California Educator

LEFT: California Faculty Association member Christianna Alger, an assistant professor in San Diego State University's School of Teacher Education. OPPOSITE: Jack Stanford works with Analuisa Rodriguez in English class at Palm Springs High School. Some questions a teacher may pose to build a critical-thinking classroom environment > Clarity: Can you give an example? Model critical thinking for your students Frame your lessons around essential questions rather than dispensing information, says Christianna Alger, an assistant professor in San Diego State University's School of Teacher Education. "At the simplest level, you can do a lot more questioning and create more space for dialogue in the classroom. Socratic seminars are a great example of ways to foster critical thinking." Alger, a member of the California Faculty Association, encourages a "healthy level of skepticism," in her students. "Teachers need to model critical thinking rather than putting information out there as though it is 'the truth,'" she says. She also suggests to her student teachers that they foster their own critical thinking skills by reflecting on their lessons from different points of view. "What are the students thinking? What would their parents think about the lesson? When you have multiple perspectives, you can see where change needs to start." Alger will be involved in the university's Institute for the Teaching of Critical Thinking Skills, which will be established in the future and recently received $1.5 million from an anonymous donor. For more info on Socratic Seminars, visit www. greece.k12.ny.us/instruction/ela/ socraticseminars/overview.htm. 12 California Educator | 8-21 June.09.indd 12 june classroom, but sometimes that is not re a l l y t h e c a s e , s ay s D a n ny C r a i g , chair of t he S o ci a l Studies D ep ar tment at Capitan High School in Grossmont. "True critical thinking is a structured, formal way of thinking that has rules." C r it i c a l t h i n k i ng i s s e l f - g u i d e d, s elf-dis cipline d t hin k ing w hich att e mpt s t o re a s on i n a f a i r- m i n d e d w ay. It i s t h e a r t of a n a l y z i n g a n d evaluating so that when making a decision, an individua l c an weig h information and come to a logical conclusion w it hout ma k ing snap judgments. Craig, who has attended seminars at the Foundation for Critical Thinking, emphasizes that the art of critic a l t h i n k i ng re qu i re s t e a ch e rs an d students to think a certain way that is different from the norm. It's about much more than just asking students for their opinion, which may be uninformed, prejudiced or distorted. "It is higher-order thinking," explains Craig, a member of the Grossm o n t E d u c a t i o n A s s o c i a t i o n . " It teaches you how to ask questions so you can get down to the meat of the material. In histor y class, for example, you would expect your students to think like an historian. I'd b egin b y a s k i n g , ' Ho w d o e s a h i s t o r i a n think? What kinds of questions would a historian ask?' And since it's the social sciences, and you are studying the behavior of human beings, one of the first things you might do is ask, 'How do human beings react in certain situations? ' It's important to understand the way > > > > Can you state that in a different way? Can you elaborate on what you've said? Is there another word or phrase that communicates the idea? Accuracy: How can we check to see if that is valid? How do we know that is correct? Where did you get your information? How can we verify or test that? Depth: What factors make this a difficult problem? What are some of the complexities inherent in this problem? What are some of the most significant difficulties we need to deal with? Relevance: How does that relate to the problem? How does that bear on the question? How does that help us with the issue? Fairness: Do you have any vested interest in this issue? Are you sympathetically representing the relevant viewpoints of others? that human beings think or react so you c an u n d e r s t an d t h e c ont e x t of human b ehavior in histor y and historical events." C r i t i c a l t h i n k i n g at i t s b e s t i n volve s S o c r at i c qu e s t i on i ng , b a s e d on the premise that it is questions — not answers — that provide the best p at h to k now le dge. And it involves more than the most-often-asked question a teacher p oses: "Do es ever ybody understand the material?" We l l - p o s e d qu e s t i ons pro b e ke y aspects of critical thinking, such as: C l ar it y : C an you g ive an e x ampl e ? Accuracy : How can we check to see if t h at i s v a l i d ? D e pt h : Wh at f a c t or s make this a difficult problem? Relev an c e : How d o e s t h at re l at e t o t h e p r o b l e m ? Fa i r n e s s : D o I h av e a ny 2009 6/4/09 1:57:32 PM

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