Students will Demonstrate Critical Thinking Skills Critical Thinking Infusion Professional Developme

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Students will Demonstrate Critical Thinking
Skills Critical Thinking Infusion
Professional Development ModulesModule 2
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• Students who take an active role
• in their own learning processes are
• more apt to be successful.

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Critical Thinking Student Learning Outcomes

• Name the 5 SPC Critical Thinking Student Learning
  Outcomes.

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Critical Thinking Student Learning Outcomes

• Pose vital questions and identify problems,
  formulating them clearly and precisely.
• Gather relevant information to interpret it
  effectively
• Impartially gather alternative systems of
  thought, recognizing assumptions, implications,
  and practical consequences.
• Develop well-reasoned conclusions and solutions.
• Demonstrate the ability to communicate
  effectively with others in determining solutions
  to complex problems.

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Why Teach Critical Thinking?

• The more classroom instruction incorporates an
  atmosphere of thinking, the more students will
  think about what they are learning.
• (Swartz, Fischer Parks, 1998)

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Helping Students Actively Engage

• What can faculty do to help students practice and
  demonstrate these critical thinking skills?
• Engage in interesting and challenging coursework.
• Learn from other students
• Participate in college or community wide learning
  activities
• See the support provided to them by caring and
  helpful faculty and staff

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Infusion and Critical Thinking Skills

• What do we mean by infusing critical thinking
  skill development into the teaching of content?

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Infusion and Critical Thinking Skills

• How do I infuse?
• Interweave the explicit thinking skill with the
  content
• Integrate direct instruction in specific thinking
  skills into content areas
• Employ lessons that will improve student thinking
  and enhance content learning

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Infusion and Critical Thinking Skills

• What teaching methods work best?
• Cooperative learning
• Graphic organizers
• Higher order questioning
• Socratic dialog
• Inquiry learning
• Any other method that you find useful

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Infusion and Critical Thinking Skills

• What is the process?
• Introduce students to the content and thinking
  skill
• Engage students in active thinking activities
• Have students reflect on thinking process
• Engage students in activities that allow them to
  apply their thinking in a content-rich context

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Infusion and Critical Thinking Skills

• Preparing for class
• You may want to guide students through a thinking
  exercise by using a graphic organizer.
• Research has shown that when students see their
  thinking on paper, they are better able to apply
  it to real situations. That is what a graphic
  organizer does.

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Infusion and Critical Thinking Skills

• Graphic Organizer Example -
• Student demonstration of one or more of the 5 SPC
  critical thinking student learning outcomes can
  be addressed through a variety of thinking skills
  including
• Problem-Solving

Note Use of graphic organizers is at the
discretion of the faculty member. The following
slides are only examples.
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Skillful Problem Solving

• Solving problems often improves ones quality of
  life by solving difficulties that create conflict
  with our purposes, interests or needs, thereby
  helping us to make better decisions.

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Skillful Problem Solving

• Does your discipline require students to be
  problem solvers?
• What critical thinking student learning outcomes
  are required to be a problem solver?

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Skillful Problem Solving

• Critical thinkers must be creative thinkers,
  generating possible solutions in order to find
  the best one (Rusbult, 2001)

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Skillful Problem Solving

• Skillful problem solving involves asking and
  answering various questions that guide us through
  the problem-solving process in an organized and
  reflective manner (Swartz, Fischer Parks, 1998)

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Skillful Problem Solving

• Brainstorming possible solutions and then
  selecting the best one is not enough - problem
  definition should be done thoughtfully and,
  careful judgment about the likelihood and weight
  of the consequences of different solutions is
  also necessary.

