Transcript Critical Thinking in Democracy Educationx

Critical Thinking in
Democracy Education
Matthew Hiebert
Bethesda, Maryland
April 4, 2014
Opening Reflection
Consider this
• Out of context
• Misuse of statistics
• Manipulative language
• Propaganda
•• Propaganda
Be afraid • Manipulation
• Ad populum argument
• Propaganda
• Grand generalizations
•
Propaganda
•
• Emotionally
laden Appeal to authority
• •Manipulation
Listen carefully
• Unfair and • Dodging the • Sound bites
• This is important
• Propaganda
one-sided
question
•
Convoluted
• I’m an expert
• Over• Manipulation
points
simplifications
• Logical
fallacies •• Manipulation
Cliches
• Ad hominem arguments
•
Propaganda
• Straw man
•
Propaganda
• Post hoc ergo propter hoc arguments
Overview
1.
2.
3.
4.
First principles
Rationale for critical thinking
Teaching critical thinking explicitly
Teaching critical thinking tacitly
1. First Principles
What do we mean by critical thinking?
First Things First
Don’t take my word for it.
Clarifying Our Terms
Starting points:
• Critical versus uncritical thinking
• Higher and lower level thinking
• Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational
Objectives (cognitive)…
Clarifying Our Terms
Bloom’s Taxonomy (cognitive)
Clarifying Our Terms
Bloom’s Taxonomy (cognitive)
Clarifying Our Terms
Bloom’s Taxonomy (cognitive)
Bloom’s Taxonomy
Strengths and appropriate uses:
• Clearly articulates learning above the
knowledge level
• Helps scaffold instruction to engage
higher levels
• Useful in developing assessments and
lesson plans with a range of cognitive
tasks
• Very well developed base of literature
and resources
Considerations…
Be careful of hidden
biases and embedded
assumptions…
Clarifying Our Terms
Bloom’s Taxonomy (cognitive)
Clarifying Our Terms
Bloom’s Taxonomy (cognitive)
Clarifying Our Terms
Bloom’s Taxonomy (cognitive)
Clarifying Our Terms
Bloom’s Taxonomy (cognitive)
Lower Level Thinking
Knowledge
Comprehension
Application
Higher Level Thinking
Analysis
Synthesis
Evaluation
Evaluation
Synthesis
Knowledge
Comprehension
Analysis
Application
Bloom’s Taxonomy
Other assumptions that might be inferred:
• Discrete levels/ activities
• Hierarchy of value
• Implied directionality for teaching
• Assumptions about the nature of learning
– Oversimplifies complex activities
– Suggests teaching and learning can be
reduced to objectives
– Narrows potential scope of learning to
… and of course…
predefined list
Beyond Bloom’s Taxonomy
Lateral
thinking
Creativity
Curiosity
Determining
Bias
detection
Strategic
Perception
Emotional
intelligence
Inquiry
Clarity
Argumentation
Credibility
Infering
Making
Intuition connections
Critical
reasoning
… back to our task…
Characteristics of Critical Thinking
Common characteristics associated
with critical thinking:
• Multifaceted
• Higher order (meta)
• Reflective and self-reflective
• Deals with validity,
appropriateness, and ethics
• Partly discipline-dependent
Defining Critical Thinking
Points that come up often in definitions:
• Disciplined, rational, open-minded,
informed by evidence
• Purposeful, self-regulatory
• Results in interpretation, analysis,
evaluation, inference
• Applies valid criteria and evidence to
form judgments
• Considers alternative perspectives
• Integrates new information/ perspectives
Putting
It
All
Together
Clarity
Argumentation
Creativity
Lateral
Potential
thinking
Credibility
Bias
criteria:
Characteristics
detectionof critical thinking:
Infering
• Curiosity
Disciplined, rational, open-minded,
Strategic(meta)
•
Higher
order
Determining
informed by evidence
Making
Intuition connections
