Upload
others
View
5
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
+
Carol Ann Gittens, Ph.D.
June 8, 2016
Critical
Thinking
Proven predictors of
academic &
workplace success:
Sponsors of the 2016 National Institute
on the Assessment of Adult Learning
+
I cannot teach
anybody anything,
I can only make
them think.Socrates (469-399 BCE)
Philosopher
© 2016 Gittens Educational Consulting, Morgan Hill, CA
.
+ Goals for the Session
Engage and Affirm critical thinking
skills and positive critical thinking
habits of mind.
Augment understanding of the
definition of critical thinking & how
it relates to student success.
Expand repertoire of strategies for
promoting and assessing students’
critical thinking.
© 2016 Gittens Educational Consulting, Morgan Hill, CA
.
.
+
© 2016 Gittens Educational Consulting, Morgan Hill, CA
.
+Critical Thinking –
Working Consensus
The process of reflective judgment
which manifests itself in
reasoned consideration
of evidence, context, methods, standards,
and conceptualizations for the purpose of
deciding what to believe or what to do.
The Delphi Report: Executive Summary: (1990), ERIC Doc ED315 423
+ Critical Thinking Skills
FRAMING QUESTIONS:
Analysis
Interpretation
Evaluation
Explanation
Inference
Self-Regulation
© 2016 Gittens Educational Consulting, Morgan Hill, CA
.
+How do we build our skills and the disciplined
intention to use those skills in any endeavor?
Sports
Music
Management
Science
Ministry
Healthcare
Teaching
Engineering
How do we go from “novice, confused, disorganized, overwhelmed
and ineffective” to “experienced, immediate, focused, disciplined,
and successful”?© 2016 Gittens Educational Consulting, Morgan Hill, CA
.
+
Active Learning Approach
Constructivist Perspective
Self-reinforced learning
Considerable energy, enthusiasm and effort
Student as “partner”
Teacher as “resource, guide, motivator”
Increases retention & transfer
Application of prior knowledge and skills to novel,
real-life contexts
© 2016 Gittens Educational Consulting, Morgan Hill, CA
+
What critical thinking activity could
students do to demonstrate mastery of the
following learning objective?
© 2016 Gittens Educational Consulting, Morgan Hill, CA
+Questions to Ignite CT Skills
Skill Area
Interpretation
Analysis
Inference
Evaluation
Explanation
Self-Regulation
Potential Prompt
What does this mean? Why is it happening?
What are the arguments, pro and con? What assumptions must we make to accept that conclusion?
Given what we know, what can we conclude? (can we rule out?)
How credible is the claim?
Why do you think that? Why is that conclusion correct?
How good is the evidence?
+ Novel Questions and Human
Reflective Response Time
Tick
Tick
Tick
Tick
Tick
Tick
Humans need 11 - 16 seconds
to process a novel question.
TickTick Tick
Tick
Tick
Tick
Tick
TickTick
What does this mean for a student faced with an novel question?
How can an instructor use this to teach for thinking?
How does this impact decisions made in time-limited situations of
risk, uncertainty?
© 2016 Gittens Educational Consulting, Morgan Hill, CA
.
+
THE NAME ON THE FRONT OF YOUR
JERSEY REPRESENTS WHO YOU PLAY FOR.
THE NAME ON THE BACK OF YOUR JERSEY
REPRESENTS WHO RAISED YOU. DO THEM
BOTH JUSTICE.
+
A 5-Step Critical Thinking General Problem
Solving Process
I = IDENTIFY the Problem and Set Priorities (Step 1)
D = DETERMINE Relevant Information and Deepen
Understanding (Step 2)
E = ENUMERATE Options and Anticipate Consequence (Step 3)
A = ASSESS the Situation and Make a Preliminary Decision (Step
4)
S = SCRUTINIZE the Process and Self-Correct as Needed (Step 5)
THINK Critically 3rd Ed. (2016) Facione & Gittens, Pearson Education
.
