Conference Presenation Train Trainers SIEC Vienna Professor Lili Saghafi

Train the Trainers Critical Thinking SIEC-ISBE: 79th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE 2007 Prof. Lili Saghafi The College / University of Bahamas Nassau, Bahamas 2007

AGENDA
Description of Critical Thinking?
Critical Thinking & Achievement
Main Purpose of College Experience
Critical Thinking Concepts
What is Thinking?
Biology of Thinking
Stages of Development of the Thinking Process
What does “not thinking critically” look like?
What does Critical Thinking Look Like?
Why is critical thinking important?
What are the Major Concepts in Critical Thinking ?
A Critical Thinking Problem Solving Model
Problem Solving Content /Component
Focus on solutions & not on problems
Reality Testing of Possible Solutions to Problem
Strategies for teaching skills related to Critical Thinking
skills related to critical thinking
Conclusion

Description of Critical Thinking? “ If you realized how powerful your thoughts are, you would never think a negative thought.” Peace Pilgrim 1908 - 1981 from 1953 to 1981 walked more than 25,000 miles on a personal pilgrimage for peace.

What is Critical Thinking?
Critical thinking is thinking that is clear , precise, accurate, relevant , consistent & fair
Critical Thinking is how people approach
Problems
Questions
Issues
The best way to get to the truth!!

What describes Critical Thinking
Critical thinking is :
self-directed
self-disciplined
self-monitored
self-corrective thinking
that assign effective communication & problem-solving abilities
Critical Thinking is a great human phenomenon
Ideal critical thinkers are characterized by how they approach life & living in general ( James J. Messina & Constance M. Messina )

Approaches to life of good Critical Thinkers ( James J. Messina & Constance M. Messina )
Questioning about wide range of issues
Concern to be well-informed
Alertness to opportunities to use Critical Thinking
Self confidence in their abilities to reason
Open-mindedness about divergent world views
Flexibility in considering alternatives & opinions

Approaches to life of good Critical Thinkers
Understanding the opinions of other people
Fair-mindedness in appraising reasoning
Honesty in realization of their limitations.
Prudence ( care ) in suspending, making, altering judgments
Willingness to reconsider & revise views
Clarity in stating question or concern

Critical Thinking approaches cont… Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted. --- Albert Einstein
Neatness in working with complexity
Diligence in seeking relevant information
Reasonableness in selecting & applying criteria
Care in focusing attention on the concern at hand
Persistence through difficulties ( "Forget your fear. God is bigger than your problems “, I Chronicles 28 )
precise to the degree permitted by subject & circumstances

Critical Thinking Requires:
Six Cognitive ( involving conscious intellectual activity ) Skills;
( James J. Messina & Constance M. Messina )
Interpretation
Analysis
Evaluation
Inference
Explanation
Self-regulation
Affective Dispositions “a critical spirit”

Interpretation
Comprehend & express meaning or significance of wide variety of experiences, situations, data, events, judgments, conventions, beliefs, rules, procedures, or criteria

Analysis
2. Identify the intended & actual relevant relationships among statements, questions, concepts, descriptions, or other forms of representation intended to express belief, judgment, experiences, reasons, information, or opinion

Evaluation
3. Assess the credibility of statements or other representations which are accounts or descriptions of a person’s perception, experience, situation, judgment, belief, or opinion & to assess the logical strength of the actual or intended relevant relationships among statements, descriptions, questions, or other forms of representation

Inference (relevancy)
4.Identify & secure elements needed to draw reasonable conclusions ; to form a guess work and hypotheses; to consider relevant information & to reduce the consequences flowing from data, statements, principles, evidence, judgments, beliefs, opinions, concepts, descriptions, questions, or other forms of representation

Explanation
5. State the results of one’s reasoning;
justify that reasoning;
upon which one’s results were based & to
present one’s reasoning in the form of
convincing arguments.

