Laying the Ground Work

for Critical Thinking

Montana State University
College of Business

Developed by Professor Terry Doyle

Ferris State University
 Students' ability and willingness to
think critically are most likely to
develop when knowledge acquisition
and thinking about content are
intertwined rather than sequential.


Richard Paul

 The Critical Thinking
Community
• http://www.criticalthinking.org/article
s/glossary.cfm
We all Think Differently
 Add 17 +56 in your head
 We don’t Think Alike
A—In columns like on paper
•
B—Added 10 to 56 and 7 to 66

•
C—Added 20 to 56 and

subtracted 3 from 76

D—Other


•

 Cognitive Readiness
• Perry’s scheme for cognitive
development

• Dr. William Perry (1970) articulated 9

positions of cognitive development
in college students. 
• Most people pass fairly predictably
from position to position, although
certainly development is not really
as linear as the positions imply.
 Perry’s scheme for
cognitive development
• Development may
be arrested or
even reversed at
any stage if the
cognitive
challenges
presented are too
great. 
•
• Furthermore, a
person can be at
different stages
in different areas
 The Cognitive Development
Scheme
• In Stages 1 or 2
(Dualism),
students may
resist learning
information that
challenges their
established
beliefs.
•
 The Cognitive Development
Scheme
• In Stages 3 and 4
(Multiplicity),
students may
argue that their
answers are just
as valid as a
teacher’s
answers for a
subjective topic.
•
 The Cognitive Development
Scheme
• In Stage 5
(Relativism and
Procedural
Knowledge),
students begin to
realize that valid
disciplinary
reasoning
methods exist. 
•
 The Cognitive Development
Scheme
• In Stage 6,
students begin to
realize that they
must make
choices and
commit to
solutions and
ways of life.
•
 Model of Epistemological
Reflection
 Stage One


 Absolute Knowing


 Knowledge is viewed
as certain.
 Teachers are absolute
authorities
 Learning is about
reciting facts.

•



 Model of Epistemological
Reflection
Stage Two



Transitional
Knowing


 Reflects that some

knowledge is
uncertain.


 Authorities are
not all-knowing


 Authorities provide
more information
regarding the
 Model of Epistemological
Reflection
• Students in this
stage are
focused on
understanding
knowledge rather
than simply
acquiring
knowledge
•
•
• Half of sophomores and
close to eighty percent
of juniors and seniors
were transitional
knower's.
 Model of Epistemological
Reflection
Stage Three
Independent knowing

• Recognize that
knowledge is mostly
uncertain.
•
• Instructors are expected
to provide a
environment for
learning that rewards
thinking and logic
over particular views
that may be different
from the text or the
teacher.
• Independent knowing was seen
most frequently in the first year
past graduation (57%).
 Model of Epistemological
Reflection
• Stage Four
 Contextual
knowing.
•
• “Contextual knowing
involves the belief
that the legitimacy
of knowledge
claims is
determined
contextually. The
individual still
constructs a point
of view, but the
perspective now
 Making Thinking Visible
 Our findings
argue that everyday
thinking may suffer
more from just plain
missing the
opportunities to
think than from poor
thinking skills.


(Perkins, Tishman, Ritchhart,



Donis, & Andrade, 2000;

Perkins & Tishman, 2001).

•
 Making Thinking Visible
• Use the language of
thinking (Tishman &
Perkins, 1997).

