Post on 16-Apr-2017
What does it mean to be a critical thinker?
Thinking Effectively & Critically
Presented byKate Stockton, Learning Coach at NEC
AGENDA• Academic Support - Services & Resources• Understand the complexity of thinking
critically• Improve critical thinking skills• Learn to apply critical thinking in everyday
life• Questions? (Stop me and ask throughout)• Upcoming Workshops
Learning Coaches & Content Tutors• One-to-one appointments in person or via phone, e-mail, Internet, etc.
• Workshops (online & onsite)• Small group assistance (online & onsite)
• Online Content Area Tutoring – Smarthinking (www.esc.edu/smarthinking)
Online Support • For Academic Support Information & Materials Available 24/7 Online go to
http://NECacademicsupport.pbwork.com • A self-paced or credit-bearing study & resources - http://AcademicEye.pbworks.com
• On Facebook - NEC Academic Support & Student Services
Academic Support @ NEC
Services & Resources
Helping You Connect the Pieces for Academic Success
What is a learning coach? A learning coach is someone who provides academic support to students in one-on-one or small group settings in all areas of the writing process
and related study skills strategies including time management, organization, reading efficiency, developing a study plan, goal setting, critical thinking, library research skills, note-taking, and learning styles.
Sarah Spence-Staulters is located in Latham working with Schenectady & Latham/Albany students Her hours are: Mondays – 3pm- 7:30pm
Wednesdays – 3:00pm-7:30pmFridays - 9am- 4pm
Contact Sarah to make an appointment : (518) 783-6203 ext 5992 or Sarah.Spence-Staulters@esc.edu
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Kate Stockton is located in Latham working with Johnstown & Latham/Albany students Her hours are: Mondays - 4:00pm-7:30pm
Wednesday - 4:00pm-7:30pmThursdays - 4:00pm-8:00pm
Contact Kate to make an appointment : (518) 783-6203 ext 5992 or Kate.Stockton@esc.edu
Mary Sanders-Shartle is located in Saratoga working with Saratoga & Queensbury students
Her hours are: Mondays – 12pm-2pmWednesdays – 3pm-6pm
Thursdays 4pm-6pmContact Mary to make an appointment :
(518) 587-2100 ext 2827 or Mary.Sanders-Shartle@esc.edu
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Meet the Learning Coaches
The Pieces of Academic SuccessTime
Management
Effective Thinking
Goal Setting
Understanding Learning Styles
Developing a Study Plan
Active Reading WritingCritical Thinking
Academic Research
Stress Management
Office of Academic Support
Helping You Connect the Pieces
Critical ThinkingPurposeful, self-regulatory judgment
which manifests itself in reasoned consideration of evidence, context,
methods, standards, and conceptualizations in deciding what to believe or what to do.
The Delphi Report: Executive Summary: (1990), The California Academic Press, or ERIC Doc ED315 423
Critical ThinkingEverybody “thinks” – it’s just that some people think “better” than others; their thinking is more insightful, sophisticated, and profound…Critical thinkers are people who have developed thoughtful and well-
founded beliefs that guide their choices in every area of their lives. In order to develop the strongest and most accurate beliefs possible, you need to become aware
of your own biases, explore situations from many different perspectives, and develop sound reasons to support your points of view. These abilities are the tools you need to become more enlightened and
reflective – a “critical thinker.”
Chaffee, J. (1998). The Thinker’s Way: 8 Steps to a Richer Life. Boston: Little, Brown, & Company.
Critical ThinkingThinking is an art, with its own purposes, standards, principles, rules, strategies, and precautions. And it is an art well worth learning, for every important thing we
do is affected by our habits of mind.
Thinking is a purposeful mental activity over which we exercise some control. Control is the key word…
Thinking is any mental activity that helps formulate or solve a problem, make a decision, or fulfill a desire to understand. It is a searching for answers, a reaching
for a meaning.
