Foundational Workshop for

Critical ThinkingBrian Barnes

Visiting Scholar, Foundation for Critical Thinkingbarnes@criticalthinking.org

502-338-1338

Who is Brian Barnes?• BA and MA in Philosophy• ABD in Interdisciplinary

Humanities• US Army, MI, TS//SCI• Visiting Scholar at FCT• Lecturer at U of L, IUS,

Bellarmine, JCTC, Northwood• NSA, Wild Oats, 1L, jujutsu, grants• Sustainability and Composting

For these exercises, we are exploring

5 learning modalities.• Students will read the material. • Students will think deeply about the material.• Students will write about the material.• Students will speak about the material to

others.• Students will listen to others speak about the

material.

Preliminary Principles• Self-reflection• Self-discipline• Self-direction• Self-monitoring• Self-correction • Interdisciplinary Thinking• Roleplaying

The Processes• Analyze thinking with The

Elements of Thought• Assess thinking with The

Intellectual Standards• Improve thinking with The

Intellectual Traits• Avoid Barriers to Reasoned

Thinking• The Coaching Analogy

Peer Review• Divide yourselves into groups of two or

three.• Read pages 5-7 in The Analytic

Thinking Guide and pages 4-5 in The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking Concepts and Tools silently, taking notes as you go. Work until prompted to stop.

• When prompted, compare your understanding of the text with your partners’ without using your books.

• Note differences of interpretation.

Combine Groups• No books, please.• Combine your two- or three-

person group with another group. • Deepen your understanding of the

Elements by discussing them with the other group, using only your notes.

Significant Review

• Review your own writing on The Elements silently in light of the peer review you’ve completed. (Use the Thinking modality! Do not make notes.)

• 3 minutes

Updating Your Writing

• Update your writing regarding any Elements of Thought.

• 5 minutes

Intellectual Standards

• Clarity• Accuracy• Precision• Relevance• Depth• Breadth

• Fairness• Logicalness• Significance• Completenes

s• Conciseness

Close Reading• More or less evenly divide your

group into two roles, A and B.• Read in The Miniature Guide to

Critical Thinking Concepts and Tools. Person A reads the four standards on page 8 and person B reads the four standards on page 9.

• Take notes with the intention of abandoning the text.

Jigsaw, part 1• All As will join together in groups.• All Bs will join together in groups.• Each group will share their

understandings of their four standards.

• The intention is to gain a working understanding of each standard without using the text.

Jigsaw, part 2• Return to your original pairs.• Teach your partner your standards.• Take turns teaching one standard

at a time.• Ask the speaker questions derived

from the Standards in The Miniature Guide on page 10 to gain more insight.

Assess Your Elements• Now that you have a familiarity

with the Standards, use them to assess your understanding of the Elements.

• Update each of your explanations of the Elements by applying the Standards. Keep track of which Standards you use.

Check Yourself!

• Compare your updated, assessed Elements with the Elements in the Miniature Guide and The Analytic Thinking Guide.

• Discuss with your partner.

Intellectual Traits• Intellectual Humility• Intellectual Courage• Intellectual Empathy• Intellectual Autonomy• Intellectual Integrity• Intellectual Perseverance• Confidence in Reason• Fairmindedness

Peer Teaching• Person A reads the first four Traits, and

Person B reads the second four from The Miniature Guide on pages 14 and 15.

• Read in order to be able to teach. In this exercise, we have limited time to prepare.

• Exemplify each Trait you are teaching with an example from your discipline.

• When prompted, take turns teaching the Traits to your partners. In each case, partners should question according to The Mini. Guide, page 10.

Barriers• Read Egocentric Bias in The

Miniature Guide on page 19. Write your reaction in two to three sentences.

• Are you able to identify at least one egocentric bias in your own teaching? If so, try to think about how it would change your teaching to eliminate this bias.

Barriers• Read about Sociocentric Bias in

The Miniature Guide on page 20. Connect two examples of this bias directly with your discipline.

• Explain to others at your table how barriers to critical thinking can be exemplified in your discipline.

SEE-I• State the concept: “The concept

is...”• Elaborate upon the concept: “In

other words...”• Exemplify the concept: “For

example...”• Illustrate the concept: “It’s like...”