Self-regulation
6. Self consciously to monitor one’s :
conscious intellectual activities,
the elements used in those activities & the results produced,
Relevant judgments with a view toward questions, confirming, validation, or correcting either one’s reasoning or results.

Something else is needed
More to Critical Thinking than just cognitive ( conscious intellectual activity ) skills
Human beings are more than just thinking machines

“ The Critical Spirit” ( affective dispositions , emotional care )
7.The Critical Spirit
An inquiring curiosity ( If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts. But if he will be content to begin with doubts he shall end in certainties. --- Francis Bacon )
A dedication of mind
An enthusiastic dedication to reason
A hunger or eagerness for reliable information ( Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it. --- Samuel Johnson )

Why is Critical Thinking of Value?
You can answer—why value to you?
What’s value of cognitive ( conscious intellectual activity ) skills?
What’s value of the critical spirit?
Would these mean more success at what you do?
Would it mean better grades for students?

Critical Thinking & Achievement
In a study of 1,100 college students
Significant correlation between Critical Thinking scores & college GPA
Critical Thinking skills can be learned
Significant correlation between Critical Thinking & reading comprehension

Main Purpose of College Experience “ James Mesina & Constance Mesina ”
1- Victory of liberal (liberated) education. It’s about:
Learning to learn
Learning to think for one’s self
Leads away from naive acceptance of authority
Leads above self-defeating relativism
Beyond uncertain contextualism ( throwing light )
2- To reach the highest in principled, reflective judgment

What else?
Critical Thinking is fundamental , if not essential for,
“ A rational & democratic ” society
Electorate
Judiciary ( a system of courts of law )
International commerce
Business & civic leaders maybe more interested in Critical Thinking than even educators
Necessary condition for the success of democratic institutions & free market society

Critical Thinking Concepts Trying to get people to reason in a way that is not natural for them is like trying to teach a pig to sing. You don't accomplish anything and you annoy the pig. --- E. Jeffrey Conklin & William Weil

What is Thinking?
Let’s look at the
Biological
Psychological
Communications
Cognitive

Biology of Thinking "I think, therefore I am“ Descartes

CT scan of a normal brain McGill Brain Imaging Centre CT scan of a normal brain

Stages of Development of the Thinking Process "I am convinced that there is no sort of boundary between the living and the mental or between the biological and the psychological” Jean Piaget1896-1980 Father of Developmental Psychology

Stages of Cognitive Development - Jean Piaget1896-1980 Father of Developmental Psychology :
1. Sensori_motor Stage: Birth to 2 years old - no thinking structures
2. Preoperational Stage: 2-7 years old - develop language skills cognitive structures – prelogical

Stages of Cognitive Development Jean Piaget1896-1980
3. Concrete Operational Stage: 7 years to Adolescence - Begins to question life. Solves problems but with no plan.
4. Formal Operations Stage: Adolescence and onward - capable of sophisticated logical thought. Can think both abstract & hypothetically and solve problems using the logic of combinations

Later Theorists have added Fifth Stage
Dialectical Reasoning - stage beyond logic where critical thinking lies.
Ability to perceive the frequent paradoxes in life and question and analyze the assumptions that underlie logic.
Being able to look at two sides of an argument or problem to get a broader, deeper, & more reasonable perspective on the issues being addressed

Dialectical reasoning consists of moving back and forth between contrary lines of reasoning, using each to cross-examine the other. ( PSYCHOLOGY PORTAL, Saskatchewan)
This is what juries are supposed to do in arriving at a verdict: consider arguments and evidence for and against a case, point and counterpoint

What is Critical Thinking then?
Becoming aware that assumptions exist
Making assumptions explicit
Assessing their accuracy of assumptions
Do these assumptions make sense?
Do these assumptions fit reality as we understand and live it?
Under what conditions do these assumptions seem to hold true? Under what conditions do they seem false?

