Are Students Thinking Critically or Playing the Game?

This week in our QEP workshops, we were further challenged in our quest for defining critical thinking. The professors were given a JITT (Just in Time Teaching) exercise in which they had to prioritize the different components that make up the definition of “critical thinking” as reached by the group in the Delphi Report.  It was interesting to note the different priorities that were given by each professor based upon his/her discipline.  So, the question is - should the definition of critical thinking be different for every field or can we all agree on one generic definition in the classrooms??

We were also shown a Doonesbury cartoon in which a college professor is lecturing to his class about Thomas Jefferson and the Bill of Rights.  The students are copiously taking notes, but are not engaging with the professor and analyzing what he is saying.  The professor goes off on a tear of nonsense, just trying to get their attention, but they keep writing everything down.  Finally, the professor collapses on his podium and exclaims, “Teaching is Dead!”

One thought brought out from the group is the fact that students are accustomed to the method of taking notes and taking the professor’s word as “law.”  Most of us were brought up the same way. You learn what the teacher expects from you in the classroom and in your graded projects, and you deliver.  You learn quickly in school what is needed to make the “A.”  I call this “playing the game.”  What can we do to encourage both??

The professors were given the task of creating a JITT exercise about Thomas Jefferson and the Bill of Rights that would have helped the class become active participants in the lecture, and really exercise their critical thinking skills.

Some examples that really make you think outside the box:

If Thomas Jefferson were alive today, what would he think about the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy?

If you were part of a group writing the Bill of Rights today, what would you add or remove from the original?  Why?

 

https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=10rW7XWCVneT4KraDtEL9K9mWqpurlL7AUCXqyILeA-w