Research on the Cultivation of Critical Thinking Based on High School History Classroom

Historical critical thinking is not merely “criticism and skepticism”, but an advanced cognitive ability that enables rational analysis and evaluation of historical events and figures on the basis of historical materials, supported by logical reasoning and guided by multiple perspectives. Its core elements include evidence awareness, logical reasoning, critical inquiry, and pluralistic cognition. Current high school history education faces persistent challenges in cultivating critical thinking, including “excessive teacher dominance, insufficient student exploration” “oversimplified use of historical materials”, and “rigid evaluation systems”. These issues stem from outdated teaching philosophies, monotonous textbook presentation, and excessive focus on college entrance exam scores. Based on the above analysis, this paper puts forward specific cultivation strategies from five aspects: transforming teaching concepts, optimizing instructional design, deepening historical material teaching, establishing collaborative inquiry models, and reforming evaluation systems.