Perception
•• Reflective
and
self-reflective
Purposeful,
self-regulatory
Emotional
Critical
intelligence
• Results
in interpretation,
Deals
with
validity, analysis, reasoning
Inquiry
evaluation,
inferenceand ethics
appropriateness,
• Applies valid criteria and evidence to
• Discipline-appropriate
form judgments
•• Multifaceted
Considers alternative perspectives
• Integrates new information/ perspectives
Putting
It
All
Together
Creativity
Lateral
Clarity
Argumentation
Creativity
Credibility
Bias
Potential
criteria:
thinking
Lateral
Characteristics
of
critical
thinking:
detection
Credibility
Bias
Potential
criteria:
thinking
Infering
• Curiosity
Disciplined,
rational,ofopen-minded,
Characteristics
critical thinking:
detection
Strategic
•
Higher
order
(meta)
Infering
• Curiosity
Disciplined,
open-minded,
Determining
informed
by rational,
evidence
Making
Argumentation
Strategic
Intuition connections
Perception
•
Higher
order
(meta)
Determining
Making
informed byself-regulatory
evidence
•• Reflective
and
self-reflective
Purposeful,
Intuition
Emotional
Critical
•• Results
Purposeful,
self-regulatory
•
Reflective
and
self-reflective
intelligence
in interpretation,
Emotional
Deals
with
validity, analysis,
reasoning
Clarity
Critical
intelligence
• evaluation,
Results
in
interpretation,
analysis,
Inquiry
inference
•
Deals
with
validity,
appropriateness, and ethics reasoning
Inquiry
evaluation,
inference
Critical
appropriateness, and ethics
• Discipline-appropriate
• Discipline-appropriate
Thinking
• Multifaceted
• Applies valid criteria and evidence to
• form
Applies
valid criteria and evidence to
judgments
form judgments
• Considers
alternative perspectives
• Multifaceted
•• Integrates
Considers
alternative
perspectives
new
information/
perspectives
• Integrates new information/ perspectives
Standards of Quality Thinking
Rather than getting preoccupied with
“Critical Thinking”, consider:
• Clarity
• Breadth
• Accuracy
• Logic
• Precision
• Fairness
• Depth
• Sufficiency
• Significance
• (Congruence)
Adapted from Paul, R. & Elder, L (2006)
• Relevance
The Foundation for Critical Thinking
3. Rationale
Why is critical thinking so important in
democracy education?
Rationale for Critical Thinking
Different ways of looking at why
critical thinking is important:
• Critical thinking and humanization
• Critical thinking and autonomy
• Critical thinking and community
• Critical thinking in a democracy
• Others…
Critical Thinking and Humanization
For humanization and self realization:
• Inherent value to the individual
• Enriched consciousness and awareness
• Not just critical – also enhances our
capacity for appreciation!
• Development of identity and sense of self
• Overcoming ethical servility
• Inherent value to individual freedom
Critical Thinking and Autonomy
Developing autonomy and personal
agency:
• Capacity for greater independence
of thought and action
• “Intellectual self defense”
• Ability to develop and support a
position, course of action etc.
Critical Thinking and Community
Developing community and social
cohesion:
• Capacity to empathize with others
• To understand and respect other
perspectives
• To recognize one’s own assumptions
and biases
• Ability to work collectively and
collaboratively with others
Critical Thinking and Democracy
In relation to democratic values,
principles, and processes:
• Supports deliberative discussion and
debate.. Working things out together
• Helps maintain accountability and
balance of power
• Necessary countermeasure to forces
that affect public opinion (state and
corporate media, lobbyists, group
think, stereotypes etc.)
