Critical Thinking Activities
Give examples of activities or questions that involve critical thinking in a course that you are currently teaching.
Give examples of activities or questions that involve critical thinking in a course that you are currently teaching.
I include within my lecture video that reflect upon my topic and that acts as an ice braker for an active learning group discussion.
Hi Theresa,
I love it! Students need to know how to do with crises in the workplace.
Patricia Scales
Hi Anna Marie,
Great idea about showing an applicable video! Videos serve as a great variation to teaching methods.
Patricia Scales
I like to ask my students questions about certain specific technoglies. I ask them when was this technology introduced into the mainstream who designed it What was the driving force behind these systems. Who benefited the most from this new design. Has this new product effected our day to day lives. How has this technology progressd over the last few years and sometimes the last few decades.
Hi Bruce,
I love the questions. They really do make students think critically!!
Patricia Scales
What I like to do before a new topic I am about to teach, I begin by asking questions to my students about the topic . This allows me to see how much they know about the topic . I then go and show them a video that is relevant to the topic . After the video I ask them questions about the video and see how much information they have retained and helps me see what areas I need to focus on for my objectives.
I use the same method and I think its very helpful and engages the students right from the beginning .
Critical thinking in the way of technology may it be new or old is a good thing for stundets to become effective learners.
Since I teach advertising, I usually add commercials, videos, films, print ads, publications, and web sites that are relevant to the subject matter. These help strengthen and support my lecture for active learning group discussions.
I agree that applicable videos are a great variation to teaching methods. I look up higher order thinking questions and ask students to answer them with complete sentences after viewing long videos. Do you have any other ideas Patricia to keep students actively learning during applicable videos?
In my course I have student write answers to how they would handling different types of people
Teaching in an allied health profession really allows you to apply critical thinking in many ways. I like to do patient simulations in which i will give the students data related to real life situations. Such as vital signs, patient history,and other pertinent information that the student will have to process and decide what the next appropriate step would be in the patients care.
Hi Israel,
Students will let you know if they are grasping or not based on their response when you have the question session. Students enjoy watching videos and tend to grasp the concepts most of the time.
Patricia Scales
I teach mathematics (both developmental and applied problems) at the community college level. I consider learning math to be a participatory sport, not simply an observational sport. Therefore, I minimize my lectures by covering the required material and then having the students complete worksheets filled with problems discussed in the lecture. Next class they will get another worksheet with no additional lecture in order to reinforce what they just learned. The quizzes and tests cover the same material. The student knows clearly what they are expected to learn and will be tested on.
Hi, William. I teach math to beginning nursing students. Your method of doing patient simulations definitely helps the student with their critical and analytical thinking skills. I try to point out how important the thinking process is to them as nurses in order to help their patients correctly.
I ask students to look up Medications, often asking them to locate the "active ingredients" in the over the counter medications they research. Having them figure out the active ingredients and what category the medication fits in is a fantastic way to get them involved in knowing that medications have a generic and brand name. They love getting out of their chairs, going next door to the local grocery store, and handling the meds themselves.
I teach Medical Assisting clinical classes. I identify real world scenarios and have the students solve the problem. For example, a 90 year old patient needs to provide a clean catch urine specimen but she has severe arthritis in her hand and knee joints...what do you do to carry out this order? The students then find a solution and I reinforce to them that this was a real world problem and to be prepared for situations like this to occur. It's interesting to see students take pride in themselves when their answers are accepted during these critical thinking lessons.
its good to applied different techniques of active learning to your classes..I used some group section to discuss a topic.
Hi Hayvelises,
Variation is exciting. I love using role playing, mock learning, scenarios, case studies, field trips, guest speakers, simulation, and technology.
Patricia Scales
