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Critical Thinking Resources

35 dimensions of critical thought
The North Central Regional Educational Laboratory, under Critical Thinking Skills, offers "35 dimensions of critical thought." It classifies the strategies in the list into Affective Strategies (exercising fair mindedness, developing intellectual courage), Cognitive Strategies (refining generalizations and avoiding oversimplifications, questioning deeply: raising and pursuing root or significant questions), and Cognitive Strategies--Micro-Skills (comparing and contrasting ideals with actual practice, exploring implications and consequences). Any student capable of putting most of the 35 dimensions into effect would be an accomplished critical thinker; any educator capable of incorporating most of the 35 dimensions into a course's work would be a consummate advocate of critical thinking.
http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/envrnmnt/drugfree/sa3crit.htm

A Brief History of the Idea of Critical Thinking
The article "A Brief History of the Idea of Critical Thinking" by Richard Paul and Linda Elder of the Critical Thinking Consortium explains how the philosophical traditions of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle gave rise to the critical thinking processes we teach today:
http://www.criticalthinking.org/page.cfm?PageID=408&CategoryID=51

A Draft Statement of Principles
"A Draft Statement of Principles" which briefly delineates the history of critical thinking from Socrates to the present; the goals of the Council, which are applicable to all interested in implementing critical thinking; and its founding principles, excellent general guidelines for any CT program.
http://www.criticalthinking.org/page.cfm?PageID=406&CategoryID=48#235

Academic Controversy
In their book Creative Controversy: Intellectual Challenge in the Classroom and at their website, David and Roger Johnson describe the process of using academic controversy
http://www.co-operation.org/pages/academic.html

Anti-Plagiarism Strategies for Research Papers
"Anti-Plagiarism Strategies for Research Papers"
http://www.virtualsalt.com/antiplag.htm

Bloom's Taxonomy
The University of Victoria's website briefly defines and explains Bloom's work, Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification of Educational Goals
http://www.coun.uvic.ca/learn/program/hndouts/bloom.html

Center for Critical Thinking Library
Center for Critical Thinking Library contains readings (such as one on asking powerful questions) designed to help instructors foster the growth of critical thinking skills in their students.
http://www.criticalthinking.org/articles/index.cfm

Collaborative Learning Enhances Critical Thinking
"Collaborative Learning Enhances Critical Thinking." Article about a study conducted to examine the effectiveness of individual learning vs. collaborative learning in enhancing drill-and-practice skills and critical thinking. Related concept: cooperative learning
http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JTE/jte-v7n1/gokhale.jte-v7n1.html

Critical Thinking Across the Curriculum
There are as many definitions of critical thinking as there are writers about it. Therefore, it is helpful to look at a variety of definitions to fully understand the breadth and relevance of the term. Critical Thinking Across the Curriculum, a project developed by Longview Community College in Lee's Summit, MO provides a wide selection of definitions from educators, educational associations, and other websites that range from pithy to descriptive statements of attributes and characteristics.
http://mcckc.edu/longview/ctac/

Critical Thinking Core Concepts
Critical Thinking Core Concepts by Lauren Miller and Michael Connelly, Longview Community College
http://mcckc.edu/longview/ctac/corenotes.htm

Critical Thinking Handbook
Michael O'Rourke's Critical Thinking Handbook is available online. Each chapter in the handbook offers both theory and applications. Sample chapter headings are "Critical Thinking and Argument," "Analyzing Argument," and "The Fallacies." Particularly helpful for beginners is "Chapter Two: Characterizing Critical Thinking." This chapter defines CT and explains thinking skills; its exposition of "Goal Pursuit Skills," "Criteria Recognition Skills," and "Option Evaluation Skills" is exceptional and enlightening.
http://www.class.uidaho.edu/crit_think/

Critical Thinking in an Online World
"Critical Thinking in an Online World" addresses the difficulty of refining research skills and selecting valid materials from the librarians' point of view. It states, "The librarian would serve the student best if we taught the process of defining the information query, of designing the entire research strategy, and then moved on to selection and evaluation of research tools." Instead, many times the librarian thinks for the students and presents them with the search engines and terms they will need to carry out their research.
http://www.library.ucsb.edu/untangle/jones.html

Critical Thinking on the Web
Tim van Gelder's "Critical Thinking on the Web" offers links to Argument Mapping Tutorials, The Fallacy Files, and Baloney Detection Part 1 and Part 2, a Ten Step Guide
http://www.austhink.org/critical/

Critical Thinking Strategies
"Critical Thinking Strategies" from Facilitating Online Learning: Effective Strategies for Moderators discusses how to sharpen the focus and deepen the dialogue within an electronic discussion. Although these methods for fostering students' critical thinking skills apply to web based learning, they can certainly be adapted for regular classroom use.
http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/suppmat/103chap7.pdf

Critical Thinking, The Scientific Method
"Adams offers short and long versions of how he integrated critical thinking into his developmental biology class by 'explicitly discussing the logic and thought processes that inform experimental methods.'" Although focusing on science, the processes followed here are applicable, with some modification, to all disciplines.
http://www.sdbonline.org/archive/SDBEduca/dany_adams/critical_thinking.html

Critical Thinking: What Is It and Why It Counts
Peter Facione begins his clever exploration of the definition of critical thinking by guiding the reader's own use of the process in the essay, "Critical Thinking: What Is It and Why It Counts" (1998, updated 2006) California Academic Press. His work on critical thinking includes having served as the principle investigator for Critical Thinking: A Statement of Expert Consensus for Purposes of Educational Assessment and Instruction. (ERIC ED 315 423) The experts list the core cognitive skills necessary for critical thinking as: analysis, interpretation, evaluation, inference, self-regulation, and explanation.
http://www.insightassessment.com/pdf_files/what&why2006.pdf

