How do you Teach Critical Thinking?
Just as there are many reasons for teaching critical thinking there are varying methodologies to teach critical thinking skills ranging from teacher approaches, lesson planning, and school-wide initiatives.
- Classroom Approaches: The General, Infusion, and Immersion Approaches
- Bailin's Lessons Adapted for Critical Thought
- Kassem's CRTA School-wide Model
Classroom Approaches
Lessons
CRTA Model
Alongside individual efforts to teach critical thought there exist school-wide models. Kassem’s CRTA Model is one such approach where CRTA is an acronym that stands for “create the right climate, reflect about thinking skills and revise instructional objectives, teach thinking skills/dispositions explicitly, and assess critical thinking for real-life use (2000).” Kassem outlines and implements an inclusive approach to teaching critical thought that focuses on aspects within and outside individual classrooms while systematically altering how teachers and student view learning.
Create the Right Climate
Reflect and Revise
After creating the correct environment, staff must analyze their assumptions and develop their beliefs on the nature of critical thought before altering their educational objectives to reflect these beliefs. Individually, teachers need to address their own deeply held philosophies and be aware of what these implicate. Not only must individuals reflect, but the staff as a whole needs to discuss what to emphasize and how best to define critical thinking for their purposes. This definition need not be a textbook definition, but a practical and working one that will ensure that everyone’s energy and effort is directed towards a common goal. They must then decide on how best to accomplish this aim by updating and reviving instructional objectives to accommodate new emphases and understanding. All of these behind-the-scenes steps are important in articulating the desired end result and how the staff plans to reach this goal.
