Teachers’ training to design pedagogical tools for the development of students’ critical thinking

We attribute the development of critical thinking to the urgent problem of teachers’ training in the additional professional education (APE) system, allowing them to design tasks for the development of students’ critical thinking, which determines the formation of their functional literacy. The paper reveals a solution to the problem of developing didactic tools and conditions by teachers within the framework of professional development in the APE system that ensure the development of students’ critical thinking. The aim is to describe the use of techniques for contextual understanding of the text in the APE courses for teachers, which determine the development of critical thinking of education subjects. Project teams of teachers (112 people) from the Lyceum of Istra, Secondary School No. 17 in Odintsovo, Moscow Region, took part in the experimental work on the implementation of techniques for the development of critical thinking designed by teachers trained in the DPO system. Diagnostics of the development of teachers’ critical thinking was carried out on the basis of the methodology for determining the level of development of teachers’ critical thinking (E.N. Volkova), an individual measure of reflexivity (A.V. Karpova). The techniques for contextual perception and analysis of text have been developed, including interpretation, explanation, evaluation, interpretation, questions and critical analysis of videos, works of art and texts through the prism of a certain context. These techniques represent the novelty of the study. A methodology for constructing techniques for interpreting and treating any content, video material, critical analysis of texts in the context of certain concepts and theories is presented. A methodology for designing a technique for explaining, interpreting and critically analyzing materials, including educational videos and texts, in the context of the content of various subjects is also proposed. All the proposed techniques are related to the theoretical significance of this study. The practical significance of the study is revealed in a specific assignment for teachers undergoing their qualification mastering at the level of APE, consisting of a multi-contextual interpretation of the video «Stand to the end, don’t you dare break!» The techniques developed in the study for contextual perception, comprehension of the text, and the methods for their development by teachers improving their qualifications in the APE system expand and enrich the theory of modeling pedagogical means for developing critical thinking in education subjects and create new opportunities for its development.