1. Critical thinking is seen as central to higher education but is often implicit rather than explicitly taught. 2. Critical thinking develops in stages from absolute knowing to contextual knowing. Students may be at different stages for different contexts. 3. Fostering critical thinking requires teaching it explicitly, providing practice and feedback, and assessing it through the curriculum. Bloom's taxonomy provides a framework for classifying thinking skills into remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating.

1. Musarrat ul Hasnain
Critical Thinking

2. Why
critical thinking?
• Seen as central to higher education
• Required in Masters level programmes
• Claimed as the cornerstone of science and
development
BUT
• Often implicit rather than explained in
programmes

3. Outline
• Development
– Stages model
– Takes: time, practice,
maturity, inclination
• Valuing
– Teach, Practice, Assess
(Curriculum)
• Understanding
– Definitions
– Bloom’s model
• Activities
– Review, evaluate, apply

4. CT as stages of development
• Students (all of us) develop through stages
– We may be at different stages in different contexts
– Same for students e.g. in ‘real life’ and in new
academic situations
1 Absolute knowing 2 Transitional stage
3 Independent knowing 4 Contextual
knowing
Unreasonable to expect them to have fully reached
contextual thinking
• Moon (2005) adapted from Baxter Magnolia & Perry

5. Stages of knowing
1 Absolute knowing
Knowledge is certain – experts have the answers. Task is to
absorb knowledge
2 Transitional stage
There is some uncertainty – authorities differ. Need to
understand in order to make judgements and apply
3 Independent knowing
Learning is uncertain, everyone has own beliefs. Expected
to have an opinion, peers can be valuable. Discriminating
different perspectives overlooked
4 Contextual knowing
Knowledge is constructed & often contextual, judgement
requires evidence. Opinions must be evidenced

6. Valuing CT
or – if we don’t, they won’t!!
• Teach it
– Powerful signal
– Involves content prioritising
• Practice*
– In class/tutorials
– Feedback
• Assessment
– Drives behaviour
• Curriculum
– What does it say/ require?
– Can it be changed?
– Consistent across modules?
– Link to QAA statements?
• What are our levels of
ability to influence?
• What are the levers for
change?
• Where would changes make
the most powerful impact?
* notes next slide

7. Deliberate Practice
Research on achieving
excellence reveals
commonalities
van Gelder 2005 p7
• Focussed practice
aimed to generate
improvement
• Exercises to improve
the skill (of CT)
• Graduated and with
repetition
• Guidance, timely
accurate feedback
• Ongoing – takes time

8. Fostering CT – in general
• Teach philosophy!!
– Be explicit about
epistemology and CT
• Challenge just beyond
comfort zone
– Vygotsky
• Recognise as a
developmental process
– Will be different stages
in the class
• Encourage student
interaction
• Set thinking activities
– Reflection, PDP
• Give examples of CT
• Assessment
– Remains a key issue
Moon 2005
What do you do?
What could you do?

9. Fostering CT – some
more!
• Create risk-taking
atmosphere in class
– Exploring ideas OK
(rather than knowledge
transmission)
• Model CT
– Think out loud
• Provide thinking time
• Assessment
– There it is again!
• Use questions
purposefully
• Support placements &
out of class activities
– Volunteering
– International exchange
• Oral activities*
• Written*+
What do you do?
What could you do?
* see handout later
Moon 2005
+ see Thinking Writing project

10. Understanding CT
• Definitions
• Models
– Bloom’s Taxonomy
– Developmental (Baxter
Magolda /Perry)
• Universal Standards

11. Critical thinking
Is not: automatic response or intuition etc
whatever their value or lack of value!
Critical thinking is reasonable reflective
thinking that is focused on deciding what to
believe or do (R. Ennis)
The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same
level of thinking we were at when we created them. A. Einstein

12. Critical & Critical thinking
• Critical position: personally derived evidenced
based judgement Jude Carroll
• Critical thinking: thinking that helps you figure
out whether you should believe some claim, and
how strongly you should believe it
– i.e. is it true or the art of being right! Tim van Gelder
• Critical thinking: capacity to work with complex
ideas…. Provide effective evidence to justify a
reasonable judgement…. Attending to context
Jenny Moon

13. Each prisoner knows that there are 2 red
hats and 2 blue hats, but no one knows the
colour of his own hat

14. Six Levels of Thinking
1. Remembering
2. Understanding
3. Applying
4. Analysing
5. Evaluating
6. Synthesising – creating
Researchers need the language of research
Thinkers need the language of thinking!
Bloom et al
- a classic model

15. 1. Remembering Information
list, name, identify,
define, label, describe
• Mnemonic – system for
improving memory
• Acronyms, Acrostics
• Use baroque music
– Might not ’like’ it –
but it works!
List: - ooops Liszt
Music accesses memory

16. 2. Understanding Information
• Mind maps (webs)
• Key words
• Single word
summarise, discuss,
distinguish, predict,
generalise, categorise
Thinking is the hardest work there is –
That’s why so few people do it – Henry Ford

17. ‘Mind Mapping’ using Mind Genius
Available on network

18. 3. Applying Information
• Problem solving
• Testing learning in the
‘real world’ or in class
activities
apply, demonstrate,
examine, solve
What we have to learn to do, we learn by doing
- Aristotle (this includes CT!!)

