NATIONAL CONSORTIUM FOR HEALTH SCIENCE EDUCATION
CURRICULUM CONFERENCE
Literacy Standards
and
Critical Thinking
Kristen C. Davidson
“Celebrating the Past --- Mapping the Future”
Denver, Colorado
October 15 - 17, 2014
"Critical thinking is
thinking
that assesses itself."
Center for Critical Thinking, 1996
The quality of our thinking
is largely reflected
in the quality
of our questions.
• Inquiry Based Learning
LITERACY STANDARDS IN ALL
CONTENT
Common Core
The Common Core State Standards are
education standards that were developed by
two national organizations in 2010 and adopted
by 45 states. Many of today’s educators are
looking to the standards as a guide toward
improving student learning and achievement.
COMMON CORE
The stated goal of the English and
Language Arts and literacy in History/Social
Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects
standards is to ensure that students are
college and career ready in literacy no
later than the end of high school.
CROSS-CURRICULAR GOAL
Literacy = Reading + Writing + Listening + Speaking
Help foster critical thought by:
Giving assignments that explicitly focus
on student thinking in directions that
require reasoning through a problem or
issue.
“Reading maketh a full man;
conference a ready man;
and writing an exact man.”
Francis Bacon, 1597
HOSA AND THE COMMON CORE
HOSA
Classroom
● Teacher Directed
● Student Directed
● Outcomes are required
● Students determine the
outcome
● Teacher tells students
what they need to know
● Part of the school
schedule
* HOSA is curricular
● Student determines what
he/she needs to know
● At school, after school, on
weekends and holidays
*See HOSA Competitive Events Resources
READING IN THE
CURRICULUM
The Common Core standards in
reading are designed to empower
students to read, and to read well,
the very foundation of success for
college, career, and life.
READING IDEA
Case Study /Discussion Method:
• The teacher presents a case to the class without a
conclusion.
• Using prepared questions, the teacher leads students
through a discussion, allowing students to construct a
conclusion for the case.
*Students write case study, scenario etc.
READING IDEA
Reader's Questions:
• Students write questions on assigned
reading.
• Teacher selects a few questions as the
main focus for class discussion.
• Questions may be used for assessment.
HOSA AND THE COMMON
CORE
Events that support Reading:
• Medical Reading
• Knowledge Tests
• HOSA Bowl
• Biomedical Debate
• Forensic Medicine
• Healthcare Issues Exam
WRITING IN THE
CURRICULUM
ARGUMENT IN WRITING
• Argument is a statement or proposition
with supporting evidence.
• Critical thinking involves identifying,
evaluating, and constructing arguments
that challenge the thinking process.
ARGUMENT, PERSUASION, OR PROPAGANDA?
Argument
Persuasion
Propaganda
Goal
Discover the “truth”
Promote an opinion on
a particular position
Offer “political
advertising” for a
particular position that
may distort the truth or
include false
information
General
Technique
Offers good reasoning
and evidence to
persuade an audience
to accept a “truth”
Uses personal,
emotional, or moral
appeal to convince an
audience to adopt a
particular point of view
Relies on emotions and
values to persuade an
audience to accept a
particular position
Methods
Considers other
perspectives on the
issue
May consider other
perspectives on the issue
Focuses on its own
message, without
considering other
positions
Offers facts that support
the reasons (in other
words, provides
evidence)
Predicts and evaluates
the consequences of
accepting the
argument
Blends facts and emotion
to make its case, relying
often on opinion
May predict the results of
accepting the position,
especially if the
information will help
convince the reader to
adopt the opinion
Relies on biases and
assumptions and may
distort or alter evidence to
make the case
Ignores the consequence
of accepting a particular
position
PARTS/TERMS OF ARGUMENTATION
• Claim - general statement in the argument that you are
asking people to accept
• Evidence/Data- support for the claim
• Reasoning/Warrant - explains why the evidence/data
supports the claim
• Counter Claim - objectively reporting on opposing
perspectives
CLAIM
A claim is the main point, the thesis, the hypothesis,
the controlling idea of an argument.
Students can find the claim by asking the question,
“What am I trying to prove?
What is my main point?”
EVIDENCE
Evidence is defined as the reasons given in support of
the claim. The support of a claim can come in the
form of:
• Facts and statistics
• Expert opinions
• Examples
• Explanations
• Logical reasoning
You can find support by asking, “What information do I need to
include to support my claim?”
WARRANT
The warrant explains why the evidence proves the
claim.
Writers should use a warrant to answer these questions:
• How does the evidence support the claim?
• What else must be true for this claim to hold up?
COUNTER CLAIM
• The counter claim looks at any
opposing perspectives.
• What claims exist that suggest something
different?
• Are there other solutions or opinions to the
stated claim?
(Five solutions to every problem)
WHY DOES THIS MATTER?
• Students need to be able to state a claim
clearly.
• Students need to be able to provide evidence
to support that claim.
• When students can both make claims and
then provide the evidence that backs up
those claims, they are demonstrating critical
thinking and learning.
