARIO CURRICULUM, GRADES 9 AND 10 | Canadian and World Studies

THE ONTARIO CURRICULUM, GRADES 9 AND 10 | Canadian and World Studies
CRITICAL THINKING AND CRITICAL LITERACY IN CANADIAN AND WORLD STUDIES
Critical thinking is the process of thinking about ideas or situations in order to understand them fully, identify their implications, make a judgement, and/or guide decision making. Critical thinking includes skills such as questioning, predicting, analysing, synthesizing, examining opinions, identifying values and issues, detecting bias, and distinguishing between alternatives. Students who are taught these skills become critical thinkers who can move beyond superficial conclusions to a deeper understanding of the issues they are examining. They are able to engage in an inquiry process in which they explore complex and multifaceted issues, and questions for which there may be no clear-cut answers.
Students use critical-thinking skills in Canadian and world studies when they assess, analyse, and/or evaluate the impact of something and when they form an opinion about something and support that opinion with a rationale. In order to think critically, students need to examine the opinions and values of others, detect bias, look for implied meaning, and use the information gathered to form a personal opinion or stance, or a personal plan of action with regard to making a difference.
Students approach critical thinking in various ways. Some students find it helpful to discuss their thinking, asking questions and exploring ideas. Other students, including many First Nations, Métis, and Inuit students, may take time to observe a situation or consider a text carefully before commenting; they may prefer not to ask questions or express their thoughts orally while they are thinking.
In developing critical-thinking skills in Canadian and world studies, students must
ask themselves effective questions in order to interpret information, detect bias in their sources, determine why a source might express a particular bias, and consider the values and perspectives of a variety of groups and individuals.
The development of these critical-thinking skills is supported in every course in the Canadian and world studies curriculum by strand A on inquiry and skill development as well as by the concepts of disciplinary thinking that are identified as a focus for each overall expectation (for a description of the concepts of disciplinary thinking, see page 13). As they work to achieve the Canadian and world studies expectations, students frequently need to identify the possible implications of choices. As they gather information from
a variety of sources, they need to be able to interpret what they are listening to, reading, or viewing; to look for instances of bias; and to determine why a source might express
a particular bias.
Critical literacy is the capacity for a particular type of critical thinking that involves looking beyond the literal meaning of a text to determine what is present and what is missing,
in order to analyse and evaluate the text’s complete meaning and the author’s intent. Critical literacy goes beyond conventional critical thinking by focusing on issues related to fairness, equity, and social justice. Critically literate students adopt a critical stance, asking what view of the world the text advances and whether they find this view acceptable, who benefits from the text, and how the reader is influenced.
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