Teaching Critical Thinking Across the Disciplines Stephen Brookfield

Teaching Critical Thinking Across the Disciplines Stephen Brookfield University of St. Thomas www. stephenbrookfield. com Tweet: #tc 5815

Finding a Common Language • What language will communicate a commonly shared intellectual project that will communicate a shared understanding of what critical thinking entails – for both students and faculty across all disciplines? • A process of APPRAISAL • Appraise Accuracy / Validity of ASSUMPTIONS • Explore ALTERNATIVE PERSPECTIVES

A Process of Appraisal • Critical thinking as a process of appraisal – we judge the accuracy & validity of assumptions by viewing them from different perspectives • Appraisal means sometimes our assumptions are accurate & make sense - & here’s why • Focusing on Appraisal means we avoid students thinking critical thinking is a process of always finding fault, demolition • What We Appraise Is How Accurate Are Procedures We Use to Establish Valid Knowledge – thinking like a ……. ? ? ?

Someone Who Thinks Critically Can … • Identify Assumptions Behind Thinking & Actions • Check Assumptions for Accuracy & Validity • View Ideas & Actions from Multiple Perspectives • Take Informed Action

An Informed Action… • One Based on Assessed Evidence or Experience • One That Has Its Assumptions Known & Checked • One That Stands a Chance of Achieving Its Intended Consequence • One That has a Rationale that Can Be Clearly Explained

Why Is Critical Thinking Difficult? • Because it’s hard for us to see our own assumptions without some kind of peer assistance • Because we don’t want to questions assumptions – life becomes more difficult • Because 18 -22 year olds are grappling with their intellectual development

Developmentally 18 -22 year olds are. . • Moving to ‘Formal Operations’ Stage Starting to Think Abstractly & Conceptually • Can formulate hypotheses • Understand cause & effect • Can apply problem-solving protocols

Developmentally 18 -22 year olds struggle with… • Dialectical thinking – holding 2 ideas in tension; i. e. good leaders should be transparent about the reasons for their actions –v- in some situations the LAST thing you want is to be transparent about your actions • Contextuality/Relativism – behavior & action can only be fully understood in its historical/social/intellectual context, & context changes EVERYTHING

Developmentally we’re headed to adulthood • Post-formal Operations (Jan Sinnott): adults who can tolerate ambiguity, understand the role of context • Informed Commitment (William Perry): adults who can confidently commit to a theory, explanation, or course of action – all the while acknowledging this will be changed & reframed if experience convinces us to do so

Appraising Knowledge How Students Speak • I assume this idea is accurate because it’s what you told me • I assume this is the right action to fit this situation because my experience tells me so • I assume this is the right action to fit this situation because that’s what I saw you do • I assume this scholarship is legitimate because it’s in the text • I am going to act this way because I assume that’s what others do in this situation • I assume I have understood you correctly because here’s my precis of your point

How Students Check Assumptions 4 Typical Approaches • This assumption is accurate because it is corroborated by my peers (Groupthink) • This assumption is accurate because it is corroborated by experts (Dependence on Authority as De-Facto Correct) • This assumption is accurate because it is corroborated by own experience (Self-Delusion, Denial & Blind Spots) • This assumption is accurate because I have tested it out (Flawed Problem Posing)

Categories of Assumptions • CAUSAL - purport to explain a sequence of events: retroactive or predictive • PRESCRIPTIVE - assumptions about how things should happen, we should behave • PARADIGMATIC - framing, structuring assumptions viewed as obvious, common sense, taken for granted

A Personal Example • Clinical Depression is Caused by External Circumstances • The Way to Deal With It Is To Reason Through It & Tell Yourself To Snap Out of It • Medications Are For Those Too Weak To Deal With The World Rooted in Ideology: PATRIARCHY (Men are to be entrusted with making decisions by virtue of their superior rationality & logic)

A Pedagogic Example • If I get to class early & arrange the chairs in circles, students will feel respected when they walk in. This will reduce the distance between me & them, & will also create a relaxed, congenial environment for learning • The Circle is an Arena of Surveillance • I am being Coerced into Speech before you have earned the right to expect that

