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St. Petersburg Online Communicator (SPOC)Student Success - Thinking Critically In Class and Online
SPC's definition of critical thinking
Given the variety of definitions in the literature, an important step in preparing the plan to improve students’ critical thinking skills was to develop a consensus among the SPC faculty on what constituted critical thinking. SPC began by defining critical thinking
CRITICAL THINKING is the active and systematic process of
- Communication
- Analysis
- Synthesis
- Problem-solving
- Evaluation
- Reflection
both individually and in community to
- Foster understanding
- Support sound decision-making and
- Guide action
This definition emphasizes the importance of critical thinking on an individual level as well as in community. The definition recognizes intellectual traits of critical thinkers. It also charges students to foster understanding and engage in sound decision-making to address the College’s mission of fostering critical thinking. These skills will serve as tools for students in an ever-changing marketplace and world.
How students can use SPC's definition of critical thinking
Whether delving into assigned readings or confronting realistic problems, it helps to systematically review the different elements of critical thinking. SPC's faculty champions have developed criteria of what good critical thinking looks like as part of the Assessment Rubric for Critical Thinking (ARC). Take your students through a similar example in your own course.
| Performance Element | Exemplary Critical Thinking |
Examples |
Communication Define the problem in your own words. |
Identify the main idea or problem with numerous supporting details and examples which are organized logically and coherently |
|
Analysis Compare & contrast the available solutions. |
Use specific inductive or deductive reasoning to make inferences regarding premises; address implications and consequences; identify facts and relevant information correctly |
|
Problem Solving Select & defend your solution. |
Thoroughly identify and address key aspects of the problem and insightfully use facts and relevant evidence from analysis to support and defend potentially valid solutions |
|
Evaluation Identify any weaknesses in your solution. |
Insightfully interpret data or information; identify obvious as well as hidden assumptions, establish credibility of sources on points other than authority alone, avoid fallacies in reasoning; distinguish appropriate arguments from extraneous elements; provide sufficient logical support |
|
Synthesis Suggest ways to improve/strengthen your solution. |
Insightfully relate concepts and ideas from multiple sources; use new information to enhance final solution; recognize missing information; correctly identify potential effects of new information. |
|
Reflection Reflect on your own thought process. “What did you learn from this process?” “What would you do differently next time to improve?” |
Identify strengths and weaknesses in your own thinking: recognize personal assumptions, values and perspectives, compare your own thinking to others’, and evaluate your thinking in the context of alternate points of view |
|
Building skills through classroom activities
Students should be reminded that they are building critical thinking skills every time they:
- Actively participate in class discussions
- Write a research paper
- Brainstorm on a group project
- Analyze data from science experiments
- Solve realistic problems
- Learn in clinical or internship settings
if, and only if, they engage with the assignments seriously
Online critical thinking (affecting face-to-face classes as well)
While thinking critically in online classes involves all of the elements of of the critical thinking definition, there are a couple of areas for which critical thinking becomes especially important:
-
Evaluating websites. Before the Internet, much of the information we read was vetted by
some nominally authoritative source (although that could be argued)
- peer review, managing editors of newspapers, publishing companies,
and standards conveyed by institutions of higher education.
With the Internet, unfiltered information is easier to publish,
which has subsequently infected more traditional sources of
information as well. You can help students by providing a
website evaluation form - many of which are available in textbooks
and online. The following are good examples:
-
Communicating online. Email is ubiquitous in all modes of instruction and discussion boards are in most online classes. Unfortunately, most people do not realize that 93% of interpersonal communication is relayed via body language (55%) and vocal tone (38%). When those pieces of the message are stripped from electronic communications, it is very easy to mis-communicate. Without the help of a smile or lilt in the voice of the speaker, people can take offense where none was intended because their assumptions, values, and perceptions influence their reading of the message.
Further, there is a sense of anonymity that people gain from online communications, leading to a tendency to feel freer to express strong emotions that would be normal in face-to-face communications.
- Tell your students about the loss of communication that happens when you lose body language and vocal tone.
- Recommend students read messages aloud to make sure they make sense and convey what was intended.
- Warn students to re-read all messages before hitting send to make sure emotions are in check.
- When miscommunication happens, provoking an emotional response, advise students to interrupt the flow of communications to analyze the rise in emotions and respond carefully (and often apologetically), aiming to reduce tensions.
Advice from the Foundation for Critical Thinking
www.criticalthinking.org
The Foundation for Critical Thinking has several pages that may prove helpful to college students.
- Critical Thinking interactive model. Open
the "Elements and Standards" Online Learning Model.
This is an effective, "flashy" explanation of critical thinking.
- You are What you Think. http://www.criticalthinking.org/starting/college_student.cfm. After a reasoned explanation of the value of critical thinking, it provides a number of links to other articles on the site. Of particular interest are the following articles