Perceptions of Science Trainee Teachers on Collaborative Learning towards Critical Thinking Skills: A Conceptual Paper

Abstract

Twenty first century science education prioritises student centred pedagogies that cultivate collaboration and critical thinking. Anchored in Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory (1978), particularly the zone of proximal development and the mediating role of language and tools, this conceptual paper proposes a framework for how collaborative learning nurtures critical thinking cognitive skills together with dispositions such as open mindedness, intellectual humility, and truth seeking among preservice science teachers. The framework rests on positive interdependence, promotive interaction, individual accountability, and structured reflection, and it advances three pathways. First, dialogic exchange within the zone of proximal development surfaces and resolves misconceptions and strengthens reasoning. Second, task interdependence elicits metacognitive monitoring and justification through scaffolded assistance. Third, role rotation and peer feedback normalise evidence seeking dispositions and support the internalisation of regulatory talk. Gender is treated as a contextual lens that shapes participation and discourse, and equitable roles and argumentation protocols are proposed to mitigate imbalance. From this framework follow design principles for initial teacher education, including the use of authentic and ill structured problems, explicit scripting of discourse moves such as claim, evidence, and reasoning, rubric guided assessment of skills and dispositions, and sequenced activities that consolidate gains over time. The paper concludes with a research agenda to test the framework using validated measures and equity sensitive designs.