|
Karen I. Adsit, Ed
Grayson
H. Walker Teaching Resource Center
 | What is Critical Thinking? |
| Characteristics of Critical Thinking |
| Why Teach Critical Thinking? |
| Teaching Strategies to Help Promote Critical
Thinking Skills |
| References |
| Other Reading |
| On the Internet |
What is Critical Thinking?
When examining the vast literature on critical thinking, various
definitions of critical thinking emerge. Here are some samples:
 | "Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process
of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing,
synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or
generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or
communication, as a guide to belief and action" (Scriven,
1996). |
| "Most formal definitions characterize critical thinking as
the intentional application of rational, higher order thinking
skills, such as analysis, synthesis, problem recognition and problem
solving, inference, and evaluation" (Angelo,
1995, p. 6). |
| "Critical thinking is thinking that assesses itself" (Center
for Critical Thinking, 1996b). |
| "Critical thinking is the ability to think about one's
thinking in such a way as 1. To recognize its strengths and
weaknesses and, as a result, 2. To recast the thinking in improved
form" (Center for Critical Thinking, 1996c). |
Perhaps the simplest definition is offered by Beyer
(1995): "Critical thinking... means making reasoned
judgments" (p. 8). Basically, Beyer sees critical thinking as using
criteria to judge the quality of something, from cooking to a conclusion
of a research paper. In essence, critical thinking is a disciplined
manner of thought that a person uses to assess the validity of something
(statements, news stories, arguments, research, etc.).
Characteristics of
Critical Thinking
Wade (1995) identifies 8 characteristics of
critical thinking. Critical thinking involves asking questions, defining
a problem, examining evidence, analyzing assumptions and biases,
avoiding emotional reasoning, avoiding oversimplification, considering
other interpretations, and tolerating ambiguity. Dealing with ambiguity
is also seen by Strohm & Baukus (1995) as an
essential part of critical thinking, "Ambiguity and doubt serve a
critical-thinking function and are a necessary and even a productive
part of the process" (p. 56).
Another characteristic of critical thinking identified by many
sources is metacongition. Metacongition is thinking about one's own
thinking. More specifically, "metacognition is being aware of one's
thinking as one performs specific tasks and then using this awareness to
control what one is doing" (Jones & Ratcliff,
1993, p. 10).
In the book, Critical Thinking, Beyer
elaborately explains what he sees as essential aspects of critical
thinking. These are:
| Dispositions: Critical thinkers are skeptical, open-minded,
value fair-mindedness, respect evidence and reasoning, respect
clarity and precision, look at different points of view, and will
change positions when reason leads them to do so. |
| Criteria: To think critically, must apply criteria. Need to
have conditions that must be met for something to be judged as
believable. Although the argument can be made that each subject area
has different criteria, some standards apply to all subjects.
"... an assertion must... be based on relevant, accurate facts;
based on credible sources; precise; unbiased; free from logical
fallacies; logically consistent; and strongly reasoned" (p.
12). |
| Argument: Is a statement or proposition with supporting
evidence. Critical thinking involves identifying, evaluating, and
constructing arguments. |
| Reasoning: The ability to infer a conclusion from one or
multiple premises. To do so requires examining logical relationships
among statements or data. |
| Point of View: The way one views the world, which shapes
one's construction of meaning. In a search for understanding,
critical thinkers view phenomena from many different points of view. |
| Procedures for Applying Criteria: Other types of thinking
use a general procedure. Critical thinking makes use of many
procedures. These procedures include asking questions, making
judgments, and identifying assumptions. |
Why Teach Critical
Thinking?
Oliver & Utermohlen (1995) see students as
too often being passive receptors of information. Through technology,
the amount of information available today is massive. This infomation
explosion is likely to continue in the future. Students need a guide
to weed through the information and not just passively accept it.
Students need to "develop and effectively apply critical thinking
skills to their academic studies, to the complex problems that they
will face, and to the critical choices they will be forced to make as
a result of the information explosion and other rapid technological
changes" (Oliver & Utermohlen, p. 1).
As mentioned in the section, Characteristics
of Critical Thinking, critical thinking involves questioning. It
is important to teach students how to ask good questions, to think
critically, in order to continue the advancement of the very fields we
are teaching. "Every field stays alive only to the extent that
fresh questions are generated and taken seriously" (Center
for Critical Thinking, 1996a).