•
• Integrate terms like
hypothesis, reason,
evidence, p re m ise , co n clu sio n s, in d u ctive , d e d u ctive , a ssu m
possibility,
imagination,
perspective
•
• Routine use of such
words in a natural
intuitive way helps
 Making Thinking Visible
• Being a model of
thoughtfulness for
one's students.
•
• Teachers who do not
expect instant
answers, who
display their own
honest
uncertainties, who
take a moment to
think about "What
if" or "What if not"
or "How else could
this be done?" or
 Making Thinking Visible
• One thinking
routine that we
have found to be
useful in many
settings involves
two key
questions:
"What's going on
here?" and "What
do you see that
W h a t’ s g o in g o n h e re ?
makes you say
so?"
•
 Making Thinking Visible
• This pair of
questions asks
students in
informal
language for
interpretations
and supporting
reasons.
•
• Responses can be
labeled as
hypotheses and
support for their
 Making Thinking Visible
• The circle of
viewpoints.
•
• Students are asked
to pick a point of
view and speak
from it (which
does not, of
course, mean
that they agree
with it).
 Culture of Critical Thinking
 Discuss with
students directly
the value of
attitudes of
curiosity, inquiry,
and playing with
ideas – important
thinking
dispositions.
 A Thinking Classroom

A re stu d e n ts exp la in in g th in g s to o n Ae re
a nstu
o thdeer?
n ts o ffe rin g cre a tive id e a s?

A re stu d e n ts d e b a tin g in te r

Is th e re a b ra in sto rm a b o u t a lte rn a tive p la n s o n th e

n d I, u sin g th e laIsn th
g ueare
g ea opfro
th/ico
n ki
n nlgist
? o n th e b la ckb o a rd ?
 Critical Thinking is Hard
• A majority of
people cannot,
even when
prompted,
reliably exhibit
basic skills of
general
reasoning and
argumentation
 (Deanna Kuhn, The Skills of
Argumentation)
 Critical Thinking is Hard
• Evolution did not
waste time
making things
better than they
needed to be—
we needed to be
just smart
enough to
survive
•
 (Tim van Gelder, in
Teaching Critical Thinking,
 Critical Thinking is Hard
• Humans are
pattern seeking
story telling
animals—we like
things to make
sense but most
of time that
means familiar
patterns and
narratives
•
 (Michael Shermer, 2002)
 Critical Thinking is Hard
• This is called the
“make sense
epistemology”
•
• The test of truth is
that it makes
intuitive sense
or sounds right—
no need to look
closer
•
 Critical Thinking is Hard
• Critical thinking
involves skillfully
exercising
various lower-
level cognitive
capacities in
integrated
wholes
•
 ( Tim van Gelder, in
Teaching Critical Thinking,
College teaching , 2005)
 Critical Thinking is Hard
• Think about it like
learning to
become fluent in
a foreign
language,
speaking
,writing ,
listening and
thinking in
another language
 Planning a Course that
Integrates Critical Thinking
• What am I going to
teach?
• What content am I
going to teach?
• What questions or
problems will be
central to the
course?
• What concepts will
be fundamental?
•
 Planning a Course that
Integrates Critical Thinking
• What amount of
information will
students need to
access?


• What point of view

or frame of
reference do they
need to learn to
reason within?
 Planning a Course that
Integrates Critical Thinking
• All need to be on
the same page
•
• Agree on the same
vocabulary
/terminology
 Basic Components of a
Good Assignment


Critical thinking assignments should

thoroughly articulate these basic
components:


1. Clear and precise explanation of the task,

including the purpose of the assignment.
2. List of the cognitive skills required to complete

the assignment.
3. Precise description of the grading criteria

(including relevant intellectual standards)

 Basic Components of a
Good Assignment
• For example, on
the assignment
handout, faculty
should explicitly
identify the
cognitive skills
necessary for
completing the
assignment,
allowing students
to see the
particular mental
 Basic Components of a
Good Assignment
• Faculty can also incorporate the
relevant and significant intellectual
standards in their grading criteria.
•
• The intellectual standards give
faculty and students a precise,
consistent way of describing and
assessing good thinking in any
discipline.
 Critical Thinking and
Assignments in Business
• Step One
• The students must
actively do the
critical thinking
themselves or
they will not get
better.
•
• The key word here
is actively
 Critical Thinking and
Assignments in Business
Step Two


