Purpose: This paper aims to argue that substantive changes are required in both curricula and pedagogical practice in higher education institutions to challenge dominant epistemologies and discourses and to unsettle current ways of thinking about, and acting in relation to, the environment. Central to such a shift, it is argued, is the need for…

Uses the judicial model of reasoning employed by the Supreme Court as an exemplar in teaching critical skills in the basic argumentation and debate course. Describes the model and course highlights. (PD)

Describes a critical thinking course in which students perform ongoing critical analyses of themselves. Argues that developmental students lack internalized knowledge. Discusses four questions that students answer throughout the course: "Who are you?""How did you get that way?""What do you want to become?" and "Who are you now?" (AJL)

If students are first taught writing as experience, then become aware of the intellectual and imaginative operations they use to shape that experience, they will be better able to manage the thinking and writing tasks of the various academic disciplines and of the world of work. This is the purpose of a proposed upper-level writing course that…

In this article, the author presents a case study of three fourth grade teachers in New York, a state that administers an elementary social studies test, constructed by teachers, that relies on the use of documents in the majority of its questions. Throughout the 2002-2003 school year, the three teachers were observed during every unit of social…

Reading courses at the college level strive to improve advanced reading proficiency as well as basic reading skills. The use of a problem-solving model is one way to provide students with an organized approach to comprehending, investigating, and resolving problem statements. The problem-solving model begins with a problem statement provided by…

In the fall of 1980, a course titled Developing Critical Thinking Skills was approved at the University of Minnesota-Duluth for offering as one of the options in the liberal education category called Communication, Language, and Symbolic Systems. This paper provides a description of the course (designed to provide experiences with methods and…

Noting that while the literature clearly states a need for colleges and universities to teach students critical thinking skills from a liberal arts perspective, this paper points out that there are few descriptions of how these skills can be taught. Using the canons of classic rhetoric, the literature is reviewed to discover the skills that arise…

Approaches to developing the college curriculum and teaching techniques to cultivate or enhance the student's capacity for abstract logical reasoning are discussed, and their implications for testing and faculty development are explored briefly. (MSE)

Maintains that undergraduate psychology curricula almost always include one or more required experimental courses. Describes the use of the human subjects review process as a method of stimulating critical thinking. Discusses questions posed by the review process and classroom applications of the approach. (CFR)

A course designed to sensitize the student to both verbal and non-verbal clues to the levels of meaning from written and non-written communication is presented. Course objectives include the following: (1) Students recognize examples of emotionally toned language; (2) Students determine attitudes from demonstrations of various body gestures,…

Discusses a model for teaching critical thinking and the changes observed in student abilities after taking a course emphasizing the model. Finds that scores on a critical thinking test were significantly higher among the 24 students in the course. Presents a graphic example of the model applied to the issue of homelessness. (CFR)

Maintains that psychology courses attract students who are interested in using their knowledge of human behavior in their professional and personal lives. Describes four approaches used in a developmental psychology course to differentiate between experimental and observational research. Discusses implications of the approaches. (CFR)

Maintains that, before developing a curriculum to teach critical thinking in the social studies, it is necessary to conceptualize what critical thinking is. Discusses three definitions of critical thinking along with three strategies for teaching critical thinking. (CFR)

Describes the application of the problem method, or case study approach, to teach undergraduate research methods. Maintains that the approach is particularly applicable because research design is a classic ill-defined task. Reports that students find the method challenging and interesting. (CFR)