The development of students' critical thinking in the context of information security

Abstract

The problem of students’ critical thinking development in the context of information security becomes important in international and national educational policies as a means of fostering active citizenship and in turn sustainable development. The purpose of the given research is to introduce theoretical substantiation and experimental approbation of students’ critical thinking development in the context of information security. The skills of critical thinking help students to cope with the bulk of information they daily receive. However, there is still no conventional methodology for critical thinking development in university students. In our study we suggest possible ways to develop critical thinking in university students via introducing some special courses into the curriculum, and consider the results of the experimental study conducted on the basis of two Ukrainian leading universities. In order to improve the students’ skills of critical thinking the author suggested implementing the special course “The specifics of students’ critical thinking in the context of information security”, and an optional distance course on optimization of students’ critical thinking on the background of information and communication technologies. After the implementation of the suggested courses the indicators of students’ critical thinking development showed positive changes and proved the efficiency of the special courses as well as the general hypothesis of the study.