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

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

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

____________________________________________________________________

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

Please give us your feedback at:

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