How to Teach CT? Robert H. Ennis, rhennis@illinois.edu The actual teaching of critical thinking is a function of many situation-specific factors: teacher style, teacher interest, teacher knowledge and understanding, class size, cultural and community backgrounds and expectations, student expectations and backgrounds, colleagues’ expectations, recent local events, the amount of time available to teachers after they have done all the other things they have to do, and teacher grasp of critical thinking, to name some major factors. Underlying Strategies (The three underlying strategies are “Reflection, Reasons, Alternatives” (RRA): 1. 2. 3. Fundamental Strategies 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. Tactics 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. Mid-level Strategies 21. SEBKUS: When doing appraisals and planning investigations and other actions, make full use of and try to expand your Sensitivity, Experience, Background Knowledge, and Understanding of the Situation.
The Path to CT Few of us are effective critical thinkers—who has time? The good news, says Stever Robbins, is that this skill can be learned. by Stever Robbins Can you write a refresher on critical thinking? We business leaders so like to believe that we can think well, but we don't. What's logic got to do with it? Purely emotional decision making is bad news. Critical thinking starts with logic. We also sloppily reverse cause and effect. There are many excellent books on logic. The trap of assuming You can think critically without knowing where the facts stop and your own neurotic assumptions begin. When we don't know something, we assume. Finding and busting "conventional wisdom" can be the key to an empire. Assumptions can also cripple us. Some assumptions run so deep they're hard to question. Next time you're grappling with a problem, spend time brainstorming your assumptions. The truth will set you free (statistics notwithstanding) Have you ever noticed how terrified we are of the truth? Help!
10 Examples of CT We all encounter opportunities in our daily lives to engage problems and decisions using strong critical thinking. Everyone needs to think ahead, to plan and to problem solve. Here are ten positive examples of critical thinking: *Facione, P. & Gittens C. Think Critically, Pearson Education Insight Assessment www.insightassessment.com Measuring Thinking Worldwide A CT Model To Analyze Thinking We Must Identify and Question its Elemental Structures Standard: Clarityunderstandable, the meaning can be grasped Could you elaborate further? Could you give me an example? Standard: Accuracyfree from errors or distortions, true How could we check on that? Standard: Precisionexact to the necessary level of detail Could you be more specific? Standard: Relevancerelating to the matter at hand How does that relate to the problem? Standard: Depthcontaining complexities and multiple interrelationships What factors make this a difficult problem? Standard: Breadthencompassing multiple viewpoints Do we need to look at this from another perspective? Standard: Logicthe parts make sense together, no contradictions Does all this make sense together? Standard: Significancefocusing on the important, not trivial Is this the most important problem to consider? Standard: FairnessJustifiable, not self-serving or one-sided Do I have any vested interest in this issue? Think About... Gather...
Conditional Logic and Children From 180 primary children of varied backgrounds half were selected for instruction in conditional logic by means of an audio-tutorial method. At the termination of 15 weekly lessons the experimental students did no better than the control students on our individually-administered conditional logic test ("Smith-Sturgeon Conditional Reasoning Test"), but there was wide variation among age demonstrated mastery of basic principles of conditional logic. Thus, although out methods were not effective in the teaching of conditional logic to young children, many have somehow learned it anyway. In the control group significant relationships between conditional logic ability and verbal intelligence (.6) and socioeconomic status (.4) were found. No significant relationship between conditional logic ability and sex was discernable. Descriptors: Children, Cognitive Processes, Critical Thinking, Intelligence, Logic, Readiness, Sex Differences, Socioeconomic Status, Students, Teaching Methods
All About Asking Better Questions Asking questions is such a basic tool of teaching, yet how many of us have ever been taught to ask good questions? As I started researching for this post, I realized how little I actually knew about asking questions. I asked hundreds of questions a day but had zero training. Here’s the plan: So, we’ll actually start in perhaps a strange place, which is to open with the idea of asking fewer questions as teachers and allowing more room for students to be the questioners. Mrs. Let me take you back to 1997, when my sophomore English teacher, Mrs. Why would a teacher have such a hard time getting her advanced 10th graders to ask a darn question? Well, as one of those students, I can tell you that I had been trained to answer questions, not ask them. I pledged to ask two questions and doubt I lived up to my bargain. Who Asks Whom? So, as we dig into questioning, let’s start with wondering who asks the questions in your classroom and who gets asked. Students Asking Students Homework: Ask Questions
A Brief History of the Idea of Critical Thinking Socrates set the agenda for the tradition of critical thinking, namely, to reflectively question common beliefs and explanations, carefully distinguishing those beliefs that are reasonable and logical from those which — however appealing they may be to our native egocentrism, however much they serve our vested interests, however comfortable or comforting they may be — lack adequate evidence or rational foundation to warrant our belief. Socrates’ practice was followed by the critical thinking of Plato (who recorded Socrates’ thought), Aristotle, and the Greek skeptics, all of whom emphasized that things are often very different from what they appear to be and that only the trained mind is prepared to see through the way things look to us on the surface (delusive appearances) to the way they really are beneath the surface (the deeper realities of life). Francis Bacon, in England, was explicitly concerned with the way we misuse our minds in seeking knowledge. John Dewey agreed.
How to make good arguments at school (and everywhere else) From as early as Grade 3 teachers start teaching children how to put across their own points of view. It’s not about winning arguments, but ensuring kids grow up to be thoughtful and engaged citizens. These skills might come in to play at school in essay writing, in oral presentations or in debates. And whether we’re talking about making arguments for school or just in life, there are three things present in all good arguments. Read more: No, you're not entitled to your opinion 1. Reasonability is about connecting reasons and evidence to your opinions. The first is for our own clarity of thought, so we understand how concepts and events relate to each other (or realise when they don’t). The second is so others can assess our reasons. One shortcoming in the Australian Curriculum is that it asks students to write persuasively, by using emotive language. Read more: What's the best, most effective way to take notes? 2. 3. There are several major benefits in recognising our own fallibility.
CT in Music Critical Thinking in Music (Music Thinking Strategies) Drawing on the empirically-based Visual Thinking Strategies model, Critical Thinking in Music is a constructivist, inquiry-based approach to developing musical reasoning and understanding unique to APS. Developed by Dr. Downloadable resources for Critical Thinking in Music (CTM) Click to download audio files for CTM lessons or scroll to bottom of page to play audio clips from this web page. Download the Assessment Form and Rubric for Critical Thinking in Music (CTM) Please down the CTM Pre/Post Assessment Form and Rubric. GUIDELINES for delivering CTM Follow the directions below to deliver the CTM curriculum 8-10 times during your music class (K-5 general music, MS band, MS chorus, MS orchestra). Critical Thinking in Music Workshop Video CTM (MTS) Workshop Part 1 CTM (MTS) Workshop Part 2 CTM (MTS) Workshop Part 3 CTM (MTS) Workshop Part 4 CTM (MTS) Workshop Part 5 CTM (MTS) Workshop Part 6 CTM (MTS) Workshop Part 7 CTM (MTS) Workshop Part 8