Increasing Critical Thinking
Among Future ESL Teachers
LTE Conference
June 2, 2007
Minneapolis, MN
Nancy Drescher and Jessica Schomberg
Minnesota State University, Mankato
Overview
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Context of the Research
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Explanation of Select Activities
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Researchers
Methods Course
Framework for Critical Thinking
Problem Solving Scenario
Research Project
Unit Plan
Quizzes
Self Assessment
Results/Discussion
we should be wary of embracing any of these
ideas wholesale and assuming that by
implementing them we absolve ourselves of
responsibility for further critical thought and
decision-making. Above all, we should be
careful not to assume that one set of recipes
will work for all learners, all teachers, all
contexts
(Bowen and Marks, 1994, p. 12).
Critical Thinking (www.criticalthinking.org)
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Critical thinking is the art of taking control of
one’s thinking.
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Critical thinking means continually bringing
thinking to the conscious level assessing it,
identifying it’s flaws, and then reconstructing
it.
Problem solving scenario
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An ESL teacher works in 4 different schools, etc.
The problem:
 she needs to connect with the larger community of ESL teachers
but rarely has any scheduled time to meet with the teachers
 she wants to ‘conduct research’ but barely has time to plan her
classes.
 she doesn’t have time to build relationships; on most days she
spends her lunch hour driving from one building to the next,
eating her lunch on the road.
 she is not keeping up to date with her teaching, but she doesn’t
know how to make time to go to conferences or read enough
articles/books. She doesn’t even really know where to look for
articles and books.
 She spends so much time working that she is neglecting her
family and doesn’t want to take any more time away from them.
She thinks that if she doesn’t change things, she will soon be
drained and have to switch careers even though she loves her
students and can’t imagine doing anything else.
Argument Mapping
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When I was making an argument map, it
forced me not only to organize my thoughts
and reasons, but also to organize what her
problems and concerns are. Sometimes,
when I argue, I tend to think the issue as my
issue. However, when I look at the map, I
could see what MARY wants, rather than
what I want.
Research Project
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3 choices for project (action research, case
study, clinical option)
Used Elements of Reasoning Wheel to
examine thinking prior to research
Critical Thinking Approach to Conducting
Interviews (practice)
Increased input on how to locate, obtain, and
critically evaluate research
Critical Thinking Wheel
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“it helped me to understand the things I have to
include in my research process and research
question.”
“It was a great way for me to be able to see where I
was at in forming my project and what I needed to
plan better. It helped me a lot in forming how I
thought about the project and comparing it to others
and what approach they were taking to the project.”
“It was a good visual aid and a guide for thinking ….
It made me think of things that I normally wouldn’t
have thought of...”
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state the interview's purpose
research the topic
select interviews
structure the interview
conduct the interview
prepare the report
(www.criticalthinking.org)
Practice Interviewing
Stage 1 in the information interview is determining the purpose.
Read the interview below. What could the researcher say in the
beginning to clarify the purpose? How does the project manager
contribute to the confusion? What would you do differently as
interviewer? Interviewee?
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Researcher: So you're a project manager here at High Tech Corp.?
Project Manager: Yes.
Researcher: I'm here to ask you some questions about what you do here.
Project Manager: Okay. (Looks at watch.)
Researcher: Let me set my tape recorder on your desk. Where's the nearest
outlet?
Project Manager: You're taping this interview?
Researcher: Yeah, I tape all my interviews. I already cleared it with your
supervisor.
Project Manager: Oh, okay.
Researcher: First question: What do you do here?
Project Manager: I'm the project manager for high-end website development.
Library Research
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Library catalog
Library databases (ERIC, LLBA)
Websites (NetTrekker, Educator’s Reference Desk)
How to evaluate research articles, websites, etc.
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Purpose of student’s research
Purpose of writer/publisher
Currency of research
Register (scholarly)
Bibliography
Troubleshooting
Library Research
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this class has really helped me find and
evaluate resources that I find on the Internet.
Prior to this class, I would have used just
about any resource I could find on the
Internet for a project. Now I understand that
you have to look at the resource and find out
how valid the information or research is in it
before using it.
Unit Plan
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Create a Unit Plan for a specific group of
Language Learners that includes specific
focus on increasing their critical thinking in
addition to a clearly organized content driven
unit of study
Unit Plan
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In terms of the unit plan: “Most of our objectives and goals
focused on the critical thinking wheel, asking the questions and
being to answer them within the framework of our unit plan. As it
progressed, it became an incredible learning experience to be
able to coordinate our separate viewpoints, to organize our
lesson plans and most important, to create a meaningful and
effective unit plan structure which was relevant.”
On many occasions while writing the unit plan, my brain hurt from
trying to manage all the different pieces that were involved. I
think that this stress is / was a good indicator that the critical
thinking process was taking place. During the process, we also
had to re-evaluate our goals and adapt our assignments and our
lessons to suit these goals.
Bloom’s Taxonomy
Student Comment
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My unit plan group tried to use critical
thinking skills in our lesson plans because we
know that that’s the most important thing we
can teach our students. We don’t want them
to just measure a bunch of facts about the
content; we want them to be able to think
critically about it!
Quizzes
Included hypothetical situations and case
studies
 I am getting the most critical thinking practice
in completing the quizzes. I try to answer the
questions by considering all different facets of
the question. These quizzes force me to
address the problem from a holistic
perspective and explore how the broader
solution still needs explanation for how it can
be applied on a smaller (micro) level.
And Some Just Missed the Whole Point
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it is very possible that I have no idea what critical thinking is. It
is evaluating and judging, right?... I didn’t understand the
“thinking wheel” and would not know how to apply it to a
class. I think the main problem with that activity was that the
purpose of the activity was not very clear. I remember it as
being something along the lines of use critical thinking to
come up with a topic for your research project. Anyway, that
was lost on me because I thought the purpose of the
observation was to observe. So right away I was like, “What
do I need to figure out here? I want to see how you teach
adult ESL students.
I did not use the critical thinking wheel, mapping exercise, or
Bloom’s taxonomy. I did not feel that I needed to use the
above activities to help me think critically. I feel that I already
have a good grasp on that and therefore did not need to use
the above as references.
Conclusions
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The activities did increase students attention to their
own thinking in many instances.
The increased attention to critical thinking helped
many students produce higher quality work
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Better resources
More focused research projects/clinical experiences
Increased focus on critical thinking and higher level
processes for unit plans and quiz responses
A very few students seemed unengaged from
beginning to end. Producing mediocre work and
seeing no point in thinking critically. They wanted
the recipe.