The Circle • Causal: Having Chairs in a Circle creates a Relaxed, Respectful Environment for Learning • Prescriptive: Good educators Create a Relaxed Environment • Paradigmatic: I Have Power Over My Classroom Environment

TRADITIONS - ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHY • ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHY – logical fallacies, argument analysis – inductive, deductive, analogical, inferential • A good critical thinker is someone who can spot flaws in arguments, identify illogical thought, detect correct & incorrect ladders of inference that someone has constructed, excel in debate, speak articulately, be alert to misuse of language & rhetorical tricks, and consistently identify evidence for assumptions & arguments

TRADITIONS – NATURAL SCIENCE • NATURAL SCIENCE – hypothetical-deductive method, principle of falsifiability • A good critical thinker is someone who can generate a plausible hypothesis to explain a sequence of events, can set up an experiment to test the validity of that hypothesis, knows how to respond if the hypothesis is disproven, and views knowledge/theories as valid only if that knowledge/theory is open to being disproved.

TRADITIONS – CRITICAL THEORY • CRITICAL THEORY – uncovering power dynamics, identifying hegemony &pushing back against ideological manipulation • A critical thinker is a student who is constantly asking questions about power dynamics in the classroom, in the wider community, and in the discipline. They question who decides what counts as legitimate knowledge & frequently challenge teachers authority & the authority of experts in the field. They consistently link classroom work to broader issues of social justice & equity

TRADITIONS - PRAGMATISM • PRAGMATISM – experimental pursuit of beautiful consequences (democracy) • A critical thinker is someone who is always open to rethinking positions & considering new perspectives. They view their actions as contingent & open to improvement & refinement. They regard experience as an important guide to action & see the future as open. Teachers often work pragmatically

When Are Students Ready to Think Critically? • When they have some grasp of the “Grammar” of a Subject (R. S. Peters) • Content Grammar – the building blocks of knowledge, fundamental concepts • Epistemological Grammar – the criteria used to judge good & bad scholarship, establish legitimate & illegitimate knowledge

Question • What most helps students to think critically?

What Students Say … • By Instructors MODELING, MODELING & MODELING • When It’s Sequenced – Begin by Learning Protocols & Over Time Apply These to Our Own Reasoning • Social Learning Process – Peers as Critically Reflective Mirrors

Critical Incident Questionnaire (CIQ) • MOMENT MOST ENGAGED AS LEARNER • MOMENT MOST DISTANCED • ACTION MOST HELPFUL • ACTION MOST CONFUSING • WHAT SURPRISED YOU MOST

HOW ADMINISTERED? Last 5 minutes of Class Anonymous Frequency Analysis of Main Themes Reported Out at Start of Next Class Disclose How Results Confirm or Challenge Your Assumptions / Provide New Perspectives • Disclose Any Changes You Will Make • Negotiation NOT Capitulation • • •

Assumptions Inventories - Teachers • Here’s the Assumptions I’m Working Under (Causal, Prescriptive, Paradigmatic) • Here’s Why I Think they’re Accurate & Valid – Evidence / Expert Corroboration • Here’s How My Assumptions have been Confirmed / Deepened • Here’s How My Assumptions have Been Challenged • Here’s the New Assumptions I’ve Discovered

Assumptions Inventories - Teachers When Constructing this Argument as a Scholar or Taking This Action as a Practitioner here’s: - • The Evidence That Was Most Accessible to Me • The Evidence I Took Most Seriously • The Evidence Most Open to Question

Assumption Inventories -Teachers In Assessing My Argument or Action: • Here’s Where I Judge Further Inquiry is Needed • Here’s How I Judge the Learning To Fit Clinical Practice • Here’s My Assumptions That Could Not Be Checked Adequately • Here’s a Different Way I Could Have Thought / Acted

Assumptions Inventories - Students As I completed this assignment, here’s… • Assumptions I held about the topic that were confirmed / strengthened / deepened • Assumptions I held about the topic that were challenged / disturbed • New perspectives or interpretations of the topic I considered • The most pressing questions about the topic I’m left with

Ending With Questions • At the end of a lecture or discussion you end by asking yourself (& students via tweeting) …. • What’s been missing from this analysis? • What most needs further scrutiny? • What are the chief critiques of what I’ve been saying? • What unresolved questions am I left with? • What are the most troubling questions we’ve raised today?