- Vincent Ryan Ruggiero, The Art of Thinking: A Guide to Critical and Creative Thought
Critical ThinkingCritical thinking:• A productive and positive activity• Includes identifying and challenging assumptions • Exploring and imagining alternatives• A process, not an outcome • It is not passive. • Manifestations depend on context • Triggered by positive as well as negative events• Involves alternating phases of analysis and action• Combines reflective analysis and informed action• Is emotive as well as rational
COMPONENTS of Critical Thinking• Identifying and challenging assumptions• Challenging the importance of context• Imagining and exploring alternatives• Reflective skepticism
- Brookfield, Stephen D. (1987). Developing Critical Thinkers: Challenging Adults to Explore Alternative Ways of Thinking and Acting
Skills
Dispositions
Critical Thinkingis about being Able & Willing
to THINK CRITICALLY
Thinking as a SKILL & DISPOSITION
Thinking is a skill that can be improved by training, by practice, and through learning how to do it better.
Thinking is no different from any other skill and we can get better at the skill of thinking if we have the will to do so.
- Edward DeBono, Thinking Course
A THINKING METAPHOR
The performance of a car does not depend on the horsepower of the car, but upon the skill with which the car is driven by the driver. So, if intelligence is the horsepower of the car, then “thinking” is the skill with which that horsepower is used.
Intelligence is a potential. Thinking is an operating skill.
Thinking is the operating skill through which intelligence acts upon experience
- Edward DeBono Thinking Course, p. 2
Characteristics of Strong Critical Thinkers(from Vincent Ruggiero, Beyond Feelings, A Guide to Critical Thinking):
• Critical Thinkers... "Are honest with themselves, acknowledging what they don't know, recognizing their limitations, and being watchful of their own errors."
• Critical Thinkers... "Regard problems and controversial issues as exciting challenges."
• Critical Thinkers... "Strive for understanding, keep curiosity alive, remain patient with complexity and ready to invest time to overcome confusion."
• Critical Thinkers... "Set aside personal preferences and base judgments on evidence, deferring judgment whenever evidence is insufficient. They revise judgments when new evidence reveals error."
• Critical Thinkers... "Are interested in
other people's ideas, so are willing to read and listen attentively, even when they tend to disagree with the other person."
• Critical Thinkers... "Recognize that extreme views (whether conservative or liberal) are seldom correct, so they avoid them, practice fair-mindedness, and seek a balanced view."
• Critical Thinkers... "Practice restraint, controlling their feelings rather than being controlled by them, and thinking before acting."
Critical thinking is about understanding, analyzing and evaluating “texts” in order to comprehend,
judge accuracy, & relevancy.
UNDERSTANDINGANALYZINGEVALUATING
Mental Muscle Activity #1Making Pictures
What
Do
You
See
???
How Old Is this Woman?
NOSE
EYE
CHIN
EAR
Processing INFORMATION - Ink Blot Picture
QUADRANTS
DON QUIXOTE
Pablo Picasso's black on white drawing of Don
Quixote
DALMATION
GEORGE WASHINGTON
SNOWMAN
ARCHIPELAGO - ISLANDS
The Dahlak Archipelago is an island group located in the Red Sea near Massawa,
Eritrea.
The Archipelago of Albion
Input & Mathematical Schema
Each numeral is made up of small line segments. MOVE ONLY ONE SEGMENT to make the math correct.
Input & Mathematical Schema
Each numeral is made up of small line segments. MOVE ONLY ONE SEGMENT to make the math correct.
Bloom’s Taxonomy
KNOWLEDGE - Student recalls or recognizes information, ideas, and principles in the approximate form in which
theywere learned.
COMPREHENSION - Student translates, comprehends, or interprets information based on prior learning.
APPLICATION - Student selects, transfers, and uses data and principles to complete a problem or task with a
minimum of direction.
ANALYSIS - Student distinguishes, classifies, and relates the assumptions, hypotheses, evidence, or structure of a
statement or question.
SYNTHESIS - Student originates, integrates, and combines ideas into a product, plan or proposal that is new to him or her.
EVALUATION - Student appraises, assesses, or critiqueson a basis of specific standards and criteria.
