“Make ‘em Think! Make ‘em Think! Make ‘em Think”: Integrating Critical

Thinking Practice with Team Tasks

Billie Franchini, Ph.D. University at Albany-SUNYAlbany, NY

Kathryn Davidson, Ph.D. SUNY AdirondackQueensbury, NY

As you settle into your seats, please take a moment to read “The Case of Robert Burdell,” which you just received. We will be using it during the session.

Let’s Get Started!

• Study conducted by Richard J. Davidson at University of Wisconsin

• Longitudinal study of 70 children observed at age 3, 7, and 9

• Design: At each stage of the study, children’s behavioral inhibition (shyness) measured by placing them in situations where they could choose to interact with strangers and “dangerous” playthings (e.g., a large balance beam, wolf mask)

• Data collected: 1) Observation of interactions (i.e., whether students

interacted with stranger; whether they played with “dangerous” toys)

2) EEG to record activity in various areas of brain

Based on your own experience with and knowledge of humans, make a prediction.

Answer On Your Own

The study used shyness/inhibition as a way to register and measure change in brain function.

How stable do you think the children’s “shyness” (inhibition) trait was over time, between age 3 and 9?

a. Very stable (.8-1.0 correlation—almost no change)b. Somewhat stable (.5-.8 correlation)c. Not very stable (.2-.4 correlation)d. Highly unstable (less than .2 correlation)

Write down your answer.

In Small Groups

• Share your answer with the people sitting around you and work together to reach a consensus on a group answer. Be prepared to share and defend your answer. You have 3 minutes to agree on an answer.

• When I give you the signal, use the colored cards (A-D) to publish your group answer.

In Small Groups

• Share your answer with the people sitting around you and work together to reach a consensus on a group answer. Be prepared to share and defend your answer.

• When I give you the signal, use the colored cards (A-D) to publish your group answer.

3:00

In Small Groups

• Share your answer with the people sitting around you and work together to reach a consensus on a group answer. Be prepared to share and defend your answer.

• When I give you the signal, use the colored cards (A-D) to publish your group answer.

2:30

In Small Groups

• Share your answer with the people sitting around you and work together to reach a consensus on a group answer. Be prepared to share and defend your answer.

• When I give you the signal, use the colored cards (A-D) to publish your group answer.

2:00

In Small Groups

• Share your answer with the people sitting around you and work together to reach a consensus on a group answer. Be prepared to share and defend your answer.

• When I give you the signal, use the colored cards (A-D) to publish your group answer.

1:30

In Small Groups

• Share your answer with the people sitting around you and work together to reach a consensus on a group answer. Be prepared to share and defend your answer.

• When I give you the signal, use the colored cards (A-D) to publish your group answer.

1:00

In Small Groups

• Share your answer with the people sitting around you and work together to reach a consensus on a group answer. Be prepared to share and defend your answer.

• When I give you the signal, use the colored cards (A-D) to publish your group answer.

:30

In Small Groups

• Share your answer with the people sitting around you and work together to reach a consensus on a group answer. Be prepared to share and defend your answer.

• When I give you the signal, use the colored cards (A-D) to publish your group answer.

:15

In Small Groups

• Share your answer with the people sitting around you and work together to reach a consensus on a group answer. Be prepared to share and defend your answer.

• When I give you the signal, use the colored cards (A-D) to publish your group answer.

Time’s Up!

Principle 1 for Critical Thinking Practice

Students don’t have to know everything before they can do something.

Metacognitive Moment: How we created this task

1. Used data from a study to create a moment of inquiry* (prediction): “Given what I know about human behavior, what do I think this data will show, and why?”

*Inquiry: Student is asked to “set” the problem by• judging which factors are likely to be relevant• judging what information is missing or has to be

assumed• developing, borrowing, adapting or remembering

relevant concepts

Metacognitive Moment: How we created this task

1. Used the parameters of a study to create a moment of inquiry

2. Asked you to put your own experience into a context—gave you a stake in learning the data

Compare to traditional teaching practice:

“Here’s what this study showed. Isn’t that interesting?”

Naïve Tasks

Principle: Ask students to act in the face of insufficient information

Practice:• Surface and challenge current understanding (prior

knowledge, beliefs, misconceptions)• Implicate students and their current knowledge in

the learning process• Force students to ask for more information• Provoke authentic curiosity / attitude of inquiry

Who wants to know what the data showed?

How stable do you think the children’s “shyness” (inhibition) trait was over time, between age 3 and 9?

a. Very stable (.8-1.0 correlation)b. Somewhat stable (.5-.8 correlation)c. Not very stable (.2-.4 correlation)

d. Highly unstable (less than .2 correlation)

Actual = less than .1 correlation

Let’s look at another case

The handout you received when you came in contains a partial transcript of an actual classroom discussion. Some details have been altered to protect the identify of the persons and institution involved.

Please take 2 minutes to review “The Case of Robert Burdell” and be prepared to answer some questions about it.

Working with a group, use your interpretation of this situation to decide which diagnosis of the situation is MOST LIKELY and which is LEAST LIKELY. Be prepared to share and explain your group’s answer.

A. The students are incapable of responding better because they did not prepare well.

B. The students distrust Professor Burdell and are refusing to play along with him.

C. The students are waiting for one of the smartest students to save them.

D. The students are afraid they will be wrong if they say anything.

E. The students do not understand what Professor Burdell is asking them to say.

On my signal, use your colored cards to indicate the diagnosis that your group believed to be MOST LIKELY.

