Chris's+Notes


 * Has the division considered Professional Development opportunities to re-engage teachers in the teaching of Critical Thinking capacity? Would this be helpful in encouraging teachers to embrace this mission?** Trevor

When I googled "critical thinking" I got nearly 50,000,000 hits. Do we all have the same sense of critical thinking and the skills associated with critical thinking? How do we define critical thinking?


 * Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action. In its exemplary form, it is based on universal intellectual values that transcend subject matter divisions: clarity, accuracy, precision, consistency, relevance, sound evidence, good reasons, depth, breadth, and fairness. [|source]
 * Assuming that critical thinking is reasonable reflective thinking focused on deciding what to believe or do, a critical thinker:
 * 1) Is open-minded and mindful of alternatives
 * 2) Tries to be well-informed
 * 3) Judges well the credibility of sources
 * 4) Identifies conclusions, reasons, and assumptions
 * 5) Judges well the quality of an argument, including the acceptability of its reasons, assumptions, and evidence
 * 6) Can well develop and defend a reasonable position
 * 7) Asks appropriate clarifying questions
 * 8) Formulates plausible hypotheses; plans experiments well
 * 9) Defines terms in a way appropriate for the context
 * 10) Draws conclusions when warranted, but with caution
 * 11) Integrates all items in this list when deciding what to believe or do [|source]
 * There are two phases to the learning of content. The first occurs when learners (for the first time) construct in their minds the basic ideas, principles, and theories that are inherent in content. This is a process of [|internalization]. The second occurs when learners effectively use those ideas, principles, and theories as they become relevant in learners’ lives. This is a process of application. Good teachers cultivate critical thinking (intellectually engaged thinking) at every stage of learning, including initial learning. This process of intellectual engagement is at the heart of the [|Oxford], [|Durham], [|Cambridge] and [|London School of Economics] tutorials. The tutor questions the students, often in a Socratic manner (see [|Socratic questioning]). The key is that the teacher who fosters critical thinking fosters reflectiveness in students by asking questions that stimulate thinking essential to the construction of knowledge. [|source]

This is a key point, I think. In order for students to begin thinking critically, they have to have an "internalized" understanding of the accepted "truths" of the subject. This may be the strongest case for objective assessments as prerequisite to more critical assessments, but even the teaching of "basic ideas, principles, and theories," there is a need for teachers to "ask the next why"? Why do we trust that two plus two does, in fact, make four?

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 * Good critical thinking is skillful and responsible thinking in which you study the problem from all angles, and then exercise your best judgment to draw conclusions. [|source]

In the introduction of Little Big Minds, Marietta McCarty discusses the importance of participating without doing the assignment for them. Teachers are often seen as the source of information, clarification, or meaning making in the classroom. How would teachers have to change their role if the goal of the assessment is "to provide the opportunity for a child to expand his or her own mind"?

It seems that the Air Force has already done some of this work: []