As part of the ePortfolio self-directed learning project, we want to empower our students to become game changers, global players and creators new knowledge and skills. To achieve this object, we need to re-imaging new space of learning for our students.
Critical thinking never comes from persons who can be easily intimidated or dominated or restricted. We have to instill the attribute of freedom in our students & to generate a fearless atmosphere around them. A grave common mistake is thinking that freedom is confined to eating, drinking, dressing, working, and entertaining.
Students ought to be encouraged to express their opinions, whether we like them or not, and to assure them that no penalty is waiting for them.
When I see young students arguing with me, I become very pleased. All I ask from them is to support their arguments with facts & figures. My constant advice is : Tell me what you personally think & not what others think (i.e. the media, for instance).
A truly free person, who is equipped with real knowledge, will consequently be capable of critical thinking & we can hope that someday, s/he becomes game changer, global player and founder of new knowledge & skills. This world needs brave persons before it needs book worms or mobile encyclopedias.
Hi,
I think that by presenting the students with debatable issues for which they have to find solutions, you could enhance their thinking abilities. The students should be instructed to observe all aspects of an issue, and arrive at some rational conclusion. The student's performance test will be the answer to the question: Did the student exhaust all possible solutions to the problem ?
Critical thinking never comes from persons who can be easily intimidated or dominated or restricted. We have to instill the attribute of freedom in our students & to generate a fearless atmosphere around them. A grave common mistake is thinking that freedom is confined to eating, drinking, dressing, working, and entertaining.
Students ought to be encouraged to express their opinions, whether we like them or not, and to assure them that no penalty is waiting for them.
When I see young students arguing with me, I become very pleased. All I ask from them is to support their arguments with facts & figures. My constant advice is : Tell me what you personally think & not what others think (i.e. the media, for instance).
A truly free person, who is equipped with real knowledge, will consequently be capable of critical thinking & we can hope that someday, s/he becomes game changer, global player and founder of new knowledge & skills. This world needs brave persons before it needs book worms or mobile encyclopedias.
Critical thinking is fine as far as it goes but it isn't the only thing to consider. Critical thinking is one kind of thinking but there are others and maybe we could encourage students to develop a suite of thinking skills that can be brought to bear in a variety of situations. Benner coined the term 'clinical imagination' and this was taken to subsume critical thinking amongst other thinking skills that would enable creativity, problem solving and innovation.
Dear RsGaters
Thank you for excellent suggestions and taught provoking ideas to promote students' critical thinking skills.
The newer German tradition of critical thinking has generated two concepts which are quite different, and during a conference in Germany 1960 there was a rather clash between the two philosopher Theodor W. Adorno, who stood for a critical view on society (called Critical Theory, in the sense of Neo-Marxism), and Karl R. Popper (Austrian, but livied in U.K.) who stood for Critical Rationalism (my preference goes to the latter). I think, it is an advantage, if we discuss the importance of critical thinking, to consider that there exists for long time concepts of critical thinking in Western philosophy, at any rate, which are useful to know, because every concept has it's advantages and its flaws. I agree with my forerunner-colleagures, here, in the thought that it is a part of our moral courage to test the truth of assertions or claims in order to contradict if necessary. Of course, it is important that students should meet this topic.
I've adopted the rubric standards of Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction for critical thinking and all other 21st century skills. Critical thinking standards are the following:
1- Reason Effectively: Uses various types of reasoning as appropriate to the situation.
2- Use Systems Thinking: Recognizes how the parts of a system work together to accomplish something.
3- Make Judgments and Decisions: (a) Effectively analyze and evaluate evidence, arguments, claims and beliefs. (b) Effectively analyze and evaluate major alternative points of view. (c) Effectively synthesizes and makes connections between information and arguments. (d) Effectively interpret information and draw conclusions based on the best analysis. (e) Reflect critically on learning experiences and processes.
Well, in first place, avoid internet uses and so, copy and paste to "write", make teams with different skills and try problems based learning projects when they (the students) do the creation process without computers.
Thank you for your question. This issue has, sadly, been impeding the learning process in some parts of the world and making it hard work for instructors with mediocre results on the students part. Personally, I believe that instilling critical thinking skills in students should start at an early stage, meaning in schools, before they move on to university level. If not, then a separate course of thinking skills for the students to practice on even before they start with their major courses, incorporating all paradigms of thinking, and making it a more natural habit for the young learners to find solutions, adopt different styles in thinking and be as scientifically creative as they can. Asking or encouraging students to use a skill they haven't ventured in before is not doing them justice. This is Educators' responsibility towards a generation that is not well-equipped to start with.
I share the same with the other fellow researchers. I have read from a website about the nine lessons for teaching 21 century skills.
Here you have the link: https://www.rand.org/blog/2012/10/nine-lessons-on-how-to-teach-21st-century-skills-and.html
Hope this helps,
Cheers
Ones ability to think critically basically starts and develops when he /she is seriously challenged or faced with a problem which requires an urgent solution. As such, I believe if students of this 21st century are giving more BENEFICIAL but challenging and demanding activities, they will begin to develop their minds towards that direction.
