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Because
they are so often asked for one correct answer, students need guidance
in thinking through an open-ended problem. Faculty need to provide
readings approaching the problem from different points of view.
Faculty can also provide a set of questions to help students through
the step-by-step process.
The
assignment can be a stand-alone, one-time assignment beginning with
Level 1 or it can be a semester-long process starting with Level
1 and progressing through the steps as additional information is
gathered and shared between students.
Four
Questions
Wolcott and Lynch suggest starting by asking students
1. What is your opinion about this problem?
2. What is the basis for your opinion?
3. Is it possible to decide whether your opinion is correct? If
yes, how? If no, why not?
4. How is it possible there are differences of opinion? (4)
Task Prompts
Some
of their task prompts, a list of potential questions for guiding
students through the steps, appear here.
| Step
1: Identify the problem, relevant information, and uncertainties |
-
Explain why people disagree about ____.
- Create
a list of information that might be useful in thinking about
____.
- Consult
experts and explore literature or other resources to: Create
a list of issues related to ____, create a list of different
points of view related to ____.
-
Identify a range of possible solutions to _____.
- Sort
pieces of information to identify reasons and evidence that
support a given solution.
|
| Step
2: Explore interpretations and connections |
- Discuss
the strengths and weaknesses of a particular piece of evidence
related to _____.
- Compare
and contrast the arguments related to two or more solutions
to ___.
- Identify
and discuss the implications of your own experiences and
preferences for how you think about _____.
- Develop
one or more ways to organize information and analyses to
help you think more thoroughly about _____.
|
| Step
3: Prioritize alternatives and communicate conclusions |
- Prepare
and defend a solution to _____.
- Identify
which issues you weighed more heavily than other issues
in arriving at your conclusion about _______.
- Explain
how you would respond to arguments that support other reasonable
solutions to _____.
- Explain
how you designed your memo or presentation to effectively
communicate to your audience.
- Describe
how you would communicate differently about ____ in different
settings.
|
| Step
4: Integrate, monitor, and refine strategies for re-addressing
the problem |
- Describe
the limitations of your proposed solution to _______.
- Describe
conditions under which you would reconsider your solution.
- Explain
how conditions might change in the future, resulting in
a possible change in the most reasonable solution to _____.
- Establish
a plan for monitoring the performance of your recommended
solution to _____.
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Students
may have some discomfort with this process because they so often
try to figure out what answer the instructor wants. It is important
not to grade their position, but how they answered the posed prompts
and whether they were able to answer each.
The
section on assessment will provide some ideas on how to use rubrics
to assess students’ critical thinking skill.
The
section on online discussion will provide a introduction to including
critical thinking in discussion activities.
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