Teaching Critical Thinking

1
Teaching Critical Thinking

• Dr John Peters
• Academic development and practice

2
Session blurb

• This session will share the way in we already,
  often implicitly, address critical thinking and
  offer some alternative ideas and practical
  exercises for embedding the teaching of
  critically thinking skills in subject programmes.

3
Learning Outcomes

• Offer definitions and models of critical thinking
• Explore reasons for teaching critical thinking
• Make more explicit current support for student
  critical thinking
• Consider the possibilities of explicitly teaching
  critical thinking
• Deploy practical exercises to support student
  learning of critical thinking skills

4
What is critical thinking?

• Reviewing from different perspectives in order to
  formulate own personalised judgement / view point
  and to be able to apply it to the matter in hand
  and engage in development
• Stepping back recognising different
  perspectives
• Comprehending valuing different viewpoints
• Appreciating someone elses viewpoint and logic
  but not necessarily agreeing
• Being able to underpin your argument with
  evidence
• Reviewing and developing a constant cycle of
  reflection and adaptation
• Analysis taking things to pieces

5
What is critical thinking?

• an ability to present, evaluate, and interpret
  data, to develop lines of argument and make sound
  judgements.
• QAA, Framework for Higher Education
  Qualifications, Certificate level

6
Issues

• Requiring
• Defining
• Teaching
• Learning
• What do we do already?

7
Defining Critical Thinking 1

• Critical thinking is about uncovering the truth
  by attacking and removing all that is false.
• Therefore its reactive, destructive and
  adversarial
• It is thus a small part of thinking and too much
  emphasis is already placed on it
• (De Bono, 1993)

8
Defining Critical Thinking 2

• Critical thinking is a rational and purposeful
  attempt to use thought to move towards a future
  goal (Halpern 1984 in Brookfield, 1987)
• Therefore it is productive, positive, open,
  engaged and humble (Brookfield, 1987)

9
Defining critical thinking 3

• Four traditions of critical thinking
• Analytical philosophy logic
• psycho-analytical personal criticality
• Ideology critique critiquing the dominant
  ideology and challenging hegemony
• Pragmatic constructivism
• (Brookfield 2005)

10
Components of critical thinking

• Identifying and challenging assumptions notice
  differences between assumptions and experience
• Awareness exploration of context everything is
  contextual
• Imagining and exploring alternatives divergence
  diversity
• Analysis, judgement, resolution action
• Reflective scepticism particularly to claims of
  universal truth
• Brookfield 1987

11
An example of reactive critical thinking

• Christopher Columbus discovered America in 1492
  Discuss?!?

12

• Whats so wrong with that fact?!
• Who was Christopher Columbus?
• Anglicized version of Latin version of Castilian
  name Cristóbal Colón
• Led expedition but land sighted by one of his
  sailors
• What do we mean by discovered?
• Europeans found it euro-centric
• Viking archaeological evidence
• Indigenous population
• Where and what is America?
• Didnt land on mainland until 1498 and never in
  North America
• Thought it was the East Indies
• Who called it America? Probably Martin
  Waldseemüller in 1507 after a later explorer
  Amerigo Vespucci
• What do we mean by 1492?
• Whose calendar? Etc. etc.

13
Teaching critical thinking 1

• Identifying arguments
• Structure, logic, consistency reasoning
• Identifying assumptions
• premises connotations
• Identifying flaws in arguments
• False analogies, emotive, tautology,
  misrepresentation
• Providing evidence
• Authentic, valid, reliable, robust current
• Cottrell (2005)

14
Ideas for teaching the application of critical
thinking to the work of others

• Reading texts using structured critical thinking
  questions
• Analysis then evaluation
• Assessing example assignments
• .

15
So whats an argument?

• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vteMlv3ripSM
• Could this be used with students?!

16
An Example of Constructive Critical Thinking

• An argument an attempt to persuade by offering
  reasons and a conclusion
• Reason Students are not very good at critical
  thinking
• Conclusion So we should teach critical thinking
  skills
• Two key questions
• Is the reason acceptable / valid / well-founded?
• Does the conclusion follow logically from the
  reason?

17
Issues

• No evidence of the assertion
• Issue of struggling with academic critical
  thinking
• Its the context and constraints that are the
  problem confidence?!
• Reason doesnt follow
• We need to know why?

18
Constructing a better argument

• We should teach critical thinking skills
  because or better
• Students should learn to be critical thinkers
  because... or better still, perhaps,
• We should encourage student to value and deploy
  critical thinking because....
• Because its fundamental / a good thing / makes
  them better professionals / learners
• Because itll get them a good degree and a job

19
Helping others think critically

• Recognise that questioning assumptions can be
  threatening and emotional
• Model assumption analysis
• Encourage critique of assumptions in assignments
• Encourage critique of our own work
• Encourage self-evaluation
• Model risk taking
• Model openness, hold real conversations
• Encourage divergence creativity
• Brookfield

20
Ideas for teaching the application of critical
thinking to own work

• Self assessment
• Peer assessment
• Argument construction in sessions
• More non-team sport should be done in schools
  because
• Nurses should engage in CPD because
• Germany was responsible for the second world war
  because

21
De Bono, 5 stage general structure

• TO focus objectives, define the problem
• LO look around, explore, gather information,
  examine factors, assess context
• PO generate possibilities, speculations,
  options, ideas, propose alternatives
• SO compare, sift, check decide
• GO action plan

22
Teaching creativity

• Sternberg, R. Williams, W. 24 Teaching for
  creativity two dozen tips
• http//www.cdl.org/resource-library/articles/teach
  ing_creativity.php
• Norman Jackson, Tackling the wicked problem of
  creativity in HE
• http//www.surrey.ac.uk/sceptre/documents/TACKLING
  THEWICKEDPROBLEM09.pdf

23
References

• Allen, M. (1997) Smart thinking, Oxford UP
• Brookfield, S. (1987) Developing critical
  thinkers, Open UP
• Brookfield, S. (2005) The power of critical
  theory for adult learning and teaching, Open UP
• Cottrell, S. (2005) Critical thinking skills,
  Palgrave
• De Bono, E. (1993) Teach your child how to think,
  Penguin
• Rubenfeld, M Scheffer, B. (1999) Critical
  thinking in Nursing, Lippincott, USA
• Thompson, A. (1996) Critical Reasoning, Routledge