Overview
Working through problems and becoming a critical thinker are important life skills, essential for college and career success. The resources and activities in this section introduce students to traditional and current types of critical thinking and help them reflect on these skills, including deductive reasoning, distinguishing between facts and opinions, thinking through the problem solving steps, and identifying barriers that move us away from reason and critical thought, including biases.
Objectives
Students should be able to:
- Describe the problem solving method and apply the method to various scenarios;
- Define critical thinking and explain how decision making and understanding one’s, biases applies to college, career, and life situations;
- Distinguish between fact and opinion by verifying information;
- Create thoughtful questions to provoke engaging discussion, and
- Recognize a syllogism and test whether or not it leads to logical conclusions.
Introductory Questions
- How would you define critical thinking? What are some examples from your academic and personal life that exemplify times when you’ve used critical thinking?
- How can you tell the difference between a factual statement and an opinion? How would I determine whether it is or is not true?
- What is an expert? Name some examples of people that you consider to be an expert.
- What are some examples of biased thinking that you’ve encountered?
- Does my sense of identity in any way depend on the supposed truth of my assumption? What are the implications of that?
Suggested Class Sequence(s)
Class sequences are connected topics with activities, worksheets, and readings which take two or more days of class to complete.
In this sequence students define and practice components of critical thinking and problem solving. They learn to distinguish between fact and opinion to evaluate information and also identify how confirmation bias creates barriers to critical thought.
Videos
Short videos help tap into multiple modes of learning and can provide a good introduction to a topic. Use captioning when possible.
- Critical Thinking video (~5 min.)
Introduces different types of critical thinking and why they are important. Can be paired with Introduction to Critical Thinking activity. - “Sherlock Holmes NEVER ‘Deduced’ Anything” video (~30 mins)
Provides a primer with examples on the differences between deductive, inductive, and abductive reasoning. Should be broken into shorter clips and can be paired with Abductive and Deductive Reasoning activity.
Readings
All readings should be paired with a structure or protocol, especially if any reading will be completed in class.
- What Does It Mean to Be a Critical Thinker? article
Provides an introduction to traditional and recent approaches to critical thinking, including logic and fallacies and evidence and statistics. Paired with Introduction to Critical Thinking activity. - What is Expertise and Why Is It Important? article
Discusses expertise, how we can tell if someone is an expert, and why we are sometimes correctly skeptical of experts. - Problem Solving Chapter
The sections on “Determining the Problem” and “Defending against Bias”” in this reading are paired with the Problem Solving activity. - How to Make Tough Career Decisions article
Applies decision making skills by outlining the steps needed to thoughtfully and systematically decide on a career. - Making an Argument Chapter
Discusses and gives examples of the elements of an argument and how to turn that information into a paper.
Activities
Activities include individual or group tasks that can be completed in less than one class period; some activities may be repeated in a sequence and are re-listed here for ease of access.
- Introduction to Critical Thinking
Introduces students to the concept of critical thinking through reading various texts and watching the Critical Thinking video and asks them to reflect on which ideas apply to their own lives. - Academic Discussion Circle
Promotes critical thinking through academic discussion on thought-provoking texts. Students each write and share a discussion question about the text, follow guidelines, take notes and reflect on the conversation. Sample texts are provided. - What is Expertise?
Students read, answer questions and discuss expertise, including how we can tell if someone is an expert, and why we are and sometimes should be skeptical of experts. - Fact vs. Opinion
Students read and practice distinguishing between facts and opinions and then evaluate graphs showing what percentage of Americans are able to accurately identify a fact. - Confirmation Bias
Students try to solve a NYTimes puzzle to demonstrate how confirmation bias affects us when we’re trying to problem solve. - Problem Solving
Students read the Problem Solving Chapter to learn strategies and barriers to critical thinking and then use this knowledge to work through different scenarios. - Abductive and Deductive Reasoning
Provides a framework for logical thinking by defining and walking through examples of this type of reasoning. - Argument from Evidence
Students practice drawing conclusions from evidence by conducting research and gathering evidence to their own questions on a current issue.
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