Critical Thinking

At the beginning of the course, discuss with students what you mean by terms like “analyse”, “assess”, “critique”, “reasoning”, “fallacy”, “assumptions”, “logic”, “compare and contrast”, etc. Go through some very short readings in class to demonstrate the terms you want them to understand and have them ask questions about, and reflect back, what they understand about those terms.

Deconstruct the literature of the field so that students understand how knowledge in the discipline progresses. Make them aware of how scholarly journals and conference papers differ from textbooks and popular media. Have them read some short excerpts on the same topic from different types of sources, and ask them to articulate the differences that they notice about these sources. Are some more reliable or credible than others?

Make sure that students have the resources (readings, websites, videos, etc.) that expose them to the concepts that you want them to think critically about. This might involve giving them readings with opposing points of view, or readings that contain some dubious information alongside readings that are factually accurate. In class, ask students to compare the content/points of view in the materials. Get them to ask questions about what they have read.

Show students how to analyse and deconstruct the structure of an argument, and how to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the argument through the use of argument maps (see Dwyer 2017, cited below).

Teach students to read critically by identifying problems/issues that arise out of the text and extending their reading into social understanding and/or action (see Naiditch 2017, cited below).

Give students essay topics where they are deliberately challenged to think about not just the content of the topic, but how the topic is framed in print publications and/or online media. As a further element of their grade, give students the opportunity to present their essay findings as a poster. This could be an open event for other faculty and students to drop by and discuss the topics with your students.

Ask students to keep a critical thinking journal, where they reflect upon their own understanding of various topics as the course progresses.

Flip your classroom, at least partially, and require students to do some short key readings on their own and/or take a short quiz before they come to class. Stress that you will not just be covering the basic elements of the material in class, but also will be discussing with them what the material is about and common assumptions or fallacies about the topic that they noticed.

In large classes, think about using clickers and in-class quizzes to increase interactivity and pinpoint areas of misunderstanding of the material.

Incorporate peer group discussion into the course, where groups are challenged to come up with lists of the assumptions or fallacies that they noticed in their readings or in the concepts covered.

Get students to ask more “Why” questions about the material being covered or that they are reading. For example, in a class about factory farming, students might ask themselves "Why does factory farming have such a negative reputation in the public domain, even though there have been advances in animal care? Are negative opinions about faculty farming justified?". One way to encourage students to ask these kinds of questions about the material is to have them hand in a certain number of questions during the course for a small percentage of the grade. Every so often, select a few examples of their "why" questions and bring them to class to stimulate discussion.

Use “What If” scenarios to get students thinking critically. For example, "What if you could redesign the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms? What process would you use to do it? How would you ensure that some groups are not left out? What issues would be important to consider? What principles would you use to guide your framework?"

Introduce debate into the course. Use the board/whiteboard to record pros and cons as students debate the topic. Another approach is to divide the class into debate teams where each team must argue first one side of the issue, and then the other side. Throughout the course, different teams could present their debate on different topics.

• See Active Learning

Incorporate group teamwork into your course, where students are presented with a problem they must solve. For example, in a transportation geography course, you might have them examine a statement such as: "Many cities are incorporating bike lanes to encourage less reliance on cars and to increase the safety of cyclists." What questions does each group have about these goals? What kinds of information would the group need to assess the desirability and efficacy of bike lanes? Have them search online resources in class to see if they can find reliable sources that would help with their assessment.