Most high school students and remedial college students lack
the critical thinking strategies to write substantively
in response to an expository writing prompt.
By substantive writing, I mean what critical thinking gurus Richard
Paul and Linda Elder define as
All too often, our students' failures are our fault. If we don't
give writing prompts that
require more than recall or invention, we shouldn't be surprised
if students can't do the kind of thinking and writing colleges
and employers expect.
Critical doesn't have to be negative
To get set for teaching critical thinking, we first need to know
what we're talking about. I find knowing what I'm talking about
a tremendous help in teaching, don't you?
According to the dictionary, the most common use of the word
critical is the negative one meaning faultfinding.
However, in the phrase critical thinking, we're use the
term in its second most common meaning. In this usage, critical
means using skillful judgment in determining the truth or value
of something.
Critical thinking is aware thinking
Philosophers and educators define critical thinking
in various ways, all of which boil down to being conscious
of what thought processes you are using when you are thinking.
When people engage in critical thinking, they use the full range
of skills shown on Bloom's taxonomy
of educational objectives. They don't just recall or recognize
information. They manipulate information in various ways. Ultimately
they may make value judgments about it or even develop it into
something entirely different.
Strategies aim at achieving goals
When educators talk about teaching critical thinking strategies,
they are talking about teaching students to employ procedures
that lead to the activities that Bloom calls higher
level thinking. Their hope, of course, is that doing more
than just remembering stuff will become a habit.
You and I know that for something to become a habit, it has to
be practiced regularly for a period of time. If our students are
going to get into the habit of thinking critically, they
will need many opportunities to perform authentic thinking tasks.
(In educationeze, authentic means "gotta do it."
Authentic tasks are inherently part of the field of study.)
Our job is to set tasks that train
the brain.
Teachers' role in strategy acquisition
If you are going to get Caitlin and Joshua to employ critical
thinking strategies habitually, you must make sure that they
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Memorize the strategies.
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Understand the strategies.
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Can use the strategies.
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Do use the strategies in their work.
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Have regular opportunities to practice the strategies.
One way to promote critical
thinking strategies is through collaborative or peer-to-peer learning
activities.
Another is by using informal
writing activities. You can even use informal
writing to develop critical thinking about grammar.
