Subject: [IFETS-DISCUSSION:3990] Assessment Challenges: Critical Thinking Skills
From: Brent Muirhead (bmuirhead@email.uophx.edu)
Date: Fri 11 Oct 2002 - 00:46:57 MEST
From: "Brent Muirhead" <bmuirhead@email.uophx.edu> Subject: [IFETS-DISCUSSION:3990] Assessment Challenges: Critical Thinking Skills Date: Thu, 10 Oct 2002 18:46:57 -0400
Greetings Colleagues!
Distance educators who want to enhance the teaching and learning process
realize that fostering critical thinking skills will require extra work to
effectively communicate complex ideas to their students. Bullen's research
(1998) reveals that a student's ability to demonstrate critical thinking
skills in online dialog are influenced by four major factors:
a.. cognitive maturity
b.. teaching style of instructor
c.. student's prior learning experiences
d.. degree of understanding the critical thinking process
The short list of factors highlights that students will vary in their
understanding and reflective abilities. Therefore, teachers will need to
develop a set of strategies that will help them to meet a diversity of
student needs. It is wise read through critical thinking literature to
formulate a personal philosophy and create appropriate assessment
instruments.
As a veteran online educator, one of my greatest challenges is assessing
critical thinking skills. Carolee & Chalupa (1994) state that "regardless of
the way in which critical thinking is evaluated, the assessment must be
sensitive enough to identify changes that have occurred in students'
thinking skills (parargraph 13)." The authors discuss the use of commercial
tests and teacher made evaluation instruments: multiple-choice tests,
checklists and open-ended questions.
My research on this issue has convinced me that teachers must establish
criteria for evaluation and students need to have a good understanding of
the critical thinking process. I have enclosed an informative list of
essential critical thinking skills. I would appreciate your feedback on your
experiences with teaching and evaluating critical thinking skills.
Essential Critical Thinking Skills (Woolfolk 1990)
Defining and Clarifying the Problem
a.. Identify central issues or problems.
b.. Compare similarities and differences.
c.. Determine which information is relevant.
d.. Formulate appropriate questions.
Judge Information Related to the Problem
Distinguish between fact, opinion and reasoned judgment.
Check consistency.
Identify unstated assumptions.
Recognize stereotypes and clichés.
Recognize bias, emotional factors, propaganda and semantic slanting.
Recognize different value systems and ideologies.
Solving Problems/Drawing Conclusions
Recognize the adequacy of data.
Predict probable consequences.
References
Bullen, M. (1998). Participation and critical thinking in online university
distance education. Journal of Distance Education. Available
http://cade.icaap.org/vol13.2/bullen.html
Carolee, S. & Chalupa, M. (1994). Critical thinking skills research:
Developing evaluation techniques. Journal of Education for Business. 69 (3),
172-178. Retrieved from EBSCOhost October 9, 2002. Available:
http://www.apollolibrary.com/collections.asp
Woolfolk A. E. (1990). Educational psychology (4th ed.). Englewood Cliffs,
NJ: Prentice Hall, (p. 278).
Brent Muirhead D.Min., Ph.D.
Area Chair, MAED Curriculum & Technology
University of Phoenix Online
bmuirhead@email.uophx.edu
770-751-1783 (EST)
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