I went to a panel discussion yesterday on teaching critical thinking skills. It was more of a panel presentation than a panel discussion– the panelist-to-allotted-time ratio was too high to allow much discussion– but it was interesting to see how different disciplines approach the task of teaching students to think critically, and support arguments with evidence.
I thought the best comment of the panel was from a chemist, who said that the best test of the development of critical thinking skills is involvement with undergraduate research. This is a big emphasis for us, and one of the things we use to sell the college to prospective students. And I think our students compare very favorably to students at other institutions when it comes to doing undergraduate research.
This seems like a decent discussion topic, though, so I’ll throw it out for my wise and worldly readers:
What’s the best way to teach students to think critically?
This could be something you use while teaching, or something you recall experiencing as a student. It could be something that was a part of a formal class, or some outside the classroom task or exercise. It could even be something that happened accidentally on the Internet.
If you’ve got any thoughts on the subject, leave them in the comments. Because, really, critical thinking is an important enough skill that you can never have too many ways to teach it.