TEACHING CRITICAL THINKING

IN THE ARTS AND HUMANITIES1

By Arts and Humanities Network Members: Mark E.
Blum, Larry B. Corse, Mary A. Muellerleile, Timothy
Riordan, James Roth, Daniel Small, Ann Trifvisonno,
Angel R. Villarini, Harry E. Wade, Richard M. Walters;
Lucy S. Crowell, Director
We are a group of arts and humanities faculty from nine colleges and
universities who came to Alverno College, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, during the
Summer of 1983 to begin a three year collaborative exploration of undergraduate
educations potential to foster critical thinking. We represent community colleges,
liberal arts colleges, and research universities, both public and private, as well as
diverse academic backgrounds: philosophy, linguistics, history, music, romance
languages, and English literature. When we met for the first time, we had no
predetermined definition of critical thinking. What we shared was a commitment
to a form of liberal education that would empower students as independent
learners and a desire to collaborate on the improvement of teaching on each of
our campuses.
We each brought different methods of inquiry, different standards for
assessing the validity of knowledge, different humanistic resources to explore.
Yet we found we shared the belief that all forms of knowledge are culturally
conditioned, and therefore, limited constructions of reality. Although there may
be meaning that transcends human knowing, we believe that what humans
actually know is constructed by them, and should be subjected to critical review
and continuous refinement. We also agreed that to be intellectually honest, we
have the obligation to impart this same sense of the problematic nature of our
knowledge of reality to our students. We cannot teach students merely to accept
the knowledge we have acquired or to train them in the methods which produced
this knowledge. We have to teach them to question the pretense that meaning
derived from limited human experience is universal.
Critical thinking, therefore, means exactly what it says. It is a critical
consciousness of the thinking process itself and of its products. As such, it
requires an understanding of the various disciplines, but it cannot be limited to
the acquisition of certain bodies of knowledge, the mastery of certain systems of
thought, or the refinement of specific cognitive and affective abilities. Since
understanding of emotion and imagination, as well as logic, can foster critical
thinking, it is not restricted to the study of discursive or propositional knowledge.
Critical thinking may be best described as an approach to knowledge and to life
1

Cromwell, Lucy S. Editor (1986). Teaching Critical Thinking in the Arts and Humanities.
Alverno
Productions: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
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which combines a commitment to these intellectual operations with a persistent

willingness to be critical of them. We can identify the thinkers who exhibit this
trait by the depth of their knowledge, by the diversity of their ways of knowing,
and by the passion with which they strive continually to be aware and assess
their mental processes and the social context in which these processes are
embedded.
In its social dimension, critical thinking develops out of cooperative
exchanges among autonomous individuals. The search for truth, the need for
proof, the willingness to examine and justify claims, the awareness of the
constructed and contextual character of meaning are grounded in the experience
of reciprocity. Critical scrutiny of personal and social values, judgments,
presuppositions, and actions, is crucial for critical thinking since such thinkers
believe that thought has the power and ability to create meaning out of the reality
perceived and lived, and that the meaning created can foster human growth or
lead to its destruction. Committed to this belief, these thinkers take responsibility
for the reality they create, and for the consequences of their values, judgments,
and actions. They think seriously about their thinking, and they willingly and
courageously submit the products and processes of their thinking to the critical
scrutiny of others.
Our understanding that meaning is conditioned by cultural assumptions
and relative to the categories of thought that govern its expression, is itself an
assumption. While it may not be shared by all of our colleagues, all of our
students, and all of our society, it is shared by all of us. We have come to believe
that individuals in our society and in our world could be more tolerant and
peaceful, more capable of innovation and growth, and more responsible for their
actions if they were more aware of the character and limitations of their various
ways of imaging reality, meaning, and purpose.
What follows represents our attempt to delineate the characteristics of a
critical thinker in the form of a profile. This profile is drawn from our collective
experience of observing and assessing actual student performance. While few, if
any, students may demonstrate all of these characteristics, the profile should
assist educators in several important ways. It can help them recognize and
reinforce critical thinking when it occurs; it can help them identify those students
who are not thinking critically; and it can facilitate the design of strategies to
foster the development of critical thinking.