• Students must be
fully engaged
•
•
• Include exercises
that can improve
performance
 Critical Thinking and
Assignments in Business
•
• Make it
progressively
more challenging
•
•
• Give guidance and
feedback on
performance
•
 Critical Thinking and
Assignments in Business
•
 Teach
transference of
skills and
processes—don’t
assume the
students can make
these on their own
 Critical Thinking and
Assignments in Business
• Ask students to
explain and
analyze their
thinking as they
work on business
problems, build
marketing
campaigns or
resolve human
resource issues.
•
 Critical Thinking and
Assignments in Business
• Have them identify
and analyze the
information they
use, the
inferences they
draw, the
assumptions they
make, the key
questions they
ask, etc.
•
•
 Critical Thinking and
Assignments in Business
• If they write out
the logic behind
their work, we
will be able to
assess their
thinking in
addition to the
product of that
thinking
 Critical Thinking and
Assignments in Business
• Ask students to keep a list of mistakes
they make.
•
• Have students explain why they made
the mistakes, how they found each
one, and how they corrected them.
•
• Ask them to write about why they made
them, and how they discovered them
so we will be able to assess their
thinking.
 Critical Thinking and
Assignments in Business
• Ask students to
determine the
problem or
create the
scenario.
•
•
• In other words, ask
students to
create the
problem as well
as devise
 Critical Thinking and
Assignments in Business
• Having students
create their own
database and
queries would
require them to
really think
through the entire
process.
•
• They would have to
determine the
kinds of data they
need, find that
data, and create
the categories
 Critical Thinking and
Assignments in Business
• Ask students to think through some
additional questions that would help
to assess the quality of their thinking.
•
 1. How could you modify ----- to
make it... ?
 2.Describe some other possible
applications of the program or
technique.
 3. Compare and contrast this
technique to other techniques.
 Rubric for Critical Thinking
• Exemplary thinking is skilled, marked by excellence in clarity,
accuracy, precision, relevance, depth, breadth, logicality, and
fairness

•
• Satisfactory thinking is competent, effective, accurate and clear,
but lacks the exemplary depth, precision, and insight of a 4

•
• Unsatisfactory thinking is inconsistent, ineffective; shows a lack of
consistent competence: is often unclear, imprecise, inaccurate,
and superficial


• Below Satisfactory thinking is unskilled and insufficient, marked by

imprecision, lack of clarity, superficiality, illogicality,
inaccuracy, and unfairness

•
www.criticalthinking.org

 Assignment
CIS 110 Critical Thinking Exercise

•
• Step 1
• What do we mean when we say a web site is creditable?
• What makes a web site creditable?
• Write a paragraph in your own words to answer these two
questions.
• Using your favorite search engine, find information about
how to determine the credibility of web sites.

•
• Two good sources are:
• 1 . Stanford Guidelines for Web Credibility at
• http://credibility.stanford.edu/guidelines/index.html and
• 2. Evaluating Web Pages: Techniques to Apply and
Questions to Ask
• http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Eva
 Assignment
CIS 110 Critical Thinking
• Step 2
Exercise
• Using the Internet, find three examples of articles, documentaries, or news
stories that deal with the verifying of facts and data on the Internet.
• Analyze your findings.
• Write a summary of each article or media piece.

•
• For each article, be sure you:
• • have a clear understanding of the issue.
• • identify and evaluate relevant major points of view.
• • accurately interpret statements, logic, data, facts, etc.
• • acknowledge the depth and breadth of the issue by recognizing related
theories,
• principles, or representations.
• • accurately identify assumptions, make valid assumptions.
• • follow where evidence and reason lead in order to obtain defensible, judicious,
logical
• conclusions.
• Each summary should be ½ to 1 page in length and include a works cited entry.
 Assignment
CIS 110 Critical Thinking
Exercise
Step 3


