118
Susan L. O’Donnell et al.
by encouraging skills directly related to the central route to persuasion. ELM suggests a
link between student motivation, willingness to apply effort, and personal relevance. Our
strategy for teaching critical thinking requires students to analyze material that is relevant
to their lives in order to maximize motivation and effort. Given their life experiences, it is
likely that issues that are personally relevant to college students include the effects of
parental divorce and maternal employment, violent video games or pornography, and
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Objectives associated with this approach are consistent with the developmental rubric
for scientific inquiry articulated by Halonen et al. (2003). More specifically, the following
discussion outlines a process that uses personally salient issues to assist students in moving
from the “before training” category to the “basic” level on the rubric (p. 198). The issues
are drawn from Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Psychological Issues (Slife, 2006), a volume
in the extensive “Taking Sides” series published by McGraw-Hill.
Progressive “Stair-Steps” to Development
As a beginning teacher, one of us (SO’D) provided students with various issues from the
Slife (2006) book with instructions to read the entries and write a response, confidently
expecting high-level, integrative responses. The other author (AF) handed students a
lengthy list of critical thinking guidelines with instructions to “apply them in analyzing an
issue related to psychology.” In retrospect, both realize the naïveté of these approaches –
we were each surprised with the low quality of the students’ responses and devastated at
our perceived “failure” to teach them such an important skill.
Literature regarding teaching and critical thinking suggests that a progressive, “ stair-
stepped” approach, consistent with Halonen et al.’s (2003) developmental rubric, is more
effective at helping students develop thinking skills. Teachers can use the guidelines discussed
in the following section in such a manner, allowing students to establish a foundation of
fundamental skills and then practice those skills in conjunction with more advanced critical
thinking. We begin by introducing students to a basic question that encourages critical
thinking, such as “What is fact and what is opinion?” Then we provide instruction on related
procedures, such as fact-checking, source identification, or logical analysis. Introducing each
of the nine questions and their associated procedures one by one allows students to build
skills in critical thinking piece by piece, without being overwhelmed. At the same time, there
is a natural accumulation of skills, creating a stair-stepped approach. This progression allows
for an additional advantage in that we can integrate the focus of each step into the various
content areas commonly included in the introductory psychology course.
Guidelines for Thinking Critically
In formulating a strategy for teaching critical thinking, one author (AF) began by reviewing
the critical thinking objectives noted in various teaching tools in psychology (e.g. Using