Beyer sees the teaching of critical thinking
as important to the very state of our nation. He argues that to live
successfully in a democracy, people must be able to think critically
in order to make sound decisions about personal and civic affairs. If
students learn to think critically, then they can use good thinking as
the guide by which they live their lives.
Teaching Strategies to
Help Promote Critical Thinking
The 1995, Volume 22, issue 1, of the journal, Teaching of
Psychology, is devoted to the teaching critical thinking. Most of
the strategies included in this section come from the various articles
that compose this issue.
| CATS (Classroom Assessment Techniques): Angelo
stresses the use of ongoing classroom assessment as a way to monitor
and facilitate students' critical thinking. An example of a CAT is
to ask students to write a "Minute Paper" responding to
questions such as "What was the most important thing you
learned in today's class? What question related to this session
remains uppermost in your mind?" The teacher selects some of
the papers and prepares responses for the next class meeting. |
| Cooperative Learning Strategies: Cooper
(1995) argues that putting students in group learning situations
is the best way to foster critical thinking. "In properly
structured cooperative learning environments, students perform more
of the active, critical thinking with continuous support and
feedback from other students and the teacher" (p. 8). |
| Case Study /Discussion Method: McDade
(1995) describes this method as the teacher presenting a case
(or story) to the class without a conclusion. Using prepared
questions, the teacher then leads students through a discussion,
allowing students to construct a conclusion for the case. |
| Using Questions: King (1995) identifies
ways of using questions in the classroom: |
 | Reciprocal Peer Questioning: Following lecture, the
teacher displays a list of question stems (such as, "What are
the strengths and weaknesses of...). Students must write questions
about the lecture material. In small groups, the students ask each
other the questions. Then, the whole class discusses some of the
questions from each small group. |
| Reader's Questions: Require students to write questions
on assigned reading and turn them in at the beginning of class.
Select a few of the questions as the impetus for class discussion. |
| Conference Style Learning: The teacher does not
"teach" the class in the sense of lecturing. The teacher
is a facilitator of a conference. Students must thoroughly read all
required material before class. Assigned readings should be in the
zone of proximal development. That is, readings should be able to be
understood by students, but also challenging. The class consists of
the students asking questions of each other and discussing these
questions. The teacher does not remain passive, but rather, helps
"direct and mold discussions by posing strategic questions and
helping students build on each others' ideas" (Underwood
& Wald, 1995, p. 18). |
| Use Writing Assignments: Wade sees the
use of writing as fundamental to developing critical thinking
skills. "With written assignments, an instructor can encourage
the development of dialectic reasoning by requiring students to
argue both [or more] sides of an issue" (p. 24). |
| Dialogues: Robertson and Rane-Szostak
(1996) identify two methods of stimulating useful discussions in
the classroom: |
| Written dialogues: Give students written dialogues to
analyze. In small groups, students must identify the different
viewpoints of each participant in the dialogue. Must look for
biases, presence or exclusion of important evidence, alternative
interpretations, misstatement of facts, and errors in reasoning.
