Our mission

Since ninetieths interest to critical thinking and related subject-matter has raised gradually in Ukraine. If take into consideration essential social transformations especially democratization, and more and more wide involvement of the country to the Informational civilization this process should be understandable. Ideas and results of some North-American institutions and specialists influence the process strongly. It is quite natural because intensive research and pedagogic activity in branch of critical thinking had started in the USA and Canada more early – just after the World War II.

Quite mosaic in content and spontaneous in character stage of assimilation of critical thinking comes to the end in Ukraine today. It’s first results – publication of specialized papers and inclusion of relevant themes to conference agendas, insertion of different versions or elements of critical thinking to the educational process in national schools and universities. A professional community consisted of researchers, university professors and school teachers is formed now. They produce own approaches and academic courses but don’t use the best world experience only. At the same time the further progress is drugged by absence of a center (or centers) – in sense of a liberal forum to discuss and solve important problems, to exchange ideas and information, to elaborate stable terminology, etc. Ukrainian Virtual Center of Critical Thinking (UVCCT) commits oneself to accomplish these tasks.

In the Thomas Kuhn’s terminology mission of the UVCCT is to stimulate transition of critical thinking and related subject-matter from the pre-paradigm stage to the paradigm stage of development, and further normal evolution – not only in science and education but in everyday life of the Newly Independent States in general.

The new Center will work in the Internet as an interactive site <http://www.ctuvc.org.ua>. We welcome all interested specialists to co-work – by means of using and increasing of the UVCCT’s informational resources, by means of publication and discussion of relevant research or pedagogic texts, by means of fruitful communication with like-minded persons and opponents.

Head of the Project “Ukrainian Virtual Center of Critical Thinking”,
Professor Oleksandr Tyaglo
Kharkiv (Ukraine), September of 2007