WRITING
Use Writing as a way of:
• offering and supporting opinions
• demonstrating understanding
• conveying real and imagined
experiences
Use Writing Assignments to:
• developing critical thinking skills
• develop reasoning to argue both sides
of an issue.
• get to know your students.
WRITING ASSIGNMENT IDEA
Written dialogues:
1- Give students written dialogues to analyze.
2- Students identify the different viewpoints.
3- Students look for biases, evidence, alternative
interpretations, misstatement of facts, and errors in
reasoning.
4- Each group decides which view is the most reasonable.
5- After coming to a conclusion, each group acts out their
dialogue and explains their analysis.
WRITING ASSIGNMENT IDEA
Reciprocal Peer Questioning:
Following lecture, the teacher displays a list of question stems.
(such as, "What are the strengths and weaknesses of...)
Students write questions about the lecture material. In small
groups, the students ask each other the questions.
Then, the whole class discusses some of the questions from
each small group.
CLASSROOM ASSESSMENT TECHNIQUES (CATS):
Use ongoing classroom assessment to monitor and
facilitate students' critical thinking.
Students write a "Minute Paper" responding to
questions such as:
• What was the most important thing you learned in
today's class?
• What question do you have related to this lesson?
The teacher selects some of the papers and prepares
responses for the next class period.
* This assessment is similar to the Exit Ticket.
HOSA AND THE COMMON
CORE
Events that support Writing:
• Extemporaneous Writing
• Researched Persuasive Speaking
• Community Awareness
• National Recognition Program
• HOSA Week
LISTENING IN THE CURRICULUM
New technologies have broadened and
expanded the role that speaking and
listening play in acquiring and sharing
knowledge and have tightened their link
to other forms of communication.
(on-line education, ipad etc.)
LISTENING ACTIVITY IDEAS
• Case Studies read out loud
• Medical Terminology pronunciation practice with
partners
• Singing activities
• Medical dictation practice
• Patient history data collection
• Explanation of procedures
• Introductions and Closures
HOSA AND THE COMMON
CORE
Events that support Listening:
• Biomedical Debate
• Health Professions Events
Dental Science
Home Health Aide
Medical Assisting
Nursing Assisting
Physical Therapy
Sports Medicine
• Public Service Announcement
SPEAKING IN THE CURRICULUM
Students take part in a variety of rich, structured
conversations —as part of a whole class, in small groups,
and with a partner.
Students collaborate to answer questions,
build understanding, and solve problems.
SPEAKING ACTIVITY IDEA
Spontaneous Group Dialogue:
Students role play a discussion scenario. (patient, information
giver, opinion seeker, relative, healthcare worker)
Observer groups are formed with the functions of
determining what roles are being played by whom.
Purposes:
identify biases and errors in thinking
evaluate reasoning skills
examine ethical implications of the content
COOPERATIVE LEARNING
STRATEGIES
• Group learning situations are a great way to foster
critical thinking through speaking.
In cooperative learning environments,
students perform active critical thinking
with support and feedback from other
students and the teacher.
(Laboratory and Clinical Practice)
HOSA AND THE COMMON
CORE
Events that support Speaking:
• Health Professions Events
• Emergency Preparedness Events
• Prepared Speaking
• Job Seeking Skills
• Biomedical Debate
• Creative Problem Solving
• Health Education
• Career Health Display
CRITICAL THINKING PROCEDURE
Critical thinking makes use of many
procedures.
• These procedures include:
asking questions
making judgments
identifying assumptions
USE ARGUMENTATION TO DEVELOP
CRITICAL THINKING
• How can health science teachers develop critical thinking
skills in students?
• How can health science teachers utilize formative and
summative assessments to measure student progress?
• How can departments collaborate together to cultivate
the teaching, learning, and assessing of this skill?
CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS
• Knowledge
• Comprehension
• Application
• Analysis
• Synthesis
• Evaluation
Bloom’s Taxonomy
CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS
PYRAMID
HANDOUT
BRAINSTORM
Identify the lesson topics
you teach
that lend themselves
to teaching
critical thinking skills.
Knowledge Comprehension Application Analysis Synthesis Evaluation
•Think ● Pair ● Share
DISCUSSION GROUPS
Form Five groups:
• Questions assigned
• Discuss the question with your group
• Designate a reporter for the group
• Share your ideas, comments, ideas and
observations
TEACHING AND ASSESSING
CRITICAL THINKING IN
HEALTH SCIENCE
1- What do we want students to know and be able
to do with critical thinking?
2- How will we know if the student learned the
critical thinking skills taught?
3- What are the best ways to teach
what students need to know and be
able to do with critical thinking?
TEACHING AND ASSESSING
CRITICAL THINKING IN
HEALTH SCIENCE
4- How can health science instructors
collaborate to improve learning critical thinking
skills?
5- How can we collaborate across the curriculum
in our schools?
Questions
Kristen C. Davidson
Career and Technical Education Coordinator
Northridge High School
Layton, Utah
kdavidson@dsdmail.net