Misconceptions about Critical Thinking
Negative process- tears down ideas & puts nothing in their place
Leads to relativistic freeze-inability to make commitments
Involves traumatic change-one is expected to abandon old assumptions continually
It is dispassionate & cold
rather positive process to put things in more realistic perspective
rather commitments are informed ones
rather: Some beliefs stay the same-simply more informed
rather: highly emotive & liberating to be free of past assumptions & anxiety of self- inquiry

Why is critical thinking important?
All actions, decisions & judgments spring from assumptions - if unchecked make poor decisions & wrong judgments
In personal relationships learn to keep lines of communications open & avoid uncritically reproducing patterns of modeled interactions learned from parental interaction
In workplace avoid stagnation & atrophy - willing to challenge current paradigms that is uncritically accepted from time & thinking which is no longer relevant to current reality

Personal barriers to critical thinking
Enculturation ( the process by which an individual learns the traditional content of a culture and assimilates its practices and values )
Self-concept
Ego defenses
Self-serving biases
Expectation
Emotional influences
Cognitive consistency
Stress

What does “not thinking critically” look like?
Blindly reproducing damaging old learned reactions
Blindly accepting face value of all justifications of organizations & political leaders
Blindly believe TV commercials
Blindly trust political commercials
Blindly accept & say that “if the textbook says it, it must be so”
Blindly accept & say that “if the organization does it, it must be right”

What does Critical Thinking Look Like?
Contextual sensitivity - being sensitive to stereotypes about people of particular group & accept others at face value unconditionally
Perspective thinking - trying to get into other person's head, or walk in other’s shoes to see the world way that person sees it
Tolerance for uncertainty - ability to accept multiple interpretations of same situation
Alert to premature ultimatums – not to put in operation. e.g. a politician invokes "democracy"

What are the Major Concepts in Critical Thinking?
Perception
Assumptions
Emotion
Language
Argument
Persuasion
Fallacy
Logic
Problem Solving

Perception
The way we receive & translate our experience
Also a significant filtering system
How we perceive defines how we think

Assumptions
Central to Critical Thinking
Implied, not conscious of them
Not always bad
Rest on notion some ideas are obvious
Make us comfortable with present beliefs & shut out alternatives
“Jack & Beanstalk” – what makes a hero?

Emotion
“Leave emotion out of it!” is Impossible
Part of everything we do & think
Personal barriers are a given
Critical thinkers don’t ignore or deny emotions - they accept & manage them

Language
Thinking can’t be separated from language
Three primary purposes of language:
Inform
Persuade
Explain
Language denotes (associated )& connotes (disassociate)
Metaphors

Persuasion
Persuasion is manner by which we attempt to convince others to "our way of thinking" about a subject therefore:
logic
fallacious reasoning
problem solving all involve persuasion

Argument
Claim, used to persuade that something is (or not) true or should (or not) be done
Contains three basic elements
Issue
One or more reasons (premises)
One or more conclusions
Can be valid or invalid based on structure
Only premises & conclusions true or false

Argument
Goal of Critical Thinking is sound Arguments
Valid (proper structure)
With true premises
Sound argument has both: so the conclusion must be true
Therein the beauty and usefulness of logic

Remember that the mind of a beginner is an open channel for genius.
Let that openness lead you and you will instinctively penetrate to the heart of the matter.

Rules for Arguments
If the argument leads with the Antecedent, it must be affirmed for the argument to be valid
If the argument leads with the Consequent, it must be denied for the argument to be valid
If the argument leads with the Antecedent which is denied the argument is invalid
If the argument leads with the Consequent which is affirmed the argument is invalid

Goal in restating Arguments
Try to avoid absolute statements e.g.: All, Always, Must, Should, Best, Highest…
Restate arguments with relative words and statements e.g.: Most, Usually, could, might, very good, very high …

