PRINCIPALS EXECUTIVE PROGRAM

2006 STATEWIDE LEADERSHIP

CONFERENCE:

Critical Thinking and Decision

Making
November 7, 2006
Dr. Steve Atkins

What is critical thinking?

1.

2.
3.

Write down your definition of critical

thinking: Critical Thinking is. . . .
Share your definition at your table.
Share definitions with the whole group.

Individual Reading & Small Group

Discussion
1.

2.

3.

Silently read pp. xiii-xvi (Introduction)

in the textbook (stop at Exercise 1.1).
Complete Exercise 1.1: Beginning to
Think about Your Thinking
Share your responses at your table.

Individual Reading & Small Group

Discussion

Silently read pp. xvi-xx (stop at Exercise 1.3).

Complete Ex. 1.3: Beginning to Consider
Problems in Thinking, but with a different
focus: Make a list of 5 significant problems in
education. Then, see if you can identify the
problems in thinking that led to those
educational problems.
Share at your tables.

Reading and Individual Exercise

Silently read pp. xx-xxi (stop at 1.4).

Complete Ex. 1.4: Beginning to Think
about Your Thinking

Reading & Discussion

Silently read xxii-xxv (stop at 1.6).

Complete Ex. 1.7 on p. xxvi: Articulate
Your Understanding of Critical Thinking
Share at your tables.
Compare to your earlier definition of
critical thinking.

Recap: Why Concern Ourselves

with Thinking?

We are what we think; we live in our minds.

Our thinking can either trap us or free us.
Whenever we are dealing with human life, we
are almost always dealing with thinking.
Thinking is the way the mind makes sense of
the worldthere is no way to understand
anything except through thinking.
Thinking is essential to teaching & learning: All
course content is thinking and is learned by
thinking.
All jobs require thought.

Thinking Tells Us:

What
What
What
are
What
What
What

there is
is happening
our problems

our options are

threatens us
is important

What is unimportant
Who our friends are
Who our enemies are
Who we are
Everything we know,
believe, want, fear,
and hope for

We Can Think Critically About:

Teaching & learning

Job/career
Emotions
Habits
Communication: listening,
reading, speaking, writing
Parenting
Marriage
Science
Technology

Relationships
Health
Religion
Problem solving
Politics
Money
Ethics
Media/news
Literature
Etc.

The Benefits of Critical Thinking

Academic Benefits
Professional Benefits
Civic Benefits
Personal Benefits
See Surry Community College website for more
explanations of each.
Go to Surrys home page: www.surry.edu and
click on About Surry, then on Critical
Thinking.

A Definition:
Critical thinking is the art of thinking
about thinking in an intellectually
disciplined manner. Critical thinkers are
explicitly focused on thinking, in three
inter-related phases. They analyze
thinking. They assess thinking. And they
improve thinking (as a result).
--Richard Paul, The Nature and Functions of Critical and Creative
Thinking

Richard Pauls Model:

Three Main Components

The Elements of Thought (analyze)

The Intellectual Standards (assess)
The Intellectual Traits (improve)

See p. 21 in your small mini-guide: Critical

thinkers routinely apply the intellectual
standards to the elements of reasoning in order
to develop intellectual traits.

The Elements of
Thought/Reasoning

Purpose
Question at Issue
Information
Interpretation &
Inference (Conclusions)
Concepts

(See Exhibit 2.2 on p. 14 in

your textbook.)

Assumptions
Implications &
Consequences
Points of View
(Gerald Nosich adds two
helpful concepts:
alternatives and context
see next slide.)

Alternatives and Context

Alternatives: Encompass the different choices

that could be made during reasoning: alternative
purposes, other points of view, etc. Think of
alternatives for each of the elements when
reasoning through a problem or issue.
Context: The background to the reasoning
rather than . . . literally an element in it. Our
reasoning always takes place in a context.

--Gerald Nosich, Learning to Think Things Through, p. 47

Individual Activity: Thinking through

Your Job Using the Elements
Answer these questions in writing. See pp. 5-8 in the
mini-guide for more on the elements.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

What is the purpose of your job?

What is the main issue or question related to your job?
What information do you use to fulfill your job duties?
What inferences/conclusions do you make on the job?
What are the key concepts related to your job?
What are the assumptions you make in your job?
What are the implications/consequences of your
decisions on the job?
What is your point of view?

When You Finish. . .

Go back through your answers to the

previous writing activity and consider
alternatives for each response that you
may not have thought of.
Write an explanation or description of the
context: What is the context in which this
reasoning is being done?

In Groups: Discussing the Elements

of Thought
1.

2.

Share your responses to the previous

questions.
Discuss:

How has this exercise helped you think

through your job?
What insights and/or questions about the
elements have emerged from this activity?

Application: Elements of Thought

Create a list and title it Applicationswell add

to it throughout the workshop, so leave several
pages open for it.
Take 5-10 minutes to write down three concrete
examples of ways you can use these elements to
help you think through your job and/or ways
your students, faculty, staff, and administration
can use these elements to improve job
performance.
Be prepared to share one example.

The Intellectual Standards

Clarity
Accuracy
Precision
Relevance
Depth

(See p. 54 in the
textbook.)

Breadth
Logic
Significance
Fairness
Nosich adds
Sufficiency (see next
slide).

Another Standard: Sufficiency

Adequate, thorough, comprehensive, complete

Has this been reasoned out sufficiently?
Has enough evidence been given? Has enough of the
purpose been accomplished?
Is it enough?
Your thinking about a question or an issue is sufficient
when youve reasoned it out thoroughly enough for the
purpose at hand, when it is adequate for what is
needed, when youve taken account of all the necessary
factors.

