Developing Critical Thinkers

Thinking critically is a skill gained through practice. Critical thinking has been listed as a top competency needed by college graduates for career readiness, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). They define critical thinking as a competency that enables students to "exercise sound reasoning to analyze issues, make decisions, and overcome problems. The individual is able to obtain, interpret, and use knowledge, facts, and data in this process, and may demonstrate originality and inventiveness." Therefore the more opportunities we can provide students to practice their critical thinking skills, the better they will succeed in their future courses and career. 

In February, the School of Life Sciences Teaching Innovation Center hosted a lunch and learn workshop focused on developing critical thinkers. During the hour faculty colleagues shared their experiences and knowledge on the topic. We followed each lightning talk with small group discussions. Additionally we included an activity that showcased a tool and resources that can be used which support faculty and teaching assistants to enhance their courses.

Lightning Talks About Critical Thinking

Associate Professor Ben Hurlbut shared five ways he teaches to encourage critical thinking in his students:

1. Questions before answers.
2. Dialogic not monologic. 
3. They don't know what you don't know
4. Learn what is known now, or how students come to the facts.
5. A good story that invites students in. This can set the stage for reflection once the topic has been taught.

Assistant Professor Silvie Huijben shared examples from her in-class approach to critical thinking activities.

1. Teaching begins before class, have questions with images as students enter the classroom.
2. Exit tickets, with questions such as: "Tell me what was confusing to you, so we can review for next class?"
3. Use current events to encourage discussion
4. Word cloud to represent ideas or topics mentioned in exit tickets, to review at start of next class. Tool used is Word It Out.

More Ideas!

Accompanying the lightning talks from the School of Life Sciences (SOLS) faculty, Sarah Prosory, Instructional Designer in the SOLS Teaching Innovation Center, shared two teaching resources (book and journal article) and an activity tool that you can use in your course to help your students develop critical thinking skills.

McKeachie's Teaching Tips

We have a small but powerful collection of books in the SOLS Teaching Innovation Center, all centered around higher education teaching and learning. A favorite is, McKeachie's Teaching Tips: Strategies, Research, and Theory for College and University Teachers, which provides the following suggestions to improve thinking in your course:

• Be explicit in your syllabus that your goal will be to help students improve their thinking.
• Provide opportunities to practice thinking during class. 
• Model thinking skills. Think out loud when you answer student questions.
• Don’t answer every student question yourself. Turn student questions into opportunities for all students to think toward an answer.
• Design challenges that will appeal to diverse learning styles. Some students will require more reflection time before they can express their thinking confidently.

Classroom Activities for Encouraging Evidence-Based Critical Thinking

Looking for general questions to have students ask themselves, or each other? Try using the following, which came from the article, "Is Truthiness Enough? Classroom Activities for Encouraging Evidence-Based Critical Thinking," from The Journal of Effective Teaching (2013). 

1. What am I being asked to believe or accept?
2. What evidence is available to support the claim?
3. What alternative ways are there to interpret the evidence?
4. Rate the evidence/alternatives on 0-10 scale based on validity/strength
5. What assumptions or biases came up when doing the above steps? (e.g., using intuition/emotion, authority, or personal experience rather than science)
6. What additional evidence would help us evaluate the alternatives?
7. What conclusions are most reasonable or likely?

The tool shared was TED-Ed which you can use in your course to engage your students in problem-solving. TEDEd’s critical thinking subjects provide an introductory video and short quiz, then followed by discussion questions. TEDEd also gives you the answer at the end of each activity, along with an explanation. Check out the video below that we watched during the workshop, and then answer the questions from the TED-Ed lesson, Earworms:Those Songs That Get Stuck in Your Head.

What will you add to your course to engage students in critical thinking? 
School of Life Sciences faculty and teaching assistants are invited to join us at the next Lunch & Learn on Wednesday, March 25th, for "Choose Your Own Adventure: Adaptive and Differentiated Learning." RSVP here.

Resources

• Presentation slides
• TEDEd video, "Earworms: those songs that get stuck in your head."

References

• Collaborative Learning Techniques (CoLTs) Quick Reference. By Barkley, Major, and Cross (Jossey-Bass, 2014)
• Kraus, S., Sears, S. R., & Burke, B. L. (2013). Is Truthiness Enough? Classroom Activities for Encouraging Evidence-Based Critical Thinking. The Journal of Effective Teaching, 13(2), 83–93. Retrieved from https://uncw.edu/jet/articles/vol13_2/kraus.pdf
• McKeachie, W. J., Svinicki, M. D., & Hofer, B. K. (2006). McKeachies teaching tips: strategies, research, and theory for college and university teachers. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
• TED Ed Lessons on Critical Thinking