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Skillful Problem Solving

• Enables one to
• provide a thinking process for identifying,
  selecting, and analyzing problems
• make better decisions by considering multiple
  perspectives of a problem
• enhance critical thinking skills by discovering
  unintended consequences of decisions
• craft a plan to prevent future recurrences

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Skillful Problem Solving

• A problem is any situation where you have an
  opportunity to make a difference, to make things
  better

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Skillful Problem Solving

• What is the problem? (define the problem)
• Effective problem definition can be
  facilitated by taking the time to think about the
  kinds of problems generated by a unsatisfactory
  situation

Posing vital questions SLO1
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Skillful Problem Solving

• For example, I lost my day planner the problems
  can range from not knowing my schedule, to losing
  important data, to a loss of privacy by personal
  information (i.e., telephone numbers and credit
  card numbers) falling into the wrong hands

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Skillful Problem Solving

• Why is there a problem? (data collection)
• What is the present situation?
• What purpose, interest, or need makes it
  desirable to improve on the present situation?
• What are the facts?
• What are the assumptions?

Posing vital questions SLO1 Gathering relevant
information SLO2
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Skillful Problem Solving

• What are possible solutions to the problem?
  (brainstorm)generate a number of different
  possible solutions- this moves us from
  convergent thinking to more open divergent
  thinking

Considering alternatives - SLO3
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Skillful Problem Solving

• What knowledge is required to decide on a
  solution?
• What questions should you ask?
• What additional information do you need to help
  you arrive at a solution?)
• What human and professional resources can help
  you arrive at a solution?

Developing well-reasoned solutions SLO4
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Skillful Problem Solving

• What would the consequences be if these solutions
  were adopted?
• Weigh the important consequences more heavily
  than the less significant ones
• What types of consequences are important to
  consider?
• What are these consequences?

Developing well-reasoned solutions SLO4
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Skillful Problem Solving

• What are the pros and cons of each feasible
  solution?
• To find a good solution to losing my day planner
  I should consider whether a proposed solution
  will get me where need to be on schedule, will it
  replace my important data, and will it prevent or
  minimize the chances of identity theft.

Developing well-reasoned solutions SLO4
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Skillful Problem Solving

• What is the best solution to the problem based on
  this information?
• Compare each solution against the other
• Reorder (as necessary) potential solutions from
  best to worst
• Select a solution and appropriate interventions

Developing well-reasoned solutions SLO4
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Skillful Problem Solving

• Problem solving requires you to put into practice
  the solution you think is best and proves to be
  effective.
• What resources are needed to put this solution
  into effect?
• What communications are necessary?
• What obstacles are likely to be encountered?

Communicating effectively SLO5
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Skillful Problem Solving

• Evaluate solution-
• Has the problem been resolved?You want to
  continue observing and adjusting the solution to
  ensure its effectiveness over time

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Skillful Problem Solving Activity

• Now that you are familiar with skillful
  problem solving, use the problem-solving graphic
  organizer to determine the best solution for you
  to infuse critical thinking skill development
  into your curriculum.

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References

• Alfaro-LeFevre, R. (1999). Critical thinking in
  nursing a practical approach, (2nd ed.).
  Philadelphia W.B. Saunders
• The National Center for Teaching Thinking.
  (1994). Infusing critical and creative thinking
  into content instruction Critical Thinking Press
  Software. Pacific Grove, CA
• Swartz, R. (2005). What happens when faculty
  infuse critical thinking into courses they teach?
  National Center for Teaching Thinking . Newton
  Center MA.

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References (continued)

• Swartz, R. Cromwell, L. (2005). Infusing
  critical and creative thinking into content
  instruction . Workshop on Developing Activities
  Which Infuse Critical Thinking into College
  Courses. National Center for Teaching Thinking .
  Newton Center MA.
• U.S. Army Captains Career Course Leader Training
  Center, AMEDD Center and School, (2006). Army
  Problem Solving. Chapter 2, FM 5-0

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Graphic Organizers

• SPC faculty have access to dozens of graphic
  organizers for classroom use. Please go to
• http//tigerweb.accd.edu/qep/qep_login.cfm
• The User ID is _______________
• The password is ______________

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• "'Higher level thinking' is virtually impossible
  without a foundation of automaticity of basic
  skills and knowledge."