Dr. Richard Paul’s Keynote Address from the 2009 Conference on Critical Thinking is now online  The 29 th Annual Conference on Critical Thinking and Educational Reform has recently concluded, and it was a tremendous success. Educators from 16 countries converged in Berkeley, California for four days of interaction and engagement.
This article highlights the importance of critical reading and writing…
Teaching students to read and understand a text properly is essential to their intellectual survival in a complex world. Dr. Elder’s recently published article in the Times Higher Education discusses this very topic, and can be viewed at www.timeshighereducation.co.uk | Teachers and Faculty: Register now for our online course! CT700 Critical Thinking for Instructors
Fall 2009 Semester This course is offered in affiliation with Sonoma State University. It introduces critical thinking theory and focuses on the application of critical thinking to classroom instruction. The course fosters understanding of how to teach critical thinking skills to students through any subject, discipline, or grade level (while working within given curricula). In this course, you will be introduced to, or deepen your understanding of, the analysis of thought, the assessment of thought, and the development of intellectual dispositions. You will design critical thinking structures, strategies and lessons, and you will engage in ongoing critical dialogue with colleagues. You can also stay informed about upcoming events on our website. Look for additional events in 2010. |
Fostering Critical Thinking in the Classroom…
Explain the key concepts of the course during orientation.
It is helpful to students if from the outset of the course they are clear about the key or “organizing idea” of the course. This is the foundational or guiding concept underlying everything you will be teaching in a given course. We suggest that you use as the organizing idea the mode of thinking that underlies the course. For example, the key idea behind most history courses should be “historical thinking.” For most biology courses: “biological thinking.” For most nursing courses: “thinking like a professional nurse.” To explain the guiding idea initially clearly, discuss the logic of it with your students. For example, “The purpose of chemical thinking is…,” “The kinds of questions chemists raise are…,” “The kind of information they collect is…,” “The central concepts engaged in this discipline are…,” and so forth. Give examples of the thinking in action and give the students an activity in which they can experience doing the thinking in an elementary way. If the course is interdisciplinary or deals with a range of modes of thinking (as, say, many English classes are), then we suggest that you choose as your guiding idea: “thinking critically about X, Y, and Z.” For example, “We will focus in this class on thinking critically in reading and writing, and with respect to novels, poems, and plays.” | All I say is, call things by their right names, and do not confuse together ideas which are essentially different. A thorough knowledge of one science and a superficial acquaintance with many, are not the same thing; a smattering of a hundred things or a memory for detail, is not a philosophical or comprehensive view. Recreations are not education; accomplishments are not education. Do not say, the people must be educated, when, after all, you only mean, amused, refreshed, soothed, put into good spirits and good humour, or kept from vicious excesses. I do not say that such amusements, such occupations of mind, are not a great gain; but they are not education. ~ John Henry Newman, 1852 | |
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