(This page can be accessed at http://bit.ly/CTMay15)
Visual Aids
Handout
Practice run of the interactive lecture

Critical thinking as a journey

SMART Assignment Design Workshop, May 20, 2015

This interactive lecture explores the implications of defining critical thinking as understanding ideas and practices better by holding them in tension with alternatives and of viewing each student's development as a journey. Audience members will leave with their own short checklist of tools and processes to put into practice, including ways of assessing their professional development as teachers of critical thinking.

Peter J. Taylor, Univ. of Massachusetts Boston
http://www.faculty.umb.edu/peter_taylor

Critical & Creative Thinking graduate program, http://www.cct.umb.edu
Science in a Changing World graduate track, http://www.cct.umb.edu/sicw

Handbook of tools & processes, Taylor, P. J., & Szteiter, J. (2012). Taking Yourself Seriously: Processes of Research and Engagement. Arlington, MA: The Pumping Station: http://bit.ly/TYS2012

“What we can measure is by definition uninteresting and what we are interested in is by definition unmeasurable"
Lewontin, R. C. (1974). The Genetic Basis of Evolutionary Change. New York: Columbia University Press.

Direct approaches to Teaching Critical Thinking
Feuerstein method, http://www.icelp.info/
Richard Paul, http://www.criticalthinking.org
Wanda Teays (2009), Second Thoughts: Critical Thinking for a Diverse Society, McGraw-Hill Education

Process themes
a. Participants [students] always bring a lot of knowledge about the topic, so allow that to be brought to surface and acknowledged.
b. What you really learn from a workshop or participatory experience [or class] is what you integrate with your own history and concerns.
c. Before you simply push ahead, clear mental and/or emotional space to allow ideas about an issue to begin to come to the surface.

Tool 1: Guided (topic-based) freewriting
Elbow, P. 1981. Writing with Power. NY: Oxford U. P.
Taylor, P. J., & Szteiter, J. (2012). Taking Yourself Seriously and http://www.faculty.umb.edu/peter_taylor/Freewriting.html

Tool 2: Think-Pair-Share
Taylor, P. J., & Szteiter, J. (2012). Taking Yourself Seriously and http://www.faculty.umb.edu/peter_taylor/ThinkPairShare.html

1995 quote, “In a sense subscribed to by all teachers, critical thinking means that students are bright and engaged, ask questions, and think about the course materials until they understand well-established knowledge and competing approaches….
+ Critical Thinking as a Journey
Taylor, P. J., "We Know More Than We Are, At First, Prepared To Acknowledge: Journeying to Develop Critical Thinking" (2002). Working Papers in Critical, Creative and Reflective Practice. Paper 1. http://scholarworks.umb.edu/cct_ccrp/1

How do we know we have global environment problems?
Taylor, P. J. (1997). How do we know we have global environmental problems? Undifferentiated science-politics and its potential reconstruction. In P. J. Taylor, S. E. Halfon, & P. E. Edwards (Eds.), Changing Life: Genomes, Ecologies, Bodies, Commodities pp. 149-174). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Simple theme to open up complex issues. Chapter 6 in Taylor, P. J. (2005). Unruly Complexity: Ecology, Interpretation, Engagement. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

6-part schema, “Acknowledge affect,…” Taylor, P. J., & Szteiter, J. (2012) and http://www.faculty.umb.edu/peter_taylor/MakingSpace.html

4Rs, Taylor, P. J., & Szteiter, J. (2012) and Taylor, P. J., Fifield, S. J., & Young, C. C. (2011). Cultivating Collaborators: Concepts and Questions Emerging Interactively From An Evolving, Interdisciplinary Workshop. Science as Culture, 20, 89-105.

“Related challenges,” Coda in Taylor, P. J., "We Know More Than We Are, At First, Prepared To Acknowledge..”
(viewable at http://www.faculty.umb.edu/peter_taylor/journey.html#challenges)

Tool 3: Plus-Delta
Taylor, P. J., & Szteiter, J. (2012) and http://www.faculty.umb.edu/peter_taylor/PlusDelta.html

Feedback on presentation (from 13 of c. 30 participants)

Plus	The schema of 5 themes. Loved the example of your biology class--the question, the islands.	Delta	The power points are not engaging and hard to understand. They need more work. Also your first couple schemas are not entirely useful to us. The schema on critical thinking was useful--wish we heard more about that.
Plus	Concrete experience and examples, great ideas to consider, resources for later,	Delta	I would have liked more time - it felt rushed. More time to hear from other participants, specifically start with who we are and what we hope to get out of the day( maybe before the lunch so we could network then?)
Plus	he stimulated a lot of creative thinking about critical thinking	Delta	offer more real-life academic examples
Plus	Made me think about the nature of direct vs. indirect approaches to critical thinking. Really liked the metaphor of the tension	Delta	Unsure how to relate this to the program today (but don't mind)
Plus	Tension as a model was helpful, as were definitions of direct & indirect pathways to outcomes. Such framing of ideas--always!	Delta	Simpler for a short time frame. ppt slides must not be heavy in text (make them more powerful with images)
Plus	You are making us responsible for our own learning. "Here are some thoughts on critical thinking."	Delta	Just tell me more & give me more! (This is sort of a joke. I know that it is good for me that I have to move forward + learn more on my own so I can integrate it into my classes--my topic--my students--their needs. Yet I feel unsure, whichI don't like.
Plus	You modeled what you are encouraging us to do ("walked the talk")	Delta	Develop visual aids/charts further so we can better see their value
Plus	Superior approaches to critical & creative thinking Succinct phrases & sentences & definitions of what's hard to define Recognition of both direct &indirect pathways Good acknowledgement of tensions & alternatives Value of questioning & exploring, not blanket accepting	Delta	--
Plus	Resources -> ambient information	Delta	Clearer explanation of specific concepts Clarify examples
Plus	Reinforcing that critical thinking is a journey, not necessarily goal oriented	Delta	Perhaps allow for a longer period to hear individual feedback from the freewriting and plus-delta
Plus	Very good review	Delta	More time with reflection built into the separate sections
Plus	Got 2 good ideas to integrate into my class: more purposeful reflection journals; having students comment on each other's presentations	Delta	More time
Plus	Plus-delta activity for assessing critical thinking (indirect paths)	Delta	More opportunity for interacting with assessing indirect paths