+ The first and most important question:
“What exactly is the
problem?”
Success depends on analyzing problem correctly.© 2016 Gittens Educational Consulting, Morgan Hill, CA
+“Caitlin and the Pacemaker”
Context:
Unfamiliar
High Stakes
Uncertainty
Urgency
Facts constant
No opposing interests
Suppose you are the parent.
Which pacemaker will you
choose?© 2016 Gittens Educational Consulting, Morgan Hill, CA
.
+
• Identify contextual factors
• Acquire relevant
information
• Identify and evaluate
options
• Select the option with that
appears to offer the best
balance of maximum
benefit and minimum risk
• No simple rule to apply
• Both choices were “right”
• The outcome does not
validate the quality of the
decision process
• Emotion and reason can
work together
• Human tendency to “lock
in.”
OBVIOUS NOT SO OBVIOUS
Learning from Caitlin’s Case
© 2016 Gittens Educational Consulting, Morgan Hill, CA
.
+ Human Decision Making and
“Dominance Structuring”
Pre-edit
Define the problem
List decision-critical factors
Identify a promising option
Search until finding an option that’s good enough.
Test the promising option against others
Ask if that option is no worse than any other
Structure the dominance of the to be chosen option
Marshal our facts and reasons to support our choice
Note: Here we are at risk of renegotiating the factors, redefining the problem, exaggerating the virtues of our preferred option, or magnifying the defects of all other possible options.
© 2016 Gittens Educational Consulting, Morgan Hill, CA.
+
Advantages:We do, in fact, act. We are not frozen in perpetual
analysis and reevaluation.
We sustain efforts and persist with confidence.
Disadvantages:
Tend not to re-examine our assumptions or question prior decisions.
Tend to dismiss counter-evidence unless it is forceful not only in its content but in its psychological impact or potential for adverse consequences.
Risk: Lock-In Prematurely.
Search for Dominance
© 2016 Gittens Educational Consulting, Morgan Hill, CA
+Core Competencies
Critical Thinking
Oral Communication
Quantitative Literacy
Written Communication
Information Literacy
© 2016 Gittens Educational Consulting, Morgan Hill, CA
+Why Assess for Critical
Thinking?
© 2016 Gittens Educational Consulting, Morgan Hill, CA
Three Basic Options for Measuring Learning Outcomes
1. Locally Developed Assignments and Activities
Tests, Essays, Lab Reports, Case Studies
Embedded / Authentic / Qualitative Rating Forms, Typological
Matches, Checklists
Requires rubrics or scoring tools / practiced judgment
and inter-rater calibration
2. Commercial Tests &
Performance Assessments
Fixed Response / Narrative Response
Case Studies / Authentic / Standardized
Baseline / Cross-Sectional / Longitudinal
Potential for comparisons & data integration
3. Self Reports
Journals, Self Critiques, Focus Groups,
Questionnaires / Reflective Essays
Insights about personal progress and deficiency
May require significant resources for data
analysis
Are we consistently getting a valid and reliable measure of the phenomenon we intended to target?
Critical Thinking Reflective Log:
Strong or Weak, and Why? W2: Why do you think that? ASK: Another student, not in this
course
W3: Seriously, how good is the evidence for that? ASK: Anyone,
not yourself
W4: What else did you consider? ASK: Someone who has
completed college
W5: Exactly why do you say that’s the problem? ASK: Your best
friend
W6: What does making this decision imply? ASK: Yourself
W7: How sound is the reason they’re giving? ASK: Yourself,
relative to TV commercial
W8: What’s really the problem here? ASK: A professor
W9: What evidence would disconfirm our view? ASK: Someone
who agrees with you.
W10: What did I learn about my own thinking? ASK: Yourself © 2016 Gittens Educational Consulting, Morgan Hill, CA
+ Critical Thinking Tests
Two people in bathing suits and cotton T-shirts are enjoying a
beautifully sunny day at the beach. One person, concerned
about the skin cancer risks from too much exposure to direct
sunlight, goes to sit in the shade under a beach umbrella. The
other stays sitting in the sun saying, “It’s too late to sit under
an umbrella, we’ve been in the sun for an hour already, so the
umbrella will do me no good.” What would be the best
evaluation of this person’s reason?
