Critical thinking, strategies to stimulate it and its incidence in pedagogical practice in the program of degree in Infantile Education of the University of La Guajira

Abstract

               Education has played a fundamental role in the development of generations and in the advances that have been succinct throughout the decades in all aspects of the social, cultural, economic and political life of the country. Therefore, it is a fundamental tool and pillar for the development of human beings, insofar as it guides the processes that allow changing and transforming a dynamic world and facing constant challenges such as the current one. Therefore, the development of critical thinking in higher education institutions becomes relevant and this research was aimed at elucidating the conceptions of critical thinking present in the teachers' discourses of the Pedagogy in Children's Program at the University of La Guajira. Which methodologically was carried out under the interpretative - hermeneutic paradigm that consists in understanding the behavior of the people studied, likewise, the research method was framed in the qualitative approach and the process was carried out from the phenomenological method, to know  the meanings that teachers give to their experience and apprehend the interpretation process to make sense of their daily educational practices and determine how students develop critical thinking in their learning process. Regarding the methodological design for the data collection, we worked with 11 teachers from the University of La Guajira Riohacha, using the technique and instrument to collect the information and the in-depth interview. With respect to the results of this study, when reconstructing the conceptions of the teachers of the Bachelor's Program in Children's Pedagogy of the University of La Guajira about critical thinking, it was possible to recognize that they have a series of limited conceptions around the subject, since they associate it with elements such as creativity and reflection, without having clear the theoretical foundations of the concept. It should be added that, teachers do not practice as such a specific method that responds to specific schemes, objectives and structures. For these reasons, it is recognized the importance of promoting reflective thinking in the institution, that promotes new capacities in teachers to understand the needs of students, and thus improve the coherence between their theoretical conceptions (which must be strengthened through the training); and class methodologies