Critical Thinking Process
Input
INPUT
The actual “text”and purpose for “reading”
&What you bring to the
critical thinking process
The Text• “The Assignment”• “The Reading”• “The Lecture”• “The Movie”• “The Conversation”
Personal Characteristics• Your Learning Style• Your Experience• Your Attitude• Your Filter• Your Schema/Prior Knowledge
Input
UNDERSTANDING
The meaning you gain/makeas you “read” the “text”
Your comprehension - of the “text”
What is “understanding”?• Knowing what needs to be
known and why/what will be done with the information
• Activated Schema
• “Thinking”
• Comprehending – Key Issues/ Main Points
• Summarizing in your own words
Strategies for how to get itActivating Schema
SQ3RSays/Does
SummarizingNote Taking
Graphic Organizing
Input
How you piece together the significance and organization
of the parts of the text
ANALYSIS
What is “analysis”• Identify the Elements, Relationships
and Organization of the “text”
• Know the Parts of the “text”
• Look for the relationships between ideas
• Interpretation
Strategies for how to do it Context Clues
Association with Schema Says/Does
OutliningGraphic Organizing/Mindmapping
PTR2 Interpretation of Intent/Facts
Input
How you judge the qualityand make decisions basedon the evidence, structure,
and logic of the reading
EVALUATION
What it is• Assess merits of the
argument• EFFECTIVENESS• Draw conclusions • Critique the structure, content,
or implications• Generate possible solutions• Look for logical fallacies
Strategies for how to do itOutlining
Graphic OrganizingPTR2
Interpretation of Intent/Facts
EXAMPLES of Ways to Read and Discuss TextFrom: www.criticalreading.com/ways_to_read.htm
Consider the following nursery rhyme... Mary had a little lamb, Its fleece was white as snow,
and everywhere that Mary went The lamb was sure to go.
What A Text Says talks about the topic of the original text, Mary and the lamb. Mary had a lamb that followed her everywhere.
What A Text Does talks about the story. The nursery rhyme describes a pet that followed its mistress everywhere.
What a Text Means talks about meaning within the story, here the idea of innocent devotion. An image of innocent devotion is conveyed by the story of a lamb's close connection to its mistress. The
devotion is emphasized by repetition that emphasizes the constancy of the lamb's actions ("everywhere"…"sure to go.") The notion of innocence is conveyed by the image of a young lamb, "white as snow." By making it seem that this connection between pet and mistress is natural and good, the nursery rhyme asserts innocent devotion as a positive relationship.
Mental Muscle Activity #2
http://www.sjsu.edu/depts/itl/graphics/apps/apps.html
Flower Show
Jasmine, Rose, and Lily each had an entry in the county fair's flower competition.
Coincidentally, the flowers they entered were a jasmine, a rose, and a lily, but not in that
order--in fact, none of the three competitors entered her namesake flower. If, in addition, you know that Jasmine did not enter a rose, can you figure out which flower each woman
entered?
http://www.sjsu.edu/depts/itl/graphics/apps/categor.html
Flower Show -- ANSWER KEY
Person
Flower
Jasmine Rose Lily
Jasmine yes
Rose yes
Lily yes
Raining Cats and Dogs Belly Button
Sunny Side Up Talent Show
PTR2
roblem
hesis
easons
esults
PT
RR
INTRO== BODY
= Conclusion
Summary of Critical Thinking• It’s a process• You can improve it• Embrace the challenge
Input
Understanding
Analysis
Evalutation
Evaluation
Synthesis
Analysis
Application
Comprehension
Knowledge
1. Consider the problem2. Evaluate your options3. Gather more information4. Determine your answer
Fun Websites to Boost your Brain Power
• http://queendom.com/• http://www.braingle.com/• http://www.brainbashers.com/
Fall 2010 Workshop ScheduleSept. 20 Start the Term Right27 Time Management29 Start the Term RightOct. 30 Navigating the ESC Websites6 Critical Thinking 8 Introduction Library Skills ( 10am-11am )13 Navigating the ESC Websites14 Time Management18 Critical Thinking20 Reading More Efficiently25 Leveraging Your learning Style28 Unblock the Writing Experience
Nov.1 Reading more Efficiently 3
3 Introduction to Library Skills8 Unblocking the Writing
Experience17 Stress Management
19 Time Management (10am-11am)22 Resume and Cover Letter Writing
Dec. 20 Stress Management
6 Ending the Term Right8 Ending the Term Right
9 Writing a Rational Essay13 Stress Management
20 Resume and Cover Letter Writing
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http://bit.ly/thinkingcriticallyworkshop
Thank you for attending tonight's workshop If you would like to view this worship again to refresh your memory or just for fun please visit:
www.necacademicsupport.pbworks.com