Tools to encourage critical thinking
Growing as a critical thinker depends on the understanding a student has of the intellectual resources and tools present in critical thinking. The value of understanding critical thinking as the competent use of contextually relevant tools is best seen in examples of individuals attempting to think through particular challenges.
5 TOOLS
1. Background Knowledge: Critical thinkers possess relevant information about a topic that is required for thoughtful reflection.
Examples:
2. Criteria for Judgement: Critical thinkers understand the appropriate criteria or grounds for deciding which is the most sensible or defensible response to the challenge before them.
Examples:
3. Critical Thinking Vocabulary: Critical Thinkers possess the concepts and distinctions that facilitate thinking critically. Although the other tools also refer to concepts, "critical thinking vocabulary" refers to concepts that are not included in any of the other tools and that address distinctions foundational to thinking critically about thinking- for example, the difference between "conclusion" and "premise" or "cause" and "effect".
4. Thinking Strategies: Critical thinkers are fluent in the repertoire of procedures, heuristics, organizing devices, and models that may be useful when thinking though a critical challenge.
Examples:
5. Habits of Mind: Critical thinkers possess a wide range of the values and attitudes of a careful and conscientious thinker.
Case, R. & Clark, P. 2008. The Anthology of Social Studies. VOL.1. Pacific Educational Press: Vancouver, Canada.
Examples:
- Knowledge that individuals may see things in significantly different ways.
- Knowledge of how individuals are likely to react in various situations.
2. Criteria for Judgement: Critical thinkers understand the appropriate criteria or grounds for deciding which is the most sensible or defensible response to the challenge before them.
Examples:
- Consider if her/his are relevant to discussion on particular topic.
- Consider if her/his comments will be clear to everyone.
3. Critical Thinking Vocabulary: Critical Thinkers possess the concepts and distinctions that facilitate thinking critically. Although the other tools also refer to concepts, "critical thinking vocabulary" refers to concepts that are not included in any of the other tools and that address distinctions foundational to thinking critically about thinking- for example, the difference between "conclusion" and "premise" or "cause" and "effect".
- Examples: Unanimous, consensus, minority positions.
4. Thinking Strategies: Critical thinkers are fluent in the repertoire of procedures, heuristics, organizing devices, and models that may be useful when thinking though a critical challenge.
Examples:
- Group management strategies such as taking turns, assigning cooperative roles, active listening and keeping a speaker's list.
- Strategies for critiquing in a non-threatening manner including putting the comment in the form of a question, preceding a comment with a caveat, or preceding a comment with positive remarks.
- Strategies for presenting information in group settings include limiting comments to a few points, speaking from notes and connecting remarks to a previous speaker's comments.
5. Habits of Mind: Critical thinkers possess a wide range of the values and attitudes of a careful and conscientious thinker.
- Independent-minded: willingness to make up one's own mind.
- Sensitivity to others: attention to the feelings of others.
- Self-Monitoring: attention to how one's actions are affecting the group.
Case, R. & Clark, P. 2008. The Anthology of Social Studies. VOL.1. Pacific Educational Press: Vancouver, Canada.
Tips to promoting tools in your classroom
- Setting appropriate and CLEAR classroom expectations.
- Implementing appropriate classroom routines and activities.
- Demonstrate critical thinking through modelling the attributes of a good critical thinker.
- Shaping the communicative interactions within the class to encourage reflection.
- Developing the tools for student participation in a reflective community.
- Encourage disagreement! This can foster insight, of course dependent on the topic or who is involved.Don’t become a prisoner of your own myopic mental model.
- Slow Down- This doesn't need to be a time consuming process – just ask yourself or the group, “How else might we define this problem – what’s the core issue here?”