Critical Thinking and Democracy
But more fundamentally:
• Democracy is predicated on governance
by informed consent, which is in turn
predicated on personal agency
• Therefore…
• Capacity for critical thinking is a
necessary precondition for the legitimacy
of a democratic government
– Along with others, such as access to
relevant information
3. Teaching critical
thinking explicitly
Approaches for direct instruction on
critical thinking skills
Direct Instruction on Critical Thinking
Metacognition:
• Refers to awareness and understanding
of one’s own thought processes
• Improves analytical capacity
• Can be facilitated by instruction related
to thinking processes themselves
– Some of this stuff is “teachable”!
Teaching Metacognition
Teaching metacognition:
• Involves observing, revealing and
discussing thought processes
• Provides structure to our thinking about
thinking (i.e., Bloom’s Taxonomy)
• Involves practice and application of new
skills
• May be subtle and indirect
• Involves a variety of tools, techniques,
and terms
Teachable Tools, Techniques,
and Terminology
Knowing a
few key
terms
Critical
thinking
tools
Asking
critical
questions
Creating
lenses
Identifying
red flags
Understanding
fallacies and
heuristics
Evaluating
evidence
Detecting
bias
Understanding
language
issues
Standards
of quality
thinking
Teachable Techniques
Consider the things that critical
thinkers do, which are “teachable”:
• Ask probing questions
• Consider the source
• Seek to understand the perspective
• Pinpoint vague or cliché points
• Look for irony/ contradiction
Asking Key Questions
Critical thinkers probe ideas and assumptions
through questions, which can be taught:
• Why? … and peeling back the layers
• What is missing from this?
• What would be another way of looking at
this?
• What is being assumed or taken for granted?
• What does the author or speaker have to
gain by presenting this, and not something
else?
Knowing a Few Key Terms
Language is cognitive scaffolding, and
new words give students power over
abstract concepts:
• Evaluation
• Perspective
• Standards
• Paradigm
• Evidence
• Theory
• Bias
• Logical
• Parsimony
• Coherence
• Criteria
• Assumption etc.
Criteria and Indicators
Teaching the development and
application of criteria/ indicators:
• Thinking in any domain/ subject/
professional field can be judged on
the basis of certain merits or criteria
• These criteria can be articulated,
debated, and agreed upon, leading to
greater clarity and mutual
understanding
Cognitive Models and Visuals
The application of models and
conceptual frameworks can contribute
to more sophisticated reasoning:
• Visual models help us to organize and
categorize elements of thought
• Conceptual models help us identify
gaps and deficiencies
• Examples…
Cognitive Models and Visuals
Cognitive Models and Visuals
Cognitive Models and Visuals
Evaluation
Synthesis
Knowledge
Comprehension
Analysis
Application
Cognitive Models and Visuals
Strengt Weakness
h
Opportunity
?
?
Threat
?
?
Cognitive Models and Visuals
Cognitive Models and Visuals
Other kinds of “lenses” also fit into
this family of tools:
• Scientific standards
• Academic rigor
• Journalistic integrity
• Ethical frameworks
• Legal reasoning
• Qualitative evaluation rubrics etc.
Evaluating Evidence
Part of critical thinking involves evaluating
evidence on which positions are based:
• Criteria for evaluating evidence may be
general (like sufficiency),
• Or domain specific (legal, statistical etc.)
• Identify validity requirements
– Content validity
– Construct/ internal validity
– External validity
Detecting Bias and Propaganda
Bias is unavoidable, and we can raise
students’ awareness of this:
• The nature of propaganda and its
relationship to media in general
• How to identify sources in media
• How to identify sources of funding
• Techniques for detecting biases,
fallacies, and unbalanced
manipulative works
Heuristics and Fallacies
Fallacies and heuristics, by their nature,
may be difficult to pick up on, but can
be taught:
• Fallacies – failures in reasoning that
renders an argument invalid
• Heuristics – cognitive short-cuts which
omit logical steps, sometimes leading
to errors
Red flags
Critical thinkers are adept at picking up on
“red flags”, which can be taught:
• Stating opinion as fact, or citing an
unnamed “experts”
• Unnecessarily complicated language
• Long sentences that lead to confusion
• Citing statistics without sources
• Use of “thought-terminating clichés”
• Emotionally laden language
• “Leading” language
Other Language Issues
Critical thinkers are also attuned to
language, and the loopholes it can create.
