The education theorist Jack Mezirow created transformative learning in 1978. For Mezirow, learning needs to be a self-reflective exercise, where a person considers their life experiences and sees how they have changed over time as a person. Much of the literature and educational workshops focused on transformative learning focuses the student toward understanding their relations with other people, their community and the world through knowledge they learn in coursework. Many of the conclusions of transformative learning gear the student to accept their role as a member of society, their spiritual part of their being, and the ways they can be a productive member of society and of the Earth.
Critical Thinking is a form of inquiry where an individual utilizes new ideas to shape their viewpoints on the world. Critical thinking necessitates that the person be open to all ideas, including unpopular ones or ideas that are counter to the person's existing beliefs. When ideas and information are presented, a student is encouraged to use reason and evaluate the ideas based on perspectives or empirical evidence. Once a student knows how to understand information, they are prompted to defend or criticize points in an open forum, utilizing the reasoning and perspectives they have concerning the subject matter or the information presented to them.
A point that critical thinking and transformative learning have in common is challenging previous assumptions. Transformative learning wants a student to look at their understanding of the world and challenge any previous thinking they had concerning themselves, their role in society, or society in general. This educational process is through self-reflection, allowing the student to challenge their commonly held beliefs. Critical thinking, on a more general level, is a teaching method that allows students to assess perspectives and ideas by deconstructing the arguments that affirm those arguments. By understanding the assumptions or criteria of beliefs and arguments, a student can counter-argue or affirm a belief.
Critical thinking requires students to be open to all points of view. If students are trying to understand a social issue in a class, then allow all possible perspectives for open debate and consideration. In a sense, critical thinking allows the respect of all perspectives and opinions concerning an issue. Similarly, the transformative learning process allows students to incorporate different points of view, especially relating to how the individual student has changed in their opinion over time. Some criticism can be levied against transformative learning, however, since transformative learning is often too self-reflective. The ability to see other points of view beyond a person's own changing experiences over a long period may be difficult.