Thinking Effectively & Critically Do you wonder what it means to be a critical thinker? Many of your assignments will require you to use higher level thinking skills. This workshop will help you rewire your brain and more effectively use new information and your current knowledge to maximize your success as a student.

1. What does it mean to be a critical thinker?
Thinking Effectively & Critically
Presented by
Kate Stockton, Learning Coach at NEC

2. AGENDA
•Academic Support - Services & Resources
•Understand the complexity of thinking
critically
•Improve critical thinking skills
•Learn to apply critical thinking in everyday
life
•Questions? (Stop me and ask throughout)
•Upcoming Workshops

3. Learning Coaches & Content Tutors
• One-to-one appointments in person or via phone, e-mail, Internet, etc.
• Workshops (online & onsite)
• Small group assistance (online & onsite)
• Online Content Area Tutoring – Smarthinking (www.esc.edu/smarthinking)
Online Support
•For Academic Support Information & Materials Available 24/7 Online go to
http://NECacademicsupport.pbwork.com
•A self-paced or credit-bearing study & resources -
http://AcademicEye.pbworks.com
• On Facebook - NEC Academic Support & Student Services
Academic Support
@ NEC
Services & Resources
Helping You Connect the Pieces for Academic Success

4. What is a learning coach?
A learning coach is someone who provides academic support to students in one-on-one or small group settings in all areas of the writing process
and related study skills strategies including time management, organization, reading efficiency, developing a study plan, goal setting, critical
thinking, library research skills, note-taking, and learning styles.
Sarah Spence-Staulters is located in Latham working with Schenectady & Latham/Albany students
Her hours are: Mondays – 3pm- 7:30pm
Wednesdays – 3:00pm-7:30pm
Fridays - 9am- 4pm
Contact Sarah to make an appointment :
(518) 783-6203 ext 5992 or Sarah.Spence-Staulters@esc.edu
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Kate Stockton is located in Latham working with Johnstown & Latham/Albany students
Her hours are: Mondays - 4:00pm-7:30pm
Wednesday - 4:00pm-7:30pm
Thursdays - 4:00pm-8:00pm
Contact Kate to make an appointment :
(518) 783-6203 ext 5992 or Kate.Stockton@esc.edu
Mary Sanders-Shartle is located in Saratoga working with Saratoga &
Queensbury students
Her hours are: Mondays – 12pm-2pm
Wednesdays – 3pm-6pm
Thursdays 4pm-6pm
Contact Mary to make an appointment :
(518) 587-2100 ext 2827 or Mary.Sanders-Shartle@esc.edu
________________________________________________________________
Meet the Learning Coaches

5. The Pieces of Academic Success
Time
Management
Effective
Thinking
Goal
Setting
Understanding
Learning Styles
Developing a
Study Plan
Active Reading
WritingCritical
Thinking
Academic
Research
Stress
Management

6. Critical Thinking
Purposeful, self-regulatory judgment
which manifests itself in reasoned
consideration of evidence, context,
methods, standards, and
conceptualizations in deciding
what to believe or what to do.
The Delphi Report: Executive Summary: (1990), The California Academic Press, or ERIC Doc ED315 423

7. Critical Thinking
Everybody “thinks” – it’s just that some people think
“better” than others; their thinking is more insightful,
sophisticated, and profound…Critical thinkers are
people who have developed thoughtful and well-
founded beliefs that guide their choices in every area
of their lives. In order to develop the strongest and
most accurate beliefs possible, you need to become
aware of your own biases, explore situations from
many different perspectives, and develop sound
reasons to support your points of view. These abilities
are the tools you need to become more enlightened
and reflective – a “critical thinker.”
Chaffee, J. (1998). The Thinker’s Way: 8 Steps to a Richer Life. Boston: Little, Brown, & Company.

8. Critical Thinking
Thinking is an art, with its own purposes, standards,
principles, rules, strategies, and precautions. And it is
an art well worth learning, for every important thing
we do is affected by our habits of mind.
Thinking is a purposeful mental activity over which we
exercise some control. Control is the key
word…Thinking is any mental activity that helps
formulate or solve a problem, make a decision, or
fulfill a desire to understand. It is a searching for
answers, a reaching for a meaning.
- Vincent Ryan Ruggiero, The Art of Thinking: A Guide to Critical and Creative Thought