Consider:
• Management speak
• Loaded phrases
• Judgmental phrases
• Emotionally laden or manipulative
• Leading questions – Don’t you think?
• How phrasing can lead and frame a
debate (setting the “rules”)
Language Issues
Consider the following:
“What do students need to learn about
democracy, in order to participate
effectively as citizens?”
• How does the question “lead”?
• What assumptions are embedded?
• How does it limit the possible
responses?
The Challenge
With all this…
The Challenge
What is “learned” is not limited to what is
“taught” explicitly.
We want to cultivate habits and
behaviors as critical thinkers, not just
skills.
Therefore…
4. Teaching Critical
Thinking Tacitly
Cultivating a critical mindset
Conventional Perspective
Tacit Teaching
Tacit Teaching
Tacit teaching goes beyond the limits of
“explicit” instruction. Tacit teaching:
• Is the intentional arrangement of
contextual factors in students’
experiences to produce a learning effect
• Relates to “socialization” as much as
“education”
• Focuses on cultivating habits and
dispositions more than knowledge
Tacit Teaching Strategies
Facilitation
Environmental
design
Role
modeling
Norming
Questioning
Using
criteria and
standards
Scaffolding
Facilitation
Rather than teaching by explicit
instruction (lecture), facilitation works by:
• Giving students space and time to work
things out
• Using questions to push thinking
• Using suggestions sparingly and
thoughtfully
• Structuring learning experiences
effectively
Questioning (Socratic Method)
The effective use of questioning in class can:
• Challenge and guide students’ thinking to
deeper levels
• Serve as an example/ model of what
critical thinkers do and how they work
… try to emphasize higher-level, openended questions, as well as probing,
successive questioning
Scaffolding
Scaffolding is the provision of structures that
allow students to go beyond their current
capacity. This involves:
• Structuring tasks in appropriate sizes and
stages
• Breaking down complex activities into
manageable units
• Providing guidelines, approaches,
models, outlines etc. which help students
learn how to be effective
Role Modeling
Every adult in a school is a role model,
whether positive or negative. Consider the
power of this influence:
• How you (as a teacher, or a faculty) are
demonstrating critical thinking?
• How transparent and open you are with your
own thinking processes?
• Do you create opportunities for students to
learn from your approach?
• Are you willing to admit your own mistakes,
and learn from them?
Norming
Norming is a process whereby critical
thinking becomes internalized as a habit
or disposition. This can be facilitated by:
• Repeated exposure over time
• Practice, with feedback, until it become
second nature
• Reinforcement
• Adoption of associated vocabulary
(standards, evidence etc.) into daily use
Assessing Critical Thinking
Actually assessing critical thinking is a
good way of building metacognitive
awareness. Consider:
• What assignments should be graded, in
part, based on critical thinking?
• What kinds of test questions would allow
students to demonstrate these skills?
• What criteria or standards should apply?
• How should students be involved in their
own assessment?
Role
odeling
caffolding
Knowing a
few key
terms
Putting It All Together
C
Evaluating
evidence
D
Putting It All Together
Facilitation
Knowing a
few key
terms
Norming
Critical
thinking
tools
Asking
Questioning critical
questions
Creating
lenses
Evaluating
evidence
onmental
design
Role
modeling
Detecting
bias
Using
Identifying
criteria a
red flags
standar
Standards
Understanding
of quality
fallacies and
heuristics
thinking
Understanding
language
issues
Scaffolding
Closing Reflection
In contexts were critical thinking may not
be officially supported, or where certain
topics are “off limits” for debate, what
are the best entry points for cultivating a
critical mindset among students?
Thank you
Matthew Hiebert
[email protected]