We're always talking about critical thinking. We all want our students to be able to think critically. But how many of us have actually stopped to think about what 'Critical Thinking' actually means?
It has been stated that 'without a definition of critical thinking or thinking, educators would be unable to to determine when critical thinking has been measured or taught successfully'*. It's pretty hard to measure and assess something if we don't have a thorough understanding of what it means. The problem is, that it is a difficult concept to define. Psychologists, philosophers and educators have been arguing about it for nearly a century, and each of those groups thinks they own the idea.
If we were to consider each of their approaches, we would see that there is a great deal of overlap. Philosophers call it 'critical thinking', psychologists call it 'thinking skills' and educators tend to call it 'higher order thinking' - but I believe that everyone is talking about the same ideals.
Critical thinking:
- Is an active process
- Involves decision making
- Is personal
- Involves skeptical reflection and evaluation
- Leads us to form a belief about what to do or what to believe
- Involves decision making and justification
- Integrates new information with the extension of existing knowledge
- Leads us to make connections between concepts and see the uniqueness of certain ideas
- Allows us to solve problems for which there is no ready-made procedure or solution
Above all, critical thinking is about learning to reason.
So when we say our students are thinking critically, are they really? How can we promote this critical (and I would argue creative) thinking in our classrooms?
Reference: Fasko, D. Critical Thinking And Reasoning: Current Research, Theory and Practice (2003)
* Follman, 1987
Hi Natasha, Congrats on the new blog. You picked a good topic to get started with... :-)
ReplyDeleteI'd never really considered that "Critical Thinking" and "Higher Order Thinking" is the same thing, but I guess it kind of is, isn't it. And you're right, it's hard to get there sometimes... we set our kids off on certain tasks and activities that we imagine will require those higher order skills, and sometimes what we get back is disappointing. Other times, they surprise us with the depth and insight they display over things we never expected.
I'll keep pondering...
Welcome to the blogosphere.
Chris
I tweeted your post because it is an important reminder of what we truly need to teach: reasoning. It's messy because kids reasoning skills aren't developed, which is why discussion and reflective writing with peer and teacher feedback is so important-- but time-consuming and, again "messy." I hope you write a post about questioning and critical thinking because our questioning drives the focus and learning. Thanks again.
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