CTE: Teaching for Critical Thinking

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About Teaching: Teaching for Critical Thinking

The 1988 American Philosophical Association Delphi Report defines Critical Thinking as ‘purposeful, self regulatory judgment which results in interpretation, analysis, evaluation, and inference, as well as explanation of the evidential, conceptual, methodological, criteriological, or contextual considerations upon which that judgment is based.’

Learning to think critically is essential for preparing students for success in life; thus, there is wide consensus in academia about the necessity to teach students to develop and refine their competence in critical thinking. Teaching for critical thinking requires intentionality. This means that the instructor guides the student not just to master the disciplinary content but also to understand and evaluate the subject matter in order to make informed judgments and/or decisions.

Students who have acquired critical thinking skills engage with the subject matter in a number of ways that are described as

Purposeful and productive
Mindful of assumptions
Informed by multiple inputs
Contextual awareness
Based on evidence
Reasoned consideration
Recursive and evolving

Thus, students who think critically demonstrate a deep understanding, even ownership, of their knowledge. Bloom’s taxonomy of the cognitive domain provides a useful representation for the developmental nature of critical thinking and articulates the sequence of steps for teaching students to think critically.

Teaching for critical thinking requires you to be very deliberate in your approach. Whether (re)designing an assignment or an entire course, the first step is to identify clear student learning objectives related to the specific critical thinking skills you want to emphasize. (Note: these are often related to ways of thinking in your discipline.) You will want to consider your methods for student evaluation when you design the assignment/course. More specifically, you want to match your assessment to the student learning objective. For example, if you want students to develop their ability to apply theoretical knowledge, your exam questions and assignments should reflect this.

Teaching for critical thinking is challenging; remember that you can approach this incrementally as you become more familiar with this way of teaching.

Additional References on Critical Thinking

Bloom’s Taxonomy

(download pdf here)

LEVEL	DEFINITION	SAMPLE VERBS
REMEMBERING	Student is able to recall or recognize ideas, information, and principles that were learned.	Write List Label Describe State Find Define
UNDERSTANDING	Student is able to explain and comprehend ideas and concepts based on prior learning.	Summarize Paraphrase Compare Illustrate Infer Interpret
APPLYING	Student is able to select, transfer, and use data and principles to complete a task or solve a problem in another familiar situation.	Compute Solve Implement Demonstrate Apply Construct
ANALYZING	Student is able to break down knowledge into parts to explore understandings and relationships; sees how parts relate to each other and an overall structure/purpose.	Analyze Deconstruct Compare Contrast Distinguish Differentiate Organize
EVALUATING	Student is able to justify a decision or course of action through assessing and critiquing ideas and concepts using specific standards and criteria.	Recommend Critique Judge Hypothesize
CREATING	Student is able to develop, integrate, and combine ideas into a product, plan or way of viewing things that is new to him or her.	Construct Design Theorize Invent Synthesize

Adapted from Anderson, L. & Krathwohl, D. R. (2001). A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. Allyn & Bacon.

Bloom, B., Englehart, M. Furst, E., Hill, W., & Krathwohl, D. (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives: The classification of educational goals. Handbook I: Cognitive domain. New York, Toronto: Longmans, Green.

Krathwohl, D. R. (2002). A revision of Bloom’s taxonomy: An overview. Theory into Practice, 41(4), 212-218.

The Center for Teaching Excellence: George Mason University / Johnson Center 2nd Floor, Room 241 / Mailstop 4D6 / phone 703-993-8652 / email cte@gmu.edu / site last updated 08/25/2009