Critical Thinking among different age groups
In my experience, critical thinking is understood and practiced (or not) differently among different ages of students (my classrooms are typically a mixture of older, returning students and younger, early twentysomething students). However, the differences are difficult to predict, and defy conventional stereotypes. Older students are no more or less likely to be skilled in this than the younger ones. I'm convinced that the students' previous educational experiences are the most important variable.
Often, it is quite difficult for me to know how well-versed a student may be in critical thinking until the work starts coming in. What are some sound ways of measuring proficiency in this area early in the course?
I agree on the small group concept. Shy students are the hardest to deal with and this setting makes them comfortable.
Laurel,
I use small groups so I can get everyone contributing to the solutions that I propose with my case studies. Students that are shy settle into the small groups and feel comfortable sharing their ideas and solutions.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I find that large group discussion does develop the analytical skills of some, smaller groups ensure that every student has to do their part in analysis and discussion.
Mark,
This is a teach strategy I use a lot in my courses as well. I really like the results I get because my students have to think critically and then problem solve. The nature of our field requires that they be problem solvers and if they can't think critically then they aren't going to be. Thank you for these good comments about a way to get students to thinking early and often in the course.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
In the courses that I teach we use scenarios to reinforce what is taught in the lessons. We break the students up into smaller groups and have them come up with a solution to the same problem. This way we, the instructors, can gage how they interact with each other, how well they understood the lesson. Then they brief their solution back to us and give us justification as to why they came up with that particular solution. That's really where we can get a good sense of their critical thinking abilities.
Marie-Anne,
Very interesting. It may be helpful to gather additional demogrphic information and identify the statistically predictive factors and corresponding tendencies. This may over the longterm help address issues earlier for some of the student difficulties. Just a thought...in case you have some of those research oriented folks around your campus. ;-]
Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
I too face this predicament. I teach in a culinary school and it is usually in the second week that I can gauge where each student stands so I can adapt my teaching to them.
I have noticed however that the times of day each class begins tend to group similar critical thinker than other class times; ie: 6am vs. 10:30am groups. Early morning students tend to have other jobs and think ahead and more organized than my 10:30am groups. My 10:30am classes tend to need more time to finish projects and need more guidance. I don't quite think this is an age difference, but to me, more of a critical thinking difference.
Andrew,
Excellent question. Your classroom 'mixture' is not at all uncommon in many online classrooms. I believe you are correct to indicate previous educational experience as an important variable. Also, the content area of the critical thinking exercises (e.g. engineering, medicine, education, etc.) could provide significantly differing results depending on the students' backgrounds. I have not run across anything (beyond standardized tests) that measures proficiency in a generic manner. That said, a good scenario-based problem, in the content area of focus, would likely be one of the more sound means of acquiring the data you are seeking. Maybe someone else has some more helpful insights and will be willing to share them on this thread. Thank you for your inquiry.
Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
