laying the ground work for critical thinking montana state university

Laying the Ground Work for Critical Thinking

Montana State UniversityCollege of Business

Developed by Professor Terry DoyleFerris State University

Students' ability and willingness to think critically are most likely to develop when knowledge acquisition and thinking about content are intertwined rather than sequential.

Richard Paul

The Critical Thinking Community

• http://www.criticalthinking.org/articles/glossary.cfm

We all Think Differently

Add 17 +56 in your head

We don’t Think Alike

A—In columns like on paper

B—Added 10 to 56 and 7 to 66

C—Added 20 to 56 and subtracted 3 from 76 D—Other

Cognitive Readiness

• Perry’s scheme for cognitive development

• Dr. William Perry (1970) articulated 9 positions of cognitive development in college students.

• Most people pass fairly predictably from position to position, although certainly development is not really as linear as the positions imply.

Perry’s scheme for cognitive development

• Development may be arrested or even reversed at any stage if the cognitive challenges presented are too great.

• Furthermore, a person can be at different stages in different areas of life.

The Cognitive Development Scheme

• In Stages 1 or 2 (Dualism), students may resist learning information that challenges their established beliefs.

• In Stages 3 and 4 (Multiplicity), students may argue that their answers are just as valid as a teacher’s answers for a subjective topic.

• In Stage 5 (Relativism and Procedural Knowledge), students begin to realize that valid disciplinary reasoning methods exist.

• In Stage 6, students begin to realize that they must make choices and commit to solutions and ways of life.

Model of Epistemological Reflection

Stage One

Absolute Knowing

Knowledge is viewed as certain. Teachers are absolute authoritiesLearning is about reciting facts.

Dr. Marcia Baxter Magolda, Miami of OhioKnowing and Reasoning in College: Gender-Related Patterns

in Students’ Intellectual Development (1992)

Stage Two

Transitional Knowing

Reflects that some knowledge is uncertain.

Authorities are not all-knowing

Authorities provide more information regarding the applicability of knowledge.

• Students in this stage are focused on understanding knowledge rather than simply acquiring knowledge

• Half of sophomores and close to eighty percent of juniors and seniors were transitional knower's.

Stage ThreeIndependent knowing • Recognize that knowledge is

mostly uncertain.

• Instructors are expected to provide a environment for learning that rewards thinking and logic over particular views that may be different from the text or the teacher.

• Independent knowing was seen most frequently in the first year past graduation (57%).

• Stage Four Contextual knowing.

• “Contextual knowing involves the belief that the legitimacy of knowledge claims is determined contextually. The individual still constructs a point of view, but the perspective now requires supporting evidence.”

Making Thinking Visible

Our findings argue that everyday thinking may suffer more from just plain missing the opportunities to think than from poor thinking skills.

(Perkins, Tishman, Ritchhart, Donis, & Andrade, 2000; Perkins & Tishman, 2001).

• Use the language of thinking (Tishman & Perkins, 1997).

• Integrate terms like hypothesis, reason, evidence, possibility, imagination, perspective

• Routine use of such words in a natural intuitive way helps students catch on to the nuances of thinking

premise, conclusions, inductive, deductive,

assumptions

Making Thinking Visible• Being a model of

thoughtfulness for one's students.

• Teachers who do not expect instant answers, who display their own honest uncertainties, who take a moment to think about "What if" or "What if not" or "How else could this be done?" or "What's the other side of the case?“

• One thinking routine that we have found to be useful in many settings involves two key questions: "What's going on here?" and "What do you see that makes you say so?"

• (Tishman, 2002) What’s going on here?

• This pair of questions asks students in informal language for interpretations and supporting reasons.

• Responses can be labeled as hypotheses and support for their hypotheses as reasons.

• The circle of viewpoints.

• Students are asked to pick a point of view and speak from it (which does not, of course, mean that they agree with it).

Culture of Critical Thinking

Discuss with students directly the value of attitudes of curiosity, inquiry, and playing with ideas – important thinking dispositions.

A Thinking Classroom

Are students explaining

things to one another?

Is there a pro/con list

on the blackboard

Are students offering creative ideas?