Logic
Two methods of reasoning
Deductive
Facts, certainty, syllogisms, validity, truth of premises  sound arguments & conclusions
Inductive
Diverse facts, probability, generalizations, hypotheses, analogies  inductive strength
Logic problems like any problem

Problem Solving
Techniques:
Understand the problem. Read & heed
ID unknowns & knowns
Relationships between these (visual aids)
Generate strategy from step above
Apply and solve.
Repeat if necessary

Fallacy
Reasoning that doesn’t meet criteria for sound argument is fallacious
Valid
True premises
Complete (all relevant information)
Fallacy is incorrect pattern of reasoning
Does not always mean conclusion is false
Ads & editorials

A Critical Thinking Problem Solving Model We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them. --- Albert Einstein

Problem Solving Content Issues
Description of Problem
Factors: Constructive vs Limiting
Ownership
Scope of Problem
Consequence of Problem
Alternative Solutions
Rank Ordered Solutions

Process Issues in Problem Solving
Self-awareness of the problem solver
Motivation of the problem solver
Decision making involved in selecting solution by solver
Execution of the solution decided upon

Primitive Components of the Problem
Size of Problem - costs, risks, losses
Sensory Input
How’s it look?
How’s it sound?
How’s it taste?
How’s its smell?
How’s it feel?

A Fact not a problem
If a problem has no solution, it may not be a problem, but a fact - not to be solved, but to be coped with over time. --- Shimon Peres

Personal Components of the Problem
Inside perspective of problem solver of the problem
If on Team, other members as problem solvers & their perspective

What is Needed to Improve Problem Solving Process
Unconditional acceptance & non-judgmental attitude of fellow problem solvers
Respect for each participant’s input
Freedom to openly express emotional response to the problem & solutions
Defined limits & boundaries on problem solving process

There is always an easy solution to every human problem—neat, plausible, and wrong. --- H.L. Mencken

Encouraging Creativity in Problem Solving
Create the desire to be creative-a person must want it
Expand Knowledge & Skills of language by reading more to be creative thinker
It takes effort to create-genius is 1% inspiration & 99% perspiration ( Edison )
Excitement creativity - give it time
Evaluate & validate creative ideas

Brainstorming
Set a time frame to be completed
Be clear what problem you are trying to solve
All ideas should be heard
No idea is too wild to be expressed
Quantity is wanted; each idea coming to mind should be expressed
Combining ideas for improvement is highly desirable
Criticism or negative discussion regarding ideas is absolutely forbidden

Star bursting ( break into pieces )
Focuses on a topic & radiates outward with questions
Here anything goes
Any questions are legitimate
More the questions the better
Begin by asking: “What are the Questions?”

Problem Solving through Intimate Engagement
Engager’s have a history of success with similar problems
Dismisser’s had history of failure with similar problems-captive of the past
Rather than dismiss, engage the problem intimately by getting into it
Be willing to take the time to deal with the problem

Problem Solving through Intimate Engagement
Engagement takes:
Effort to deal with it
Time to mull it over
Looking at & not putting aside or looking away

Rules of Engagement with Problems
Become sensitive to your own confusion with a problem
Do not permit yourself to be confused-do not tolerate confusion
Use visual imagery to remember facts
Relate the information to people, animals or situations
Make your visualization vivid , dynamic, interactive, & unusual

Cases Case I Case II

Focus on solutions & not on problems
Case 1
When NASA began the launch of astronauts into space , they found out that the pens wouldn't work at zero gravity (ink won't flow down to the writing surface). To solve this problem, it took them one decade and $12 million.
They developed a pen that worked at zero gravity, upside down, underwater, in practically any surface including crystal and in a temperature range from below freezing to over 300 degrees C.
And what did the Russians do...?? They used a pencil.

Case 2
One of the most memorable case studies on Japanese management was the case of the empty soapbox , which happened in one of Japan's biggest cosmetics companies .
The company received a complaint that a consumer had bought a soapbox that was empty. Immediately the authorities isolated the problem to the assembly! line, which transported all the packaged boxes of soap to the delivery department.
For some reason, one soapbox went through the assembly line empty. Management asked its engineers to solve the problem.