--Gerald Nosich, Learning to Think Things Through, p. 146

Groups: Discussing the Standards

Using pp. 10-11 in the mini-guide, repeat this process
for each standard; rotate roles. Cover as many
standards as you can. For additional info on the
standards, see textbook, pp. 44-53.
1.
2.
3.

4.

One person should read aloud the description of the

intellectual standard
The person to the right should paraphrase what was
just read. (Move around the group clockwise.)
The next person should elaborate on the definition of
the standard (in other words. . .) and should give an
example or illustration of the standard.
The next person should explain how he/she can apply
this standard to his/her job.

Application: Intellectual Standards

Add to your Applications list:

Take a few minutes to read pp. 62-63 in the

textbook.
Read the Critical Questions listed throughout pp.
64-71 (third column).
Take 5-10 minutes to write down three concrete
examples of ways you can use these standards to
help you perform your job (and your students,
faculty, administration, staff, perform their jobs).
Be prepared to share one example.

Review
Without looking at notes or books, lets
state the three main components of
Richard Pauls critical thinking model.

Review A Little Closed-Book Quiz:

Write down the elements of thought. Add

definitions or explanations if you can.
Write down the standards that we use to
evaluate thinking. Add definitions or
explanations if you can.
Share/compare your answers with those
at your tablehow did you do?

The Intellectual Traits

Intellectual
Intellectual
Intellectual
Intellectual

Humility
Courage
Empathy
Autonomy

(See Exhibits 8.1 and

8.2 on p. 190 in your
textbook.)

Intellectual Integrity
Intellectual
Perseverance
Confidence in Reason
Fairmindedness

Small Groups: Learning about an

Intellectual Trait to Teach It to
Your Peers
Each group will be assigned one trait. Read the description
aloud (see pp. 16-17 in mini-guide) and then discuss it:

Paraphrase the description.

Elaborate on that description (In other words. . .).
Give an example of the trait (For example. . .).
Talk about how this trait is important for thinking
critically in your job.
See pp. 194-208 in the textbook for more info.
Be prepared to teach your trait to the rest of the group.

Application: Intellectual Traits

Add to your Applications list:

Take 5-10 minutes to write down three

concrete examples of ways you can use these
traits to help you perform your job (and, as
always, think about your staff, faculty, and
students).
Be prepared to share one example.

The Best Thinkers

1.

2.

Note how the elements, standards, and traits

are brought together to conceptualize the best
kind of thinking.
Review the handout taken from Hiring for
Smarts, by Justin Menkes, from the Harvard
Business Review: Do you see the components

of the Foundations model? Where?

3.

Be prepared to share your findings.

CT Abilities: Activity #1
1.

2.

3.

4.

Select one ability at random.

Ponder it in relation to your professional
life. (If it clearly does not apply, choose
another.)
Write down two examples of how that
ability is needed by someone who does
the work you do.
Share your examples and discuss at your
table.

CT Abilities: Activity #2
1.

2.

3.

4.

Choose some aspect of your professional life

as an administrator, one that you feel is
problematic.
Choose three abilities that you think would
help in dealing with that aspect more critically.
Focus on one. What can you do, within that
aspect of your professional life, to promote
development of that ability?
Share your responses and discuss at your
table.

Content vs. Thinking

The Role of Critical Thinking in Students' Acquisition of

Foundational and Factual Knowledge by Steve Atkins
The Problem with Blooms Taxonomy

Knowledge
Comprehension
Application
Analysis
Synthesis
Evaluation

Applying Critical Thinking to School

Leadership through Case Studies

See the handout for an explanation of this

activity.

Application: A Plan for

Improvement

Add to your Applications list:

To your applications list, add the three

concrete strategies for improving your

thinking abilities.

Warning: Intellectual Work

Required

We must do the intellectual work to take

command of the foundational structures that
underlie the very idea of critical thinking.
We must do the intellectual work to apply those
foundational structures (to our lives and to
academic or professional content).

--From Richard Pauls keynote address, 26th International Conference

on Critical Thinking, 2006.

A Few Things Worth Mentioning:

This introduction to critical thinking is

meant to be just thatan introduction to,
an overview of, a substantive and complex
model of critical thinking.
Time and repeated work with the model
understanding it and applying itare
essential for it to take root.
It will be worth the time and effort to
learn and use this model.

Small Group Discussion

When you were in school, did your teachers

encourage you to think critically? Explain, using
specific examples.
Describe the methods (classroom activities,
assignments, assessments) used by those
teachers who did and who did not encourage
you to think critically.
Be ready to share some insights with the whole
group.

Small Group Discussion

Given the previous discussion, what conclusions

can you draw about the kind of teaching
methods your teachers should and should not
use in order to teach for critical thinking?
What are the implications for your leadership?
Be prepared to share specific conclusions and
implications with the whole group.

Implementing a Critical Thinking

Initiative

Critical Thinking at Surry Community College

Why Critical Thinking? The Benefits
The Importance of Using a Shared Model of
Critical Thinking
Critical Thinking Rubric
Quality Critical Thinking Assignments
Critical Thinking Teaching Strategies
Articles by Faculty and Administration
Critical Thinking Resources and Links

The Best Advice Weve Heard:

Place the foundations of critical thinking at

the heart of your professional development,
resulting in. . .

A deepening understanding of the importance of

foundational concepts and principles
A systematic application of foundational concepts to
classroom instruction, to student assessment, to
academic subjects, to life

--From Richard Pauls keynote address, 26th International Conference

on Critical Thinking, 2006.

Your Best Online Resource:

The Critical Thinking Community

Long-term Professional Development with the

Foundation
Professional Development Model for K-12
Articles - The Critical Thinking Community
Thinker's Guide Series - The Critical Thinking
Community

Go forth and think critically!