A. Poor reason, because the umbrella’s shade does not
reduce the cancer risks anyway.
B. Poor reason, because sitting in the shade of the
umbrella should limit any further damage.
C. Good reason, because the cooler shade will repair the
damage already done by the sun.
D. Good reason, because the cancer risk of sunlight has
been exaggerated by the media.
© 2016 Gittens Educational Consulting, Morgan Hill, CA
+BENCHMARKING ~ What do these results
mean in our programs? On our campus?
© 2016 Gittens Educational Consulting, Morgan Hill, CA
+ Closing the Loop
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Pretest
Posttest
What are these data telling us about our
students? About our curriculum?
© 2016 Gittens Educational Consulting, Morgan Hill, CA
+
Emotional
Social
Spiritual
Academic
Vocational
Physical
© 2016 Gittens Educational Consulting, Morgan Hill, CA
.
© 2016 Gittens Educational Consulting, Morgan Hiill, CA.
+Truth-Seeking
The courageous desire for the best possible knowledge in any given context;
The inclination to ask hard questions, and to follow reason and evidence where ever they lead.
© 2014 Measured Reasons, Hermosa Beach, CA
+
To get people to agree with me I’d
give any reason that worked.
I look for facts that support my views,
not facts that disagree.
© 2014 Measured Reasons, Hermosa Beach, CA
Truth-seekers would NOT agree
10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60
© 2014 Measured Reasons, Hermosa Beach, CA
Mean = 35.7s.d. = 5.6
Weak disposition
Toward truth-seeking
Strong disposition
Toward truth-
seeking
A Look across Four Years at the Disposition toward Critical Thinking Among
Undergraduate Students, Giancarlo & Facione (2001). The Journal of General
Education, 50(1), 29-55.
Truth-seeking: A Profile of
155 Entering Freshmen 1992
Truth-seeking: Exiting Seniors 1996
The same 155 students 4 years later
10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60
© 2014 Measured Reasons, Hermosa Beach, CA
Positive movement across categories 38.8%
Negative movement across categories 10.9%
Mean = 38.5s.d. = 6.2
A Look across Four Years at the Disposition toward Critical Thinking Among
Undergraduate Students, Giancarlo & Facione (2001). The Journal of General Education,
50(1), 29-55.
Strong disposition
Toward truth-
seekingWeak disposition
Toward truth-seeking
Poor CT Skills Moderate CT Skills Strong CT Skills
Av
ers
e
Ne
ga
tiv
e
Am
biv
ale
nt
Po
sit
ive
Str
on
g
60
50
40
30
20
100 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34
Strong Dispositions /
Strong Skills
Negative Dispositions /
Poor Skills
Neutral Dispositions /
Moderate Skills
Strong Dispositions /
Moderate Skills
© 2016 Gittens Educational Consulting, Morgan Hill, CA..
WHAT WOULD WE DO DIFFERENTLY, IF ANYTHING, KNOWING THESE
OUTCOMES?
+Light Sentence for
Brock Turner in
Stanford Rape Case
Draws Outrage
New York Times, June 6 , 2016
TASK-BASED CT ASSESSMENT
Four questions:
1. What is the issue AND what are
the key arguments made by
each side?
2. Which of the arguments are
strong and which are weak?
EXPLAIN
3. Key considerations
overlooked?
4. Which side has most merit?
EXPLAIN
RELEVANCE
EMOTIONALITY
FORMAT
FAMILIARITY
AUTHORITY
Scoring RubricsHolistic Critical Thinking Scoring Rubric (HCTSR)
www.InsightAssessment.com Measuring Critical Thinking Worldwide
Describe the
levels of
performance
• Odd or Even?
• Holistic or
Analytic?