Post-haste, the engineers worked hard to devise an X-ray machine with high-resolution monitors manned by two people to watch all the soapboxes that passed through the line to make sure they were not empty.
No doubt, they worked hard and they worked fast but they spent a whooping amount to do so.

But when a rank-and-file employee in a small company was posed with the same problem , he did not get into complications of X-rays, etc., but instead came out with another solution.
He bought a strong industrial electric fan and pointed it at the assembly line.
He switched the fan on, and as each soapbox passed the fan, it simply blew the empty boxes out of the line.

Reality Testing of Possible Solutions to Problem
Critical Path Analysis
Decision Trees
Force Field Analysis
PMI Plus – Minus – Interesting
SWOT Analysis – Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats
The one common experience of all humanity is the challenge of problems. --- R. Buckminster Fuller

Critical Path Analysis
Calculate length of time to complete project
List all activities in plan by: start date, duration, if parallel or sequential
If dependent on what do they depend
Graph it out, Plot tasks on graph
Schedule Activities
Critical path -longest sequence of dependent activities that lead to completion of plan

Decision Trees
Start with the decision which needs to be made draw a box
Draw to right possible solutions on lines
At End of each line if result is uncertain draw circle if other decision draw box
From the other decisions draw lines for options which can be taken
Calculate decision which has greatest worth to you and give it a value
Estimate probability of each uncertainty

Force Field Analysis
List all forces for change in one column
List all forces against change in other
Assign a score to each force 1(weak)-5(strong)
Draw diagram showing forces for & against and size of forces
Helps weigh importance of factors as to if pursue or not the plan

PMI- Plus/Minus/Interesting
Plus Column: all positive points of taking the action
Negative Column: all negative effects
Interesting Column: extended implications of taking action, whether positive or negative
Assign positive or negative scores

SWOT Analysis
Strengths: advantages, what you do well
Weaknesses: could be improved, done badly, should be avoided
Opportunities: good chances, interesting trends
Threats: obstacles, competition, are required specifications changing

Strategies for teaching skills related to Critical Thinking: Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be. “ Thomas A. Kempis” a Renaissance Roman Catholic monk and author of Imitation of Christ 1380 - July 25, 1471

skills related to critical thinking
Now we want to discuss skills related to critical thinking and three specific strategies for teaching these skills :
1) Building Categories, 2) Finding Problems, and 3) Enhancing the Environment .

Building Categories “Seiger-Ehrenberg, 1985 Developing Minds: A Resource Book for Teaching Thinking, Edited by Arthur L. Costa”
In science “animals” and “plants”
In Social Studies the rules for "discoveries" versus "inventions,"
In jurisprudence can discover the differences between "felonies" and "misdemeanors."
In Computer Science the difference between “Developers” and “User” perspectives and needs

Finding Problems
problems in the classroom (math and science) bears little resemblance to the way problems look in real life.
the most important practical thinking skills one can acquire is knowing how to identify a problem.
Finding Problems strategy is a way of framing tasks so that students use skills similar to those needed for the ill-defined problems they will encounter in life.
Problem-finding is an excellent group activity

ENHANCING THE ENVIRONMENT Teaching for Thinking Keefe, James W., Ed.; Walberg, Herbert J., Ed. 1992
Critical thinking in the classroom is facilitated by a physical and intellectual environment that encourages a spirit of discovery
Seating is arranged so that students share the "stage" with the teacher and all can see and interact with each other, this helps to minimize the passive, receptive mode many students adopt when all are facing the teacher

2. Visual aids in the classroom can encourage ongoing attention to critical thought processes , like posting signs that say, "Why do I think that?" "Is it fact or opinion?" "How are these two things alike?" "What would happen if...?" Suggestions below each question can remind students how they should go about answering them
3. As the students move through the curriculum in a given subject, their attention can be directed periodically to the signs as appropriate.