Is there a brainstorm

about alternative

plans on the wall?

Are they, and I, using

the language of

thinking?

Are students debating interpretations?"

Critical Thinking is Hard

• A majority of people cannot, even when prompted, reliably exhibit basic skills of general reasoning and argumentation(Deanna Kuhn, The Skills of Argumentation)

• Evolution did not waste time making things better than they needed to be—we needed to be just smart enough to survive

(Tim van Gelder, in Teaching Critical Thinking, College teaching , 2005)

• Humans are pattern seeking story telling animals—we like things to make sense but most of time that means familiar patterns and narratives

(Michael Shermer, 2002)

• This is called the “make sense epistemology”

• The test of truth is that it makes intuitive sense or sounds right—no need to look closer

(Perkins, Allen and Hafner, 1983, 1986)

• Critical thinking involves skillfully exercising various lower-level cognitive capacities in integrated wholes

( Tim van Gelder, in Teaching Critical Thinking, College teaching , 2005)

• Think about it like learning to become fluent in a foreign language, speaking ,writing , listening and thinking in another language

Planning a Course that Integrates Critical Thinking

• What am I going to teach?

• What content am I going to teach?

• What questions or problems will be central to the course?

• What concepts will be fundamental?

• What amount of information will students need to access?

• What point of view or frame of reference do they need to learn to reason within?

• All need to be on the same page

• Agree on the same vocabulary /terminology

Basic Components of a Good Assignment

Critical thinking assignments should thoroughly articulate these basic components:

1. Clear and precise explanation of the task, including the purpose of the assignment.

2. List of the cognitive skills required to complete the assignment.

3. Precise description of the grading criteria (including relevant intellectual standards)

• For example, on the assignment handout, faculty should explicitly identify the cognitive skills necessary for completing the assignment, allowing students to see the particular mental moves required for the task.

• Faculty can also incorporate the relevant and significant intellectual standards in their grading criteria.

• The intellectual standards give faculty and students a precise, consistent way of describing and assessing good thinking in any discipline.

Critical Thinking and Assignments in Business

• Step One• The students must

actively do the critical thinking themselves or they will not get better.

• The key word here is actively

Step Two• Students must be fully

engaged

• Include exercises that can improve performance

• Make it progressively more challenging

• Give guidance and feedback on performance

Teach transference of skills and processes—don’t assume the students can make these on their own

• Ask students to explain and analyze their thinking as they work on business problems, build marketing campaigns or resolve human resource issues.

• Have them identify and analyze the information they use, the inferences they draw, the assumptions they make, the key questions they ask, etc.

• If they write out the logic behind their work, we will be able to assess their thinking in addition to the product of that thinking

• Ask students to keep a list of mistakes they make.

• Have students explain why they made the mistakes, how they found each one, and how they corrected them.

• Ask them to write about why they made them, and how they discovered them so we will be able to assess their thinking.

• Ask students to determine the problem or create the scenario.

• In other words, ask students to create the problem as well as devise possible solutions to it.

• Having students create their own database and queries would require them to really think through the entire process.

• They would have to determine the kinds of data they need, find that data, and create the categories required.

• Ask students to think through some additional questions that would help to assess the quality of their thinking.

1. How could you modify ----- to make it... ? 2.Describe some other possible applications of

the program or technique. 3. Compare and contrast this technique to other techniques.

Rubric for Critical Thinking• Exemplary thinking is skilled, marked by excellence in clarity, accuracy, precision,

relevance, depth, breadth, logicality, and fairness

• Satisfactory thinking is competent, effective, accurate and clear, but lacks the exemplary depth, precision, and insight of a 4

• Unsatisfactory thinking is inconsistent, ineffective; shows a lack of consistent competence: is often unclear, imprecise, inaccurate, and superficial

• Below Satisfactory thinking is unskilled and insufficient, marked by imprecision, lack of clarity, superficiality, illogicality, inaccuracy, and unfairness

www.criticalthinking.org

AssignmentCIS 110 Critical Thinking Exercise

• Step 1• What do we mean when we say a web site is creditable?• What makes a web site creditable?• Write a paragraph in your own words to answer these two questions.• Using your favorite search engine, find information about how to determine

the credibility of web sites.

