5. Align assessment with practice of specific CT skills Some instructors expect their students will improve CT skills like argument analysis skills by simply immersing them in challenging course work. Others expect improvement because they use a textbook with special CT questions or modules, give lectures that critically review the literature, or have students complete written assignments. While these and other traditional techniques may help, a growing body of research suggests they are not sufficient to efficiently produce measurable changes in CT skills. Our research on acquisition of argument analysis skills in psychology (Bensley, Crowe, Bernhardt, Buchner, & Allman, in press) and on critical reading skills (Bensley & Haynes, 1995; Spero & Bensley, 2009) suggests that more explicit, direct instruction of CT skills is necessary. These results concur with results of an earlier review of CT programs by Chance (1986) and a recent meta-analysis by Abrami et al. (2008). Seven Guidelines for Teaching and Assessing Critical Thinking Students must use their feedback for it to improve their CT skills. In the CT exercises and critical reading assignments, students receive feedback in the form of corrected responses and written feedback on open-ended questions. They should be advised that paying attention to feedback on earlier work and assessments should improve their performance on later assessments. 2. Clearly state the CT goals and objectives for your class Instructors can also pique interest by taking a class poll posing an interesting question on which students are likely to have an opinion. For example, asking students how many think that the full moon can lead to increases in abnormal behavior can be used to introduce the difference between empirical fact and opinion or common sense belief. After asking students how psychologists answer such questions, instructors might go over the meta-analysis of Rotton and Kelly (1985). Their review found that almost all of the 37 studies they reviewed showed no association between the phase of the moon and abnormal behavior with only a few examples of topics and thesis statements, usually poorly, controlled studies supporting it. Effect size over all studies was very small (.01). Instructors can use this to illustrate how psychologists draw a conclusion based on the quality and quantity of research studies as opposed to what many people commonly believe. For other interesting thinking errors and misconceptions related to psychology, see Bensley (1998; 2002; 2008), Halpern (2003), Ruscio (2006), Stanovich (2007), and Sternberg (2007). Sometimes when the goal is to teach students how to decide which CT skills are appropriate in a situation essay structure, the instructor may not want to identify specific skills. Instead essay on nationalism, a lesson objective might read, “After successfully completing this assignment, you will be able to decide which skills and knowledge are appropriate for critically analyzing a discussion in psychology.” Overview of the Guidelines Critical thinking takes effort. Without proper motivation, students are less inclined to engage in it. Therefore, it is good to arouse interest right away and foster commitment to improving CT throughout a course. One motivational strategy is to explain why CT is important to effective, professional behavior. Often, telling a compelling story that illustrates the consequences of failing to think critically can motivate students. For example, the tragic death of 10-year-old Candace Newmaker at the hands of her therapists practicing attachment therapy illustrates the perils of using a therapy that has not been supported by good empirical evidence (Lilienfeld, 2007). Guided practice involves modeling and supporting the practice of target skills, and providing feedback on progress towards skill attainment. Research has shown that guided practice helps student more efficiently acquire thinking skills than unguided and discovery approaches (Meyer, 2004). To improve their CT skills, students must be given opportunities to practice them. Different courses present different opportunities for infusion and practice. Stand-alone CT courses usually provide the most opportunities to infuse CT. For example, the Frostburg State University Psychology Department has a senior seminar called “Thinking like a Psychologist” in which students complete lessons giving them practice in argument analysis, critical reading, critically evaluating information on the Internet mla bibliography style, distinguishing science from pseudoscience, applying their knowledge and CT skills in simulations of psychological practice, and other activities. Definition has changed over the past decade Each of the separate groups has made significant contributions to our understanding of critical thinking. Contributors from the area of cognitive psychology (such as Paul Chance and Richard Mayer) delineate the set of operations and procedures involved in critical thinking. They work to establish the differences between critical thinking and other important aspects of thinking such as creative thinking. Bloom and his colleagues (1956) produced one of the most often cited documents in establishing educational outcomes: The Taxonomy of the Cognitive Domain. They proposed that knowing is actually composed of six successive levels arranged in a