Today I gave an introduction critical thinking skills in psych class. I asked my students to, in effect, take their ideas and hold them not only upside-down but also turn them inside-out. I asked them to question. To refuse to accept information just because it was in a textbook or just because someone with a title spouted it.
As I am wont to do, I put the steps into a simple list:
- What is being claimed?
- Have these claims been tested?
- Can related studies be replicated?
- What is the agenda of those who claim?
(To the seasoned critical thinker, you might be able to ask one question: who are you and what do you want?)
These four questions, I said, will help start the "still un-seasoned" critical thinker on his or her way to upside-down-inside-out thinking.
In short, I asked them to argue with and to challenge what I taught. I do not want to be the all-knowing sage on the stage. I'm not. I'm someone with more questions then answers herself. (Not that it has ever stopped me.)
And so I ask you, fellow thinkers, to turn your mental pages all about and ponder:- must we give exams at all?
- why do groups need a set number of people?
- can group exams work?
- why can't we demand more rote memorization?
Well?
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