CRITICAL THINKING TOOLS

Ginny Price, MS, CVT, VTS (Behavior)

School of Veterinary Technology- St Petersburg College

CONFERENCE

GUIDES!

STRATEGIES

Writing courses for student learning• http://

www.deefinkandassociates.com/GuidetoCourseDesignAug05.pdf

• Using active learning & critical thinking assignments to engage students’ minds

Creating learning communities• Using faculty, community members & students as

resources; collaborating

STUDENT EXPECTATIONS

This course is not like other courses…

In this course we will be thinking like a behaviorist...• We will be using behaviorist language & concepts

In this course we will have assignments to help you

think deeply about this subject.

We will learn how to apply new concepts and practices

My expectations are…

YOUR COURSES

What will students think like in your course?

TOOLS

The wheel: 8 elements of reasoning

SEEI

Socratic questioning

Purpose

Questions at issue

Information

Inferences

THE WHEEL

Concepts

Assumptions

Consequences

Points of view

APPLICATION

SEEI

State (your main problem)

Elaborate (on your main point)

Example (give an example)

Illustrate (give an analogy/metaphor)

APPLICATION

SOCRATIC QUESTIONING

Instead of telling…ask…• Can you elaborate, give an example?• How could we verify that?• Could you be more specific?• How does your answer relate to the problem?• What are some of the complexities of this issue?• Do we need another perspective?• How does this fit together?• Which of these facts are most important?• How am I bias on this issue?

APPLICATION

MOTIVATION!

GRADE PROFILES

Use descriptions of grades in syllabus• Sets expectations• Use as a guide for determining grades• Example:

• The essence of B-level work is that it demonstrates more strengths than weaknesses and is more consistent in high level performance than C-level work. It nevertheless has some distinctive weaknesses, though no major ones.

GRADE DEFENSE

Students submit a proposal at the end of the

grading period supporting a specific grade profile

using your comments on assignments, projects &

exams as support.

QUESTIONS?