Enhancing the critical thinking skills of first year business students
Outline
1. 2. 3. 4. What is critical thinking? Who can think critically? Why teach critical thinking? Can you teach critical thinking? If so, how and what does it look like? 5. When/where can you teach critical thinking? 6. Concluding comments 7. Questions?
Critical thinking has three broad components:
1. Affective component – ability to deal with ambiguity, recognize personal biases, and embrace divergent views 2. Cognitive component – thought processes of problem definition, independent thinking and synthesis, reflection 3. Behavioral component – actions related to data gathering, knowledge application in new situations, and changing positions because of new information
1. What is critical thinking?
Individual Exercise: What do you think critical thinking is?
Group Exercise: Talk to at least one other individual about their definition of critical thinking. Adjust your original definition of critical thinking based on this conversation(s).
Reflective Exercise:
Learning without thinking is labor lost; thinking without learning is dangerous.
- Confucius
2. Who can think critically?
- Anybody at any age can think critically - How masterfully one can engage in critical thinking is dependent, in part, on one‟s intellectual maturity also known as intellectual development
Humans are born with the capacity and inclination to think. Nobody has to “teach us how to think” just as no one teaches us how to move or walk. A superb ballerina, tai chi master, or gymnast needs years of practice, concentration, reflection, and guidance to perform intricate maneuvers on command with seemingly effortless agility. Like strenuous movement, skillful thinking is hard work.
- Arthur L. Costa
3. Why teach critical thinking?
What have we heard over the past 2 days?
Paul Cherry said/asked: • IFRS puts greater emphasis on principles over rules • IFRS helps to see beyond the numbers • Substance over form • Asked: Without rules, is there enough guidance? Glen Schmidt said/asked: • Question: Are the competencies going to be the same? • IFRS adoption means it is less clear when the “right answer” has been obtained • Fewer bright lines • IFRS means more judgment (John qualified and said “huge” judgment) David Baxter said: • Constantly changing contexts • You‟ve all seen people who have opinions and no data • We need to understand the consequences of assumptions
Core competency:
• Students need to learn how to learn … which means educators need to help students enhance all components of critical thinking skill development:
Affective component Cognitive component Behavioral component
5. Can you teach critical thinking? If so, how and what does it look like?
“To obtain specimens of critical thinking, it is essential to create conditions favorable to that operation” (Robert White, 1970)
Students role: “The overriding objective of accounting programs should be to teach students to learn to learn on their own .... Students must be active participants in the learning process, not passive recipients of information. They should identify and solve unstructured problems that require use of multiple information sources. Learning by doing should be emphasized. Working in groups should be encouraged.
Instructor‟s role: … class time will be used primarily to complement out-of-class learning by students … only after students have attempted to actively learn on their own …”
Source: AECC, 1990, pp. 4-5
Problem:
- Students memorize which leads to little retention/recall
Problem:
- Students memorize which leads to little retention/recall
- Students cannot apply knowledge (i.e. synthesis, analysis, decision-making)
- Instructors use traditional teaching methods which do not fully engage students in learning
Traditional Teaching Model
- Traditional Instruction = Teacher-centred (lecture) - Assessments generally incorporate and reinforce teacher-centred approach („recipe book‟ approach)
Question:
Is critical thinking only for students?
What do you replace the teacher-centred approach with?
Learner-Centred paradigm
- based on constructivism - - the learner must construct knowledge in order to retain it - aka „understanding by design‟ or „teaching for understanding‟ or „brain-based learning‟ or „critical thinking‟
- Instructor is the facilitator of learning (“from sage on the stage to guide on the side”)
Learning Pyramid
Developed by: National Training Labs, Bethel, Main (2003)
Why does a learner-centred approach work?
- Based on how the brain works - Focused on helping students learn how to learn
Short-term memory
Long-term memory processor
Dendrites = Retention Power
The brain-based approach …
Incorporate key principles of brain compatible learning1 that have emerged from brain research2 1. 2. 3. 4. High challenge, low threat Immediate feedback Enriched environment Opportunity for mastery
1. 2.