A. The students are incapable of responding better because they did not prepare well.

B. The students distrust Professor Burdell and are refusing to play along with him.

C. The students are waiting for one of the smartest students to save them.

D. The students are afraid they will be wrong if they say anything.

E. The students do not understand what Professor Burdell is asking them to say.

On my signal, use your colored cards to indicate the diagnosis that your group believed to be LEAST LIKELY.

A. The students are incapable of responding better because they did not prepare well.

B. The students distrust Professor Burdell and are refusing to play along with him.

C. The students are waiting for one of the smartest students to save them.

D. The students are afraid they will be wrong if they say anything.

E. The students do not understand what Professor Burdell is asking them to say.

Principle 2 for Critical Thinking Practice

“Discuss” is a vehicle, not a destination.

(aka, The part of the workshop where we answer the question, why are we answering multiple choice questions in a critical thinking workshop?)

Reflection: How we created this task

1. Used a familiar scenario to create a moment of inquiry

2. Asked you to put your own experience into a context

3. Asked you to express your thinking in the form of a specific, focused decision

Gave you an endpoint for your discussion to work toward

Why do limited-option decisions foster critical thinking?

Instructional Focus: Focused decision-making ensures that students’ analysis and discussion will focus on the issues that you have determined to be key.

Compare:Discuss why Dr. Burdell’s students aren’t answering his questions.

to

Choose the most and least likely diagnoses of the situation in Dr. Burdell’s classroom.

Another example of a strategy to promote critical thinking

Using raw data to make predictions

The Study: The US Department of Education Early Longitudinal Study (ECLS) sought to measure students’ academic performance and gathered survey information about each child, seeking to determine which demographic factors would correlate with academic achievement.

Your task: In your groups, sort these data into two categories: (A) factors that were found to be strongly correlated with high test scores and (B) factors that were NOT strongly correlated with high test scores. Be prepared to share and explain your predictions.

Categories: (A) factors that were found to be strongly correlated with high test scores and (B) factors that were NOT strongly correlated with

high test scores.

• The child’s mother was thirty or older at the time of her first child’s birth.

• The child attended Head Start.• The child had low birth weight.• The child’s parents speak English in the home.• The child’s parents read to him nearly every day.• The child has many books in the home.• The child’s parents recently moved into a better

neighborhood.• The child frequently watches television.

Let’s hear your predictions

When prompted, hold up the card (A or B) that corresponds with the category into which you placed the following items. Be prepared to defend your answers.

• The child’s mother was thirty or older at the time of her first child’s birth.

• The child’s parents read to him nearly every day.• The child frequently watches television.• The child’s parents speak English in the home.

About this task

• Shape: Make a decision (which items belong in which category?) based on what you already know.

• Timing: At the beginning of a sequence (“teach forward”)– Compare alternate use: Later in the sequence, so

students use their new knowledge of course material (from the readings) to make more sophisticated decisions.

Factors strongly correlated with high test scores

• The child’s mother was thirty or older at the time of her first child’s birth.

• The child had low birth weight.

• The child’s parents speak English in the home.

• The child has many books in the home.

Factors NOT strongly correlated with high test scores

• The child’s parents recently moved into a better neighborhood.

• The child attended Head Start.

• The child frequently watches television.

• The child’s parents read to him nearly every day.

Principle 3 for Critical Thinking Practice

Students can only integrate new knowledge when their prior knowledge is made visible.

Metacognitive Moment: How we created this task

1. Used the parameters of a study to create a moment of inquiry

2. Asked you to put your own experience into a context—gave you a stake in learning the data

3. Asked you to express your thinking in the form of a specific, focused decision

4. Asked you to report your answers publicly=

Forced you to confront your current understanding

Strategy from Team-Based Learning

Michaelsen’s four S’s

• Significant problem• Same problem• Specific choice/decision/judgment• Simultaneous report

Some sample task formats for 4 S Decisions

Select from limited options (e.g. multiple choice, best answer)

Ranking Sorting/categorizing

• True/False• A single value (numerical estimate or other scoring) • Sequencing/organizing (chronological; procedural; logical;

narrative)

• Single sentence (summary; definition; claim; etc.)• Limited word task (analysis reported in 1-5 words)

Why is forced decision-making critical?

Intellectual Development: Decision-making requires students to turn their knowledge and understanding into thinking and actions with clear consequences.

The action makes thinking visible, which opens the door to immediate feedback.

Public decisions can help dispel the “illusion of comprehension”

• Confusing familiarity (e.g., recognition) with knowing

• Listening to lectures by experts who are “too fluent” (creates false sense of security)

• Not being required to act immediately on new information

Marilla Svinicki, Learning and Motivation in the Postsecondary Classroom

PRINCIPLE 4 FOR CRITICAL THINKING PRACTICE

Not all “practice” is created equal.

Not all activity is real practice.

What helps learning: “Deliberate practice”

• Goal-oriented• Force students to try tasks beyond current level of

competence and comfort• Force students to make mistakes while stakes are still

low• Driven by immediate, accurate, constructive

feedback from a “coach” •Feedback provokes reflection

“Doing” is not practicing unless it includes feedback that provokes reflection.

The Experiential Learning Cycle (David Kolb)

“Critical Thinking is… self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored, and self-corrective thinking.”

(Richard Paul and Linda Elder)

Review: Principles for Critical Thinking Practice

• Students don’t have to know everything before they can do something.

• “Discuss” is a vehicle, not a destination.

• Students can only integrate new knowledge when their prior knowledge is made visible.

• Not all “practice” is created equal.

“Make ‘em Think! Make ‘em Think! Make ‘em Think”: Integrating Critical

Thinking Practice with Team Tasks

Billie Franchini, Ph.D. University at Albany-SUNYAlbany, NY

Kathryn Davidson, Ph.D. SUNY AdirondackQueensbury, NY