‘Speaking in Tongues’ • 3 -4 signs posted around the auditorium, each reflects a distinct theory/analytical framework • When you stand under a sign you speak ONLY in the language & perspective of that theory • When students ask questions you go to different stations & answer them ONLY from that perspective

What do YOU think professor? • You give 2 or 3 Answers – Only 1 Represents Your Actual Opinion • Students Vote on Whether They Think Answer A), B) or C) is Correct • Students Assemble in Groups Based on their Responses – all A’s, all B’s & all C’s • In Answer Groups they Discuss Why They Chose Their Particular Answer • Class Assembles & Groups Give their Reasons • You Disclose Which Was Your Actual Opinion

Instructor Point-Counterpoint Models • Productive Questioning • Respectful Disagreement • Different Perspectives • Perspective Taking • Thoughtful Silence

Structured Devil’s Advocacy • • The Clint Eastwood Chair Here’s information that’s inconvenient for your argument What about these ethical / philosophical issues you ignored? What would you say to this criticism? Here’s an assumption that bears further examination

Chalk Talk • Instructor writes a question in the middle of the board • 5 -10 minutes of silence is declared • Students write responses to the question on the board whenever they feel ready • Students & instructor draw lines between similar comments & add reactions & comments/questions • Ends when board is full or posting stops • Students photo board & post on Blackboard

What Stops It? No Scaffolding • Definitions, Explanations & Examples of CT Provided in the Syllabus – Same Definition Embedded in School Wide Program & Course Descriptions • Assessment Rubrics Distributed Containing Examples of Critical Thinking Participation • Post Examples of Good (& Bad) Student Work Where Critical Thinking is Evident • Each Assignment Provides an Example of CT • All Assignments Ask Students to Identify & Research Assumptions

Critical Thinking Rubric To What Extent Did You…. • Provide evidence to confirm or challenge your argument • Identify assumptions you held about the topic that were confirmed and challenged • Introduce a new idea, perspective or piece of relevant information • Ask question(s) that led to a new line of analysis

What Stops It? No Scaffolding • Assignments Ask Students to Judge Validity of Different Sources Used – web sites, textbooks, wikipedia, etc. • Assignments Ask Students to Spot the Deliberate Error (1 per unit / module) • Assignments & Activities Use Common Language of Assumptions - Causal, Prescriptive, Paradigmatic • Assignments Contain Example (s) of How the Instructor Has Thought Critically About the Topic

What Stops It? No Scaffolding • Assignments Ask Students to Summarize Assumptions that Have been Confirmed &/or Challenged • Asks Students to Report New Perspectives or Viewpoints • End By Asking Students To Raise at least Two Questions about the Topic that the Assignment has Generated

What Stops It? No Scaffolding • Intro. Course for All Incoming Freshmen • Begins with Generic Real-Life Scenarios (reasons for applying to the university, expectations of what it means to be a student, future goals, assumptions regarding workload, assessment etc. ). • Branch into Subject Specific Examples • Provides Videos of Former Students Talking About How Critical Thinking Manifested Itself in Their Studies • Provides Videos of Faculty Explaining How They Apply Critical Thinking in Work & Life

Assessing Critical Thinking • Pre-test / Post test (Simulations, Scenarios) • Student Critical Thinking Audits • Standardized Tests (Ennis-Weir, New Jersey, California, CAAP, Watson-Glaser) • Learning Journals Re. Applications in Practice • Multiple Choice Questions in Each Unit Specifically on Assumptions / Evidence