Empirically Supported Strategies for Encouraging Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is the ability to construct and evaluate arguments (Facione, 1990). Teaching students to think critically is undeniably one of the most important goals of university education. Accordingly, much of the teaching literature provides suggestions for improving critical thinking among students. Unfortunately, many of these papers contain anecdotal evidence, relying heavily on personal testimony without the support of empirical data and statistical analysis (Abrami et al., 2008; Behar-Horenstein & Niu, 2011). These findings have important implications for instructors who try to foster critical thinking in their classrooms. The present workshop addresses this problem by discussing the following three teaching techniques which have been empirically tested and found to reliably improve critical thinking across multiple investigations: (a) the use of higher-order questioning (Barnett & Francis, 2012; Fenesi, Sana, & Kim, 2014; Renaud & Murray, 2007; Renaud & Murray, 2008; Smith, 1977; Williams, Oliver, & Stockdale, 2004); (b) peer-to-peer interaction (Abrami et al., 2008; Smith, 1997); and (c) explicit critical thinking instruction (Abrami et al., 2008; Bangert-Drowns, & Bankert, 1990; Behar-Horenstein et al., 2010; Tiruneh et al., 2016). This workshop is intended for members of all disciplines seeking to work together to develop an empirically supported framework for teaching critical thinking at the university level.