Critical Thinking in the College Classroom

Portfolios collect many assignments and reflections that accrue around a student-chosen theme. At the end of the semester, an integrative reflection essay rounds out the portfolio. Require students to turn in portfolios at least once early in the semester, so they cannot save all the portfolio work until the last minute. From experience, Dr. jay Banner, Jackson School of Geosciences, has learned a valuable lesson about what kinds of autonomy students should be given and what kinds they should not.

Use learning portfolios as a place for to have an ongoing conversation with a student about the student's work. Portfolios can simply be a binder that is turned in, marked up, and returned at several points in the semester. The unique value of portfolios is the improvement over time they document for both the teacher and student. Dr. David laude, College of Natural Sciences, explains how he uses portfolios in his class to track students' growth across the semester.

Explain the scientific peer review process to students. Form research teams in class, each of which has to write a research proposal. Distribute these proposals to other students in class, to review and critique. Dr. David Laude, College of Natural Sciences, helps students learn the scientific review process by living it themselves.

Reflective listening involves "parroting" back some of what was said, in order to probe for more information about it. This probing demonstrates sincere attention and a desire to fully understand. This probing stimulates a reflective moment that helps move students deeper into the material. This video shows how Dr. Lori Holleran-Steiker, School of Social Work, helps her students learn this powerful engagement strategy to become counselors.

To allow for genuine reflection, you must provide a structured opportunity for it to happen. A reflection notebook can be a place where students make written connections between course content and the rest of their lives. Collect and return student notebooks frequently, commenting upon their writing with adhesive "stickies" instead of writing in their notebook. Using stickies enables students to use your previous comments as objects of reflection in future reflective writings. Commenting upon students' writing is important, and Chris Bell has found a way to enrich those written conversations by making them self-referential.

The purpose of higher education is to produce citizens who can think independently. In high school science, students often follow lab manuals with little understanding of what they are doing. Reflection can prepare students to engage each other while they grapple with course material. Structuring reflection into class is critical to our educational mission. Chris Bell, Jackson School of Geosciences, shares what that looks like in his classroom.

To minimize the assumptions that students bring to a case, assign them cases that occurred before they were born. Have students research the case in specific ways to determine "what happened." To stimulate learning transfer across contexts, ask students to find a contemporary case that has much in common with the old one, and compare / contrast the two cases. Ted Aanstoos discusses how he chooses cases for his students to analyze, evaluate, and integrate.

Concrete examples are critical for teaching abstract concepts. Both real and fictional cases can be useful, but often need explanation about unfamiliar settings and characters. Concrete examples can require detailed, backstory explanation. Dr. Dan Bonevac explains where he found ready-made cases his students already know.

Give students a choice between 3 or 10 extra credit points on the final exam. For every person who chooses 10, everyone in class loses one-quarter point. It is the additive effect which hurts. Give students opportunities to re-make the decision, paralleling modern-day resource and climate negotiations. Dr. Jay Banner, from the Jackson School of Geosciences, tells how a resource-depletion story pales in comparison to making students live it, with real grade points attached.

Ethical dilemmas occur when two "rights" oppose each other. Even coming to a common identification of an ethical problem can be quite difficult. Students come to class with an accutely developed sense of "fair play." Leverage this sensibility to begin discussion by asking student who in a given case is being treated unfairly. Ted Aanstoos explains how ethical discussions are difficult, but he taps into an acute sensibility that students already possess.

Acknowledge to students that their opinions are understandable, given their own unique experiences. Help them understand other people have had different experiences, and therefore have different opinions. Asking students how they think these differences might be handled helps them understand the conflict as complex, and not just argue for their side. Dr. Bill Winslade explains how opening students' eyes to many perspectives on an emotional issue can be tricky and how he does it in the classroom.

In a case with conflict, ask students to identify what conflicting values are in play. Having identified the values, ask them to identify situational reasons for why one value might take priority. Ask them what about the situation would have to change for value priorities to change. Dr. Bill Winslade discusses how he tackles emotional topics by illuminating the logics underlying the conflict generating the emotion.

Students often must be told that most problems can have more than one solution. Encourage brainstorming to extreme lengths, in order to stimulate creativity. Require students to work individually first, so they all bring something unique to the conversation when they come together. Dr. Brad Love, College of Communication, discusses how he confronts his students with the reality of their own divergent thinking, and only then asks them to synthesize a "best" answer.

