Designing Assignments for Critical Thinking

1
Designing Assignments for Critical Thinking

• Ann Alexander
• Grand Rapids Community College
• June 9, 2005

2

• Education is not the filling of a pail, but the
  lighting of a fire.
• William Butler Yeats

3

• To enjoy to the full the conquests of daring, we
  must demand that it operate in a pitiless light.
• Igor Stravinsky

4
Agenda

• Background
• Instructional Design
• Critical Thinking
• Examples of Activities
• Discussion and Applications

5
Good practicein undergraduate education

• encourages contact between students and faculty,
• develops reciprocity and cooperation among
  students,
• encourages active learning,
• gives prompt feedback,
• emphasizes time on task,
• communicates high expectations, and
• respects diverse talents and ways of learning.
• - Chickering and Gamson

6
Instructional Design

• Two interrelated parts
• Structures
• WHAT do I teach?
• Tactics
• HOW do I teach it?

7
Structural Determinations

• Your concept of the course
• The general plan for implementing that concept
• The requirements the students must meet
• The grading policies in the course
• Performance profiles

8
Tactical Determinations

• Daily vs. Episodic
• Complex vs. Simple

9
Critical Thinking

• Critical thinking is that mode of thinking -
  about any subject, content, or problem in which
  the thinker improves the quality of his or her
  thinking by skillfully analyzing, assessing, and
  reconstructing it. Critical thinking is
  self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored,
  and self-corrective thinking.
• To analyze thinking Identify its purpose,
  question, information, conclusions, assumptions,
  implications, main concepts, and point of view.
• To assess thinking Check it for clarity,
  accuracy, precision, relevance, depth, breadth,
  significance, logic, and fairness.
• Foundation for Critical Thinking,
  www.criticlathinking.org

10
Relevant Tasks and Questions

• Draw a diagram or other graphic display that
  organizes the information.
• What additional information would you want before
  answering the question?
• Explain why you selected a certain
  multiple-choice alternative. Which alternative is
  second best. Why?
• State the problem in at least two ways.

11
Relevant Tasks and Questions

• Which information is most important? Which
  information is least important? Why?
• Categorize the findings in a meaningful way.
• List two solutions for the problem.
• What is wrong with an assertion that was made in
  the question?

12
Relevant Tasks and Questions

• Present two reasons that support the conclusion
  and two reasons that do not support the
  conclusion.
• Identify the type of persuasion that is used in
  the question. Is it valid, or is it designed to
  mislead the reader? Explain your answer.
• What two actions would you take to improve the
  design of a study that was described?

13
Practice 1
14
Practice 2

• Consider one of your own student assignments or
  activities.
• How does it encourage critical thinking?
• How might you redesign it to further encourage
  critical thinking?

15
Plan of Action

• Identify one way you will implement the ideas
  from this session in the next class you teach.
  Write it here

16
Contact Information

• Ann Alexander
• aalexand_at_grcc.edu
• 616.234.4179
• Thanks for attending!