Developing Critical Thinkers in Higher Education:

Despite critical thinking being an avowed aim of higher education, we currently have little understanding of how students develop as critical thinkers. This qualitative study focused on the in-depth learning experiences of twenty-seven zoology students as they developed as critical thinkers. Data were obtained through annual semi-structured interviews, course documents, my own diary entries, and personal correspondence with the participants. In addition, a technique known as Interpersonal Process Recall (IPR) was used to stimulate the recall and the tacit thinking of four students during a 3rd year tutorial session. The guiding research questions focussed on students, their teachers, the environment, and the zoology curriculum. In this thesis I take the position that the development of critical thinking does not occur in isolation; it happens within a community of learners. Therefore, I used Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory and his Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) model as a theoretical lens to help me understand these students ’ experiences