PROFILE OF THE CRITICAL THINKER

IN THE ARTS AND HUMANITIES
Foundational Knowledge, Abilities, and Attitudes
The Critical Thinker:
1. Asks significant and pertinent questions and states problems with
specificity. Arrives at solutions through hypothesis, inquiry, analysis,
and interpretation.
2. Assesses statements, insight, and arguments according to the
knowledge and skills provided by formal and informal logic and by the
principles of aesthetic judgment.
3. Derives meaning through an educated
propositional, systematic, or intuitive.

perception,

whether

4. Formulates propositions or judgments in terms of clearly defined sets

of criteria.
5. Strives to acquire knowledge of the various disciplines, knowing that
such knowledge is a necessary, though not sufficient, condition for
critical thinking.
6. Understands the different modes of thought appropriate to the various
disciplines. Can apply these modes of thought to other disciplines and
to life.
7. Is aware of the context or setting in which judgments are made, and of
the practical consequences and values involved.
8. Thinks about the world through theories, assessing these theories and
their contexts to determine the validity of their claims to knowledge of
reality.
9. Seeks and expects to find different meanings simultaneously present
in a work or event. Is intrigued and curious about phenomena others
might avoid, disavow, or ignore.
10. Recognized and accepts contradiction and ambiguity, understanding
that they are an integral part of thought and creativity.

11. Constructs and interprets reality with a holistic and dialectical

perspective. Sees the interconnectedness within a system and
between systems.
12. Is aware of the problematical and ambiguous character of reality.
Understands that language and knowledge are already interpretations
of phenomena.
13. Tolerates ambiguity, yet can assume a committed position.
14. Is aware of the limitations of knowledge and exhibits epistemological
humility.

Knowledge, Abilities, and Attitudes Related to Self-Awareness

The Critical Thinker:
1. Demonstrates capacity for continuing intellectual development and
lifelong learning. Sees the development of critical thinking as an aim
and as a process of self-assessment and correction.
2. Recognizes own intellectual potential and limitations in dealing with
different tasks. Constantly evaluates the limitations and strives to
develop the potential.
3. Extends the range of experience by educating the self in a variety of
realms of meaning.
4. Recognizes the style of ones own thought in its creative potential as
well as its boundaries. Is willing to explore the style of others to
augments ones own perceptions.
5. Treats ones own thinking with dignity.
6. Can apply insights from cultures other than ones own.
7. Is self-directed, with the courage to criticize both society and self.
8. Assumes responsibility for thought and action by being able and willing
to explain their meaning and consequences.
9. Demonstrates commitment to a specific world view, while having the
capacity to understand and accept others. Is open to the interchange
of ideas and to the possibility of changing ones own views.

10. Finds joy in the activity of thinking critically.

Knowledge, Abilities, and Attitudes Related to the Social

Dimension to the Critical Thinking
The Critical Thinker:
1. Is aware of the development and production of knowledge and critical
thinking as a historical and social process of cooperation among
human beings. Knows that thought and knowledge have relevance
and meaning only in a social context.
2. Is aware that critical thinking is a social process, and so actively seeks
critique from others to increase both self-awareness and
understanding of society.
3. Enters willingly into the give and take of critical discussion. Is ready to
be called upon to justify and defend thoughts and actions, and is willing
to call upon others to do the same.
4. Is sensitive to audience, taking seriously the task of communicating
with others. Listens carefully and is able to express thoughts clearly, to
argue cogently and appropriately, and to edit sensibly.
5. Examines the assumptions and validity of every communication. Is
committed to reflection about the assumptions that guide our
construction and interpretation of reality.
6. Goes beyond own interests or the interests of own particular culture to
understand other interests and points of view and to foster, when
appropriate, synthesized or ecumenical views.
7. Uses knowledge and skills to intervene and support critical and
intelligent positions on controversial issues facing the community. Is
specifically committed to defend and promote those individual and
social relations that will guarantee the possibility of the continuous
development of critical thinking in any human being.