9. Critical Thinking
Critical thinking:
• A productive and positive activity
• Includes identifying and challenging assumptions
• Exploring and imagining alternatives
• A process, not an outcome
• It is not passive.
• Manifestations depend on context
• Triggered by positive as well as negative events
• Involves alternating phases of analysis and action
• Combines reflective analysis and informed action
• Is emotive as well as rational
COMPONENTS of Critical Thinking
• Identifying and challenging assumptions
• Challenging the importance of context
• Imagining and exploring alternatives
• Reflective skepticism
-Brookfield, Stephen D. (1987). Developing Critical Thinkers: Challenging Adults to Explore
Alternative Ways of Thinking and Acting

10. Skills
Dispositions
Critical Thinking
is about being
Able & Willing
to
THINK CRITICALLY

11. Thinking as a
SKILL & DISPOSITION
Thinking is a skill that can be
improved by training, by
practice, and through learning
how to do it better.
Thinking is no different from any
other skill and we can get
better at the skill of thinking if
we have the will to do so.
- Edward DeBono, Thinking Course

12. A THINKING METAPHOR
The performance of a car does not depend on the horsepower of the
car, but upon the skill with which the car is driven by the driver.
So, if intelligence is the horsepower of the car, then “thinking” is
the skill with which that horsepower is used.
Intelligence is a potential. Thinking is an operating skill.
Thinking is the operating skill through which intelligence acts upon
experience
- Edward DeBono Thinking Course, p. 2

13. Characteristics of Strong Critical Thinkers
(from Vincent Ruggiero, Beyond Feelings, A Guide to Critical Thinking):
• Critical Thinkers... "Are honest with
themselves, acknowledging what they
don't know, recognizing their limitations,
and being watchful of their own errors."
• Critical Thinkers... "Regard problems and
controversial issues as exciting
challenges."
• Critical Thinkers... "Strive for
understanding, keep curiosity alive,
remain patient with complexity and ready
to invest time to overcome confusion."
• Critical Thinkers... "Set aside personal
preferences and base judgments on
evidence, deferring judgment whenever
evidence is insufficient. They revise
judgments when new evidence reveals
error."
• Critical Thinkers... "Are interested in
other people's ideas, so are willing to
read and listen attentively, even when
they tend to disagree with the other
person."
• Critical Thinkers... "Recognize that
extreme views (whether conservative or
liberal) are seldom correct, so they avoid
them, practice fair-mindedness, and seek
a balanced view."
• Critical Thinkers... "Practice restraint,
controlling their feelings rather than
being controlled by them, and thinking
before acting."

14. Critical thinking is about understanding, analyzing
and evaluating “texts” in order to comprehend,
judge accuracy, & relevancy.
UNDERSTANDING
ANALYZING
EVALUATING

15. Mental Muscle Activity #1
Making Pictures

16. What
Do
You
See

17. How Old Is this Woman?

18. NOSE
EYE

19. CHIN
EAR

21. Processing INFORMATION - Ink Blot
Picture

22. QUADRANTS

23. DON QUIXOTE
Pablo Picasso's black on
white drawing of Don
Quixote

24. DALMATION

25. GEORGE
WASHINGTON

26. SNOWMAN

27. ARCHIPELAGO - ISLANDS
The Dahlak Archipelago is an
island group located in the Red
Sea near Massawa, Eritrea.
The Archipelago of Albion

28. Input & Mathematical Schema
Each numeral is made up of small line segments.
MOVE ONLY ONE SEGMENT to make the math correct.

29. Input & Mathematical Schema
Each numeral is made up of small line segments.
MOVE ONLY ONE SEGMENT to make the math correct.

30. Bloom’s Taxonomy
KNOWLEDGE - Student recalls or recognizes information,
ideas, and principles in the approximate form in which they
were learned.
COMPREHENSION - Student translates, comprehends, or
interprets information based on prior learning.
APPLICATION - Student selects, transfers, and uses
data and principles to complete a problem or task with a
minimum of direction.
ANALYSIS - Student distinguishes, classifies, and relates
the assumptions, hypotheses, evidence, or structure of a
statement or question.
SYNTHESIS - Student originates, integrates, and combines
ideas into a product, plan or proposal that is new to him or her.
EVALUATION - Student appraises, assesses, or critiques
on a basis of specific standards and criteria.

