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Integrating Critical Thinking
Our critical thinking activities and course case studies illustrate that instructors can
promote critical thinking and mastery of course content without impeding either.
In addition, these techniques comply with best practices for undergraduate education
(Chickering & Gamson, 1987). These practices include active learning, respecting diverse
talents and ways of learning, and communicating high expectations.
Considerable research indicates that students learn more when actively engaged in
exercises and assignments. We have reviewed many activities that require students to plan,
organize, and direct a project. For example, students who critique media presentations of
psychological concepts must identify examples of concepts and include them in the class
project. Moreover, successful group projects require students to divide responsibilities and
also meet individual obligations to the group. Engagement in an activity produces deeper
and more permanent learning.
Regarding diverse talents and ways of learning, instructors who employ critical thinking
techniques respect individual differences among students. Students appreciate the oppor-
tunity to create their own questions or conduct debates as a counterpoint to the lecture–
exam structure typical of many college classes. Anecdotal experience indicates that students
who struggle to learn in traditional formats thrive in assignments that permit personal
involvement and creativity. In addition, instructors who employ critical thinking activities
tap into the diversity of the students in a class. For example, when students write ignorance
questions on a textbook chapter or research article, the questions may be quite diverse.
Ignorance questions thus provide an easy way to incorporate attention to diversity issues
within a class.
Also, an emphasis on critical thinking communicates high expectations to students.
Instructors who teach critical thinking want students to master the concepts in a
particular field of study, but also be able to critique, integrate, and apply this
information.
We illustrated that general principles underlie ways to teach both critical thinking
and course content, but some problems remain. Although many of the studies pro-
vided evidence of improved thinking or improved retention, we do not know whether
these improvements are fleeting or permanent. In addition, we do not know whether
the skills acquired in one class will transfer to other classes or situations (but see
Halpern, 1998 for suggestions on how to promote transfer). Thus we have made
progress in the implementation and study of critical thinking; however, instructors still
have mountains to climb.
In this chapter we described ways to incorporate critical thinking goals into objectives
of our courses in a way that integrates them with teaching course content. Our basic
strategy identifies the important elements of critical thinking inherent to skilled under-
standing and mastery of the methods, facts, and ideas of the disciplinary subfield.
Subsequently, we either construct or we search the teaching literature for lectures,
demonstrations, and activities that exercise those elements of critical thinking. Readers
of our chapter should find material that they can immediately put to use in their teach-
ing. We also hope that our readers will create their own ways to infuse critical thinking
in their courses by drawing on their expertise and passion to do more than “get through
the syllabus.”