Critical thinking in German-speaking biology curricula of Austria, Germany, Italy and Switzerland

Critical thinking is a fundamental educational ideal and defined as a key competence for lifelong learning and scientific literacy. However, current societal development not only in Austria and Germany but in Europe and the US convey the impression that although research in science education has been discussing the role science education plays in supporting students to develop critical thinking skills for decades already, we hardly know anything about whether and how these ideas are put into practice. Thus we analyzed how German, Swiss and Austrian life science curricula address issues of critical thinking as an educational objective. Curricula were reviewed by using a literature derived category system in MAXQDA. Preliminary results show that biology curricula neither mention the term "Critical Thinking" explicitly, nor do they provide a clear definition of the concept or teaching instructions. Whereas the basic approaches to critical thinking are generally present, they are typically hidden between fragmented competences and skills. Some curricula blend the process of critical thinking with societal values students are supposed to adopt. Preliminary results indicate that biology teachers are left alone in their assignment for encouraging critical thinking. We assume that science education research needs to put more emphasis on finding out how essential research outcomes find their way into classroom teaching.