Critical Thinking

in ELT
Maryna Teplova

Presentation outline
1) Forming Critical Thinking skills in teaching What is CT? Characteristics of an effective Critical Thinker Blooms taxonomy 2) Critical Thinking Instructional tools Elements of Reasoning \ Thought Universal Intellectual standards Affective and cognitive strategies

3) Implementing CT in Teaching and selfreflection: - Developing thinking through questioning - Challenges to teaching Critical Thinking - Reflecting on your experience

What is Critical Thinking?

The art of thinking about your thinking, while youre thinking, so as to make your thinking more clear, precise, accurate, relevant, consistent, and fair; the art of constructive skepticism; the art of identifying and removing biasand onesidedness of thought; the art of selfdirected, in-depth thinking (Paul, 1990)

In groups, divide the statements

given into 2 lists:

1. Someone

would probably agree with statements like these: would probably agree with statements like these:

2. A person with

Someone would probably agree with statements like these:

I hate talk shows where people just state their opinions but never give any reasons at all. Figuring out what people really mean by what they say is important to me." I always do better in jobs where I'm expected to think things out for myself. I hold off making decisions until Ive thought through my options. Rather than relying on someone else's notes, I prefer to read the material myself. I try to see the merit in anothers opinion, even if I reject it later. Even if a problem is tougher than I expected, Ill keep working on it. Making intelligent decisions is more important than winning arguments.

A person with would probably agree with statements like these:

I prefer jobs where the supervisor says exactly what to do and exactly how to do it." No matter how complex the problem, you can bet there will be a simple solution. "I don't waste time looking things up." I hate when teachers discuss problems instead of just giving the answers. If my belief is truly sincere, evidence to the contrary is irrelevant." Selling an idea is like selling cars, you say whatever works."

CT in Everyday Life
Comparison shopping
Anticipating consequences of actions

Voting
Technology trouble-shooting

Choosing between two job offers

In the 1950's Benjamin Bloom developed his taxonomy of Educational Objectives He proposed that learning fitted into one of three psychological domains: Cognitive processing information Affective Attitudes and feelings Psychomotor manipulative or physical skills

Blooms Taxonomy
Organizes thinking skills into a hierarchy
Levels progress from lower-order to higher-order (critical thinking) Lower levels are necessary for completion of higher levels (Bloom, 1984)

Blooms Revised Taxonomy

Practice
Working in Groups of 4, match example activities with the corresponding levels of Blooms Taxonomy.

Elements of Reasoning
1. Purpose: What is my central aim? 2. Questions: What question am I raising? What question am I addressing? 3. Information: What information am I using in coming to that conclusion? What information do I need to settle the question? 4.Inferences/Conclusions: How did I reach this conclusion? Is there another way to interpret the information?

5.Concepts: What is the main idea here? Can I explain this idea? 6.Assumptions: What am I taking for granted? What assumption has led me to that conclusion? 7.Implications/consequences: If
someone accepted my position, what would be the implications? 8. Points of view: From what point of view am I looking at this issue? Is there another point of view I should consider?
http://www.criticalthinking.org/CTmodel/CTMod el1.cfm

Activity
In groups, discuss the following questions: How have you used one or more of these elements in your teaching? Do you teach it/them explicitly or implicitly? Why? Give a brief description of an activity your students do/did and explain how the element(s) fit in.

Universal intellectual standards:

Clarity: Could you elaborate further? Could you give me an example? Accuracy: How could we check on that? How could we verify /test that? Precision: Could you be more specific? Could you give me more details? Relevance: How does that relate to the problem? Depth: What are some of the complexities of this question? Breadth: Do we need to look at this from another perspective? Logic: Does your first paragraph fit in with your last? Significance: Is this the central idea to focus on? Fairness: Do I have any vested interest in this issue? Am I sympathetically representing the viewpoints of others? http://www.criticalthinking.org/CTmodel/CTModel1.cfm

Applying the intellectual standards to a course

In groups, study the table Applying the elements of reasoning to a course. Try to answer the intellectual standards question to each element.

How to teach Critical Thinking?

Use analogies Promote interaction among students Ask open-ended questions Allow sufficient time for reflection Teach students to apply knowledge to other domains Use real-life problems Allow thinking practice Practice What if game Study 35 instructional strategies and think of 1-2
activities encompassing several strategies from different domains

Developing thinking skills through questioning

Why do I ask questions in teaching? What about students asking questions? Why are students questions important? What types of questions are there? What should we avoid in questioning? Is there a simple way to develop questioning? How can I follow up a question? Why is waiting in questioning a good idea? How does questioning develop language and thinking? What are some alternatives to direct questioning?

One Art
The art of losing isn't hard to master; so many things seem filled with the intent to be lost that their loss is no disaster. Lose something everyday. Accept the fluster of lost door keys, the hour badly spent. The art of losing isn't hard to master. Then practice losing further, losing faster: places and names, and where it was you meant to travel. None of these will bring disaster. I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or next-to-last, of three loved houses went. The art of losing isn't hard to master. I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster, some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent. I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster. --Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident the art of losing's not too hard to master though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

In groups, do the following: 1. Read the poem quickly (1 minute only!) 2. Write questions that start with the following words:

Elizabeth Bishop

provided 3. Swap your papers with another group 4. Answer their questions, on the back of their papers 5. Discuss the answers of the other groups together

what, when, where, how, why, how often, what do you think, could on the papers

Student fear Impulsiveness Overdependence on the teacher Missing the meaning Inflexibility Lack of confidence Dogmatic, assertive behavior Inability to concentrate Unwillingness to think

Challenges and Barriers to Teaching CT

(Raths, et al., 1986)

Wrap-Up
Questions and self-reflection If youre interested in CT, you might want to visit:
www.criticalthinking.org http://questioning.org http://austhink.com/critical/ - CT on the web http://www.skepdic.com/ Sceptics dictionary

Thank you for coming!

mary_t@list.ru