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Teaching Critical ThinkingAugust Teaching Enrichment Series
Wed, Aug 28, 20139:00-9:45amKeller 3-111
Anita Gonzalez, Ph.D.Teaching Consultant
Center for Teaching & LearningUniversity of Minnesota-Twin Cities
Sections
What is Critical Thinking? Teaching Critical Thinking – 2
PerspectivesMapping ActivityConclusion
What is Critical Thinking?[C]ritical thinking consists of seeing both sides of
an issue, being open to new evidence that disconfirms your ideas, reasoning dispassionately, demanding that claims be backed by evidence, deducing and inferring conclusions from available facts, solving problems, and so forth.
Then too, there are specific types of critical thinking that are characteristic of different subject matter: ...'thinking like a scientist' or 'thinking like a historian.’
Daniel Willingham, 2007: 8.
What is Critical Thinking?From the cognitive scientist's point of view, the
mental activities that are typically called critical thinking are actually a subset of three types of thinking: reasoning, making judgments and decisions, and problem solving.
[We] think in these ways all the time, but only sometimes in a critical way.
Critical reasoning, decision making, and problem solving... have three key features: effectiveness, novelty, and self-direction.
Daniel Willingham, 2007: 11.
Questions for Reflection1. How did you learn to think critically?
2. How long did it take you to learn to think critically?
A single semester? A year? A degree? Other?
3. What range of activities supported you in developing critical thinking skills and practices over this time span?
Two Perspectives
1. Critical Thinking = General Skill Set as in … general reasoning, logic, and problem
solving
2. Critical Thinking = Specific Skill Set for a Discipline as in … using specific types of problem
solving
Research says …
Both general & specific are key to critical thinking,
AND for student learning linked to Bloom’s higher order thinking skills, it is more effective to build teaching and learning plans around engagement with specific critical thinking skills
The Case for Specific Skills
Students need a knowledge base in order to work critically with that knowledge, to engage in critical thinking.
In other words, the disciplinary context matters.
Definitions in Your ContextWhat traits, skills, behaviors, or qualities demonstrate critical thinking in your course or discipline?
NOTE: This is not asking what assignments or in-class activities you do. Rather, what are the skills or qualities of critical thinking that students will need to engage to meet course learning goals?
See the following chart as a further springboard…
CRITICAL THINKING TRAITS
TEACHING/LEARNING ACTIVITIES
TESTING FOR CRITICAL THINKING
See multiple viewpoints, options, solutions, etc.
Use multiple examples that illustrate variation and juxtaposition
Ask students to generate multiple viewpoints, options, solutions in an assignment
Evaluate and assess concepts, plans, solutions
Allow for risk (failure from working through an idea, concept, solution)
Offer no or low stakes assignments + feedback. Allow students to re-do an assignment for higher stakes.
Independent and creative thinking
Inductive teaching rather than deductive teaching (here’s the data, what do you see?)
Give students data or “raw materials” to work with and develop their own solution first. Then students work with theory, etc.
Aligning Skills, Activities, Assessments
Your Turn…CRITICAL THINKING TRAITS
TEACHING/LEARNING ACTIVITIES
TESTING FOR CRITICAL THINKING
Teaching/Learning ActivitiesWriting activities (better when some writing is generative
& drafted with students seeking/using feedback)Demonstrations (better if students can participate in the
demonstration)Problem solving (including partial solutions)“Think Alouds” (show your thinking process, have
students show their thinking process)Map/diagram a concept, process, theory, solution (as
individuals mapping on-going learning, in groups as part of a jigsaw learning activity)
Work with data inductively (data set, scenario, case study)
Problem Based Learning (PBL) & Inquiry Lerning
Embed Personal ReflectionsProductive disagreement (with a rationale or
reason)Independent thinking (before the “lesson”)Inductive thinking (work with “raw
materials”)Creative thinking (generate ideas)Design thinking (process)Logics (linear, circular, tangential, spiral,
etc.)Allow for risk and failure in your assessments
ResourcesBloom, Benjamin S. Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Handbook 1: Cognitive Domain.
New York: Longman, 1956.
Johnston. Susan and Jim Cooper. “Supporting Student Success Through Scaffolding.” Tomorrow’s Professor Posting #849. [1997?] http://cgi.stanford.edu/~dept-ctl/cgi-bin/tomprof/posting.php
Kuncel, Nathan. Associate Professor of Psychology, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. “Critical Thinking: Beyond Stats and Formal Knowledge.” Presentation for Early Career Teaching Program, 2011. http://mediamill.cla.umn.edu/mediamill/display/88950
Van Gelder, Tim. “Teaching Critical Thinking: Some Lessons From Cognitive Science.” College Teaching 53, Winter 2005: 41-46. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27559216
Willingham, Daniel T. “Critical Thinking: Why Is It So Hard to Teach?” American
Educator, Summer 2007: 8-19. http://mres.gmu.edu/pmwiki/uploads/Main/CritThink.pdf Wolcott, Susan K. “Designing Assignments and Classroom Discussions to Foster Critical
Thinking at Different Levels in the Curriculum.” In Educational Innovation in Economics and Business V, L. Borghans et al. eds. Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2000: 231-251. http://www.springerlink.com/content/n837210g15740856/