Teaching for Critical Thinking

Perhaps the most important thing to point out about the profile of critical
thinking abilities is that it is a profile of student abilities. It may seem trite to say
that education should be student-centered, but it is probably a statement worn
thin more by saying than by doing. If teachers take seriously the charge of
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helping students develop critical thinking skills, then they must take a careful look
at those students. Graduate programs in the particular humanistic disciplines
may provide a solid grounding in the subject matter and methods of those
disciplines, but they do not usually devote much attention to the process of
teaching in the humanities.
Doctoral candidates in philosophy, for example, will learn a great deal
about philosophy but will not be required to learn about the students who will be
learning philosophy from them. This is not a criticism of graduate programs,
although one might raise some questions about them, but it serves as a reminder
that graduate training is not necessarily a preparation for teaching. One of the
implications, then, of endeavoring to teach critical thinking to students is that the
teachers themselves have more to learn than the content of their respective
disciplines, and, in particular, they probably have much to discover about the way
students learn and what that means in terms of pedagogical principles and
techniques.
In this section on pedagogy we have tried to identify some principles for
teaching which seem important in fostering critical thinking abilities. In other
words, we are assuming that teaching for particular kinds of outcomes in
students has some implications for the kinds of attitudes and approaches
teachers bring to the learning situation. For example, teachers who want
students to develop the ability to raise questions about the ideas they are
studying must be concerned about the sense in which the teacher is perceived
as an authority in the classroom. Some methods are more likely than others to
give the impression that students should just shut-up and listen, and if teachers
do not want to encourage such a perception, they must find and use methods
which help create a different one. In any case, teachers must have a good sense
of the abilities they are trying to teach and the pedagogical approaches which
seem geared to the abilities involved and the students doing the learning. The
suggestions offered in this section are intended to provide help in that direction,
but it should also be noted that this emphasis on appropriate pedagogy and
student development implies a particular direction in ones professional
development as well. Those who intend to make teaching their profession may
need to devote more attention to subjects like developmental psychology and
curriculum development, since those areas may be crucial in helping one
become familiar with the learning process and how to nurture it. This does not
mean abandoning research in ones discipline, but it does mean that there might
be other areas of research which are essential for the teacher.
The notion of spending time and energy on research outside ones
discipline can make faculty members a little nervous. Will they lose touch with
their discipline? Will they have to rely on old ideas and yellowed notes for the
subject matter of their courses? Will they become like teaching robots with slick
techniques but little solid foundation in the particular humanistic discipline they
are teaching? These are questions that should be asked, but the answers need
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not be pessimistic ones. It is important to have a firm hold on the content and
methods of ones discipline. The teacher in the humanities should bring a strong
sense of cultural heritage to the classroom and help students become aware of
that heritage. On the other hand, teaching for critical thinking abilities implies
that there is more involved in learning than the acquisition of information. In this
context, teachers should see themselves as developers of abilities, not just
transmitters of information. Teachers must ask themselves not only what is at
the heart of, or current in, their disciplines, but what it means to teach in their
disciplines. It might even be more accurate to say that teaching in the
humanities is their discipline. With this in mind, effort given to the consideration
of pedagogy or theories of development, for example, is not research outside
ones discipline, but very much at the core of it.
The process of becoming better teachers is similar to the learning of
critical thinking: it doesnt happen overnight. Since we are talking about a
change in our self-concept as teachers, the process must be an ongoing one.
No one will be able to gather all the insights needed to enhance the development
of critical thinking in our students, and this leads to two important conclusions.
First, the task may seem to be an overwhelming one, but if viewed as a gradual
development of ones own critical thinking in the humanistic disciplines, it may
prove to be more exciting than exhausting. Second, we can help each other as
teachers in this effort. This book is a testimony to that in some ways. The
pedagogical principles that follow are not the result of one persons lonely
struggle to seek out some answers about critical thinking; they reflect the thought
and experience of a group of people who recognized the enormity of the task and
decided to help each other with it.

Principles of Teaching for Critical Thinking

Be sensitive to individual students
Any attempt to help others become critical thinkers challenges one to be
sensitive to others. Critical teaching is student-centered, concerned with the
needs of students who differ not only in natural endowment, but also in the stage
of development at which we find them. We need to develop the ability to
distinguish between what students can do and what they lack the skills to do, as
well as what interests them and what does not. We need to be ready to talk with
individual students, pay serious attention to their self-evaluations, and give them
constant, supportive feedback. We should be ready to change assignments
when not a matter of mastering a set of materials, but a process that will develop
at different rates for different people. Being sensitive about others also often
involves going beyond our particular disciplines, gaining an understanding of
such areas as group dynamics, the psychology of learning, and developmental
theories.

