
Active Learning and Critical Thinking: Methods for Any Classroom
What is critical thinking? Is critical thinking a skill or a habit of mind? Is it something that students know how to do or are the processes of critical thinking inconsistent with their accepted ways of knowing? Is critical thinking teachable in general terms or does it require disciplinary context? Workshop participants will explore these questions as they relate to the learning objectives for their courses and then outline learning activities that promote assessable critical thinking achievement in their courses. Essential to the process is development or expansion of active-learning approaches; purposefully designed learning opportunities that lead students to do something (individually or in groups) and to think about what they are doing.