Engaging Students in Critical Thinking

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Engaging Students in Critical Thinking

Course Description
This course is designed as a framework for engaging students in active, critical thinking through content area subjects within the regular classroom. As a global society, it is imperative that students learn to base their thinking on reasoned judgment and elements of critical thinking. Critical thinking for the purpose of this course will evolve around the following definitions: Ennis (1996) critical thinking means reasonable and reflective thinking focused on deciding what to believe or do. Paul (2000) critical thinking is that mode of thinking about any subject, content, or problem in which the thinker improves the quality of his/her thinking by skillfully taking charge of the structures inherent in thinking and imposing intellectual standards upon them. Some additional givens on critical thinking provide the base for instructional strategies (Norris, 2000): critical thinking is sensitive to context, critical thinking looks for reasoning behind conclusions, critical thinking is an educational ideal, and to think critically, one must have knowledge.

As Paul states (2005), developing critical thinkers is central to the mission of all educational institutions. The only capacity we can use to learn is human thinking. If we think well while learning, we learn well. If we think poorly while learning, we learn poorly. By ensuring that students learn to think critically and fair minded, we ensure that students not only master essential subject matter but also become effective citizens, capable of reasoning ethically and acting in the public good.

This course blends theory and practical application so teachers can ready their students for the lifelong journey of being critical thinkers. Engaging Students in Critical Thinking makes a positive difference in academic levels for students and is rich with material from experts in the field as baseline resources for curriculum strategies. Works from Lauren Resnick, Arthur Costa, Robert Ennis, Robert Marzano, Robert Swartz, Richard Paul, and Robert Sternberg are but a few of the resources discussed.

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” Marcel Proust.

Objectives

Examine the role of infusing critical thinking skills in today’s standards driven curriculum.
Discuss definitions of critical thinking.
Study the correlation of infusing thinking skills into the curriculum and an increase in student achievement.
Analyze characteristics of critical thinkers.
Reflect on the logic of critical thinking.
Analyze the role of critical thinking and education for life.
Discuss the ethics of critical thinking.
Develop instructional strategies for critical thinking.
Compare and contrast thinking skills programs.
Establish guidelines for teacher behaviors that promote an environment conducive to critical thinking skills.
Analyze readings from experts in the field.
Develop lessons to infuse critical thinking into existing content area.

Curriculum Design
Students will be involved in a variety of tasks for completion of course requirements: readings, report on readings, exams, journal and reflection entries, projects related to real world learning environments, and development of instructional strategies for specific content areas. Engaging Students in Critical Thinking is a 3 credit graduate level or forty-five hour professional development course taught on weekends or over five full days.

Course Materials
The required textbook for this course is Developing Minds: A Resource Book for Teaching Thinking, 3rd Edition, edited by Arthur L. Costa. The textbook and a student guide will be provided for all students. A variety of readings will be referenced throughout the course. Other supplemental readings will be provided.

Session Outline
Session 1: The Rationale for Teaching Thinking
Contents:

School Reform and the Need to Teach Thinking
Defining Critical Thinking
Reasoned Judgment and Critical Thinking
Thinking Skills and Standards Based Assessment: What is the Fit?

Assignment: Compare the delivery of the content area that you instruct to the thinking and reasoning skills identified from the McREL research. Provide a written analysis of your findings.

Session 2: Characteristics of Critical Thinkers
Contents:

Intellectual Traits for Critical Thinking
Universal and Global Standards for Thinking
Elements of Critical Thinking

Assignment:

Reflect on Costa’s Habits of Mind and Paul’s Elements of Reasoning. Note similarities between the two as relevant to critical thinking characteristics and skills. State the similarities (chart form is okay) and discuss two elements that you believe relate to characteristics of critical thinkers.
Reflect on traits of critical thinking and post your reflection discussing a trait you believe to be a quality that might go unnoticed in a traditional lesson.

