Critical Thinking

CS 184
Fall 2004
Tuesday and Thursday, 10:30am to 11:50am
103 Franklin Patterson Hall

Kevin H. Grobman

207 Adele Simmons Hall
(413) 559-6659
kgrobman@hampshire.edu

Class Description

We hear often about the importance of "critical thinking," but what does that really mean? This course introduces three broad ways that cognitive science and psychology have been employed to understand critical thinking. Apropos of the upcoming presidential election, we will first consider reasoning. When do people choose to keep an open mind, when do they critically evaluate the claims of others, and how do groups become polarized? The second topic is the investigation of how people solve problems. Rather than focusing on problems we are taught how to solve (e.g., adding fractions), the focus will be on techniques people use in everyday situations (e.g., trial-and-error) and how people creatively make conceptual leaps to solve problems. Education, a central practical issue, is the focus of our third broad topic. The teaching philosophy behind Hampshire College aims to help you learn to think critically in a variety of academic disciplines. Does the scientific research in cognitive science and psychology validate our approach? The course culminates in a final project that can be an analysis of a practical situation or an original psychological experiment.

Meeting with Me

I am always happy to meet with you to discuss class assignments, independent study projects, division III options, possible career paths, and other intellectual topics. I arrive to class about 5- to 10-minutes before it begins and linger after class for another 5- to 10-minutes. Please feel free to use this time for quick questions and arranging meetings. The easiest way to arrange a meeting is to send me a short e-mail, but please always feel free to stop by my office or phone me. I have specifically set aside office hours on Wednesdays from 3pm to 6pm to help make meeting as easy as possible.

Minimum Expectations

Since much of the learning in this course happens through our class discussions, your failure to be prepared is likely to diminish the learning experience for you and other students. Since it is important to me that you learn as much as possible through this course, I have some minimum expectations. You should attend every class. I understand that extenuating circumstances arise that can make this difficult, but please let me know before class if you can not attend. If circumstances make you miss more than 3 classes during the semester, you may have over-extended yourself and you should consider dropping the class. Arrive to class on time. Class begins promptly and tardiness distracts other students and me. If you must leave early, please let me know before class begins. Be prepared for class. The content of class meetings will go beyond the textbook. I assume you have read it; if you have not read it, class discussion will be hard to follow. It will be impossible to understand and adequately participate in a class about an empirical journal article if you have not read it. Focus your attention during class on our class; for example, do not attend our class while completing work for another class. If you do not meet the minimum expectations for class, I will have reservations that I will need to write about in your evaluations.

Excelling in Class

Learning at Hampshire College is primarily the result of your independent efforts. I feel that my role is to push you to think more deeply and scientifically than you probably feel capable of. I chose readings and assignments that I know will be hard; I do not expect anyone to excel completely on any assignment. Instead, to write your evaluations, I would like to see your moments of insight and your progress over the semester. Venture to speak during class, even if you are unsure exactly what you are trying to say. I see recasting what you say into the framework of scientific psychology as my role during class discussions. You are excelling in class discussion when you progress to independently using the language and concepts of scientific psychology. I look for the same development in your short writing assignments and your class project work. Though certainly not required for class, there are more learning opportunities available to you and I am happy to write about your experiences in your evaluation. For example, if you are intrigued by a course topic, we can arrange for you to give a short oral presentation of an empirical study that is not already part of class. During the semester, some scholarly talks at the local five colleges about class-related topics. If you attend one, tell me about your experience at these talks either in a short meeting or in a short essay.

Class Schedule

Thurs Sept 9: Introduction to Class and to Reading Empirical Studies
(no assigned reading)

Tue Sept 14: How to Find and Critique Empirical Journal Articles
(no assigned reading)

Thurs Sept 16: Thinking about Thinking
Hudgins, Bryce B. and Edelman, Sybil (1988). Children's self-directed critical thinking, Journal of Educational Research, v.81(5), 262-273
Hanley, Gerard L. (1995). Teaching critical thinking: focusing on metacognitive skills and problem solving, Teaching of Psychology, v.22(1), 68-72.

