Higher education institutions are responsible for preparing and equipping undergraduate students with the skills required by the labor market, such as critical thinking. However, academics should consider students’ pre-existing ideas before designing and implementing an instructional intervention regarding critical thinking. Drawing on the literature for conceptual change, the current study aimed to map students’ conceptualization of critical thinking and their ideas regarding the acquisition of critical thinking. In total, 243 first-year social sciences students participated in the study. To explore students’ ideas, the authors constructed an instrument with 20 scientific and non-scientific statements about critical thinking. The instrument was a two-tier questionnaire, and participants indicated their level of agreement with each statement using a 5-point Likert scale as well as their confidence in their answers. Students’ ideas were categorized into six groups depending on their endorsements for the statement and their level of confidence in their decision. Results revealed that students had insufficient conceptualization of critical thinking, and their ideas regarding how critical thinking might be acquired were not consistently aligned with those of academics. Implications for instruction are discussed considering students’ ideas on critical thinking.

Critical Thinking is considered a key component of Higher Education that supports graduates’ preparation for the labor market. However, in the field of teacher education more research is needed to support student-teachers with regard to the complexity of schools. It is considered that a teaching practicum can set the stage for the cultivation of Critical Thinking skills and dispositions, as student-teachers have to face real problems and be led to decision-making. The paper presented here describes the curriculum transformation of courses offering theoretical lectures and teaching practicum in the Department of Primary Education, University of Western Macedonia. After focus group discussion with in-service teachers, the Critical Thinking skills and dispositions considered necessary for teacher education were thoroughly described and utilized for the course design. The courses were modified to include a variety of teaching strategies following the direct infusion approach for training in Critical Thinking with the aim of promoting reflective practices for fostering student-teachers’ critical reflection. In this way, they can be empowered regarding their professional development.

Given the current unstable worldwide conditions, school is considered an essential component for the empowerment of students’ life skills, the construction of harmonious relationships with peers and their transformation through adulthood, so that they can be ready to undertake the role of active citizen in society. This paper attempts to describe a collaborative project concerning three research areas as three separate studies: resiliency, peer mediation and citizenship education. The project consists of teaching interventions which were orchestrated for the infusion of the above components in the school curriculum aiming at students’ emotional and conflict resolution skills as well as the promotion of their democratic role. Students of primary and secondary education from preadolescence to the culmination of adolescence participated in the project. Research findings suggest that school should focus on factors relating to students’ emotional and social development which may successfully set the stage for improved academic performance and a responsible, democratic role towards society. These objectives are aligned with the principles of Critical Pedagogy focusing on students’ emancipation, the acquisition of a values set and their readiness to act in the direction of common good equipped with critical thinking skills, empathy, and respect towards divergence.