1
Critical thinking ... what is the question?
A workshop for lecturers, learning developers and other professionals in
higher education
Discussion questions to accompany slide 8

In your view can thinking be taught independently of a particular
subject?

Is critical thinking mostly to do with cognitive skills? Does affect
(emotion or psychological state) have a role in thinking?

What is the role of language – social or regional dialect, or
subject-specific language – in the development of critical
thinking?
Andrews (2010) refers to his study suggesting that:

First year students believe argument to be important in the disciplines, though
there is some confusion as to what the term means and how it applies to
particular disciplines

Students feel the need for more explicit instruction (in developing argument)

Students tend to draw on argumentation skills learned in the previous stage of
formal education

Most students are not sceptical in their academic reading

Differences among institutions, disciplines and individual lecturers are highly
significant

There is a mismatch between the way lectures and students see argument

If argument is formally assessed it is more highly valued by students
PTO
2
Argument in Biology
Andrews (2010) studied argument in three disciplines: history, biology and
electronics. Participants may find the following extract useful for their discussions:
In biology the view of some lecturers is that students cannot know enough at
undergraduate level to argue a position. The work of the undergraduate years is to
build up a knowledge of the field. The provision of evidence is more a matter of
testing given concepts via the classic ‘scientific method’ rather than testing new
ideas. So biology students are more concerned with fair tests, confirming existing
truths, undertaking and getting used to empirical testing, building up content
knowledge, and applying existing theory and concepts to practical situations. The
practice of academic argument is a distant prospect for most biology
undergraduates; they still tend to see argument in terms of everyday disputes rather
than academic development, so some of them are not sure they want to stray too far
into the territory of argument. For biology majors or those for whom biology is the
main subject, the confidence comes from feeling that this is your discipline
(especially when combined with chemistry, say, in a biochemistry course) means
that argumentation can begin to function. This increasing confidence is an interesting
phenomenon suggesting that the varying competence in two disciplines brings about
a leap forward in argumentational confidence in the major of those two subjects.
Where argumentation does appear in biology, it is in the latter stages of the
undergraduate years and takes the form of essay writing or small group tutorials. It
also varies according to the preferences of the particular lecturer; some are more
open to debate about aspects of biology, wishing to relate the discipline to ethical,
political and other real-world issues. ... students have to gauge the institutional,
disciplinary and personal predilections of their lectures for argument.
Where biology programmes have compulsory modules or courses in scientific and
transferable skills or their equivalent, there is scope for exploring the demands of
argument in the discipline. Furthermore the discourses of science at undergraduate
level are made explicit and are open to experimentation and discussion. Much will
depend on whether students come to university with a wide range of discourse skills
or whether they are straight-down-the-line scientists and/or mathematicians.
Students mentioned that a background in history and biology trained them in essay
writing, so they felt at ease with the construction of arguments in biology.
(In general) ... argument is therefore subjugated at undergraduate level to hypothesis
testing and the rather looser exploration of the application of biological knowledge in
society. Part of this situation stems from the fact that although the language plays a
major part in the formulation of biological thinking and expression, biologists tend not
to see the part that language plays. Rather their focus is on the concepts,
procedures and practices that make up the subject.
Extract from Andrews, Richard (2010) Argumentation in Higher Education. P. 63-4