hierarchy: Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, Evaluation. Research over the past 40 years has generally confirmed that the first four levels are indeed a true hierarchy. That is, knowing at the knowledge level is easier than, and subsumed under, the level of comprehension and so forth up to the level of analysis. However, research is mixed on the relationship of synthesis and evaluation; it is possible that these two are reversed or they could be two separate cheap papers for sale, though equally difficult, activities (Seddon, 1978). Content specialists (such as Hickey and Mertes) demonstrate how critical thinking can be taught in different content areas such as reading, literature, social studies essay constitutional law, mathematics, and science. This is an especially important contribution because it appears that critical thinking is best developed as students grapple with specific content rather than taught exclusively as a separate set of skills. One problem with the definitions provided above (which is common to most definitions from philosophers such as Paul and Scriven), is that of labeling "good" thinking as critical thinking. This implies that creative thinking is a component of critical thinking rather than a separate, though related, thinking process with its own standards of excellence. To classify all "good" thinking as critical thinking is to expand the definition beyond its usefulness and obfuscates the intended concept. It also has the danger of overselling the concept and having both educators and the general public reject the benefits of focusing on critical thinking. We need to recognize that "good" thinking requires both critical and creative thinking. For example, Duemler and Mayer (1988) found that when students used techniques associated with reason and logic as well as creativity and divergence help with law essay writing, they were more successful in problem solving. The movement to the information age has focused attention on good thinking as an important element of life success (Huitt contract law term paper topics, 1995; Thomas & Smoot someone to do my assignment, 1994). These changing conditions require new outcomes example of critical thinking, such as critical thinking, to be included as a focus of schooling. Old standards of simply being able to score well on a standardized test of basic skills, though still appropriate, cannot be the sole means by which we judge the academic success or failure of our students. Contributors from the area of behavioral psychology help to establish the operational definitions associated with critical thinking. They work to define the subtasks associated with final outcomes and the methodologies teachers can use to shape initial behaviors towards the final outcomes. They also demonstrate how educators can establish the proper contingencies to change behavior. This model proposes that there are affective. conative. and behavioral aspects of critical thinking that must be considered in addition to the cognitive processes involved. This supports the definitions of Mertes (1991) essay writing about my family, Scriven and Paul (1992), and Ennis (1992) that include some component of beliefs and behavior. First, a stimulus presents an argument or proposition that must be evaluated. There is an affective disposition to use critical thinking that must activate the critical thinking processes if it is to take place. As a result of critical thinking a previously held belief is confirmed or a new belief is established. This will be established as a component of declarative memory in its semantic form although there may be episodic information associated with it. There may also be images or visualizations formed or remembered as part of the critical thinking process. Full-text · Article · Apr 2013 [Show abstract] [Hide abstract] ABSTRACT: This article examines the theoretical underpinnings of critical thinking and creative thinking in order to encourage educators to include two key thinking skills in their daily classrooms. It draws purposefully and selectively from research evidence and theory across the fields of education, psychology, and professional development to draw attention to the assentation that more structured and theoretically informed teachings of critical and creative thinking in education could be useful to student learning. First, definitions of critical and creative thinking are discussed. Then, some studies with the focus of critical and creative thinking are reviewed. Finally, some suggestions for the implementation of two thinking styles in the classrooms are provided.
[Show abstract] [Hide abstract] ABSTRACT: This survey aimed at measuring students' critical thinking dispositions in humanities fields. 123 students were randomly selected by stratified sampling method among undergraduate students in the College of Humanities in Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran during academic year of 2010-2011. They completed Ricketts'(2003) Critical Thinking Disposition Questionnaire. Overly, finding showed that all subjects achieved optimal level of critical thinking in the moderated level (p<0.001,t=17.56), but not in the strict level (p<0.001, t= -9.20). Implications for applying active learning and problem solving approaches to enhance students' critical thinking propositions were proposed.
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