Dr Winford James
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Teaching critical thinking skills - 1

By Dr. Winford James
November 21, 2004


Professor Alec Fisher, Director of the Centre for Research in Critical Thinking at the University of East Anglia, came to the University of the West Indies the other day and in a two-day workshop on 'Effective Teaching and Learning Strategies' taught some of its lecturers the importance of critical thinking skills and how to effectively teach them. The lecturers included those from the School of Education where I educate primary and secondary teachers and, increasingly these days, young adults fresh out of secondary school in the foundations of language and the teaching of English, among other things. The principal, Dr. Bhoendradatt Tewarie, who sponsored the workshop, insisted that we should attend, and it is a good thing because Fisher did not disappoint.

As teacher educators as well as former primary and secondary teachers, most of us, we are old hands at the business of teaching children and teachers how best to learn, how best to negotiate the curriculum, how best to reflect on our practice, how best to apply educational theories of various kinds, and how best to use thinking not only to solve problems and advance learning but also to improve thinking itself. So some of us were eager to hear what new things Fisher had to offer.

He began by telling us that as a university mathematician he had discovered some 25 years ago that many university students were quite good at memorising and regurgitating data and information but disturbingly weak in thinking skills like reasoning and persuading, analysing and evaluating arguments, clarifying terms and ideas, and comparing and contrasting, even though they had achieved As in the A level exams. Realising that other university lecturers had noted the same problem, he had set about focusing on the development of critical thinking skills among his research interests. One of his critical findings was that such skills could be taught, and taught in explicit ways. Indeed, he had produced a number of books on the subject, the most recent of which was Critical Thinking: An Introduction, published in 2001. And he had helped to develop the subject 'Critical Thinking' for students at the Advanced Subsidiary Level for OCR (the Oxford, Cambridge, and RSA Examination Board).

Fisher took us first through definitions of critical thinking (from John Dewey, Edward Glaser, and Robert Ennis) and then through the application of specific thinking skills, illustrating points here and there with well-chosen example texts and stories in the fashion of effective teachers. He did not settle on any one definition but he pointed out the following in the workshop handbook:

'It is clear that critical thinking is contrasted with the kind of thinking which occurs when someone jumps to a conclusion, or accepts some evidence, claim, or decision at face value, without really thinking about it. It is a skilful activity, which may be done more or less well, and good critical thinking will meet various intellectual standards, like those of clarity, relevance, adequacy, coherence, etc. It clearly requires skill in the interpretation and evaluation of observations, communications and other sources of information, skill in identifying assumptions, in asking pertinent questions and in drawing out implications. In short, it is thinking governed by reasons and reasoning - by giving reasons, being persuaded by reasons, disliking bad reasoning, valuing good reasoning and thinking it right to give reasons what one believes and does.'
The specific skills he focused on were: analysing and evaluating arguments; judging acceptability and credibility of claims; clarifying and interpreting ideas; comparing and contrasting; analysing, evaluating and producing explanations; and analysing, evaluating and making decisions / recommendations.

Now, people like me who have taught for years and years at the secondary level right up to Form 6, led literary and debating societies, educated teachers at the tertiary level, and written hundreds of critical columns for over 15 years are accustomed using and teaching these skills. But Fisher's workshop was still quite impressive - in identifying them, in providing the rationale for explicitly teaching them, in demonstrating their practical value, and in having us do assignments that required us to prepare lesson plans aimed not only at teaching particular thinking skills but also at using them as tools for teaching content in our different subject areas in the vast field of education.

Without a doubt, the most impressive and useful benefit for me in attending the workshop is that I now have what Fisher calls explicit 'thinking maps', which I can use in my own teaching and studying, and which I can encourage my students to use. The following is his thinking map for the thinking skill comparing and contrasting.

  1. How are they SIMILAR (perhaps given your PURPOSE)?
  2. How are they DIFFERENT (again, perhaps given your PURPOSE)?
  3. Which similarities and differences seem SIGNIFICANT?
  4. Do you see any PATTERNS in the significant similarities and differences?
  5. What CONCLUSION is suggested by the significant similarities and differences?
If you are a teacher or a writer, use the map the next time you teach or write, and look for the results. Write me if you like at wjames@fhe.uwi.tt

Teaching critical thinking skills - 2 November 28, 2004



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