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LEARNING TO THINK CRITICALLY: TEACH THEM HOW TO FISH…. Christopher R. Groscurth, Ph.D. Center for Research on Learning and Teaching (CRLT) www.drgroscurth.com. LEARNING TO THINK CRITICALLY: TEACH THEM HOW TO FISH…. Christopher R. Groscurth, Ph.D.
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LEARNING TO THINK CRITICALLY: TEACH THEM HOW TO FISH… Christopher R. Groscurth, Ph.D. Center for Research on Learning and Teaching (CRLT) www.drgroscurth.com
LEARNING TO THINK CRITICALLY: TEACH THEM HOW TO FISH… Christopher R. Groscurth, Ph.D. Center for Research on Learning and Teaching (CRLT) www.drgroscurth.com
Agenda • What? • Why? • How?
WHAT? CT INTERVIEW • What is critical thinking? • What do you do when you think critically in your discipline? • What standards do you use to evaluate someone’s critical thinking? • INSTRUCTIONS: • Write • Ask-Listen (questioner) • SWITCH • Share (responder)
Based on the interview & video… What questions about teaching critical thinking do you hope to have answered today?
Why? Skills Outcomes • Analyzing • Defining • Inferring • Synthesizing • Listening • Reasoning • QUESTIONING • Evaluating information • Intellectual curiosity • Tolerance for ambiguity • Evaluating our habits of thought • LIFE-LONG LEARNING
How?: Barriers (students) • Poor reading skills • Poor listening skills • Bias • Binary reasoning • Prejudice • Fear of change • Selective perception/attention • Sociocentrism • Relativism
How?: Barriers (instructors) • Unclear goals • Misalignment • Assessment criteria • Time/Class size • Content coverage “Teaching without learning is just talking” –Pat Cross
HOW?: A developmental approach Source: King, P.M. (2009). Developmental aspects of learning. Teagle-CRLT Science of Learning Colloquium. Ann Arbor, MI.
Novice vs. Expert Thinking • How do you model expert thinking or make it visible to students during lecture to help novices develop critical thinking skills? • What opportunities do students have to practice expert thinking (in & out of class)?
Principles for fostering CT • Cultivate students’ disposition to think critically • Identify essential knowledge and skills and design instructional goals around these • Model CT skills (e.g., close reading) for students • Provide frequent opportunities for practice
Principles for fostering CT • Offer formative and summative feedback • Use active methods to achieve learning goals • Focus on the structure & content of problems to promote transferability • Allow students to engage in metacognition • How did you approach the problem? • How could you have approached it differently? • What would the costs/benefits of an alternative course of action have been?
Assessing CT • Assessment is ongoing • Formative (improvement) • Summative (judgment) • CATs (see handout) • Which technique(s) could be used to assess CT in your classroom?
To help students learn how to think critically, instructors must… • think developmentally about learning • model expert thinking • talk about thinking • align goals for student learning with assessment and teaching practices