The core purpose of the Critical Thinking area is to develop students’ higher-level cognitive abilities by incorporating critical thinking tasks and practices into general education courses. The emphasis will be on active learning, and so reasoning through speaking and writing will be central to these courses. These sections will still fulfill designated area requirements, but will involve teaching and learning activities that challenge students to think their way through the subject matter of the course, and to become more proficient in the analysis, evaluation and development of arguments.
Behavioral Objectives (Outcomes) for CT courses. Students completing a CT course will be able to:
1. Identify and summarize the problem at issue.
2. Identify the main point or purpose of an essay or passage and state the reasons that support a given choice.
3. Identify relevant perspectives and positions in addition to the student’s own.
4. Identify the assumptions and state the implications of an argument or theory.
5. Identify the different uses of argument; distinguish empirical from normative claims.
6. Critically evaluate arguments and information in terms of the strength of reasoning and evidence.
7. Write papers that support a point of view with relevant evidence and logical reasoning.
8. Rewrite a paper with demonstrated improvement in critical analysis.
9. Orally present materials in class in a clear and well-reasoned manner.
10. Identify, criticize and avoid errors in reasoning.
Practical Guide for Focused CT courses
1. A CT course will provide frequent opportunities for the active development of critical thinking skills appropriate to the course and the discipline.
2. The students must be afforded constructive feedback after engaging in CT activities; students will have opportunities to rethink, i.e., rewrite or re-present, their pieces after this feedback so that reasoning as a process will have as much emphasis as the final product.
3. In all CT courses the students will be given clear instructions for all assignments with expectations articulated by examples and models.
4. Instructors should lead students to think critically with a purpose beyond the classroom and an actual audience other than the instructor; such reasoning and writing should include reasoning and writing for oral presentations.
5. Critical thinking experiences in a CT course must stress reasoning as means of discovery and tools for increasing understanding within college courses and life at large.
6.
As a means of enhancing learning in the subject area, reasoning should be
recognized as a broad, extra-academic and life-enhancing ability rather than a
narrow, insulated mechanical skill.
Procedure
1. Departments will submit a written course plan to the general education council, parallel to the guidelines for regular general education courses. The area objectives (humanities, world cultural traditions, etc) are the same, but the skill will be designated “focused critical thinking.” Using the above objectives and guides, descriptions should include specific critical thinking, writing and speaking activities for each proposed CT course.
2. Courses will show that a variety of active critical thinking tasks (reasoning to learn as well as learning to reason) will be integrated with course content.
Program Evaluation
1. University-wide general education assessment (CAAP exam) that evaluates the critical thinking of students will provide one means of assessing and providing feedback for the on-going development of the CT course curriculum.
2. The general education council will work with instructors in CT courses to develop a means of evaluating the success of the CT courses area. Part of this process will include student evaluation specific to the CT course curricula.
Staffing
1. Instructors teaching a CT course should participate in ongoing workshops and faculty development activities. Some such workshops will be offered each year.
2.
The student-faculty ratio for CT courses must be low: No more than 26
students should be permitted in any CT course.