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Critical thinking

Keele University International Postgraduate Students’ Induction. Critical thinking. Dr Stephen Bostock FSEDA. Summary. Postgraduate learning outcomes Critical reflection Different views of knowledge Learning styles. Analyse, synthesize, evaluate.

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Critical thinking

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  1. Keele UniversityInternational Postgraduate Students’ Induction Critical thinking Dr Stephen Bostock FSEDA

  2. Summary • Postgraduate learning outcomes • Critical reflection • Different views of knowledge • Learning styles

  3. Analyse, synthesize, evaluate According to Benjamin Bloom and his associates, in the cognitive domain there are 6 levels of learning outcomes • Simple recall • Comprehension, understanding • Application • Analysis • Synthesis • Evaluation

  4. Which do you think is most important at postgraduate level? Simple recall • Comprehension, understanding • Application • Analysis • Synthesis • EvaluationVote now

  5. “Critical” reflection/ evaluation/ argument Critical (Shorter OED): • Fault-finding, censorious • Exercising careful judgement or observation • Constituting a crisis • Decisive, crucial Which one is most relevant to postgraduate study?

  6. “Criticism” Criticism (Shorter OED): • Passing unfavourable judgements • The art of estimating the qualities and character of literary or artistic work • A critical remark, a critique • A nice (fine) point or distinction, a quibble Which one is most relevant to postgraduate study?

  7. What is critical reflection? • (A special meaning in sociology for post-Post-modernism)6 • Not accepting the ideas of experts merely because they are an established authority • Not accepting one view of a debate, however well argued, without considering alternative points of view; realizing the contested nature of knowledge

  8. Different views of knowledge 3 • Knowledge is concrete and facts are absolute • Knowledge is absolute and can be obtained from authorities, but may be temporarily uncertain • Knowledge is uncertain; knowledge claims are personal due to situations & ambiguities in data • Knowledge is contextual and subjective, filtered through a person’s perceptions and criteria for judgement; only interpretations are known • Knowledge is individual interpretation from evaluation of what is most reasonable or probable on current evidence and methods

  9. Examples of views of knowledge • I know what I have seen • When there is evidence that people can give to convince everybody one way or another, then it will be knowledge; until then, it is just a guess • I’d be more inclined to believe evaluation if they had proof. It’s just like the pyramids: I don’t think we’ll ever know. Who are we going to ask? • People think differently and so they attack the problem differently. Other theories could be as true as my own, but based on different evidence • One can judge an argument by how well thought-out the positions are, what kinds of reasoning and evidence are used to support it, and how consistent the way one argues on this topic is as compared with other topics

  10. Which is closest to your view of your knowledge in your subject? Vote now

  11. A model of learning:constructivism • Jean Piaget theorised that children learnt by constructing theories (cognitive models) about the world. Assimilating new perceptions into them, or occasionally having to revise models to accommodate perceptions that don’t fit. • We all construct and develop our personal cognitive models of the world to explain our perceptions. This is not reproducing external facts.

  12. Social constructivism • Lev Vygotsky4: Learning, understanding or creating meaning is not done in isolation. It takes place in social contexts. Understandings are negotiated with others. • Wenger5: Communities of practice develop shared meanings, values, rules and terms. Academics in a discipline are a community of practice, as is the cohort of students on a postgraduate programme. • So discussion and other peer interactions are important in learning.

  13. References • Riding, R. and Raynor, S.G. 1998 Cognitive styles and learning strategies understanding style differences in learning and behaviourLondon: David Fulton • Beetham, H. 2002 Skills for e-learning 1. Understanding e-learning, University of Ulster • King, P. and Kitchener, K. Reflective Judgement, San Francisco: Jossey Bass 1994 • Vygotsky, L.S. 1986 Thought and language, Cambridge, Mass.:MIT Press • Wenger, E. 1999 Communities of practice: learning, meaning, and identity Cambridge: Cambridge University Press • Slide 14 is based on a conversation with Prof. Roger Seifert, HRM at Keele, Sept 2005

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