• Two good sources are:• 1 . Stanford Guidelines for Web Credibility at• http://credibility.stanford.edu/guidelines/index.html and• 2. Evaluating Web Pages: Techniques to Apply and Questions to Ask• http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Evaluate.html.• Did your research support your original thoughts on web site credibility?

• Step 2• Using the Internet, find three examples of articles, documentaries, or news stories that

deal with the verifying of facts and data on the Internet.• Analyze your findings.• Write a summary of each article or media piece.

• For each article, be sure you:• • have a clear understanding of the issue.• • identify and evaluate relevant major points of view.• • accurately interpret statements, logic, data, facts, etc.• • acknowledge the depth and breadth of the issue by recognizing related theories,• principles, or representations.• • accurately identify assumptions, make valid assumptions.• • follow where evidence and reason lead in order to obtain defensible, judicious, logical• conclusions.• Each summary should be ½ to 1 page in length and include a works cited entry.

Step 3• Compose a 1 ½ to 2 page paper that answers the

question “What factors influence how Internet users analyze and evaluate the information they find online?”

• For example, do older people with less Internet experience tend to be more naïve about Internet information than younger people who have been raised on the Internet?

• Why or why not? Does educational level play a role?• What other factors may be relevant?

The Elements of Thought

Purpose of the Thinking, goal,

objective

Question at Issue problem, issue

Concepts theories, definitions, axioms, laws, principles, models

Information data, facts,

observations, experiences

Interpretation and Inference

conclusions, solutions

Implications & Consequences

Assumptions presupposition,

taking for granted

Points of View frame of reference,

perspective, orientation

Printed with permission of Richard Paul and Linda Elder, Foundation of Critical Thinking, from The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking, Concepts & Tools

Universal Intellectual Standards

Precision

Clarity

Accuracy

Elaborate further? Give an example? Illustrate what you mean?

Check on that? Is that true? Verify or test that?

Be more specific? Give more details? Be more exact?

Printed with permission of Richard Paul and Linda Elder, Foundation of Critical Thinking, from The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking, Concepts & Tools

Look at this from another perspective? Consider another point of view? Look at this in other ways?

Factors that make this a difficult problem? Complexities of the question? Difficulties we need to deal with?

Breadth

RelevanceRelate to the problem? Bear on the question? Help with the issue?

Fairness

Significance

Any vested interest in this issue? Taking into account the thinking of others? Examine my thinking for prejudice?

Most important problem to consider? Central idea to focus on? Which facts are most important?

Does this make sense together? Does your first paragraph fit with your last? Does what you say follow from the evidence?

THE STANDARDS

THE ELEMENTS

INTELLECTUAL TRAITS

clarity accuracy relevance Logicalness breadth

precision significance completeness fairness depth

intellectual humility intellectual autonomy intellectual integrity intellectual courage

purposes questions points of view information

inferences concepts implications assumptions

intellectual perseverance confidence in reason intellectual empathy fair-mindedness

as we learn to develop

must be applied to

Cognitive Skills that Underlie Critical Thinking

1. Demonstrate a clear understanding of the assignment’s purpose

2. Clearly define the issue or problem

3.Accurately identify the core issues

4. Appreciate depth and breadth of the problem

5. Demonstrate fair-mindedness toward the problem

6. Identify and evaluate relevant significant points of view

7. Examine relevant points of view fairly, empathetically

8. Gather sufficient, credible, relevant information: observations, statements, logic, data, facts,

9. Questions, graphs, themes, assertions, descriptions, etc.

10.Include information that opposes as well as supports the argued position

11.Distinguish between information and inferences drawn from that information

12.Identify and accurately explain/use relevant key concepts

13.Acurately identify assumptions (things taken for granted)

14. Make assumptions that are consistent, reasonable, and valid

15. Follow where evidence and reason lead in order to obtain defensible, thoughtful, logical conclusions or solutions

16.Make deep rather than superficial inferences

17.Make inferences that are consistent with each other

18.Identify the most significant implications and consequences of the reasoning (whether positive and/or negative)