31. Critical Thinking Process
Analysis
Evaluation
Understanding
Outcome
Input

32. INPUT
The actual “text”
and purpose for “reading”
&
What you bring to the
critical thinking process
The Text
• “The Assignment”
• “The Reading”
• “The Lecture”
• “The Movie”
• “The Conversation”
Personal Characteristics
• Your Learning Style
• Your Experience
• Your Attitude
• Your Filter
• Your Schema/Prior Knowledge

33. Analysis
Evaluation
Understanding
Outcome
Input

34. UNDERSTANDING
The meaning you gain/make
as you “read” the “text”
Your comprehension
-of the “text”
What is “understanding”?
• Knowing what needs to be known
and why/what will be done with the
information
• Activated Schema
• “Thinking”
• Comprehending – Key Issues/
Main Points
• Summarizing in your own words
Strategies for how to get it
Activating Schema
SQ3R
Says/Does
Summarizing
Note Taking
Graphic Organizing

35. Analysis
Evaluation
Understanding
Outcome
Input

36. How you piece together the
significance and organization
of the parts of the text
ANALYSIS
What is “analysis”
• Identify the Elements, Relationships and
Organization of the “text”
• Know the Parts of the “text”
• Look for the relationships between ideas
• Interpretation
Strategies for how to do it
Context Clues
Association with Schema
Says/Does
Outlining
Graphic Organizing/Mindmapping
PTR2
Interpretation of Intent/Facts

37. Analysis
Evaluation
Understanding
Outcome
Input

38. How you judge the quality
and make decisions based
on the evidence, structure,
and logic of the reading
EVALUATION
What it is
• Assess merits of the argument
• EFFECTIVENESS
• Draw conclusions
• Critique the structure, content,
or implications
• Generate possible solutions
• Look for logical fallacies
Strategies for how to do it
Outlining
Graphic Organizing
PTR2
Interpretation of Intent/Facts

39. EXAMPLES of Ways to Read and Discuss Text
From: www.criticalreading.com/ways_to_read.htm
Consider the following nursery rhyme...
Mary had a little lamb,
Its fleece was white as snow,
and everywhere that Mary went
The lamb was sure to go.
What A Text Says talks about the topic of the original text, Mary and the lamb.
Mary had a lamb that followed her everywhere.
What A Text Does talks about the story.
The nursery rhyme describes a pet that followed its mistress everywhere.
What a Text Means talks about meaning within the story, here the idea of innocent devotion.
An image of innocent devotion is conveyed by the story of a lamb's close connection to
its mistress. The devotion is emphasized by repetition that emphasizes the constancy of
the lamb's actions ("everywhere"…"sure to go.") The notion of innocence is conveyed by
the image of a young lamb, "white as snow." By making it seem that this connection
between pet and mistress is natural and good, the nursery rhyme asserts innocent
devotion as a positive relationship.

40. Mental Muscle Activity #2
http://www.sjsu.edu/depts/itl/graphics/apps/apps.html

41. Flower Show
Jasmine, Rose, and Lily each had an entry in
the county fair's flower competition.
Coincidentally, the flowers they entered were
a jasmine, a rose, and a lily, but not in that
order--in fact, none of the three competitors
entered her namesake flower. If, in addition,
you know that Jasmine did not enter a rose,
can you figure out which flower each woman
entered?
http://www.sjsu.edu/depts/itl/graphics/apps/categor.html

42. Flower Show -- ANSWER KEY
Person Flower
Jasmine Rose Lily
Jasmine yes
Rose yes
Lily yes

44. Raining Cats and Dogs Belly Button

46. Sunny Side Up Talent Show

47. PTR2
roblem
hesis
easons
esults
P
T
R
R
INTRO=
= BODY
= Conclusion

48. Summary of Critical Thinking
• It’s a process
• You can improve it
• Embrace the challenge
Input
Understanding
Analysis
Evalutation
Evaluation
Synthesis
Analysis
Application
Comprehension
Knowledge
1. Consider the problem
2. Evaluate your options
3. Gather more information
4. Determine your answer

49. Fun Websites to Boost your Brain Power
• http://queendom.com/
• http://www.braingle.com/
• http://www.brainbashers.com/

50. Fall 2010 Workshop Schedule
Sept.
20 Start the Term Right
27 Time Management
29 Start the Term Right
Oct.
4 Navigating the ESC Websites
6 Critical Thinking
8 Introduction Library Skills ( 10am-11am )
13 Navigating the ESC Websites
14 Time Management
18 Critical Thinking
20 Reading More Efficiently
25 Leveraging Your learning Style
28 Unblock the Writing Experience
Nov.
1 Reading more Efficiently 3
3 Introduction to Library Skills
8 Unblocking the Writing Experience
17 Stress Management
19 Time Management (10am-11am)
22 Resume and Cover Letter Writing
Dec.
1 Stress Management
6 Ending the Term Right
8 Ending the Term Right
9 Writing a Rational Essay
13 Stress Management
20 Resume and Cover Letter Writing

51. Please give us your feedback at:
http://bit.ly/thinkingcriticallyworkshop
Thank you for attending tonight's workshop If
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refresh your memory or just for fun please
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