Carol McGuinness

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Education for Thinking

• Carol McGuinness
• School of Psychology
• Queens University Belfast
• Enhancing the Education Environment
• at Queens
• 18-19 Sept 2006

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Critical Thinking a central aim for higher
education

• In the liberal education tradition (Newman)
• For life-long learning
• For employability
• For citizenship and the survival of democratic
  values

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Education for Thinking
Revitalising intellectual purposes??
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What is worth knowing....

• Speculating
• Arguing
• Hypothesising
• Imagining
• Designing

Science Visual Arts Literature Law
Social Studies Engineering
The art of knowing
(From David Perkins)
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Graduateness what graduates should know and be
able to do

• Dearing (1997)
• Disciplinary knowledge
• Methods of enquiry, ways of reasoning and
  thinking typical of a discipline, technical
  skills, professional practices
• Generic skills communication, numeracy, ICT,
  problem-solving, team-working, self-management
• Values and attitudes to learning
• Subject benchmark statements focus on critical
  thinking

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The art of .critical thinking

• Critical thinking is reasonable, reflective
  thinking that is focused on what to believe and
  do (Ennis, 1982)
• Truth-seeking
• Critical thinking is skilled and active
  interpretation and evaluation of observations and
  communications, information and argumentation
  (Fisher Scriven, 1997)
• Evaluation and argumentation

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The art.. of critical thinking

• Critical thinking is the use of those
  cognitive skills and
• strategies that increase the probability of a
  desirable
• outcomepurposeful, reasoned and goal directed
  the kind of
• thinking involved in solving problems,
  formulating inferences,
• calculating likelihoods, and making decisions.
• (Halpern, 2003)
• Cognitive skills and strategies wide range of
  contexts

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Halperns Framework
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Halperns Framework
Thinking and Language
Recognising persuasive language Misuse of
definitions Leading questions Paraphrasing Using
multiple representations
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Halperns Framework
Argument Analysis
Identifying premises, counter-arguments and
conclusions Judging credibility of
information Difference between opinion,
judgement, fact Avoiding common fallacies
Creative Thinking
Redefining a problem Generating
possibilities Seeing multiple perspectives Taking
risks
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Halperns Framework
Predicting and confirming hypotheses Operational
definitions Controlling variables Sampling and
generalisation Limits of correlational reasoning
Hypothesis testing science reasoning
Estimating probabilities Recognising regression
to mean Using base rates Limits of
extrapolation Risk assessments
Dealing with likelihood and uncertainty
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Halperns Framework
Defining and redefining problem
situations Setting goals Generating
solutions Using alternative representations Recogn
ising constraints Evaluating solutions
Framing a decision Generating options Predicting
consequences and weighing pros and
cons Recognising bias in hindsight
analysis Seeking disproving evidence Effects of
memory on decision-making
Problem-solving
Decision-making
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Halperns Framework
Reflective Thinking (metacognition)
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Halperns Framework
Dispositions Open-mindedness Flexibility Truth-see
king Confidence in reason Beliefs about
knowledge
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The art of critical thinking being explicit

• Thinking is a hidden skill
• identifying what it means providing models,
  making the steps clearer
• building up a vocabulary for talking about
  thinking and learning,
• Using questions like How do you know it is true?
  How has the claim been supported? What is the
  main assumption? How credible is the source?
  Are there rival explanations?
• trying to make it more visible to students

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The art of critical thinking designing tasks?

• Tasks that require critical thinking
• Beyond memorising or even good summarising
• Justify
• Compare and contrast
• Argue in favour of a position
• Evaluate a position, evidence, conclusions
• Challenge assumptions
• Problem solve in regard to ..
• Examine other options

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The art of critical thinking Dialogue?

• Importance of Dialogue for critical thinking
• Socratic dialogue Questioning (teacher-student)
• Peer interaction about reasons and explanations
• Role of virtual learning environments
• Cognitive conflict (contradictions,
  inconsistencies)
• Monitoring and evaluating thinking
  (metacognition)

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The art of critical thinking assessing?

• Formative assessment
• Marking criteria to include an explicit emphasis
  on
• Feedback related to the criteria
• Opportunities to improve (short pieces of
  writing, critiques, analyses)
• Peer and self assessment
• Summative assessment
• Clear expectations about what is required
• Setting questions/essays/projects that REQUIRE
  critical thinking
• Using the marking criteria rigorously

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Start early - in first year!
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The Framework
Tasks
Curriculum
Flexibility
Confidence
Using language
Argument
Education for Thinking
Truth seeking
Epistemological Beliefs
Hypothesis testing
Evaluating
Problem solving
Open-mindedness
Sceptical
Disciplinary traditions
Assessments
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The art of critical thinking Key Messages

• Important for the quality of learning
• Other education sectors have developed policies
  and practices
• Links with disciplinary communities of practice
• There are existing
• Frameworks
• Pedagogical tools
• Time to revitalise intellectual purposes.