Session 3: Why Teach Critical Thinking?
Contents:

Research Findings: Critical Thinking and Academic Achievement
Why Critical Thinking Counts
Why Critical Thinking is of Value
The Role of Critical Thinking in Education for Life

Assignment: You have been asked to design standards for your content area. Develop three standards related to critical thinking which need to be part of your content area

Session 4: Instructional Strategies for Critical Thinking
Contents:

Redirection/Probing/Reinforcement
Questions/Higher Order/Socratic
Wait Time and Research Findings
Instructional Practice

Assignment:

Conduct a lesson in your educational setting in which you use “wait time” for questions. Record the students’ comments about the “wait time.” Use probing questions to solicit the students’ ideas and comments about how the “wait time” affected the instruction. Outline the findings making sure to include the probing questions.
Engage students in an assignment/lesson in which they will participate in a higher order activity. Describe the activity and the results experienced by the students. Give specific examples.

Session 5: Instructional Model for Critical Thinking
Contents:

The work of Richard Paul: Thinking About Thinking
Dialogical and Dialectical Thinking
Socratic Questioning

Assignment: Target five Socratic Questions to incorporate into a lesson you will use with your students. Present the framework for the lesson with the questions. Suggest an anticipated response to each question.

Session 6: Instructional Strategies for Transfer of Thinking Skills
Contents:

Cueing Thinking in the Classrooms
Teaching the Language of Thinking: Terminology, Questions for Thinking Behavior, Decision Making, and Metacognition
Technology and Thinking

Assignment: Complete an activity regarding cognitive mapping and problem solving.

Session 7: Research and the Use of Specific Critical Thinking Programs
Contents:

Comprehensive School Mathematics Program (CSMP)
Building Thinking Skills
Problem Solving and Comprehension
Higher Order Thinking (HOTS)

Assignment: Select a critical thinking skills program and discuss how you will use it in your instruction. Target end goals for the students and provide an example of the use of the program.

Session 8: Creating the Environment Conducive to Critical Thinking
Contents:

Teacher Behaviors Which Promote Critical Thinking
Teaching the Language of Thinking in the Classroom
Teaching for Transfer
Frames for Teaching Critical Thinking

Assignment: Design a presentation for a group of teachers in which you target crucial points for sharing from this session. Outline your presentation.

Session 9: Addressing Critical Thinking through Various Learning Styles
Contents:

Organizing Thinking Thru Visual Diagrams
The Visual Spatial Learner
Graphic Organizers
Critical Thinking for the Right and Left Brain Learner

Assignment:

Compare the instructional strategies that you are currently using with best practices for the visual spatial learner and/or the right brained learner. Discuss how your instruction will change based on what you have learned in this session. Provide specific examples.
Complete the visual spatial activity.

Session 10: Assessing Critical Thinking
Contents:

Thinking and State and National Assessments
Resources for Teaching Critical Thinking
Self-Reflection and Classroom Instruction
Checklist for Critical Thinking Programs

Assignment: Develop a plan to implement the critical thinking skill strategies which you have learned through this course. Include reflections on the checklist for critical thinking programs. In your plan describe areas you will target for one year. Also reflect on resources that you will need to implement this plan.

Grading

Assignment	Points	Grading Scale
Classroom Participation	30	100 – 93	A
Journal	20	92 – 85	B
Assignments	20	84 – 77	C
Course Project	20
Final Exam	10
Total Points	100

Student Requirements
This course requires rigor and concentration on the part of the student to complete the tasks at hand.

	1.	Attend all class sessions for the requisite number of hours (45) and actively participate in all class activities.
	2.	Complete all reading & writing assignments. Keep a journal, reflecting upon the major ideas in the assigned readings and the application of those ideas in an educational setting.
	3.	Complete the Course Project.
	4.	Pass a final exam.

Student Academic Integrity
Participants guarantee that all academic class work is original. Any academic dishonesty or plagiarism (to take ideas, writings, etc. from another and offer them as one's own), is a violation of student academic behavior standards as outlined by our partnering colleges and universities and is subject to academic disciplinary action.

Register
To register to take TEI's Engaging Students in Critical Thinking classroom graduate course, go to the Course Registration page.