• Compose a 1 ½ to 2 page paper that

answers the question “What factors
influence how Internet users analyze and
evaluate the information they find
online?”
•
• For example, do older people with less Internet
experience tend to be more naïve about
Internet information than younger people who
have been raised on the Internet?
• Why or why not? Does educational level play a
role?
 The Elements of Thought

Points of Purpose of
View frame of the
reference, Thinking,
perspective, goal,
orientation objective

Assumptions Question at
presupposition, Issue
taking for problem, issue
granted

Concepts
theories,
Implication definitions,
s & axioms, laws,
Consequence principles, models
s
Informati
Interpretati on data,
on and facts,
Inference observatio
conclusions , ns,
solutions experience Printed with permission of Richard
Paul and Linda Elder, Foundation
s of Critical Thinking, from The
Miniature Guide to Critical
Thinking, Concepts & Tools
 Universal Intellectual Standards

Elaborate further?
Clarit example?
Give an

y mean?
Illustrate what you

Check on that?
Accurac that true?
Is

y Verify or
test that?

Precis Be more specific?

Give more
ion details?
Be more exact?

Printed with permission of

Richard Paul and Linda Elder,
Foundation of Critical Thinking,
from The Miniature Guide to
Critical Thinking,
Concepts & Tools
Releva Relate to the
problem? Bear on
nce the question?
Help with the issue?

Factors that make this a

Depth difficult problem?
Complexities of the question?
Difficulties we need to
deal with?

Breadt Look at this from another

perspective? Consider
h another point of view?
Look at this in
other ways?
 Does this make sense together?
Logic Does your first
paragraph fit with your last?
Does what you say follow from the
evidence?

Most important problem to

Signif consider? Central idea to focus
on?
icance Which facts are most important?

Fairne Any vested interest in this

issue? Taking into
ss account the thinking of others?
Examine my thinking for
prejudice?
 THE STANDARDS
clarity precision
accuracy significance
relevance completeness
Logicalness fairness must be
breadth depth applied
to

THE ELEMENTS
purposes inferences
as we questions concepts
learn points of implications
to view assumptions
develop information

INTELLECTUAL TRAITS
intellectual intellectual
humility perseverance
intellectual confidence in reason
autonomy intellectual empathy
intellectual fair-
integrity mindedness
intellectual
courage
Cognitive Skills that Underlie Critical Thinking

 1. Demonstrate  4. Appreciate depth

a clear and breadth of the
understanding of problem
the 
assignment’s
purpose
 5. Demonstrate

fair-mindedness
toward the problem
 2. Clearly define 
the issue or
problem
 6. Identify and

evaluate relevant
significant points of
 3.Accurately view
 Cognitive Skills that Underlie Critical
Thinking

7. Examine relevant points

 10.Include information that


of view fairly, opposes as well as

empathetically supports the argued

position

8. Gather sufficient,


credible, relevant 11.Distinguish between



information: information and

observations, inferences drawn from
statements, logic, data, that information
facts, 

12.Identify and accurately


9. Questions, graphs,
 explain/use relevant key
themes, assertions, concepts
descriptions, etc. 

13.Acurately identify


assumptions (things
 Cognitive Skills that Underlie
Critical Thinking

14. Make assumptions

 17.Make inferences that


that are consistent, are consistent with

reasonable, and valid each other
 

15. Follow where

 18.Identify the most


evidence and reason significant

lead in order to obtain implications and
defensible, thoughtful, consequences of the
logical conclusions or reasoning (whether
solutions positive and/or

negative)

