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