The document discusses research on critical thinking skills in higher education, highlighting a disconnect between staff and student perspectives on teaching these skills. It identifies challenges students face in developing critical thinking, emphasizing the need for practical and interactive learning methods. The document stresses the importance of adapting teaching approaches to better meet the needs of contemporary students and enhance their critical thinking abilities.

1. Postgraduate Course Feedback
Critical Thinking: A Crisis in the Social
Sciences
The Gaps in Staff and Students Student Perspectives
on the teaching of analytical thinking and (socio-legal)
problem solving skills: a research discussion
Dr Angus Nurse
Email – a.nurse@mdx.ac.uk

2. Contemporary students
• A New Conservative Dynasty: Choice and Private
Enterprise dominate HEA
• Today’s students are the first generation to have
grown up surrounded by and using computers,
videogames, digital music players, video cams, cell
phones and other digital media, consequentially
they have a different thinking and learning style and
different brain structures to previous generations
(Prensky 2001).

3. Background to the Research – How
is Critical Thinking Taught?
• Academic and student views of critical/analytical
thinking: gaps in perspective
• Critical Thinking Research: students may not be
developing the skills that teachers think they are
• Collaboration, motivation, innovation: student
views, preferences and information to develop
effective strategies

4. Research Questions
• What is critical thinking and how is it taught
or developed in Social Science teaching?
• How do students develop their critical
thinking skills?
• How do students think they should be
taught these skills and what assistance or
materials do they need to develop them?

5. What is Critical
Thinking?
The Delphi Experts (1990) defined Critical
Thinking as:
“purposeful, self-regulatory judgment which
results in interpretation, analysis, evaluation, and
inference, as well as explanation of the evidential,
conceptual, methodological, criteriological, or
contextual considerations upon which that
judgment is based.”

6. Teaching Critical Thinking
• The Development of critical thinking skills
requires:
• dedicated effort with this in mind
• reflection on thinking skills, practice and
procedures, not subject specific content
• similar effort and formal training to the
development of research students

7. Teaching Critical Thinking
• ‘If we want our students to become good reasoners, we
must become concerned to help them begin to notice the
inferences they are making, the assumptions they are
basing those inferences on, and the point of view about the
world they are taking – hence the systems in which they are
thinking. To help our students do this, we need to give them
clear examples of simple cases, and lots and lots of practice
analyzing and reconstructing them.’
(Paul, 1993
05/05/2014Slide 7

8. Student problems in applying critical/analytical
thinking skills
• What are the main problems that students
have in answering problem-type questions
or applying critical or analytical thinking
skills?
• Discussion

9. Student as Consumer: Research
Results
Student Comments:
• Lectures generally aren’t useful unless they have an interactive element.
• [Students] whinge about skills teaching but if you give them a choice on
learning the skills and having practical skills most students would
welcome it as an addition to the pure academic consideration.
• Teaching viewed as non-essential to passing the degree or preparing
students so that they could actually go and do a job tends to be avoided
by students; why turn up if its clear you don’t need to and can pass
anyway?
• There needs to be more practical application; you should be taught how
to read cases, analyse policy documents etc. If student essays are good
but they’re not analysing, evaluating etc. this should be flagged up so
that the student is given the skills you need.
• Low take up on electives demonstrates the popularity of lecturers but not
their personality, their ability to teach the material and help students
learn the material.

10. Teaching Critical Thinking
– student comments
• Students do not agree that this is achieved
through ‘traditional’ teaching
• lectures seen as ‘delivery mechanism’,
informative but outmoded
• teaching may not reflect their needs in absorbing
information
• teaching methods and perceived value impacts
on attendance

11. Student Views – Developing Skills
• Practical Simulated Learning – e.g. clinics, practical case work,
workshops highly valued
• Longer in-depth work aids understanding
• Collaborative working through workshops and exploration of faulty
reasoning and processes necessary?
• Reflective practices and not just right or wrong answers.

12. Resolving the Staff-Student Perception
Gap
• Discussion

13. Research Contact
• Dr Angus Nurse
Middlesex University
WG27 School of Law
The Burroughs
Hendon
NW4 4BT
Email –
a.nurse@mdx.ac.uk