Conception of the nature of critical thinking and its development

This work is part of the research on teacher thinking (Durand 1998; Tsangaridou 2008). The purpose of this study is to understand the complexity of the notion of critical thinking among teachers of physical education and sports (PSE) in the school environment in Tunisia (Greater Tunis region). We will try to understand the conception of the critical thinking of the teachers of EPS in the college and in the high school and the means to be deployed to develop this form of thought in the pupils through the analysis of the conceptions of the teachers of EPS and their didactico-pedagogical devices when they interact with their pupils during the teaching-learning process. This analysis is carried out through a qualitative study (multiple case study) of six teachers who teach PE in colleges and high schools in the region of Tunis. Indeed this work focuses on the effect of the critical thinking of PE teachers on their teaching and on the didactic and pedagogical choices to develop this form of thinking in students.