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November 2010 Newsletter


November 2010 Newsletter

Foundation for Critical ThinkingNEWSLETTER
Foundation for Critical Thinking
www.criticalthinking.org

November 2010  
Register now...
 
Online Critical Thinking Course 
for Those Who Teach 
 
 
Introduction to Critical Thinking
For Instruction and Learning. 
 
Spring 2011 Semester (CT700)
 

In affiliation with Sonoma State University, the Foundation for Critical Thinking is again offering an online educational experience where instructors can develop their skills in teaching students to think critically. Participants engage in critical dialogue with each other in the analysis and evaluation of current teaching practices and theory. At the end of the course, each participant has created, applied and tested various critical thinking lessons. This is an excellent learning opportunity for those interested in practical methods for facilitating the development of critical thinking skills and abilities in their classrooms. 

Class starts January 31. 

Please click here for a full course description and to register online.
Spring 2011 Workshops on
Critical Thinking

Join us March 4-6 for our
Spring Workshops, held at the
Claremont Hotel in Berkeley, CA.
 
Day One (choose 1)
Foundations of Critical Thinking:
College and University…led by Dr. Richard Paul

Foundations of Critical Thinking: K-12…
led by Dr. Enoch Hale

Foundations of Critical Thinking:
Institutional Leadership…led by Dr. Linda Elder

Days Two and Three (choose 1)
Teaching Students to Ask Essential Questions Within Any Subject or Discipline…
led by Dr. Richard Paul 

Redesigning Instruction: Placing Critical Thinking at the Heart of Teaching and Learning…led by Dr. Enoch Hale

Cultivating Emotional Intelligence Through Critical Thinking…led by Dr. Linda Elder

For complete session, registration and hotel information, please click here. 

Institutions Using Our Approach...

We are pleased to add Angelina College to the list of Institutions Using Our Approach to Critical Thinking. 

Angelina College has identified three critical thinking learning outcomes consequent to the implementation of critical thinking skills in the curriculum: (1) Angelina College administration, faculty, and staff will have a common understanding of the tools and concepts of critical thinking; (2) all Divisions will execute tools for teaching critical thinking across the curricula; and (3) graduates of Angelina College will have the ability to adapt and apply critical thinking skills and strategies in their academic, professional and personal lives.

Angelina College joins other universities, colleges and schools that are making considerable efforts to foster critical thinking across departments and subjects using our framework. This framework is based on the research of the Center and Foundation for Critical Thinking during the last 30 years, and utilizes the work of Dr. Richard Paul, Dr. Linda Elder, and Dr. Gerald Nosich.

To read about Angelina College and other institutions using our framework for critical thinking, click here.

Fostering Critical Thinking in the Classroom… 
                      
Systematically Question Students Using a Socratic Approach
The oldest, and still the most powerful, teaching tactic for fostering excellent thinking is Socratic teaching. In Socratic teaching we focus on asking students questions, not giving them answers. We model an inquiring, probing mind by frequently asking probing questions. Fortunately, the abilities we gain by focusing on the elements of reasoning, prepare us for Socratic questioning. Remember, there is a predictable set of relationships that hold for all subjects and disciplines, since every subject has been developed by those who had:
  • shared goals and objectives (which defined the subject focus),
  • shared questions and problems (whose solution they pursued),
  • shared information and data (which they used as an empirical basis),
  • shared modes of interpreting or judging that information,
  • shared specialized concepts and ideas (which they used to help them organize their data),
  • shared key assumptions (that gave them a basis from which to collectively begin), and
  • a shared point-of-view (which enabled them to pursue common goals from a common framework).
Each of the elements represents a dimension to be questioned. We can question goals and purposes. We can probe into the nature of the question, problem, or issue that is on the floor. We can inquire into whether or not we have relevant data and information. We can consider alternative interpretations of the data and
information. We can analyze key concepts and ideas. We can question assumptions being made. We can ask students to trace out the implications and consequences of what they are saying. We can consider alternative points of view. All of these, and more, are the proper focus of the Socratic questioner.
[One premise] of the industrial age, that the pursuit of individual egoism leads to harmony and peace, growth in everyone’s welfare, is…erroneous…To be an egoist refers not only to my behavior but to my character. It means: that I want everything for myself; that possessing, not sharing, gives me pleasure; that I must become greedy because if my aim is having, I am more the more I have; that I must feel antagonistic toward all others; my customers whom I want to deceive, my competitors whom I want to destroy, my workers whom I want to exploit. I can never be satisfied, because there is no end to my wishes; I must be envious of those who have more and afraid of those who have less. But I have to repress all these feelings in order to represent myself (to others a well as to myself), as the smiling, rational, sincere, kind human being everybody pretends to be. 
                                                                                                     Eric Fromm, To Have or To Be, 1976