Campus Resources
Early in the 2006-07 academic year, the provost appointed a Task Force to study critical thinking at Calvin. It addressed questions such as what is critical thinking, does Calvin's concept of CT differ from that at other schools, how are we doing in developing CT among our students, and how can we do better? The Task Force completed its work last spring. The following two documents are outcomes of the Task Force's work.
Sampling of Online Resources
Overview of Critical Thinking:
- "Critical Thinking: A Statement of Expert Consensus for Purposes of Educational Assessment and Instruction," by Peter A. Facione, Santa Clara University
- Critical Thinking: What It Is and Why It Counts by Peter A. Facione, Santa Clara University. Good overview of the nature of critical thinking. (pdf file)
- Critical Thinking.net
- Critical Thinking on the Web,a directory of online CT resources
- A Christian Perspective on Critical Thinking
- "Critical Thinking in Every Domain of Knowledge and Belief," Keynote Address, The 27th Annual International Conference on Critical Thinking, -- July 23, 2007, by Richard Paul, Director of Research and Professional Development at the Center for CriticalThinking, Chair of the National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking
- "An Introduction to Models of Reasoning," by Edward G. Rozycki, Ed. D.
- Of the Liberty of Thought and Discussion by
John Stuart Mill.
Classic chapter, densely packed with wisdom about thinking.
Assessing Critical Thinking:
- Annotated List of Critical Thinking Tests
- Critical and Integrative Thinking Rubric Project (2006), Washington State University
- Outline of Goals for a Critical Thinking Curriculum and Its Assessment
- "The Elements of Reasoning and the Intellectual Standards: Helping Students Assess Their Thinking," by Richard Paul and Linda Elder (criticalthinking.org)
Critical Reading & Writing:
- Dan Kurland's www.criticalreading.com
Everyone complains that students cannot read well… and yet most high schools and colleges offer no course in critical reading. This is the website for just such a course... Criticalreading.com shows you how to recognize what a text says, what a text does, and what a text means by analyzing choices of content, language, and structure. It shows you what to look for, and how to think about what you find." - Teaching Critical
Thinking Through Writing, Dartmouth College Composition Centre
Nice short piece on improving critical thinking through writing exercises in the context of an undergraduate subject.
General Resources:
- ChristianLogic.com by Nathianel and
Hans Bluedorn
A website all about logic for Christians, with a home-schooling orientation. In many ways this is a wonderful, delightful site, with lots of interesting material and useful resources. - The Fallacy Files, by Gary Curtis
This site is: 1) a collection of named fallacies, that is, types of bad reasoning which someone has thought distinctive and interesting enough to name and describe; and
2) A collection of fallacious, or otherwise bad, arguments, that is, examples of reasoning which may commit one or more of the named fallacies under 1, or are bad in some way yet to be classified.
Teaching Critical Thinking:
- Critical Thinking Glossary:An Educator's Guide to Critical Thinking Terms and Concept
- Critical Thinking Across the Curriculum Project
- "Strategies for Teaching Critical Thinking,"by Bonnie Potts, American Institutes for Research
- Teaching Critical Thinking: A Few Suggestions
- Teaching Critical Thinking Through Writing
- Teaching Methods:
Teaching Critical Thinking, Michigan State University Office of Faculty
& Organizational Development
Critical thinking in the college classroom actively engages students in higher order thinking about course material: questioning, applying, analyzing, synthesizing and/or evaluating it using reasoning, logic, and problem-solving abilities. It moves beyond the mere acquisition and retention of information. The resources below provide research, bibliographies, methods, articles, and handouts for developing students' critical thinking abilities. - Teaching Guides, Essays, and additional Resources related to Critical Thinking, from austhink.org.