Be an example of a critical thinker

We can best assist our students to develop as critical thinkers if we
provide them with a model of this behavior. We must be active, visible examples
of critical thinkers. Hence, to teach critically, it is not enough simply to know and
impart material. We must know the material so intimately that we can see the
processes by which it is structured, and articulate the strengths and weaknesses
of its approach to reality. We must not only understand a philosophical theory or
a poem, for example, but also be able to convey why its author wrote it, how it
can elucidate aspects of currently lived reality, and what its weaknesses are.
This can show students how to understand what they have learned, and how to
apply it to their own situation. Furthermore, as we wish to develop the students
abilities to listen, to seek critique from others, and to justify their actions, we must
show ourselves ready to do the same. We must also be open to the possibility
that students will gain insights we do not have; we must even encourage them to
try to do so. All teaching is itself, at its best, a process of learning. A teacher is
simply one who has continued the formal process of learning longer than those
we call students. As learning is interactive, so is teaching, and any sharp
distinction between the two is artificial. Still, there is a reason to focus on these
principles. We as teachers are longer-term learners, often so caught up in
enthusiasm for our learning that we misperceive what the needs of others are.
Pedagogical principles, as we intend them here, are simply suggestions about
how to share our insights more effectively-how to help others grow. The
demands made on one who wishes to teach critically are thus radically different
form those made on the traditional teacher.
Provide criteria to specify the conduct involve in demonstrating critical
thinking abilities
Although the profile of the critical thinker indicates the kind of abilities and
attitudes we hope to see in our students, it does not necessarily provide the
students themselves with a specific enough picture of what it means to behave
like a critical thinker. Students need to know what it means to behave like a
critical thinker. Students need to know what is involved in being able to see
multiple perspectives or to ask significant questions. To tell them that critical
thinkers should be able to do those things is simply not enough. In this context,
teachers should create specific criteria that determine for the students the
behaviors which are integral to and indicative of each critical thinking ability.
Perhaps the students will need these criteria less frequently the more they grow
as critical thinkers, but early in their development they will probably require quite
specific criteria. The students will then have a sense of what is expected of
them, and teachers can use the criteria to point out areas of strength and
weakness to the students in order to enhance their learning.
Encourage supportive classroom atmosphere

One of the most difficult traits for students to develop is an ability to live
within limits. In order to be fully human, however, they must be aware that reality
is problematic, that experience is ambiguous, and that they are too limited to
resolve many of the problems they encounter. Yet such students should also
become aware of the need to assume a balanced, reasoned, committed position
in spite of these limitations. They should be willing to take risks in doing so, to try
new ideas and explore new thoughts. But if they find intolerance or indifference
in the class, their critical development may be impeded. Hence, we must support
their explorations and ideas, encouraging their expression and development. We
should strive to respond with genuine enthusiasm as often as possible, centering
on what is important to them. Once we have established the foundation of
tolerance, we can then challenge their views. Finally, we should encourage their
critical response to our views, urging them to extend our ideas into new contexts
or to point out weaknesses in them. Such an attitude has an additional
advantage. A supportive attitude on our part can foster a tolerant attitude on
theirs; we may well find them more willing to respect our ideas, as we respect.
Develop and use as large a range of activities in the class as possible
Students vary immensely in abilities and in the ways they approach and
respond to reality. Some verbalize well and solve problems through a discursive
mode; some use a rich imagery, while still others excel in quantification. Some
work well in large groups, others in small groups or in a one-on one situation.
Some students need more time to meditate quietly, others can present a quick
response. Differences in learning style also suggest that the teacher should use
a variety of materials. Some students might find more immediate access to an
idea by reading visual presentation than in a written document; others might have
a particularly sensitive aural aptitude and listen more effectively than others
might. Providing different learning experiences can challenge those who are
weak in particular areas to improve
.
Open the class to student participation
As students become more critical, they become more self-directed. They
are more capable of assuming responsibility for their own thoughts and actions,
and more aware of how to develop those thoughts. In order for such
responsibility to grow, they need the chance to help define the structure and aims
of the course. Consequently, we should provide them the opportunity to define
and work towards objectives they consider important. Where possible, they
should also help chose the activities which they will carry out to achieve those
objectives. They should even be encouraged to participate as actively as
possible in the evaluation of their achievement. They might, for example, be
given a choice about what type of instrument will be used to evaluate their
product-a test, or a report, to name two possibilities. We, as their teachers, must
usually take final responsibility for all these factors, but we cannot foster

