The Critical Thinking Initiative

Given the sudden mass migration to online learning because of COVID19, The Critical Thinking Initiative offers this brief, "emergency" podcast about simple measures every instructor, K-Ph.D.--can take to ensure that the online learning experience is a positive one for the students.  Please feel encouraged to share this one with everyone you know who has suddenly had to transition their teaching online.

Steve and Dave delve into recent research on critical thinking growth throughout college. Learn the extent to which it is happening and why. Warning: this episode may contain some ranting.

Steve and Dave tackle the complex issue of how to respond to student work effectively. Spoiler alert: It's somewhere between a pat on the back and psychiatric analysis.

Mindfulness education is gaining popularity in academia, but does helping students get their Zen on also help them to think critically? Take some deep breaths, find your center, and start listening!

Steve and Dave engage an article by Daniel Willingham about whether or not, and how, critical thinking can be taught.  This podcast strikes deep into critical thinking education, taking on essential questions concerning transfer, deep structure, disciplinarity, and content knowledge.  How should we fundamentally conceptualize critical thinking's presence in the educational process?

Steve & Dave respond to an article and, more broadly, to the "ungrading" movement, which assert that grades interfere with deeper learning.  Listen in to find out why grades do, don't, and shouldn't hinder learning, and how we can use them constructively.  Also, a little known fact about Zeus.

Several faculty members from the University of Wyoming share their perspectives on critical thinking after a three-day workshop with Dave and Steve. This is a rare opportunity to listen to other educators' perspectives on incorporating critical thinking into their teaching practice.

Dave and Steve engage the questions and critiques around whether or not the term "critical" is the best one for the kind of thinking we want students to do. Do its connotations outweigh its intention? Is there a term that's better?

Steve and Dave welcome Jackson Nickerson, Ph.D., who is the Frahm Family Professor of Organization and Strategy at the Olin School of Business, and who founded the Leading Thinking program through Brookings Executive Education. This is a powerful conversation that culminates in the many risks for our students if we fail to forge forward with thinking-driven learning.

Steve and Dave look at the recent article from The Chronicle of Higher Education about James Madison University's X-lab, and they examine rising contemporary calls for opportunities for students to innovate and problem solve.  Are X-Labs the future of learning?  Should your school have one?  In related news, Steve drops a bomb about lucite.

Dave and Steve welcome Michael S. Roth, author of Beyond the University: Why Liberal Education Matters.  Michael offers wonderful perspectives on the relationship between critical thinking, the liberal arts, and interdisciplinary.  He also raises critical perspectives about the importance of pushing students to step outside their own viewpoints about the world.

What's the relationship between certain video games and critical thinking skills?  According to some recent assertions, select video games promote critical thinking by creating rich worlds in which players must make difficult choices.  To what extent do those choices foster critical thinking?  And to what success are video games being employed in classrooms?  Also, why are Steve and Dave making obscure references to M.A.S.H.?  Find out the answers to all those questions on this episode!

Is PowerPoint "the viagra of the spoken word and a wonderful pill for flabby lectures"?  Steve and Dave tackle the research on one of the most widely used classroom tools.  They not only offer specific tips for modifying PowerPoint to invite more critical thinking, but also make obligatory connections to John Carpenter's classic film, They Live.  

Vipin Thekk of ChangemakerCommunities.org joins Dave and Steve to discuss the work he does in helping reshape schools and communities so that they prepare students for an unknown future. The discussion includes ways that critical thinking, empathy, and discourse will be vital to our students, as well as how to create change where needed.

Steve and Dave explore the relationship between grades and learning, including a brief look at the history of grades. Even though grading often fails to develop learning, they discuss how grading can actually play an important if not critical role in the cultivation of strong and authentic learning outcomes.