19. Distinguish probable from improbable implications

Elements of Critical Thought

• Tolerance for Ambiguity

• Very difficult for younger students

• Requires flexibility in life views

• Developmental growth in managing the uncertain

Open-Minded Skepticism

• Overcoming personal bias and prejudice

• This means suspending belief—put aside preconceived ideas especially about our cherished beliefs

Creative Problem Solving• Look at it from multiple

perspectives

• What we fail to see can have implications for planning to prevent problems and for solving problems that occur

• Example: Hurricane Katrina There was a failure to see that the first responders would not respond

Attentive, Mindful and Curious

• Intellectual curiosity

• Pay attention to our thoughts and feelings

• Respect diversity

• Accepting all possibilities when looking for solutions

Collaboration• An approach grounded in

shared conversation and community

• Dynamic objectivism—recognizes the difference between our selves and others as opportunities for deeper exploration

• Consideration as to how the other person/country might react

Barriers to Critical Thought• Resistance- Immaturity—I’m not

• Avoidance-hang with like minded persons

• Anger-threats to silence others

• Cliché-Don’t force your views on me—everything is relative

• Denial-ignore the truth—Oil reserves in USA

Barriers to Critical Thought• Ignorance-lack of content knowledge

or willingness to learn new knowledge

• Conformity-I won’t be accepted if I disagree

• Struggling to Act-Paralysis by analysis

• Distractions-rather than think we stay distracted

• Absolutism- authority has the answer we are not to question

Barriers to Critical Thought• Egocentrism-little regard for other’s

• Ethnocentrism-uncritical and unjustified belief in the superiority of one’s group

• Anthropocentrism-Humans are king-resources are there for our use

• Rationalization- rush to judgment, ignoring competing claims

• Unexamined Bias, Prejudice

Barriers Broken Down

• The use of cognitive dissonance and social dissonance to confront barriers

• Introduce new ideas that directly conflict with person’s world view.

Bibliography• Barratt, J. (2009, August 10). A Plea for More Critical Thinking in Design, Please . Retrieved September 5, 2009, from Fast

Company: http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/john-barratt/design-day/plea-more-critical-thinking-design-please• Boss, Judith. THINK Critical Thinking and Logic Skills for Everyday Life, 2010. McGraw Hill, New York, NY• Grotzer, T. A. (1996). Teaching Thinking Skills: Does It Add Up for Math and Science Learning? Retrieved September 7, 2009,

from Project Zero Harvard Graduate School of Education: http://pzweb.harvard.edu/Research/MathSciMatters/BK2THKSKRv03.pdf

• Kennedy, M. L., & Jones, R. (2009, 6 15). Critical Thinking. Retrieved September 6, 2009, from Special Libraries Association: http://www.sla.org/PDFs/SLA2009/2009_critical-thinking.pdf

• Lee, B. (2007, March 30). Become a Critical Thinker. Retrieved September 6, 2009, from Genius Types: http://geniustypes.com/become_a_critical_thinker/

• OXford University Press USA. (2009, July 13). Questions That Critical Thinking Will Help You Answer. Retrieved September 6, 2009, from OUPblog: http://blog.oup.com/2009/07/helping-professionals/

• Paul, R. (1992, April). Critical Thinking: Basic Questions & Answers. Retrieved September 4, 2009, from Foundation for Critical Thinking: http://www.criticalthinking.org/print-page.cfm?pageID=409

• ReCAPP. (2009, September). Skills for Educators: Use of Critical Thinking Skills to Analyze Health Disparities. Retrieved September 7, 2009, from Resource Center for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention: http://www.etr.org/recapp/index.cfm?fuseaction=pages.EducatorSkillsDetail&PageID=98

• Robbins, S. (2005, 5 30). The Path to Critical Thinking. Retrieved September 7, 2009, from Harvard Business School Working Knowledge for Business Leaders: http://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/4828.html#1

• Surrey Community College. (2005). Why Critical Thinking? Retrieved September 7, 2009, from Surry Community College: http://www.surry.edu/about/ct/why_ct.html

• www.criticalthinking.org• Critical Thinking: Basic Theory and Instructional Structures. Foundation for Critical Thinking, 1999

laying the ground work for critical thinking montana state university

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