students growth as responsible critical thinkers without exploring ways in which

they can share in these tasks.
Provide clear guidelines for the activities you wish to encourage
Although advanced students have internalized many of the behaviors of a
critical thinker, beginning students may not understand how assignments can
help them develop. We may often need, therefore, to explain and provide the
criteria for such things as what constitutes a good group report, or the standards
for critiquing anothers written essay. Listing those criteria, demonstrating how to
critique an essay, writing and passing out a model test question with answer, are
activities we can do to encourage the critical growth of our students. As a result
of these activities, we too grow as critical thinkers. In listing the criteria for a
good report, for example, we force ourselves to become aware of our
presuppositions about quality, and we give ourselves and our students the
opportunity to raise questions about them.
Use small groups
Critical thinking occurs best in situations where a free exchange of ideas is
possible. Working in small groups, for example, allows students to try out their
ideas on other students who are less threatening than even the most sympathetic
teacher. Furthermore, listening to the ideas of others in small groups helps to
make students aware that critical thinking arises as a result of social interaction
and is conditioned by the context in which it occurs. Providing opportunities for
the free exchange of ideas also enables the teacher to learn about the students
progress as critical thinkers in a non-threatening and unobtrusive way. Finally, it
creates learning situations for the teacher as well as for the student, because the
many perspectives that students have on a subject can reveal new aspects of it
to the teacher.
Involve every aspect of the student
Critical thinking involves students in knowledge of the different modes of
thought appropriate to various disciplines. As they become familiar with these
various types of thinking (rational, visual, metaphorical, etc.), they try first to
understand how they work within their own disciplines. Then the students can try
to apply them to other disciplines as well as to an understanding of their own
lives. The teacher must design learning experiences that focus upon the
interests and issues central to the student so that self-development can be
introduced into the tasks of the class. We, as teachers, must also be open to the
difficult task of accepting, encouraging, and learning the modes of thought which
are not verbal or quantitative.
Use your discipline in teaching critical thinking

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Students who think critically realize that both knowledge and the
techniques of our disciplines are the outcome of a historical and social process.
They also strive to know more about the various disciplines through which our
civilization has developed knowledge, realizing that such an approach is
necessary though not sufficient for critical thought in our culture. We cannot
allow ourselves to fail our students by ignoring our own discipline or by allowing
them to play sloppily with it. Thorough understanding of a discipline has at least
three advantages:

A discipline filters the vast sum of possible knowledge, allowing one to

pick out certain aspects as important and others as unimportant. Such
understanding allows students to become aware of different possible
meanings present in a work or event.

Each discipline encourages students to become aware, in different

ways, of the problematic character of reality by raising different types
of questions. For example, poetry and history may both probe the
phenomenon of love-but how different the concerns, perspectives, and
questions of each are.

Perhaps most importantly, our traditional disciplines are the vehicles by

which we transmit our culture, with its rich perspectives, to our
students. Critical thinking without such cultural roots can become
trivial, or worse, senseless.

Encourage transference
The excitement of critical thinking cannot be limited to one field or to a
select few; critical thinkers are concerned about their entire world, and can go
beyond their local culture to understand other interests and views. As teachers,
we can help students broaden their critical perspectives by leading them to see
how one area of knowledge relates to another and fits ultimately into the
framework of all cultures. We can help students integrate their insights into
progressively wider realms of knowledge. We can, for example, assist them to
see how ethical problems recur in politics or biology, or how beauty motivates
mathematicians. Interdisciplinary courses are perhaps the greatest help here,
but even without them we can point out the interconnections of ideas.
Stress the open-ended quality of critical thinking
Students who develop as critical thinkers become aware that human
limitations in dealing with reality can be a source of joy rather than frustration.
They need to know and to appreciate that each field of knowledge is far from
being a finished product and that they can become part of the ongoing process of
increasing knowledge. As teachers we should introduce students to our
discipline as an ongoing dialogue through such techniques as providing them
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with a variety of viewpoints on a subject and engaging them in the dialogue

through considered response from them. We should also provide situations in
which students will feel free to develop new insights and to create original ways
of engaging others in dialogue.
Be modest
Every student is unique and every class may also take on its own
character. Teachers should recognize that they, as co-learners, are individuals,
too. Our goal is to be as responsive as possible to the opportunities these
differences provide us. As we become more sensitive to these differences, we
will find that new techniques and combinations of techniques are more exciting
for us to use-and often therefore more effective with students. We cannot hope
or expect to implement all these techniques at once-the result would probably be
chaos. We must be modest.
Be courageous
A student who thinks critically is in some sense reconstructing reality. It is,
however, disturbing, intellectually or actually, to change an existing order.
Therefore, we must provide contexts in which students can confront their own
and others realities.
We must help them understand their emotional
ambivalences often generated in the process of critical reconstruction. As
teachers, we must guide and govern ourselves accordingly. It is difficult to open
issues that some feel are best left in silence, yet the gain such a confrontation
affords is an earnest dialogue with issues vital to the student and teacher, and
not an intellectual game with no outcome. Every moment of a class can be one
or realization.

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