Teaching in the 21st century must be fused with discovery, explorative, creative and experimental activities that groom learners to be fact seekers and solution finding researchers who fully explore their critical thinking skills. This would not make the 21st century learners passive, spoon-fed babies in the teaching and learning expedition but rather active, intelligent and reliable changers of the world.
what know of students - they want to procrastinate and submit work at the nth hour
i observed this amongst design undergrduates
one thing very classic theory Pavlov- need and greed as I call it , I use this technique had an incentive shorter assignments onus of learning on the students by presenting even before a lecture and dueing student presentations interjections to critique and understand
hope this helps
Try my book; it's called 'Critical Thinking: An Introduction' and is published by Cambridge University Press. It has been widely used for students aged 16 upwards. Students can work from it themselves or you could conduct classes using it.
Role Play & group discussion will support critical thinking.
I think one way is creating a space where the students feel safe to voice their opinions, because that is always the first step, and usually the hardest too.
I also subscribe to Vygotsky's sociocultural theory where learning is encouraged in a social context. Having the opportunity to collaborate and communicate with peers will help develop critical thinking as the students communicate and exchange their ideas and views on topics.
You could create authentic learning environments where the students discuss or debate about real-world problems, which would possibly keep them engaged and motivated in the topic.
We have a special method that, among other, aims to develop critical thinking. It starts with practical "problems" from the professional field.
Our vocational students learn professional skills through developing a professional product. We adress them as our professional colleagues and place them in the role of the professional (e.g. nurse, engineer). Before developing the product they formulate their own criteria for that product. The tutors give the student feedback on the criteria; than the student develops the product. Afterwards the student reflects on the accomplished result, also considering the own criteria (and why he did/did not deal with the feedback). The tutor gives feedback on the final product including the reflection.
To develop the intellect and form the mind is possible on the basis of fundamental knowledge (J. Dewey)
Hello All of the Above Persons:
I am editing a book for IGI Global on critical thinking in STEM education and looking for persons to write a chapter that combines critical thinking with creativity and problem solving or both. If interested see attached.
Sincerely,
Mike
I have been working with schools in the UK primary and secondary phases on exploring 21st Century learning design. When combined with the development of innovation in the use of educator technologies this can have a profound effect on the way in which teachers approach how they plan lessons. For more info on the rubrics and exemplars - and additional training (as an MIE Trainer with Microsoft) we use the following 21CLD backdrop:
https://education.microsoft.com/GetTrained/21CLD-1
From the perspective of a student: Make us uncomfortable in the classroom. We easily become complacent- whether it is by procrastinating to feel motivated, not working hard because the work doesn't feel appreciated, or even by working extremely hard just to be noticed. Complacency in the classroom is the issue. As society has developed into a sensitive world, that does not mean the classroom needs too. Rather, the classroom should be an opportunity for students and professors alike to challenge ideas, create new beliefs, and set goals for the future.
For me, I use the triangle, square, circle method to process not only thoughts but how I learn. The triangle is the foundation, something each student has and is ready to use. What does the triangle fit in? A square- in this case the expectations. When professors ask questions of the students, the square is the first thing a student considers. The square is the response that answers the question exactly (the expectation). Lastly, if you draw a circle outside of the square, this represents the critical thinking- critical thinking that must be evoked through example and encouraged in discussion.
Consider the different types of students in your classroom. For me, I am a circle living in a square world. I have a hard time thinking like a square. I know for a fact that there are students out there that are squares and find it difficult to think like a circle. Help students develop their critical thinking skills by not just encouraging critical thinking but by being an active example of it. Do this by: meeting students where they are, give them room for personal reflection, and allow them to speak. Do all of these things through a challenging lens that is meant to make them crave more. Create the questions you have for them centered around the question "why" instead of "how". We know how, that is the role of the teacher (to tell me how I get 4 from 2+2 but that does not tell me why it is). Redefine what it means to walk into a classroom and learn.
I would like to apologize ahead of time for responding to this question. I do not have any empirical evidence to support my opinion, but I do know that if one of my professors asked me this same question, this would be my response.
Collective projects, cooperation and solving the problems of society
For competence training, it is necessary to organize collective and individual activities of students in cooperation with teachers, create multi-stage and multi-stage evaluation procedures for system self-control and reflection
In the majority of teachers are not ready to formulate and evaluate competences purposefully, taking into account their complex component composition, interdisciplinarity and deeply latent character
To all RG scholars, thank you for your valuable suggestions on the topic critical thinking.
I think our current education or schooling system, locally and globally is failing our next generation dismally.
You cannot teaching the topic at university level then it is too late. We need to start right from the early schooling years to instill a culture of thinking, reflecting and rethinking about problems and societal issues.
We need a drastic overhaul of the education system whether in developed or developing countries to change the society for the betterment of mankind.
We need a holistic methodology of training, teachers need to be prepared to understand the competencies and skills of the 21st century, the forms and methods of their formation and evaluation
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