2010

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Critical Thinking Skills Are the Surest Pathway to True and Lasting Knowledge T he tenn "critical thinking" is used by numerous community college instructors to suggest their peda– process, analyzing the statement based on the speaker's perspective and purpose. In order to teach students to think crit– idea what they were analyzing, but I asked them to reach a conclusion concerning what the picture depicted. When a Student gave his or her view,

ically, instructors must develop a peda– gogy that aims to promote critical thinking skiiJs. The pedagogy must be based upon the belief that the instructor's discipline provides ample opportunity to teach criti– cal thinking. Instructors must create oppor– tunities for students to think critically. For instance, I use various methods to

the rest of the class was asked to judge its accuracy. Subsequently, r brought into class a model ofthe human heart -loaned from the Biology Department - and asked the question: What was the significance of the heart to the ancient Egyptian point of view towards the judgment? Both examples shO\\ ho\\ hi:.torical material was used to accentuate an aspect of critical thinking. It ts ,·orth noting that during each lesson. I constantly utilize the questioning process to have students exhibit knowledge of critical thinking con– cepts. My pedagogy does not use multiple choice tests, but instead relies on substan– tive writing assignments and test questions based upon critical thinking concepts. finally, it is important to note that a critical thinking-based pedagogy does not occur on a whim In fact it '" the result of much intellectual labor. It ts e\.W!'lllel~ dif– ficult for Jn in:>"tructor to promote thi" skill \\ithout a worl..~le b:nO\\ ledge of .:.i~­ cam critical thinkin~ con-.epts. It"~ apparent dw educanon 1:> ~ L:~. hb-uuctors must obtain this kn

gogy results in high-level instruction and learning. But many instructors w1doubted– ly would admit that their knowledge of critical thinking is based on Bloom's Tax– onomy and the six levels of learning - knowledge, understanding, application, analysis, evaluation, synthesis. These instructors, in my view, are promoting pseudo-knowledge ofthis vital concept. A pedagogy that does not emphasize a clear and explicit understanding of critical thinking results in didactic instruction; that is, a "mother robin" approach character– ized by instructors disseminating large amounts of information that will soon be forgotten. In contrast, when students are taught to think through information, they obtain what dedicated instructors aspire to impan. to their students: knowledge. If an instructor aims to generate actual knowledge. it becomes necessary to learn the critical think.tng theot) most likely to accomplish this tasl. Fromm~ perspectiYe, the best frame,,ork is promulgated by Richard Paul and Linda E'der "lf the Foun– dation for Cnncal Thmkmg t wwv•. cnucal– thinking.org). When this model is fused with disparate teaching methods, students will become engaged in critical thinking as opposed to attempting to memorize and recall. Just what is critical thinking? Simply put, it is the task ofthinking about thinking - one's own thinking or the thinking of others - with the goal of imprm mg it. The critical thinkmg process tn\ oh es arta– lyzing and e\·aluating one·s .., ";i ~ r:ht processes. The critical thinker us.es ..xel– lectual standards (such as clarity. accw-ac~ and significance) to euJu:ue elements of the thinking process (such as pw-po:se. -:on– elusions and point of view). For example, suppose someone ht:aP.>'" speech by a politician or a sermon by a preacher. The non-critical thinker "ill infer the statement as factual, based upon the assumption that whateYer the re-.pecli\ e speaker states is true. The critical thinker. on the other hand, will begin the reflecuon

promote critical thinking in my Western Civilization class. Socratic questioning is the linchpin ofmy pedagogy. I never enter class without preconceived questions that are formulated utilizing critical thiru.m_; concepts, because crincal thinking begins w1th the questioning proces-. Recently. I \\as teachmg the concept of anthropomorphism as pan of my Mesopotamia unit. In order to generate the thinking process, I first utilized explorato– ry questioning, determining what the stu– dents knew about the concept. Next, I had my students read an actual prayer from that time period. Subsequently, I dressed like a goddess - I called myselfCrentar- and began toe\ ince human qualities ' 1th the song .. Roc~ and Roll All Xighf" blaring in the backg:round. Then I asked the critical ~ Dill Cr:!tl!ii: pi)~ the .:t.a..'"3C– terutJ of an::::;~)[!l(~:::s:::::.. are your reasG -for~ didactic app" ..._ to mere!~ recite the acfimuon to~ .x

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