Mahmoud Bahrani - Assistant Professor of Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran

The process of formation of cognition and thinking in human beings begins during the developmental stages from birth. One of its stages is the formation of objective thinking, which followed by abstract thinking. While objective thinking is done by looking at objects and phenomena or their embodiment in the mind, abstract thinking is thinking beyond the apparent aspects of phenomena and objects and is done by leaving aside the material and physical aspects. Since human civilization and progress in various fields of science, literature, culture, art, architecture and engineering are the product of complex mental functions and abstract thinking, cultivating this type of thinking and providing a developmental context for the high-level brain functions should be on the agenda by educational systems. In this article, attention is paid to this important issue trough defining abstract thinking in comparison with objective thinking and also its common aspects with critical thinking, the importance of abstract thinking is emphasized and comments related to teaching this type of thinking are made in this article. In this article, with paying attention to this important point, while defining abstract thinking in comparison with objective thinking and also its common aspects with critical thinking, the importance of abstract thinking is emphasized and according to the patience of this article, opinions related to teaching this type of thinking are pointed out.

Objective Thinking, Abstract Thinking, Critical Thinking, Education