Development of Critical Thinking in Pre-Service Early Childhood Education Teachers Using Scientific Inquiry Practices in STEM Projects
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22047610 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Teresa Lupión Cobos (0000-0002-6937-7178, Universidad de Málaga), Teresa Lupión-Cobos (Universidad de Málaga), María Marta Alarcón‐Orozco (0000-0002-8353-9890, Universidad de Málaga), Mario Caracuel-González (0000-0002-0304-3642, Universidad de Málaga), Ángel Blanco‐López (0000-0003-3628-0801, Universidad de Málaga), Ángel Blanco-López (Universidad de Málaga) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 16 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 330 |
| Publication date | 2026-02-18 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Education Sciences (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2227-7102 • E-ISSN: 2227-7102 |
| Publisher | MDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT) |
| DOI | 10.3390/educsci16020330 |
| OpenAlex | W7130373644 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 38 |
Critical thinking (CT) is increasingly recognized as a transversal competence within STEM education, yet it is often addressed implicitly in preservice teacher training. This study analyzes the development of critical thinking in 130 Preservice Early Childhood Education Teachers (PECETs) who, during the 2024–2025 academic year, participated in a training programme designed from a STEM perspective and grounded in scientific inquiry. A mixed-methods approach was used to examine the teaching unit elaborated by PECETs with a rubric that assessed stages of inquiry, as well as to analyze their final reports for evidence of connections between CT and STEM. The findings revealed strong scientific thinking but only superficial links to STEM and CT suggesting progress in participants’ scientific reasoning and analytical and reflective competence. However, evidence of explicit STEM integration and CT justification remained limited. These results confirm the formative potential of inquiry-based STEM education for supporting CT development in early childhood preservice teacher education, while highlighting the need for more explicit scaffolding of inquiry phases, structured reflection opportunities, and collaborative argumentation tasks to strengthen conceptual integration and deepen critical engagement with scientific evidence
Argumentation theory · Critical thinking · Early childhood · Early childhood education · Formative assessment · Reflective thinking · Rubric · Teacher education · Education and Critical Thinking Development · Educational Strategies and Epistemologies · Science Education and Pedagogy
Reflective Judgment
Higher Order Thinking Skills and Low-Achieving Students
Teachers’ perception of STEM integration and education
STEAM in practice and research
Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Studies of Inquiry-Based Science Teaching
Critical Thinking Across the Curriculum
Metacognitive illusion or self-regulated learning? Assessing engineering students’ learning strategies against the backdrop of recent advances in cognitive science
Those Who Understand
Developing fundamental principles for teacher education programs and practices
Emotions Experienced by Preservice Early Childhood Teachers During a Training Program in Inquiry‐Based Science Education
A Developmental Model of Critical Thinking
On the Nature of "Context" in Chemical Education
Situated Learning
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |