Teaching Critical Thinking Methodology
(TCTM)
Jacobus Boers
Senior Lecturer
Institute of International Business
Incorporating Critical Thinking and Writing Effectively in Your Course: Methods,
Measurements, and Managing resistance to critical thinking
FDC Workshop
Thursday, January 22, 2015

Critical Thinking
– What
• Contemporary Pedagogical Practice
– Significant Learning Experiences
• Social Media
• Guided Activity
• Peer Review

Jacobus Boers
Institute of International Business
Robinson College of Business
Subhashish
Samaddar
Department of Managerial Sciences
Robinson College of Business
Somnath
Mukhopadhyay
Department of Information and
Decision Sciences
College of Business Administration
Presented at:

Why Critical Thinking?
Motivation:
“… the ability to make meaning in more complex ways is directly related to one’s developmental stage. At higher levels of meaning-making, leaders become more effective. When leaders are more effective, organizations perform better.”
Flores, Matkin and Burbach (2012) examining the implications on leadership of students graduating with deficient critical thinking skills

Nickerson 2012
Olin's Approach and Experience with Critical Thinking
March 2011 AACSB Curriculum Development Symposium

Teaching Critical Thinking
Real-world or simulated real-world experiences appear to enhance the acquisition of thinking skills
(Staib 2003)
– important is that learners have the opportunity to engage in discussion of the challenges in these real-world or simulated scenarios
Four-part model for teaching critical thinking skills :
(Halpern 1998) a) modeling critical thinking and actively engaging in thoughtful responses b) an instructional module on critical thinking skills followed by practice c) course activities that facilitate the use of the skills across different contexts d) discussion of the process of thinking by students

Applying above four approaches in unstructured learning environment that involves ambiguous contexts rich with nuances and diverse actors
1. Development of systematic and generalizable approaches that enhance critical thinking skills
2. Collection of evidence and validate that critical thinking skills actually improve
Propose a Teaching Critical Thinking Methodology
(TCTM) that helps with these challenges…

Fusion of:
– In-class instructions
– Social media support:
• Divergent exploration of ideas
• Convergence in solution forming process
– Peer Review & Feedback
• Student reflection on evidence of CT
Objective: to effectuate and instill critical thinking ability in students

• Instructional Modules on critical thinking
– Elements of Critical Thinking
– Toulmin Model of Argument
– Library Information Literacy
• Series of focused, structured and repeated practice opportunities to develop necessary skills
– Social media offers rich, real-world examples and cases
– CTW Assignment Draft & Review Process
– Peer Review
• Draft 2 & 3 of CTW paper
• D2L (BrightSpace) Discussions
• Combined with the student-instructor interaction needed to develop critical thinking skills
• Describe and discuss the thinking processes in class

Fall 2013 Semester
Pre-
Test
Social Media
CT Module Rubric
Series of Focused Opportunities
Reflection on CT Process
Fall 2014 Semester
CT Module
Social Media
Rubric
Peer Review
CT Module Rubric
Series of Focused Opportunities
Reflection on CT Process
Post-
Test

Boers, Samadar, Mukhopadhyay Guided Social Media To Enable Critical Thinking

Learning processes need to be:
• Engaging and
• Involve high energy levels
– In order to Result in:
• Significant and lasting change
• Potential of high value in the life beyond the course
Creating Significant Learning Experiences Fink (2003)
Social media activity of many students:
• Engaging and
• Involve high energy levels
Question: How to use the engagement and high energy in social media activity to (a) create significant learning experiences and
(b) how to accurately assess the learning outcomes

Offers capabilities to enable critical analyses and deliberation during a problem solving process:
• Limitless, unstructured and sometimes chaotic idea generation thereby stimulating thought divergence
• Facilities for systematic recording and iteration, commenting and collaboration
• Facilities for obtaining feedbacks, acceptance or rejection of ideas, and a process of convergence to a solution

Essential element of the teaching task
• Traditional assessment
– Emphasizes the testing of student learning with significant emphasis on grades
• Classroom assessment
– Emphasizes learner-centered, teacher-directed activity that is mutually beneficial, formative, context-specific, ongoing and rooted in good practice
Angelo & Cross, 1993

• Change in assessment
– Norm-referenced to criterion-referenced
Smith 1997
• Assessment becomes a part of learning
William Campbell & Karl
– Students receive feedback that guides them in their learning
• Rubrics in the Assessment of Critical Thinking
– Critical Thinking Assessment Test (CAT)
• number of institutions and disciplines and validated
Stein & Haynes 2011
– Assess critical thinking skills of science students using articles from the popular press
Terry 2012
• Critical Thinking Analytic Rubric (CTAR) can be used by raters to score student work in a consistent manner
Saxton, Belanger & Becker 2012