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

gonza035@umn.edu

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/