1. August Teaching Enrichment Series
Wed, Aug 28, 2013
9:00-9:45am
Keller 3-111
Anita Gonzalez, Ph.D.
Teaching Consultant
Center for Teaching & Learning
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
gonza035@umn.edu

2. Sections
 What is Critical Thinking?
 Teaching Critical Thinking – 2 Perspectives
 Mapping Activity
 Conclusion

3. What is Critical Thinking?
 [C]ritical thinking consists of seeing both sides of an
issue, being open to new evidence that disconfirms
your ideas, reasoning dispassionately, demanding that
claims be backed by evidence, deducing and inferring
conclusions from available facts, solving problems, and
so forth.
 Then too, there are specific types of critical thinking
that are characteristic of different subject matter:
...'thinking like a scientist' or 'thinking like a historian.’
Daniel Willingham, 2007: 8.

4. What is Critical Thinking?
 From the cognitive scientist's point of view, the mental
activities that are typically called critical thinking are
actually a subset of three types of thinking:
reasoning, making judgments and decisions, and
problem solving.
 [We] think in these ways all the time, but only
sometimes in a critical way.
 Critical reasoning, decision making, and problem
solving... have three key features:
effectiveness, novelty, and self-direction.
Daniel Willingham, 2007: 11.

5. Questions for Reflection
1.
How did you learn to think critically?
1.
How long did it take you to learn to think critically?
 A single semester?
 A year?
 A degree?
 Other?
1.
What range of activities supported you in developing
critical thinking skills and practices over this time span?

6. Two Perspectives
1.
Critical Thinking = General Skill Set
 as in … general reasoning, logic, and problem solving
2. Critical Thinking = Specific Skill Set for a Discipline
 as in … using specific types of problem solving

7. Research says …
Both general & specific are key to critical thinking,
AND for student learning linked to Bloom’s higher
order thinking skills, it is more effective to build
teaching and learning plans around engagement
with specific critical thinking skills

8. The Case for Specific Skills
Students need a knowledge base in order to work
critically with that knowledge, to engage in critical
thinking.
In other words, the disciplinary context matters.

9. Definitions in Your Context
What traits, skills, behaviors, or qualities
demonstrate critical thinking in your course or
discipline?
NOTE: This is not asking what assignments or inclass activities you do. Rather, what are the skills or
qualities of critical thinking that students will need
to engage to meet course learning goals?
See the following chart as a further springboard…

10. Aligning Skills, Activities, Assessments
CRITICAL THINKING
TRAITS
TEACHING/LEARNING TESTING FOR
ACTIVITIES
CRITICAL THINKING
See multiple viewpoints,
options, solutions, etc.
Use multiple examples
that illustrate variation
and juxtaposition
Evaluate and assess
concepts, plans,
solutions
Allow for risk (failure
Offer no or low stakes
from working through an assignments + feedback.
idea, concept, solution)
Allow students to re-do
an assignment for higher
stakes.
Independent and
creative thinking
Inductive teaching rather
than deductive teaching
(here’s the data, what do
you see?)
Ask students to generate
multiple viewpoints,
options, solutions in an
assignment
Give students data or
“raw materials” to work
with and develop their
own solution first. Then
students work with
theory, etc.

11. Your Turn…
CRITICAL THINKING
TRAITS
TEACHING/LEARNING
ACTIVITIES
TESTING FOR
CRITICAL THINKING

12. Teaching/Learning Activities
 Writing activities (better when some writing is generative &






drafted with students seeking/using feedback)
Demonstrations (better if students can participate in the
demonstration)
Problem solving (including partial solutions)
“Think Alouds” (show your thinking process, have students
show their thinking process)
Map/diagram a concept, process, theory, solution (as
individuals mapping on-going learning, in groups as part of a
jigsaw learning activity)
Work with data inductively (data set, scenario, case study)
Problem Based Learning (PBL) & Inquiry Lerning

13. Embed Personal Reflections
 Productive disagreement (with a rationale or reason)
 Independent thinking (before the “lesson”)
 Inductive thinking (work with “raw materials”)
 Creative thinking (generate ideas)
 Design thinking (process)
 Logics (linear, circular, tangential, spiral, etc.)
 Allow for risk and failure in your assessments

14. Resources
Bloom, Benjamin S. Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Handbook 1: Cognitive Domain.
New York: Longman, 1956.
Johnston. Susan and Jim Cooper. “Supporting Student Success Through Scaffolding.”
Tomorrow’s Professor Posting #849. [1997?] http://cgi.stanford.edu/~dept-ctl/cgibin/tomprof/posting.php
Kuncel, Nathan. Associate Professor of Psychology, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.
“Critical Thinking: Beyond Stats and Formal Knowledge.” Presentation for Early Career
Teaching Program, 2011. http://mediamill.cla.umn.edu/mediamill/display/88950
Van Gelder, Tim. “Teaching Critical Thinking: Some Lessons From Cognitive Science.”
College Teaching 53, Winter 2005: 41-46. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27559216
Willingham, Daniel T. “Critical Thinking: Why Is It So Hard to Teach?” American
Educator, Summer 2007: 8-19.
http://mres.gmu.edu/pmwiki/uploads/Main/CritThink.pdf
Wolcott, Susan K. “Designing Assignments and Classroom Discussions to Foster Critical
Thinking at Different Levels in the Curriculum.” In Educational Innovation in Economics
and Business V, L. Borghans et al. eds. Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2000:
231-251. http://www.springerlink.com/content/n837210g15740856/