Critical Thinking

Critical-Thinking
Postscript
Portable Document Format

What is Critical Thinking?

There are many definitions of critical thinking, a selection of these are presented below.

Ennis 1987

Ennis, R. H., A Taxonomy of Critical Thinking Dispositions and Abilities. In J. Baron & R. Sternberg (Eds). Teaching Thinking Skills: Theory and Practice (pp 9-26) NY: W. H. Freeman, 1987.

According to Ennis, critical thinking ``is reasonable reflective thinking that is focused on deciding what to believe or do''.

Moreover, According to Ennis, an able critical thinker will (interdependently):

1. Judge the credibility of sources.
2. Identify conclusions, reasons, and assumptions.
3. Judge the quality of an argument, including the acceptability of its reasons, assumptions, and evidence.
4. Develop and defend a position on an issue
5. Ask appropriate clarifying questions.
6. Plan experiments and judge experimental design
7. Define terms in a way appropriate for the context.
8. Be open-minded.
9. Try to be well informed
10. Draw conclusions when warranted, but with caution

This list of abilities and dispositions is Ennis's own abridgement of work presented in (Ennis 1991) and (Ennis 1993).
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McPeck 1981

McPeck, J. H., Critical Thinking and Education. New York: St Martins Press, 1981.

McPeck describes critical thinking as ``the propensity and skill to engage in an activity with reflective scepticism''.

Zoller 1993

Zoller, U., Are Lecture an Learning Compatible?: Maybe for LOCS: Unlikely for HOCS. Journal of Chemistry Education, 70(3), 195-197, 1993.

Zollor uses the following as a working definition of critical thinking: ``Rational, logical, and consequential evaluative thinking in terms of what to accept (or reject) and what to believe in, followed by a decision (what to do (or not to do) about it), followed by an accordingly responsible action''. Critical thinking is one component of Zoller's HOCS (higher order cognitive skills), the others being problem solving and decision making.

Critical Thinking, Assessment and Improvement Strategies

Ennis 1993

Ennis, R. H., Critical Thinking Assessment. Theory Into Practice, 32(3), 179-186, 1993.

Here the author suggests that assessment of critical thinking is difficult to do well, but is possible. Presents an annotated list of published critical thinking tests. These tests are not subject-specific (the author was unable to identify any subject specific tests). Also gives advice on how to develop ``your own test''

This paper also contains the abridgement, of his conception of critical thinking, as detailed above.

Kogut 1996

Kogut 1996, Critical Thinking in General Chemistry. Journal of Chemistry Education, 73(3), 218-221, 1996.

[Group]Discusses critical thinking assessment exercises and strategies to improve critical thinking. His strategies to encourage critical thinking skills are:

1. Ask questions frequently and direct them to individual students. These questions should be why and how in nature not simply yes or no type questions.
2. Use examples and illustrations that challenge dualistic thinking and reinforce the notion that science does not have many absolutely correct answers.
3. Promote discussion among students by using in-class group assignments and encourage out-of-class study groups.
4. Effective use of feedback encourages critical thinking.

The author discusses the advantages and disadvantages of employing these strategies. He concludes that, in addition to improving student critical thinking skills, these strategies improved examination performance, dramatically increased lecture attendance, and encouraged students to became more active learners.

Moll and Allen 1982

Moll, M. B. and Allen, R. D., Developing Critical Thinking Skills in Biology. Journal of College Science Teaching, 12(2), 95-98, 1982.

In this article the authors describe their efforts to teach critical thinking skills to introductory biology students using short video clips, followed by directed discussion, to encourage students to:

• apply concepts as they are learnt,
• derive concepts from observations and data,
• practice scientific processes.

In addition, the authors present data, from pre and post assessment tests, providing evidence of an improvement in students' critical thinking skills and content knowledge.

Bodner 1988

Bodner, G. M., Consumer Chemistry: Critical Thinking at the Concrete Level. Journal of Chemistry Education, 65(3), 212-213, 1988.

Here the author notes that, often, students ``cannot apply their knowledge outside the narrow domain in which it was learnt. They ``know'' without understanding''. In this article Bodner advocates the creation of a new, non-mathematical, chemistry course which would enable students to make educated decisions on issues of science and technology, understand how chemistry effects their daily lives and foster the development of critical thinking skills. Here, instead of having to perform the standard chemical calculations found in textbooks, students would be encouraged to ask, and answer, the ``how do we know...?'' and ``why do we believe...?'' type questions.

Adams 1993

Adams, D. L., Instructional Techniques for Critical Thinking and Life Long Learning in Science Courses. Journal of College Science Teaching, 23(4), 100-104, 1993.

In this paper the author reports that through the use of the following instructional techniques:

• the mini-research project,
• the scenario-based research project,
• the short essay-examination project and,
• the issues-directed research project

it was possible to enhance valuable developmental objectives, such as critical thinking and the appreciation of the scientific method, and at the same time reinforce subject matter. Examples of each of the four techniques are presented.

Byrne and Johnstone 1987

Byrne, M. S. and Johnstone, A. H., Can Critical-Mindedness Be Taught. Journal of Chemistry Education, 24(3), 75-77, 1987.

In this paper the authors report that, the use of short (1-2 hour), interactive, learning units, designed to compliment existing teaching approaches and largely independent of lecturer involvement, led to a greater and more effective use of critical skills. Moreover, understanding is developed through the consideration of evidence, discussion and collaborative decision making rather than through being ``told the answers'', and as a consequence material, perceived to be difficult or lacking interest, was more readily assimilated.

Books

Garret et. al.

Garret, J., Overton, T. and Threlfall, T., A Question of Chemistry: Creative Problems for Critical Thinkers. Longman, 1999.

The exercises in this book are designed to encourage students to think critically and creatively. These exercises are designed to develop a students ability to critically evaluate a chain of reasoning, construct logical arguments, read critically, and gain experience answering questions which have no ``right answer''. In addition there is a section which is designed to provide students with experience in finding information in primary literature.