• Thresholds?
+
Aggregate Data Tell a Story
© 2016 Gittens Educational Consulting, Morgan Hill, CA.
By exit, what
percentage of
students should
be at a given
performance
level?
• CT Performance Standards:
• Normal Distribution
• Modal performance: Level 3
• Average ≥ 3
22%19%
51%
8%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
1 2 3 4
CT Rubric Scores (Percentages)
25%
51%
21%
3%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
1 2 3 4
CT Rubric Scores (Percentages)
Keisha
“There can be as much value
in the blink of an eye as in
months of rational analysis.”
―Malcolm Gladwell, Blink:
The Power of Thinking Without
Thinking
“Intelligence is not only the ability to
reason; it is also the ability to find relevant
material in memory and to deploy
attention when needed.”
- Daniel Kahneman, Thinking Fast and
Slow
© 2016 Gittens Educational Consulting, Morgan Hill, CA
+
Reaction ------- Reflection“Training” leading to
reactive responses
best enables humans
to ….
“Education” leading to
reflective problem
solving best enables
humans to ….
Why does this work?
In part because, no matter what our age,
we are “of two minds”
unless we close one of them!
© 2016 Gittens Educational Consulting, Morgan Hill, CA
+ Two Parallel-Functioning, Rational,
Decision Making Systems
© 2016 Gittens Educational Consulting, Morgan Hill, CA
SYSTEM 1
Renders quick, holistic associational, judgments.
Automatic, well-trained, reactive.
** Can block out or derive support from system 2.
SYSTEM 2
Renders considered, criterion-based, judgments.
Reflective, reasoned, systematic.
** Can bolster or over-ride system 1.
+Cognitive Heuristics
© 2016 Gittens Educational Consulting, Morgan Hill, CA
Shortcuts to decisions
Often function at pre-reflective (System-1) level.
Manifested in our reason giving explanations, questions, and choices.
Can be overridden by reflective judgment.
+The Heuristics
in Action…
© 2016 Gittens Educational Consulting, Morgan Hill, CA
Simulation – Mental Movie gives emotional valence to event
Us versus Them – In group / out group: To trust or Not; They favor so we must reject!
Availability – a vivid personal experience to estimate likelihood of future events
Loss / Risk Aversion – favor status quo, give up a gain in order to avoid a loss
Elimination by Aspect – drop an option based on a single negative or flaw
Representativeness – it happened to a person like me so it could happen to me!
+Heuristic Tendencies May Result in
Critical Thinking Errors
Misunderstand the problem entirely
Wrongly estimate probabilities of possible outcomes
Generate resistance to the kind and the degree of innovation needed
Introduce irrelevant considerations & distractions
Affectively impact perceptions of options
Wrongly evaluate options based on their sources or their similarities with previous events
… etc. etc.
2016 Gittens Educational Consulting, Morgan Hill, CA
.
.
+What Can We Do?
Heuristic influences are mostly advantageous.
Reflective System-2 critical thinking can override.
Short version: “Stop and think!”
© 2016 Gittens Educational Consulting, Morgan Hill, CA
+ Which CT Skill Protects Against
Prematurely Locking-In to a Mistaken
Decision?
Meta-cognitive self-regulation is the critical
thinking skill we use to monitor and to correct our
own problem solving and decision making.
This skill makes CT a reflective process.
Strong critical thinkers use it to set the conditions
for decision making and for the systematic review of
prior assumptions, priorities, and decisions.
© 2016 Gittens Educational Consulting, Morgan Hill, CA
.
+
deep and disciplined
learning,
everyday problem solving,
professional success, and
sensible democratic
decision making. And it can
be …
© 2016 Gittens Educational Consulting, Morgan Hill, CA.
.
Usefully Defined
Readily Learned
Effectively Taught
Objectively
Measured
Critical Thinking Enables…
And It Can Be…
© 2015 Measured Reasons, Hermosa Beach, CA
. © 2014 Measured Reasons, Hermosa Beach, CA