Defining Critical Thinking
Michael Scriven and Richard Paul, writing for the National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking, define the process this way: "Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action." For more on their philosophy, read "Defining Critical Thinking."
http://www.criticalthinking.org/page.cfm?PageID=410&CategoryID=51

Getting Started with Cooperative Learning
A sample academic controversy exercise developed for an engineering class by Karl Smith
http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/nise/cl1/CL/story/smithkar/TSKSD.htm

How to Keep Your Students Thinking
"How to Keep Your Students Thinking" adapted from Ellen Sarkisian's Participatory Lectures, from the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, Harvard Univ., 1992, explains how to use questioning strategies to keep even large numbers of students engaged with learning. Sarkisian notes: "When students engage actively with material, they generally understand it better and remember it longer. Student participation often results in covering less material during a semester. Yet it also can mean that students learn more information than when the material is simply "covered" because they actively use it and have more chances to clear up confusion. Large numbers of students in class do not preclude interaction. The following techniques to open up lectures to student participation have been used in classes of up to 1200 students, as well as with smaller groups."
http://tinyurl.com/2u2deo

ICYouSee: T is for Thinking
This site presents very down to earth, clear suggestions and practice exercises for using critical thinking while on the web. It incorporates actual sources to be read and analyzed from the point of view of "accuracy, authorship, purpose, detail and design, and overall value." The multiplicity of exercises available will make it appealing to most students. The exercises require brief, but pointed responses. It is appropriate for individual study.
http://www.ithaca.edu/library/training/think.html

Problem-based Learning, especially in the context of large classes
The website of the chemical engineering department at McMaster University provides excellent resources for facilitating problem-based learning--learning in which "the problem drives the learning....that is, before students learn some knowledge they are given a problem. The problem is posed so that the students discover that they need to learn some new knowledge before they can solve the problem." Included as a resource is an electronic copy of D. R. Woods' book, Problem-based Learning: Helping Your Students Gain the Most from PBL—written for teachers to give them the process for implementing their personal style of PBL for their environment.
http://chemeng.mcmaster.ca/pbl/pbl.htm

Psychology of Intelligence Analysis
Richards J. Heuer's Psychology of Intelligence Analysis, though written for the CIA, offers an excellent book-length, online text on intelligence. "Part II -- Tools" and "Part III -- Cognitive Biases" are of particular interest to CT scholars.
http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/psych-intel/index.html

Resources for critical thinking.
Resources for critical thinking.
http://tinyurl.com/mgmahk

Socratic Teaching
Socratic Teaching
http://www.criticalthinking.org/page.cfm?PageID=606&CategoryID=64

Strategies for Teaching Critical Thinking
Bonnie Potts in "Strategies for Teaching Critical Thinking,"an Eric Digest, presents the basics of critical thinking instruction concisely and simply. She also provides practical suggestions for classroom implementation. In particular, she focuses on "three specific strategies." The first, Building Categories, "is an inductive reasoning tool that helps students categorize information by discovering the rules rather than merely memorizing them." The second, Finding Problems, encourages the educator to attempt "to present more 'real-life' problems" instead of the classic, but unrealistic, problems encountered in most textbooks. The third, Enhancing the Environment, discusses classroom adaptations to encourage critical thinking.
http://pareonline.net/getvn.asp?v=4&n=3

Study of 38 Public Universities and 28 Private Universities
Study of 38 Public Universities and 28 Private Universities To Determine Faculty Emphasis on Critical Thinking In Instruction
http://www.criticalthinking.org/research/Abstract-RPAUL-38public.cfm

The Critical Mind is a Questioning Mind
"The Critical Mind is a Questioning Mind: Learning How to Ask Powerful, Probing Questions"
http://www.criticalthinking.org/page.cfm?PageID=481&CategoryID=71

The Critical Thinking Rubric
For a comprehensive and insightful tool for assessing student work, refer to this site. It offers "The Critical Thinking Rubric," an instrument which" articulates seven dimensions of CT...acts as a diagnostic measure for student progress...[and] demystifies the expectations of instructors for students." Whether used as a whole or in part, as is or modified, this rubric clearly delineates for the student the bases of evaluation of his/her work.
http://wsuctproject.wsu.edu/ctr.htm

The Role of Questions in Thinking, Teaching and Learning
"The Role of Questions in Thinking, Teaching and Learning" from the Center for Critical Thinking
http://www.criticalthinking.org/articles/thinking-some-purpose.cfm

Using Intellectual Standards to Assess Student Reasoning
"Using Intellectual Standards to Assess Student Reasoning" also presents guidelines for assessment. It posits two "dimensions of reasoning": 1) Elements of Reasoning, i.e., purpose, inferences, evidence, etc., and 2) Standards of Reasoning, i.e., clarity, logic, consistency, flexibility and fairness, significance of purpose, and precision and depth.
http://www.criticalthinking.org/articles/TRK12-using-intellectual-standards.cfm

What Students Know (Or Don't Know) About Argument
This site discusses the basic elements of CT and relates them to Bloom’s Taxonomy. In addition, it stresses the need for instruction and student activity to progress from lower to higher levels of critical analysis. It makes clear that without a careful progression, students will be unable to complete the required tasks successfully. A psychology course is used as an example of an appropriate progression throughout a semester and of the support built into the CT developmental stages.
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~writing/materials/faculty/pedagogies/argument.shtml

Writing Multiple-Choice Questions that Demand Critical Thinking
The University of Oregon's Teaching Effectiveness Center, addresses the topic: "Writing Multiple Choice Questions that Demand Critical Thinking." The author presents important things to consider when designing questions, a discussion of Bloom's Taxonomy, several practical suggestions, techniques for creating questions, and a bibliography.
http://tinyurl.com/3amuqq

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