Teaching Critical Thinking through Active Learning Strategies

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Teaching Critical Thinking through Active
Learning Strategies

• Maha Bali, Senior Instructional Technologist
• Dr. Aziza Ellozy, Director
• The American University in Cairo

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Objectives

• The goal of this workshop is to provide
  participants with an overview of how to
  explicitly teach critical thinking in the
  classroom using active learning strategies
• We will develop a working definition of critical
  thinking
• We will model several strategies for teaching
  critical thinking skills
• We will discuss approaches for assessing critical
  thinking

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Interactive Exercise I Think-Pair-Share 10
minutes

• Write your own definition of Critical Thinking
• Write down one of the recent assignments you gave
  your students and explicitly name one or two CT
  skill (s) you wanted to promote and how you did
  it.
• Pair up with one of the other participants, share
  and compare your notes

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General definition of Critical Thinking

• Difficult to define because it differs in
  relation to context and materials to which it is
  applied.
• "Interpreting, analyzing or evaluating
  information, arguments or experiences with a set
  of reflective attitudes, skills, and abilities to
  guide our thoughts, beliefs and actions." (Walsh
  and Paul)

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More general definitions of Critical Thinking

• Please refer to handout

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Examples of Critical Thinking Skills

• Please refer to handout

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Sample Technique for Teaching Critical Thinking
Skills

• A. Explicitly teaching a specific skill or skills

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Sample Technique for Teaching Critical Thinking
Skills

• Case Study Art Forgery?
• Course Scientific Thinking
• In-class group exercise
• Context Uncertainty in Science

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Untitled, Paul Cezanne? (circa 1880)
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Case highlights
Collins, billionaire, wealthy art collector.
Keenly interested in finding undiscovered
artwork. Discovered a Van Gogh 1992
Unearths what appears to be a Cezanne. Will
donate it to Metropolitan Museum
Friend tells him Its risky to keep buying
these paintings from these shady dealers.
Has purchased it from dealer known for passing
counterfeits (unknowingly he claims)
Untitled, Paul Cezanne? (circa 1880)
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Case highlights

• Museum curator needs to make decision. Will be
  fired if it turns out to be fake. Brings in
  consultants
• Art historian I will stake my reputation that
  this is a previously unknown Cezanne, probably
  painted in the late 1880s. Under low
  magnification in the microscope, fine structure
  of brushwork is indistinguishable from other
  paintings of his

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Case highlights

• Scientists FindingsA. UV spectrum
• shows substantial absorption of a polyene (a
  substance present in oil paint material).
  Polyenes should oxidize over time causing
  absorption to decrease. This suggests painting is
  not likely to be 100 years old.
• BUT, polyenes could also be contaminants caused
  by soot, cigarette smokeetc

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Case highlights

• Scientists FindingsB. IR spectroscopy might
  not be a Cezanne
• Analysis of yellow areas shows indirectly they
  could be cadmium based (a mix of cadmium sulfide
  and barium sulfate) This mix not widely used
  before 1927. C. dead by then.
• There is an indication of an underdrawing,
  probably charcoal. Cezanne known not to have any
  underdrawings. Not likely to be a Cezanne
• Binder is an animal glue binder. This binder
  widely used in late 19th century till 1940s.

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Case highlights

• Scientists FindingsC. X-ray Fluorescence
• Analysis of pigments shows no cadmium or barium.
  Other elements present confirm pigments widely
  used before and during C. life span.
• D. UV Fluorescence
• Orange in rooftop and dark green in tree show
  brighter fluorescence than rest of painting.
  Their emission spectra are very similar to those
  found in the Brooklyn MOA Cezanne in the same
  visual elements.

Blue, yellow and green samples

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Case highlights

• Scientists FindingsD. UV Fluorescence
  (contd)
• strong support that the pigments were made in
  the same studio and even by the same artist
  because of the variability in hand ground-ground
  pigments.
• No evidence from fluorescence for polyene
  emission,even though fluorescence is more
  sensitive than UV absorption !!!

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Interactive exercise Identify CT skills

• Refer to your handout
• Identify which CT skills are promoted in this
  exercise

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Teaching Critical Thinking
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A. Some Basics

• Please refer to handout

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B. Teaching a broad critical thinking strategy

• Please refer to your handout
• Analyzing an issue
• Questioning strategy

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C. Teaching how to read critically

• Please refer to your handout

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Active learning

• Less emphasis is placed on transmitting
  information and more on developing students'
  higher order thinking skills
• Greater emphasis is placed on students'
  exploration of attitudes and values
• E.C. Bonwell and J. A. Eison

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Active Learning for Promoting Critical Thinking
Skills

• Please refer to your handout

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Types of Activities

• Interaction with peers
• Self-assessment
• Using a variety of strategies

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Directed Paraphrasing

• In plain language and in less than five minutes,
  paraphrase what you know about Bird Flu for a
  high official in the Ministry of Agriculture.
  Your aim is to convince him to spend time and
  money in vaccinating healthy domestic birds.

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Assessing Critical Thinking

• Questions/activities that encourage critical
  thinking
• Blooms taxonomy (refer to handout)
• Use the set of skills as a guide
• Share rubrics (assessment criteria) with your
  students

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Credits

• Robert H. Ennis. "A Taxonomy of Critical Thinking
  Dispositions and Abilities" in Teaching Thinking
  Skills Theory and Practice eds. Joan Boykoff
  Baron and Robert J. Sternberg. Freeman, 1987.

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Questions ?
Thank You