Supercharge Critical Thinking

Welcome to the second edition of my monthly newsletter- The Learning Curve. This month, we’ll continue delving into the importance of building critical thinking skills in this AI-driven world that we live in. Communication and critical thinking skills require the use of more human intelligence compared to other skills that can be done by a machine.

I hope you enjoyed reading about the two activities - the “Reverse Case Study” and the "Speed Debating” - that I wrote about in my last newsletter. Let me know in the comments below if you have more ideas for developing communication skills in the classroom!

The importance of building this lifelong skill has been a topic of discussion as far back as Aristotle, Plato, and Socrates. According to this paper by Fischer & Bidell (2006), critical thinking skills are not inherent for learners, but instead require a gradual build-up “through the practice of real activities in real contexts” - so, in this edition, we will go over exercises and tools that can help maintain these skills.

Critical thinking - the workplace Superpower

In today's fast-paced workplace, critical thinking is a bit like a superpower. It equips you with the skills needed to tackle complex problems and make well-informed decisions. Picture yourself quickly wielding logic and reason, considering different perspectives with ease, spotting patterns and trends in minute details, and using evidence and brainpower to make judgments. By nurturing your critical thinking abilities, you become a hero of adaptability, resourcefulness, and effectiveness as you tackle the twists and turns of the modern workplace.

In less dramatic terms, critical thinking helps you look past the obvious to focus on the meaningful.

In more technical terms, critical thinking involves six cognitive skills: analysis, inference, evaluation, deductive reasoning, and inductive reasoning (skills vary slightly across definitions). If you are familiar with Bloom’s Taxonomy, you may recognize many of these as higher-order thinking skills. At Kritik, we have research that shows a strong correlation between peer assessment and higher-order thinking skills. Check it out when you can :)?

A quick note on the difference between critical thinking skills and “general” thinking skills, otherwise known as cognitive skills. It is important to note that critical thinking is a specific cognitive process, whereas cognitive skills encompass numerous, broader aspects of the learning process, including reasoning and general intelligence. Strong cognitive abilities facilitate easier learning - this is a dense topic, and perhaps one that will be explored in depth in further editions!

Now, returning to critical thinking - when it comes to teaching this important skill, there are many “invisible barriers”, including a perceived inability to teach it, "group think", time constraints, and more. It’s also a skill that is more difficult to perceive and evaluate at first glance.? At least with written communication, for example, you can see your students’ written assignments and assess grammar, spelling, etc. But critical thinking is an internal process, which is much harder to see. So, the question must be posed - how do you teach people how to think?

Disagreement and the promotion of critical thinking

In simple terms, thoughts can be seen as beliefs that are based on some kind of knowledge or information beyond what is immediately available. Sometimes, we accept certain beliefs without really thinking about or examining the reasons behind them. While our assumptions could be correct, we haven't taken the time to assess how well they support our beliefs.

This is fine until we find ourselves in a situation where we need to defend our thoughts. Then, it becomes suddenly apparent that thinking deeply about our beliefs is the only thing keeping us from responding with nothing but a blank stare when we’re asked to back up our points.?

Argumentation and justification are frequently cited as instrumental in developing critical thinking skills. Higher education should prepare students for the workforce, and teaching argumentation and justification can help develop the capacity to make reasoned arguments in several contexts, including in future professional settings. The link above provides a great resource for learning more about this topic - I highly recommend you check it out.

Using argumentation as a teaching method in the classroom could take many different forms, but I've provided a simple activity idea to demonstrate the concept.

Activity idea - Ethical Dilemmas

Method:

1. Present students with a series of thought-provoking and ethically complex scenarios relevant to the course subject or discipline.
2. Assign small groups one scenario each and instruct them to analyze the scenario, considering different perspectives, ethical implications, and potential consequences if particular courses of action are taken.
3. Allow each group to present their scenario to the rest of the class, choosing one course of action to present as the solution. Open the floor for a class-wide debate and discussion at the end.
4. Conclude the activity with a reflection session, asking students to individually write down their thought processes, the arguments presented, and the overall outcomes of the debate.

Rubric:

Above is a rubric that you’re welcome to use if you run this activity in your class! This kind of assignment is so valuable, as it asks students to discuss multiple perspectives on an issue, which will inevitably lead to differing opinions and healthy debate. Choosing one course of action to present will make students think deeply about why it outweighs the others in terms of benefit and minimization of harm, risk, etc.

If you are teaching online courses, this activity could work using breakout sessions or even could work as discussion posts, but having synchronous discussions maximizes the benefits as students can only use their critical thinking skills and the resources they have immediately available.

What's coming up at KritikHQ?

We have a few workshops coming up...

?? Thursday, June 8: Using ChatGPT to Design Assessments for Humanities Courses with Evelyn Morris from Kritik - register now!

?? Thursday, June 15: How to Integrate Peer Grading into your Curriculum with Mary- Helen Armour from York University - register now!

Click here to see all our upcoming workshops!

Wrapping up...

As I mentioned at the top of this edition, I'm so thankful for the way this community has already grown in the past month - nearly 1,500 subscribers have already decided to tag along on this journey! The support has been so appreciated, and I want to express my heartfelt gratitude.

If you've found this newsletter helpful, I would kindly ask you to spread the word and invite others to join our community. I would also love to hear your voice by having you react/comment and share your insights, questions, and ideas in the comments. Your feedback is valuable, so, please don't hesitate to let me know what else you'd like to see in future editions.

As always, please subscribe to my newsletter to get automatic updates when I post next! Thanks for reading ??