Does the writer show a sensitivity to alternative points of viewor lines of reasoning? Does he or she consider and respond to objections framed from other points of view? Does the writer show a sensitivity to the implicationsand consequences of the position he or she has taken? In giving this sort of test, we are trying to determine whether students are theoretically capable of entering viewpoints that most likely differ from their own.But as you can see from this format, the test does not and cannot determine whether a student will be able to empathize with opposing views in real life situations where vested interest is involved.Because self-deception and rationalization are so much a part of human thinking, though we may theoretically “have” critical thinking skills, we may fail to use them when we are pursuing selfish goals.The point is that in giving tests we want to be fully aware of what tests can and cannot measure.No test designed to measure critical thinking abilities can completely measure the extent to which people, with their native egocentrism and bad habits of thought established over many years, will or will not think critically in complex situations when personal gain is at stake. Using General Structures That Foster Deep Thinking 1)Design coverage so that students grasp more. Plan instruction so students attain organizing concepts that enable them to retain more of what you teach. Cover less when more entails that they learn less. 2)Speak less so that they think more. (When you do lecture....) 3)Don’t be a mother robin—chewing up the text for the students and putting it into their beaks through lecture. Teach them instead how to read the text for themselves, actively and analytically. Focus, in other words, on how to read the text not on “reading the text for them.” 4)Focus on fundamental and powerful concepts with high generalizability. Don’t cover more than 50 basic concepts in any one course. Spend the time usually spent introducing more concepts applying and analyzing the basic ones while engaged in problem-solving and reasoned application. 5)Present concepts, as far as possible, in the context of their use as functional tools for the solution of real problems and the analysis of significant issues. 6)Develop specific strategies for cultivating critical reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Assume that your students enter your class—as indeed they do—with limited skills in these essential learning modalities. 28
7)Think aloud in front of your students. Let them hear you thinking, better, puzzling your way slowly through problems in the subject. (Try to think aloud at the level of a good student, not as a speedy professional. If your thinking is too advanced or proceeds too quickly, they will not be able to internalize it.) 8)Regularly question your students Socratically: probing various dimensions of their thinking: their purpose, their evidence, reasons, data, their claims, beliefs, interpretations, deductions, conclusions, the implications and
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