Each group must decide which view is the most reasonable. After
coming to a conclusion, each group acts out their dialogue and
explains their analysis of it. |
| Spontaneous Group Dialogue: One group of students are
assigned roles to play in a discussion (such as leader,
information giver, opinion seeker, and disagreer). Four observer
groups are formed with the functions of determining what roles are
being played by whom, identifying biases and errors in thinking,
evaluating reasoning skills, and examining ethical implications of
the content. |
| Ambiguity: Strohm & Baukus
advocate producing much ambiguity in the classroom. Don't give
students clear cut material. Give them conflicting information that
they must think their way through. |
References
| Angelo, T. A. (1995). Beginning the dialogue: Thoughts on
promoting critical thinking: Classroom assessment for critical
thinking. Teaching of Psychology, 22(1), 6-7. |
| Beyer, B. K. (1995). Critical thinking. Bloomington, IN:
Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation. |
| Cooper, J. L. (1995). Cooperative learning and critical thinking. Teaching
of Psychology, 22(1), 7-8. |
| Jones, E. A. & Ratcliff, G. (1993). Critical thinking
skills for college students. National Center on Postsecondary
Teaching, Learning, and Assessment, University Park, PA. (Eric
Document Reproduction Services No. ED 358 772) |
| King, A. (1995). Designing the instructional process to enhance
critical thinking across the curriculum: Inquiring minds really do
want to know: Using questioning to teach critical thinking. Teaching
of Psychology, 22 (1), 13-17. |
| McDade, S. A. (1995). Case study pedagogy to advance critical
thinking. Teaching Psychology, 22(1), 9-10. |
| Oliver, H. & Utermohlen, R. (1995). An innovative teaching
strategy: Using critical thinking to give students a guide to the
future.(Eric Document Reproduction Services No. 389 702) |
| Robertson, J. F. & Rane-Szostak, D. (1996). Using dialogues to
develop critical thinking skills: A practical approach. Journal
of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 39(7), 552-556. |
| Strohm, S. M., & Baukus, R. A. (1995). Strategies for
fostering critical thinking skills. Journalism and Mass
Communication Educator, 50 (1), 55-62. |
| Underwood, M. K., & Wald, R. L. (1995). Conference-style
learning: A method for fostering critical thinking with heart. Teaching
Psychology, 22(1), 17-21. |
| Wade, C. (1995). Using writing to develop and assess critical
thinking. Teaching of Psychology, 22(1), 24-28. |
Other Reading
| Bean, J. C. (1996). Engaging ideas: The professor's guide to
integrating writing, critical thinking, & active learning in the
classroom. Jossey-Bass. |
| Bernstein, D. A. (1995). A negotiation model for teaching critical
thinking. Teaching of Psychology, 22(1), 22-24. |
| Carlson, E. R. (1995). Evaluating the credibility of sources. A
missing link in the teaching of critical thinking. Teaching of
Psychology, 22(1), 39-41. |
| Facione, P. A., Sanchez, C. A., Facione, N. C., & Gainen, J.
(1995). The disposition toward critical thinking. The Journal of
General Education, 44(1), 1-25. |
| Halpern, D. F., & Nummedal, S. G. (1995). Closing thoughts
about helping students improve how they think. Teaching of
Psychology, 22(1), 82-83. |
| Isbell, D. (1995). Teaching writing and research as inseparable: A
faculty-librarian teaching team. Reference Services Review,
23(4), 51-62. |
| Jones, J. M. & Safrit, R. D. (1994). Developing critical
thinking skills in adult learners through innovative distance
learning. Paper presented at the International Conference on the
practice of adult education and social development. Jinan, China.
(Eric Document Reproduction Services No. ED 373 159) |
| Sanchez, M. A. (1995). Using critical-thinking principles as a
guide to college-level instruction. Teaching of Psychology,
22(1), 72-74. |
| Spicer, K. L. & Hanks, W. E. (1995). Multiple measures of
critical thinking skills and predisposition in assessment of
critical thinking. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the
Speech Communication Association, San Antonio, TX. (Eric Document
Reproduction Services No. ED 391 185) |
| Terenzini, P. T., Springer, L., Pascarella, E. T., & Nora, A.
(1995). Influences affecting the development of students' critical
thinking skills. Research in Higher Education, 36(1), 23-39. |
On the Internet
| Ennis, Bob (No date). Critical thinking. [On-line], April
4, 1997. Available HTTP: http://www.cof.orst.edu/cof/teach/for442/ct.htm |
| Montclair State University (1995). Curriculum resource center.
Critical thinking resources: An annotated bibliography. [On-line].
Available HTTP: http://www.montclair.edu/Pages/CRC/Bibliographies/CriticalThinking.html |
| No author, No date. Critical Thinking is ... [On-line],
April 4, 1997. Available HTTP: http://library.usask.ca/ustudy/critical/ |
| Scriven, M. & Paul, R. (1996). Defining critical thinking:
A draft statement for the National Council for Excellence in
Critical Thinking. [On-line]. Available HTTP: http://www.criticalthinking.org/University/univlibrary/library.nclk |
| Sheridan, Marcia (No date). Internet education topics hotlink
page. [On-line], April 4, 1997. Available HTTP: http://sun1.iusb.edu/~msherida/topics/critical.html |
Send ideas for other virtual workshops to: Karen
I. Adsit, EdD, Director
Copyright © 1997 The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. All
rights reserved.
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