Today I was lucky enough to deliver a professional development course on Critical thinking at Kingston University with my colleague Hilary Wason.
She originally developed a toolkit to enable students to think critically and creatively in the Faculty of Business. This kit utilises lessons in deduction, assumption, inference and logic. Applicable to any syllabus, I went on to adapt it for the faculty of Science, Engineering and Computing.
The principle of critical thinking is that we immerse students into a subject. Yes- you have to work hard and just learn stuff- but that capacity for evolving what you’ve learnt and thinking creatively can only come if you can think autonomously.
For a science syllabus the toolkit enables this. I’ve tried it out on students and boy did they engage and become drawn into the learning journey. As a teacher, having a pinch of emotional intelligence also helped. Today I addressed some of the best ways to engage students and to get them to think creatively.
I love Hilary because, originally from Glasgow, if she says she going to do something she does. She takes no crap and just gets things done. She’s amazing and currently doing a PhD in this topic. What a woman!
Fran’s vision to use this toolkit to make her disciplinary curriculae accessible and meaningful to her students is outstanding. She puts students at the heart of what she does and is an amazing role model for them. As well as a sparky and inspiring colleague.
Pingback: Critical thinking toolkit Runner up in SEDA awards – Fran Science Art