SKILLS RELATED TO CRITICAL THINKING
Across subject areas and levels, educational research has identified several discrete skills related to an overall ability for critical thinking. These are:
Finding analogies and other kinds of relationships between pieces of information
Determining the relevance and validity of information that could be used for structuring and solving problems
Finding and evaluating solutions or alternative ways of treating problems

"hallmarks" of teaching for critical thinking
Just as there are similarities among the definitions of critical thinking across subject areas and levels, there are several generally recognized "hallmarks" of teaching for critical thinking ( Beyer, 1985; Costa, 1985 ). These include:
1-Promoting interaction among students as they learn - Learning in a group setting often helps each member achieve more.

2- Asking open-ended questions that do not assume the "one right answer" - Critical thinking is often exemplified best when the problems are inherently ill-defined and do not have a "right" answer.
Open-ended questions also encourage students to think and respond creatively, without fear of giving the "wrong" answer.

3-Allowing sufficient time for students to reflect on the questions asked or problems posed –
Critical thinking seldom involves snap judgments; therefore, posing questions and allowing adequate time before soliciting responses helps students understand that they are expected to deliberate and to ponder,
and that the immediate response is not always the best response.

Conclusions:
Any higher education educator needs deep understanding of critical thinking and effective methods for fostering it in the classroom
We need to provide intellectual tools needed to create and sustain effective school and classroom learning environments.
The point of view taken here is that we do not merely want students to become skilled thinkers, but rather, to become fair-minded skilled thinkers who look at learning and life from an ethical perspective .
We need an inquiry approach in which we will be engaged in reflective thinking in several ways:
first, we will reflect upon our own thinking about specific concepts and issues;
second, we will reflect upon the thoughts and viewpoints of fellow classmates; and
Third, we will reflect upon the ideas of selected experts in the field.

Thanks a million You were great audience SIEC-ISBE: 79th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE 2007 Professor Lili Saghafi

Questions?? SIEC-ISBE: 79th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE 2007 Professor Lili Saghafi

References:
Thought & Knowledge: An Introduction to Critical Thinking Fourth Edition ,Diane F. Halpern , Berger Institute for Work, Family, & Children Claremont McKenna College , LAWRENCE ERLBAUM ASSOCIATES, PUBLISHERS Mahwah, New Jersey London
THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT CRITICAL THINKING, Diane F. Halpern ,California State University ,San Bernardino
TEACHING CRITICAL THINKING ,Grace E. Grant , PRAEGER New York Westport, Connecticut ,London
Assessing university students' general and specific critical thinking. by Chau-Kiu Cheung , Elisabeth Rudowicz , Anna S.F. Kwan , Xiao Dong Yue
Beyer, B.K. (1985). Critical thinking: What is it? "Social Education," 49, 270-276.
James J. Messina & Constance M. Messina coping org “ Tools for Coping “
Costa, A.L. (Ed.)(1985). "Developing minds: A resource book for teaching thinking." Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
French, J.N., & Rhoder, C. (1992). "Teaching thinking skills: Theory and practice." New York: Garland Publishing, Inc.
Keefe, J.W., & Walberg, H.J. (Eds.)(1992). "Teaching for thinking." Reston, VA: National Association of Secondary School Principles.
Pauker, R.A. (1987). "Teaching thinking and reasoning skills: Problems and solutions." Arlington, VA: American Association of School Administrators.
Seiger-Ehrenberg, S. (1985). Concept development. In A.L. Costa (Ed.), "Developing minds: A resource book for teaching thinking." Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Conference Presenation Train Trainers SIEC Vienna Professor Lili Saghafi

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Conference Presenation Train Trainers SIEC Vienna Professor Lili Saghafi — Presentation Transcript