Once students have acquired knowledge of many approaches, present them with cases for application. Add evolving features to the case, requiring new approaches as the case unfolds. At this point, you are teaching "teachability." Dr. Lori Holleran-Steiker discusses how critical thinkers adjust their approach as the nature of the problem is revealed. Teaching students to "switch gears" can help them generate increasingly effective solutions.

Important issues are complex issues. First-year students have prepared for college with mostly multiple-choice, right/wrong instruction. Working through complexity is a large developmental step for students. Dr. Chris Bell, Jackson School of Geosciences, discusses what a few teachers have learned about moving students out of dualistic, right-wrong thinking.

Using an overhead projector, many students can participate in peer editing at once. This can be done with a tablet computer or even transparency and marker. All identification should be removed from the paper being edited. At first, students can be shy about a new activity like this, but they warm up once they feel it is safe to learn from each other. Dr. Wally Fowler, from the Cockrell School of Engineering, explains that to be a good writer, you must be a good editor. Here's how he helps his students learn both skills at once.

First, let students "get their feet wet" and learn basic information literacy skills. Second, prompt them to begin working analytically with specific pieces of content. Third, let them to embark upon their own research to critically evaluate what they find in a scholarly manner. Dr. Chiu-Mi Lai, discusses how she organizes her course into three sections, which build into critical intellectual exchange among students.

Divide class into many groups, each with different values and needs. Require the groups come to consensus on a statement about something that brings their conflicts to the fore. This is a creative adaptation of Constructive Controversy. Dr. Sonia Seeman, Butler School of Music, discusses her creative approach to putting students in the shoes of competing factions who have to generate a joint statement upon which they can all agree.

Students must trust that the classroom environment is supportive and that your feedback is only to help them improve. Keep in ming that developing and refining a big idea over time is new to most first-year students. Students need a foundation of knowledge upon which to be creative, so look to creative figures and events in history to inspire them. Brad Love, College of Communication, discusses how he gets his students comfortable with ideas, mixing ideas, and creating new ideas.

Help students see that the toughest problems are solved by people who do not think like everyone else. Show students examples of historical "rebels" to help them find confidence in their own independent thinking. "Walk the walk" yourself by allowing for polite rebellion in your own teaching. Dr. Larry Speck discusses how he promotes rebellion as a virtue in creative thought, and must manage the situation when one of his students "rebels" against his testing format.

Making an inference is drawing a conclusion from a body of information. Often this information includes many unstated assumptions. Observations are not purely objective: the assumptions we bring to a situation change the meaning of the evidence we observe. Dr. Dan Bonevac discusses the role assumptions play in logical conclusion, and how assumptions influenced our scientific understanding of the nature of fire.

Non-majors usually take 2-3 introductory classes in a discipline. Introductory classes tend to be fact-transmission based. This means non-majors do not get exposed to the process of science. It is important to show non-majors that science is engaged, interactive, and constantly changing by shifting from fact-transmission to giving them something to do in each class. Chriss Bell, describes how he has his students DO science in class whenever he can.

Dr. Cassandra Delgado-Reyes discusses Eloois, the scientific method game. Eloosis is a game in which students make repeated observations in pursuit of discovering a pattern. The game uses a standard deck of cards. Students lay down one card at a time, and are told whether or not that card fits a pattern known only to you (e.g., even-odd-even-odd). Use scientific language like "collecting data" and "hypothesis testing" as they play the game. Require students to analyze the data they collect and make inferences to generate hypotheses. After several rounds, students will shift from caring about "winning" to caring about testing and building their knowledge base.

Early in the semester, give a lecture that illustrates a well-organized argument: overtly identifying your thesis, your supporting evidence, etc.. A few lectures later, do not identify those things for your students. After the lecture, have students work in small groups to indentify the structure of the lecture for you, and even critique the strength of the argument. Alan Constant, with the UT Learning Center, gives a brief description of how to identify the structure of your own lecture and then ask your students to begin finding that structure themselves.

When analyzing something, one identifies how the parts of something relate to its whole. "Pros and cons" is a phrase familiar to students that you can use to help them begin thinking in this way. For any case or issue, ask students to identify the pros and cons of various perspectives on the issue. This can help them understand the complex nature of most controversies. Dr. Dan Bonevac discusses how discussion assignments based on the familiar "pros and cons" format can help students sharpen their analytical skills.