16.Make deep rather


than superficial 19. Distinguish probable



inferences from improbable

Elements of Critical Thought
• Tolerance for
Ambiguity
•
• Very difficult for
younger students
•
• Requires flexibility in
life views
•
• Developmental
growth in
managing the
 Open-Minded Skepticism
• Overcoming
personal bias and
prejudice
•
•
• This means
suspending belief
—put aside
preconceived
ideas especially
about our
 Creative Problem Solving
• Look at it from
multiple
perspectives
•
• What we fail to see
can have
implications for
planning to prevent
problems and for
solving problems
that occur
•
• Example: Hurricane
Katrina
 There was a failure
 Attentive, Mindful and
Curious
• Intellectual
curiosity
•
• Pay attention to
our thoughts and
feelings
•
• Respect diversity
•
• Accepting all
possibilities when
 Collaboration
• An approach grounded
in shared
conversation and
community
•
• Dynamic objectivism—
recognizes the
difference between
our selves and
others as
opportunities for
deeper exploration
•
• Consideration as to
how the other
 Barriers to Critical Thought
• Resistance- Immaturity
—I’m not wrong
•
• Avoidance-hang with like
minded persons
•
• Anger-threats to silence
others
•
• Cliché-Don’t force your
views on me—
everything is relative
•
• Denial-ignore the truth—
 Barriers to Critical Thought
• Ignorance-lack of content
knowledge or
willingness to learn new
knowledge

•
• Conformity-I won’t be
accepted if I disagree

•
• Struggling to Act-Paralysis
by analysis

•
• Distractions-rather than
think we stay distracted

•
• Absolutism- authority has
 Barriers to Critical Thought
• Egocentrism-little regard
for other’s views

•
• Ethnocentrism-uncritical
and unjustified belief in
the superiority of one’s
group

•
• Anthropocentrism-Humans
are king-resources are
there for our use

•
• Rationalization- rush to
judgment, ignoring
competing claims

 Barriers Broken Down
• The use of
cognitive
dissonance and
social dissonance
to confront
barriers
•
• Introduce new
ideas that
directly conflict
with person’s
world view.
 Bibliography
• Barratt, J. (2009, August 10). A Plea for More Critical Thinking in Design, Please . Retrieved
September 5, 2009, from Fast Company:
http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/john-barratt/design-day/plea-more-critical-thinking-design-ple
• Boss, Judith. THINK Critical Thinking and Logic Skills for Everyday Life, 2010. McGraw Hill,
New York, NY
• Grotzer, T. A. (1996). Teaching Thinking Skills: Does It Add Up for Math and Science Learning?
Retrieved September 7, 2009, from Project Zero Harvard Graduate School of Education:
http://pzweb.harvard.edu/Research/MathSciMatters/BK2THKSKRv03.pdf
• Kennedy, M. L., & Jones, R. (2009, 6 15). Critical Thinking. Retrieved September 6, 2009,
from Special Libraries Association: http://www.sla.org/PDFs/SLA2009/2009_critical-
thinking.pdf
• Lee, B. (2007, March 30). Become a Critical Thinker. Retrieved September 6, 2009, from
Genius Types: http://geniustypes.com/become_a_critical_thinker/
• OXford University Press USA. (2009, July 13). Questions That Critical Thinking Will Help You
Answer. Retrieved September 6, 2009, from OUPblog:
http://blog.oup.com/2009/07/helping-professionals/
• Paul, R. (1992, April). Critical Thinking: Basic Questions & Answers. Retrieved September 4,
2009, from Foundation for Critical Thinking: http://www.criticalthinking.org/print-
page.cfm?pageID=409
• ReCAPP. (2009, September). Skills for Educators: Use of Critical Thinking Skills to Analyze
Health Disparities. Retrieved September 7, 2009, from Resource Center for Adolescent
Pregnancy Prevention: http://www.etr.org/recapp/index.cfm?
fuseaction=pages.EducatorSkillsDetail&PageID=98
• Robbins, S. (2005, 5 30). The Path to Critical Thinking. Retrieved September 7, 2009, from
Harvard Business School Working Knowledge for Business Leaders:
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/4828.html#1
• Surrey Community College. (2005). Why Critical Thinking? Retrieved September 7, 2009,
from Surry Community College: http://www.surry.edu/about/ct/why_ct.html