Creating engagement whilst building academic self-efficacy using the
Critical Thinking Skills Toolkit
Hilary Wason and Jane Southall
What We Will Cover
• The teaching and learning issue
• Insights from the literature
• Aims and objectives of the toolkit
• The tools
• Student benefits
• Staff benefits
• Delegate activity
The Issue
From Young Frankenstein
http://www.oneletterwords.com/weblog/?c=Hunch
•“used a range of detailed evidence accurately and thoughtfully”
•“comprehensive and up-to-date knowledge and understanding of the material in this module and of the way in which key concepts relate to one another”
•“takes a critical approach throughout and used a good range of evidence, reasoned argument and reflection”
Insights from the Literature • Explicit teaching needed (Mulnix, 2012)
• Educators responsibility to teach how to think (Kennedy, 2009)
• Lack of understanding of CT amongst educators (Elder and Paul, 2008)
• Valued by employers (Freeley and Steinberg, 2005)
• Scaffolded approach within existing teaching (McWilliams and Allan, 2014)
• Interventions to build self-efficacy and enhance academic performance recommended (van Dinther, Docky and Segers, 2013)
• Encourage student autonomy and learning ownership and responsibility (Elder and Paul, 2008)
• Informed learning (Bruce and Hughes, 2010)
Definition of Critical Thinking
• “intellectually disciplined process of actively and skilfully conceptualizing, applying, analysing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication”. (Scriven and Paul, 2008, cited in Mulnix 2012, p. 465)
• Most closely matches assessment terminology
Overall Aim
• To provide a toolkit of critical thinking skills interventions which will build academic self-efficacy and enable students to demonstrate exceptional scholarship, become critical and reflective thinkers, excel in their academic studies and acquire key skills for the workplace.
• Holistic, progressive, scaffolded approach
Objectives
Synthesise
Understand criteria
Support Scaffold
Reflect
Encourage
Communicate
Engage
Build
Confidence
Develop
autonomy Analyse
Stages in Bloom’s refined
taxonomy (2002)
Critical thinking tool
Remember
All of the interventions help students learn the material in more
depth
Understand
The Source - know when a source is reliable and should be used
Read Right - make sense of textbooks
Practitioner Insights - make sense of articles and the trade press
Apply
The Critique - Identify the themes and purpose of an individual
academic paper
Analyse
Thematic Analysis Grid - Record and evaluate themes between
papers, synthesise ideas and comment and on what they have
learned
Evaluate
The Argument Map - Identify similarities and differences
between authors
Create
The Reflection - Document and critically reflect on their own
view of what they have researched
Critically Write - Create assignments which meet the criteria
A Tale of Four Students
• The toolkit has been piloted on a range of business undergraduate students over the last three years :
– Chloe the Critiquer : international student taking a Business Management Practice Top Up degree while at work
– Toni the Tagger: final year business management student
– Aryan the Argument Mapper: final year business management student
– Colin the Critiquer: mature student entering HE for the first time while in full time employment
What the students think
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ODKt1u9RoM
Staff Benefits
Delegate activity
To develop this toolkit further – we
need YOU!
Feedback please – write on the
sheets. Any constructive
comments that will help us
develop them further and enable
us to roll it out across programmes
and levels.
Any questions or ideas – please get in touch
References Bruce, C. and Hughes, H. (2010) ‘ Informed learning: A pedagogical construct attending simultaneously to information use and learning’, Library and Information Science Research 32 A2-A8
Elder, L. and Paul, R. (2008) ‘Critical Thinking: The Nuts and Bolts of Education’, Optometric Education, 33(3), pp. 88–91.
Freeley, A. and Steinberg, D. (2005) Argumentation and debate: Critical thinking for decision making. Belmont CA: Wadsworth
Kennedy, R. (2009), ‘The Power of in-class debates’. Active Learning in Higher Education, 10(3), pp. 225-236.
Krathwohl, D. (2002) ‘A Revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy: An overview.’ Theory into Practice, 41(4), pp. 212-218.
McWilliams, R., and Allan, Q. (2014) ‘Embedding Academic Literacy Skills: Towards a Best Practice Model’, Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice, 11(3), pp. 1 - 21.
Mulnix, J. W., (2012) ‘Thinking critically about critical thinking’, Educational Philosophy and Theory, 44(5), pp. 464 - 479.
van Dinther, M., Docky, F., and Segers, M. (2011) ‘Factors affecting students’ self-efficacy in higher education’ Educational Research Review, 6, pp. 95-108.