Christopher,
I think this is a great idea for your faculty. By doing so each instructor starts to see the connection the content has to the career development of students which in turn increases the value of the content.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
To educate our instructors we startedâ€Linking Lesson†faculty development workshops. Each instructor has to select a lesson and relate it to other lessons in the same course. He or she has to explain how one lesson relates to another either directly or indirectly. When they link the lessons indirectly – it allows them to demonstrate their critical thinking skills.
Allison,
Thank you for sharing these thinking starters with us. They are great ways to get the students to start thinking and then come up with possible solutions. From that point all it is a refinement process in relation to developing expertise in critical thinking.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Some ways to develop the skill of critical thinking is to give students a list of sentence starters.
"I agree/disagree because,"
"I can connect to your statement because,"
"Can you clarify what you mean by."
By providing these sentence starters it helps to guide the student through their own thought processes in analyzing the argument or problem.
Neelam,
Good sequence of steps for becoming a critical thinker. You are right about how we need to be reflective in our thinking so we will be able to consider a wide variety of options and then make an appropriate selection that will result in the problem being solved.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Critical thinkink is very natural for some ,others have to develop.We have to start thinking in terms of why,how when etc.When we accept things that are provided to us without questioning ,there is no critical thinking but when we do so with understnding and also analyse it that becomes critical thinking.We should teach our kids,students at every level to be more analytical,that makes them critical thinkers.
Lorraine,
Like how you are using sequential knowledge development in your problem solving efforts. Your students get to see and use different elements from different courses to solve problems. This is how they are going to function in the real world so they need to learn how to do it while students.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
After I cover new material in nursing, I try to bring material from other courses up again so that they can see a correlation and how material builds from term to term. When they are at this point it is a good time to say "well why do you think this is so?" They love to try to put the pieces of material together from this class and others in the past to discover the answers. This is when I begin to see the light bulbs go on. They have to use critical thinking to come to a logical answer. It is very rewarding for them and myself.
Individuals can develop their critical thinking skills by engaging in activities that require measured reason and analytic thought.
Critical thinking transcends almost every occupation or academic discipline in one way or another. The key to developing these skills is to reflect on decisions, conclusions, predispositions and prejudices. Were you right or wrong and why. As we self reflect we become better thinkers and decision makers in the end.
Robert,
Thank you for these comments on how to progress toward critical as well as reflective thinking. The sorting out of content, resources, rumors and biases is a challenge but is necessary if a person is going to arrive at a solution that is viable to all those involved.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
To become an independent thinking and truly use Critical thinking, one must not only research a number of sites online or through books, one must also examine themselves. I always use 10 aspects of what might affect ones critical thinking outcome. For example, if we are in discussion regarding a political name in the news, do you reject some information become you have a preconceived notion about that person? Critical thing also requires a person to remove bias that one has. If you are unable to eliminate such bias, you can not grow a critical thinker.
We are influenced by a number factors for example, our parents, friends religion, culture politics, and our educational levels. When we get past any bias, we can better handle the truth about a subject and learn more about ourselves.
Shonna,
I really like your approach in helping the students to shape their future through they own efforts. You are showing them that they have more options than they think they do and that they through reflective and critical thinking come up with ways to network and expand career options for themselves. I think this increases the value of their education for them as they can start to see that through their efforts they can be successful.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
In Career Services we apply critical thinking to the career path search. We begin with simple questions for the student and probe into why they are here in school and what they enjoy doing. Once they answer these questions I ask them to describe the environment that they see themselves applying their learned skills and passion. Step by step we lead them to the different avenues of opportunity that they are able to explore and apply themselves to. From there I ask them to research establishments within those avenues that they can start contacting for stages or interviews.
When they came in to meet with me they felt they had no direction and did not know where to begin with their job search. When they leave they see a path and begin to follow and explore it.
Teresa,
I think this is a good way to get they started in developing their ability to express themselves while gaining skill in critical thinking.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Mario,
Thank you for these great comments about how to develop as an independent thinker. The majority of careers are based upon independent thinking and problem solving. This ranges from the medical field to auto tech and all careers that require solutions to situations or problems. The more skills we can help our students develop in independent and reflective thinking the better prepared our students will be when they are in the workplace and thinking of this type is a must.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Our campus uses writing assignments to help develop critical thinking skills. Journal writing assignments are given to first mod students. As students progress in their studies, essays about a problem or issue are assigned in several classes.
Your comments reminded me of a good point from our reading that a key attribute of citical thinking is independent judgement. Independent judgement is tested well through public exchanges of ideas. It takes courage to share our ideas and be prepared to defend them publicly. That courage is fundamental to practicing critical thinking. And you are right that it can be stressful to share our conclusions or recommendations, which can be great energy to research thoroughly and analyze carefully. I dig a bit deeper when I realize that I will defend my ideas amongst other critical thinkers.
John,
Good way to cross walk information in a logical and sequential way for your students. By providing information this way you are enabling your students to develop their own format for reflective thinking which leads to targeted problem solving. This is a win win for everyone.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
In my nutrition class it is one of the skills that allow students to sift through the fad diets. I have them research a new diet and they are to critically examine it. I have always used the old fashioned visual list to analyze a problem one side in favor, the other against. With the new diets this dual listing makes them easier to critically analyze. The benefits are easy to identify but the negative characteristics are not as easy to identify. What my students need help with is identifying the problems inherhent with each diet.
By showing them a list of negatives as we discuss weight management and diets, I have already provided them with a list of potential problems which they will then use to sift the ones that are relevant.
After they have used this to analyze one diet they find it easier to analyze further diets. This hopefully will lead these student chefs to critically analyze their own menus as they progress through their career in food and beverage.
Tina,
You make a number of good points in relation to the value of being critical thinkers. Students need to develop skill in this areas because as you say upon graduation it will be up to them to work through problems and come up with solutions. Their future depends on them being able to do so.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