When analyzing something, one identifies how the parts of something relate to its whole. Helping students question the "parts" and "wholes" in their lives can lead them to a more nuanced understanding of the world. Ask students to interview the people in their lives, to help reveal to them the variations that exist where they might have assumed uniformity. Experiences and examples of cross-culturalism can help students question the "given" categories in the world. Dr. Sonia Seeman, Butler School of Music at UT, discusses how she exposes students to the differences in perspective that exist in the world, even within the people in their own daily lives.

Give students exposure to several cause-effect hypotheses and the primary source data that supports those hypotheses. Ask students to make an argument for one of the cause-effect hypotheses using primary data as evidence. Now ask the students to turn the argument back on themselves, and where the weaknesses are in their arguments for which they cannot account. Chris Bell, Jackson School of Geosciences, discusses developing students' intellectual flexibility by having them build cases for a cause-effect hypothesis, then have them probe other hypotheses and the weaknesses of their own arguments.

Ask students to write creatively from the point of view of someone in a situation involving concepts from your discipline. Tapping creative energies can help students intuitively understand cause-and-effect situations. Students can make connections clear to each other in ways that might not occur to us as faculty members. Dr. Pat Davis, from the UT School of Pharmacy, discusses how cause-and-effect thinking can be stimulated by this unique writing assignment and peer evaluation process.

Distinguishing correlation from causation can be quite difficult. It is important to sensitize students to this difficulty, as the difference between them can be used to fool people. Show students bad arguments and good ones, and give them practice turning bad arguments into good ones. Chris Bell, teacher in the Jackson School of Geosciences, discusses some ways to get students thinking about the quality of causal inferences and how to detect intellectual "cheap shots."

For 30-40 pages of reading, assign one page of writing due the day of class discussion. This must not summarize or evaluate, but instead discuss what it made the students think about in their own lives. These are higher quality and fun to read and grade than traditional writing assignments. Dr. Larry Speck discusses how to engage students in class readings with these brief writing assignments that demand divergent thinking.

To create a dynamic learning environment, you must engage students from the very first day. Connecting students to each other helps create classroom community. Authenticity, openness, and commitment to the students are the hallmarks of good facilitation. You do not have much time to set students' expectations for engagement. Three teachers, David laude, Chris Bell and Lori Holleran share how they do it.

"Informal writing" describes low-stakes writing assignments used to stimulate thought (e.g., ask only for "observations"). Ask students to respond to concrete prompts at first, then use their responses to springboard into discussion of abstract concepts. Chiu-Mi Lai, discusses how brief moments of low-stakes writing in class can lead students from their own concrete observations into conceptual course material.

In large classes, clickers can help activate learning by requiring students to reflect upon an issue and make decisions about it. To motivate engaged thinking, ask provocative questions. Student responses can give you important feedback about students' understanding of the material. Starting with questions about specifics cases can get students engaged, then the topic can be broadened in class discussion. Dr. Jacqueline Angel, LBJ School of Public Affairs, discusses using "Clickers" for large-classroom discussion.

Lori Holleran discusses how calling attention to good thinking as it is happening can support students' growth into their own new perspectives. Engage students right when you see they are integrating their own interests with course material. In these moments, help them feel safe to be uncertain, and to explore their own doubts and questions.

Alan Constant, of the UT Learning Center, discusses the Conrell note-taking method. Despite what we may assume, students do not all arrive on campus knowing how to take good notes. The Cornell note-taking system involves saving space on the left margin and at the bottom of a page. These spaces can be used to summarize and predict test questions about the content on that page.

Beth Moreno, for the UT Learning Center discusses how students think about "learning" when they arrive on campus, and what you can do in the classroom to help them think like a junior colleague.

Martha Maas, for the UT Learning Center, discusses how spending a few minutes telling your students how to study in science can make a world of difference. Here's what you can tell them.

Dr. Larry Speck discusses the importance of personalizing critical thinking and how to inspire independent thought by connecting characteristics of historical thinkers to students' own lives.

Lori Holleran, School of Social work, and Chris Bell form the Jackson School of Geosciences discuss how two teachers build flexibility into their own classroom behavior and syllabus, allowing for thinking-on-the-fly and instructionally relevant tangents.

Dr. David Laude discusses why student self-reflection is critical to inquiry. In the conversation of knowledge-creation, students must be prompted to ready themselves for constructive participation.

Dr. Larry Speck, professor in the School of Architecture, discusses inquiry-based creative problem solving used in his classes. A concise description of how an "inquiry" course can be organized, with a unique culminating presentation format.

Dr. Larry Speck discusses the galvanizing effect upon his class when students are allowed to choose their own problem-solving inquiry topic.