Caine/Caine, Goleman Edelman – Nobel Prize for Physiology in 1972
Critical thinking challenge:
1. Identify one strategy you used with your students last semester that is not compliant with the brain based learning strategies. Be honest!! 2. Identify one strategy you might like to use with your students that does comply with the brain based learning strategies.
Moving to a Learner-Centred approach:
1. Apply critical thinking skills to course development
2. Explicitly teach/model critical thinking skills
3. Provide students with opportunities to acquire knowledge outside of class time
Moving to a Learner-Centred approach:
1. Apply critical thinking skills to course development 2. Explicitly teach/model critical thinking skills 3. Provide students with opportunities to acquire knowledge outside of class time
4. Help students apply knowledge during class time
Learning Community
7 Principles of Good Practice Contact between students and faculty Reciprocity and cooperation Prompt feedback Time on task Active learning techniques Communication of high expectations Respect for diverse talents and ways of learning
Chickering & Gamson (1987)
Social Presence (Learner Centred)
Setting Supporting Brain compatible Climate Discourse
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
teaching/learning strategies
Selecting Content
Teaching Presence (Assessment Centred)
Garrison, Anderson, Archer (2001)
Cognitive Presence (Knowledge Centred)
(Bransford et al (2001)
Primary Learning Objective
Social Presence
Brain compatible teaching/learning strategies
Teaching Presence
Cognitive Presence
Garrison, Anderson, Archer (2001)
Critical thinking challenge:
1. Identify the primary objective of your course … ONE! State it in one sentence that would be understood by a lay person. 2. Does the brain-based strategy identified earlier relate to your primary objective in a substantive way?
Provide students with a critical thinking framework:
• What is the goal involved in the situation (from whose perspective)
• What is the problem(s) • What are the facts • What assumptions/ concepts/principles need to be considered • What is the conclusion and resulting consequence/implication(s)
Example:
What is the best way to amortize a truck?
What is amortization?What is/are the problem(s)?
What is the conclusion(s) and resulting consequence(s)? What is/are the goal(s)?
Key Questions Involved in CT
What assumption(s) has been made/what principles needs to be considered?
What are the facts/data?
Why is knowledge acquisition important?
What is the best way to deal with MRSA bacteria?
Strategies to engage students (not an exhaustive list):
Outside of class: 1. Assign homework that students can check themselves 2. Incorporate reading/writing assignments (analyze and make available „less than perfect‟ exemplars)
Strategies to engage students (not an exhaustive list):
Outside of class: 1. Assign homework that students can check themselves 2. Incorporate reading/writing assignments (analyze and make available „less than perfect‟ exemplars)
Inclass: 3. Teach/facilitate/model critical thinking skills 4. Create relevancy (i.e. use simulations, mini case studies, newspaper articles, real financial statements - - create discussion questions) 5. Experiment! i.e., clicker technology, Elluminate 6. Make mistakes to facilitate asking questions 7. Continually ask questions … like „why‟ 8. Weekly learning summaries/questions … tied to primary learning objective 9. Create peer-to-peer learning opportunities General: 7. Set performance standards for all assessments 8. Identify primary learning objective of the course and tie everything to it … repeatedly and explicitly 9. Continually reflect on learning activities … are they compliant with brainbased learning … have you addressed the need for social/teaching/cognitive presence … are the assessments based directly on the learning activities?
Barriers to CT
- Absence of CT skills
- Old habits die hard
- Resistance to change is normal - Limited subject specific content available
5. When/where can you teach critical thinking?
- F2F - Online - Blended
6. Concluding comments
- Be explicit … tell students how you designed the course and why … to enhance their critical thinking skills regarding the primary learning objective - Use a model to develop your courses and reflect continuously - Provide students with an explicit model for critical thinking - Tie assessments to learning activities
Questions?
tillyj@athabascau.ca