Critical thinking 1 .

Reasoning:

The ability to infer a conclusion from one or multiple premises. To do so requires examining logical relationships among statements or data.

Point of View:

The way one views the world, which shapes one's construction of meaning. In a search for understanding, critical thinkers view phenomena from many different points of view.

Procedures for Applying Criteria:

Other types of thinking use a general procedure. Critical thinking makes use of many procedures. These procedures include asking questions, making judgments, and identifying assumptions.

Why teach critical thinking

 Critical thinking involves questioning. It is important to teach students how to ask good questions, to think critically, in order to continue the advancement of the very fields we are teaching. "Every field stays alive only to the extent that fresh questions are generated and taken seriously".

Critical thinking enables students to:

• think about and evaluate their own thinking and behaviour on issues related to health education, physical education, and home economics
• make reasonable and defensible decisions about issues related to individual and community well-being
• challenge and take action (individually and collectively) to address social, cultural, economic, and political inequalities
• understand the role and significance of the movement culture and its influence on our daily lives and the lives of people in our community.

In order to help their students to develop critical-thinking skills and to take critical action, teachers need to:

• have a sound knowledge base from which to support students as they delve more deeply into content
• remain open to challenge by students, not representing themselves as the sole source of knowledge
• encourage students to look at the big picture by engaging them in critical-thinking processes that have relevance beyond the classroom
• be prepared to listen to voices that originate in the classroom and to use students' personal experiences as starting points for gathering information
• encourage students to question and challenge existing beliefs, structures, and practices
• avoid offering 'how to do it' approaches
• encourage students to be sensitive to the feelings of others
• provide opportunities for inquiry by giving students time for planning, processing, and debriefing
• structure lessons so that students can work safely and co-operatively and develop creative forms of shared responsibility
• encourage students to take critical action. When students learn to use democratic processes inside the classroom, they can transfer these to situations outside the classroom

For students, learning to think critically and to take critical action will include:

• learning to take responsibility for analysing and evaluating information
• giving each other feedback about their analyses, evaluations, and actions
• questioning and challenging each other's assumptions in a non-threatening manner
• learning to identify any inequalities and power relationships within contexts in health education, physical education, and home economics, focusing on how these positions are sometimes reinforced through organisational structures and through certain forms of language
• reflecting on people's assumptions, beliefs, and behaviours, taking into account a range of factors
• generating alternative solutions and accepting them or critiquing them in a sensitive manner
• developing the confidence to work with others in taking critical action.

Teaching strategies:

CATS (Classroom Assessment Techniques): stresses the use of ongoing classroom assessment as a way to monitor and facilitate students' critical thinking. An example of a CAT is to ask students to write a "Minute Paper" responding to questions such as "What was the most important thing you learned in today's class? What question related to this session remains uppermost in your mind?" The teacher selects some of the papers and prepares responses for the next class meeting.

Cooperative Learning Strategies : Experts argue that putting students in group learning situations is the best way to foster critical thinking. "In properly structured cooperative learning environments, students perform more of the active, critical thinking with continuous support and feedback from other students and the teacher"

Case Study /Discussion Method: Experts describe this method as the teacher presenting a case (or story) to the class without a conclusion. Using prepared questions, the teacher then leads students through a discussion, allowing students to construct a conclusion for the case.

Using Questions: Experts identify ways of using questions in the classroom:

Reciprocal Peer Questioning: Following lecture, the teacher displays a list of question stems (such as, "What are the strengths and weaknesses of...). Students must write questions about the lecture material. In small groups, the students ask each other the questions. Then, the whole class discusses questions from each small group.

Reader's Questions: Require students to write questions on assigned reading and turn them in at the beginning of class. Select a few of the questions as the impetus for class discussion.

Written dialogues: Give students written dialogues to analyze. In small groups, students must identify the different viewpoints of each participant in the dialogue. Must look for biases, presence or exclusion of important evidence, alternative interpretations, misstatement of facts, and errors in reasoning. Each group must decide which view is the most reasonable. After coming to a conclusion, each group acts out their dialogue and explains their analysis of it.

Spontaneous Group Dialogue: One group of students are assigned roles to play in a discussion (such as leader, information giver, opinion seeker, and disagreer). Four observer groups are formed with the functions of determining what roles are being played by whom, identifying biases and errors in thinking, evaluating reasoning skills, and examining ethical implications of the content.

 Teacher's questions  should address learners' critical thinking.   How ?

1-Questions are designed to promote evaluation and synthesis of facts and concepts.

2-Higher-level thinking questions should start or end with words or phrases such as, “explain,” “compare,” “why,” “which is a solution to the problem,” “what is the best and why,” and “do you agree or disagree with this statement?”

3-Another type of questioning technique is Socratic questioning. Socratic questioning is defined as a type of questioning that deeply probes or explores the meaning, justification, or logical strength of a claim, position, or line of reasoning

4-Questions investigate assumptions, viewpoints, consequences, and evidence.

5-Questioning methods, such as calling on students who do not have their hands up, can enhance learning by engaging students to think.

6-Avoiding questions with one set answer allows for different viewpoints and encourages students to compare problems and approaches.

Another alternative is to divide students into pairs.

7-One student performs an evaluation while the other observes. After the evaluation is completed, the students discuss with each other the evaluation .

8-Daily newspaper clippings directly related to current classroom content also allow an instructor to incorporate discussion into the classroom. For example, an athlete who has been reported to have died as a result of heat illness could provide subject matter for classroom discussion or various written assignments.  

1-Education of a good quality.

2- TILO.

3- See : Critical thinking 2 .