19. 4. Analysing Information
• Breaking it down
• Fact v. opinion
• Reasoned judgement
• Logical thinking
• Activity - PMI
analyse, explain,
compare, classify
See Alec Fisher
Lots of activities to build arguments and reasoning

21. 5. Evaluating
or criticising information
• Objective
• Open-minded, flexible
• Check assumptions
• Check bias
assess, recommend,
compare/contrast,
conclude, justify,
Questions are the active acts of intelligence
- Frank Kingdom

22. 6. Synthesising
or creating information
• New ideas-Creativity
• New applications of
‘old’ ideas
• Lateral thinking
design, invent,
rewrite, rearrange
Nothing can happen unless you first dream
-Carl Sandburgh
See de Bono
Countless ideas: lateral thinking

23. Snake swallowing its own tail
“Creative scientists are ones with access to
their dreams”
– Albert Einstein
Let us learn to dream, gentlemen,
and then perhaps we shall learn the truth. August Kekulé

25. Creative brainstorming
‘Synectics’
- very useful for problem solving
1. Remove negative stimuli (things that
filter ideas out).
2. Separate ‘judgment’ from ‘idea getting’.
a) Divergent mode. Create lots of ideas,
irrespective of quality or relevance.
There are no bad ideas!
b) Convergent mode. Narrow down the
ideas using various criteria.
Task statement
Final idea(s)
a
b

26. Universal Intellectual Standards
• Clarity
• Accuracy
• Precision
• Relevance
• Depth
• Breadth
• Logic
Check thinking and writing
against these universal standards
http://set.lanl.gov/programs/cif/Resource/Han
douts/intlStan.ht
Critical thinking: involves improving the
quality of thinking… by imposing
intellectual standards - R. Paul

27. Knowledge
dimension
1
Remem
ber
2
Under
stand
3
Apply
4
Analyse
5*
Evaluate
6*
Create
A: Factual
Terminology, details,
facts
B: Conceptual
Theories,
generalisations,
classifications
C: Procedural
How to do…
Methods
Subject skills
D: Metacognitive
Strategic
Contextual
Self- knowledge
Krathwohl, D. (2002) A revision of Bloom’s taxonomy
* Changed and reordered from original list
Bloom’s taxonomy revised: analyse level of programme
Locate learning outcomes in the grid; gives a ‘picture’ of the programme

28. Argument Mapping
• Build reasoning skills
• Produce well organised arguments
• Communicate reasoning
• Evaluate reasoning
• Make better decisions
www.austhink.org

29. Takeaways
• CT is developmental
– Variety in class and over time
• Levels of thinking – a key model
– Allows analysis of your teaching focus
– Allows analysis of module/programme
• Lots of activities
– Plenty on the web (subject centre, SNAS, Learn
Higher, CT.org)

30. Summarising!
• Try some thinking skills activities
– at any level
• Be explicit – think out loud
• Do it! Personal practical
knowledge comes from putting
ideas into practice
A twit on the move may be worth ten seated philosophers
- Unknown
Harkat Main Barakat Hai

31. Sources
Langreher J. (1992). Teach thinking strategies: Ideas for teachers
Carr K. (2001) How can we teach critical thinking?
Claxton G. (1997). Hare brain, tortoise mind
Fisher A. (2001). Critical thinking: An introduction.
Halpern, D. (1989). Thought and knowledge
Krathwohl, D. (2002) A revision of Bloom’s taxonomy
Paul, R. & Elder, L (2002). Critical thinking
And more - including de Bono
We think of the mind as a storehouse to be filled, when we should be thinking of it
as an instrument to be used - Reed & Graeme

32. Useful Sites
• Articles by Tim Van Gelder
– http://www.arts.unimelb.edu.au/~tgelder
• van Gelder, T. J. (2005). Teaching critical thinking: some lessons from
cognitive science. College Teaching, 45, 1-6.
• Argument mapping
– www.austhink.org
• Universal Intellectual Standards
– http://set.lanl.gov/programs/cif/Resource/Handouts/Handouts.htm
– http://criticalthinking.org/Posters.html
• Bloom’s Taxonomy – Skills and questions
– http://www.coun.uvic.ca/learn/program/hndouts/bloom.html
• Thinking Writing
– http://www.thinkingwriting.qmul.ac.uk/srb.htm
– Jenny Moon (2005) We seek it here...a new perspective on the
elusive activity of critical thinking. HEA Escalate
– http://escalate.ac.uk/2041

33. Useful Sites
• Dan Kurland
– http://www.criticalreading.com/
• Pierce handbook of CT
– http://academic.pgcc.edu/~wpeirce/MCCCTR/handbook.pdf
• Critical Thinking Community
– http://www.criticalthinking.org/ABOUT/index.cfm
• SNAS (HEA)
– http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/ourwork/professional/snas/snasdatabase
• Learn Higher
– http://www.learnhigher.ac.uk/pages/critical_thinking_and_reflection.
html