Reflections on Workshop 2, Going Critical: Creating Activities that Promote Critical Thinking

Our goal for this workshop was to start thinking about critical thinking and to help participants develop some strategies for incorporating critical thinking into their assignments, exams, quizzes, and other course activities. Like the previous workshop group, we were lucky enough to have lively and dedicated participants. We got to hear from TAs and Instructors from all across the university.


We had two major goals for the workshop:

1) Expand on our views of “critical thinking” through activities and discussion

2) Gain ideas for developing assessments that encourage creative, active learning and higher-order thinking.

We opened with a discussion about what constitutes critical thinking. We all seem to agree that it’s important, but we don’t always talk about what it really entails. It was particularly interesting to hear all of the different opinions about what kinds of skills are necessary for critical thinking. Creativity, problem-solving, ability to use reason, and willingness to see a topic from multiple points of view were just a few aspects of critical thinking that the group seemed to agree on.

Next, we introduced Bloom’s Taxonomy [link] to help participants develop a framework for evaluating the kinds of thinking that their assessments require, then broke participants into groups to evaluate two different types of activities: half of the class evaluated a quiz that involved interpreting data from a chart, while the other half evaluated an exercise that involved reading an article and drawing conclusions. We used a “jig-saw” (see below!) format to expand the discussion--participants from the first group had to find a partner from the second in order to discuss both assessments. According to evaluations, participants particularly enjoyed these activities. One participant said it was the hands-on approach that madse it activity more interesting and useful.

The next step was to start brainstorming how to increase critical thinking in our own classrooms. Participants took time to work on developing their assessments involving critical thinking. Then, pairs discussed ways to strengthen these assessements. As I circulated around the room, I heard some excellent exchanges as participants from diverse disciplines helped each other find creative ways to make their assignments and activities more critical.

Dalia sent a few of the following highlights and suggestions from participans

On "debates" as a critical thinking activity
One participant discussed how a debate on issue X would be an effective activity that would promote critical thinking. The activity is student-centered and requires the learner to know facts about X, understand it, analyze it, evaluate it, and come up with strong arguments ("create"). Another participant pitched in and proposed that to add another twist to the critical thinking component of the activity, instructors can have students debate for an opposing view from their own. This could be done in preparation for a writing assignment or an exam. This way, students will be given the opportunity to view many sides of the situations, therefore viewing it more holistically.

Jig-saw activity
Another participant suggested using jig-saw activities to make group work more "meaningful." In a jig-saw activity one group member will have half of the information while the other member will have the other half. The pair has to come together and communicate to each other their information in order to complete the assignment. The discussion between the groups members is meaningful because they have an important task to accomplish: gather each other's information. This type of activity is common in foreign languages but can be applied in other disciplines as well. Such activity also follows the approach of student-centered peer-teaching.


Personally, I left the workshop energized, excited about preparing for my next class, and impressed at the level of dedication and professionalism demonstrated by our participants. The room was filled with creative new ideas and new takes on familiar ideas. I can only wish that every new TA could have the opportunity to experience the concentrated teaching energy that flows through these workshops!