Tue Sept 21: Thinking Critically & Using Heuristics
Kokis, Judite V. et al. (2002). Heuristic and analytic processing: age trends and associations with cognitive ability and cognitive styles, Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, v.83(1), 26-52.

Thurs Sept 23: Reasoning with an Open-Mind
Stanovch, Keith E. and West, Richard F. (1997). Reasoning independently of prior belief and individual differences in actively open-minded thinking, Journal of Educational Psychology, v.89(2), 342-357.

Tue Sept 28: Reasoning with Skepticism
Linn, Marcia C., Benedictis, Tina de, Delucchi, Kevin (1982). Adolescent reasoning about advertisements: preliminary investigations. Child Development, v.53, 1599-1613.

Thurs Sept 30: Reasoning with Evidence
Ruffman, Ted, Olson, David R., and Doherty, Martin (1993). Reflecting on scientific thinking: children's understanding of the hypothesis-evidence relation, Child Development, v.64, 1617-1636.

Tue Oct 5: Problem Solving & Conceptual Change: Driven from Without
Alibali, Martha Wagner (1999). How Children Change Their Minds: Strategy Change Can Be Gradual. Developmental Psychology, 35(1), 127-145.

Thurs Oct 7: Inquiry Learning: An Approach that Succeeds?
Krajcik, Joseph, Blumenfeld, Phyllis C., Marx, Ronald W., Bass, Bristin M., Fredricks, Jennifer, and Soloway, Elliot (1998). Inquiry in project-based classrooms: initial attempts by middle school students, The Journal of the Learning Sciences, v.7(3,4), 313-350.

Tue Oct 12: October Break
(no class)

Thurs Oct 14: Understanding Creative Problem Solving through Experimental Study
Ruscio, Ayelet Meron and Amabile, Teresa M. (1999). Effects of instructional style on problem-solving creativity. Creativity Research Journal, v.12(4), 251-266.

Tue Oct 19: Generate ideas and choose a focus for our class project.

Thurs Oct 21: Problem Solving & Conceptual Change: Driven from Within
Thornton, Stephanie (1999). Creating the Conditions for Cognitive Change, Child Development, v.70(3), 588-603.

Tue Oct 26: Form a plan for successfully completing our class project within the semester. Assign everyone a role in researching the project and discuss the first steps towards its completion.

Thurs Oct 28: Inquiry Learning: An Approach that Fails?
Chen, Zhe and Klahr, David (1999). All other things being equal: acquistion and transfer of the control of variables strategy, Child Development, v.70(5), 1098-1120.

Tue Nov 2: Review each others' project work thus far, and discuss the next steps toward its completion.

Thurs Nov 4: Understanding Creative Problem Solving through Qualitative Analysis
Chen, Welyun and Cone Theresa (2003). Links between children's use of critical thinking and an expert teacher's teaching in creative dance, Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, v.22, 169-185.

Tue Nov 9: Design an experiment and generate an empirical measure for our class project.

Thurs Nov 11: Advising Day
(no class)

Tue Nov 16: Refine our empirical measure & prepare to collect data for our class project.

Thurs Nov 18: Diversity & Critically Thinking in the Classroom
Dale, Paul. M and Ballotti, Dean (1997). An approach to teaching problem solving in the classroom. College Student Journal, v.31(1), p. 76.
Mastropieri, Margo A., Scruggs, Thomas E., Boon, Richard, and Carter, Karent Butcher (2001). Correlates of inquiry learning in science: constructing concepts of density and buoyancy, Remedia and Special Education, v.22(3), 130-137.

Tue Nov 23: Enter data into computer spreadsheets and discuss working drafts of our class project.

Thurs Nov 25: Thanksgiving Break
(no class)

Tue Nov 30: Analyze and interpret data for our class project.

Thurs Dec 2: Integrate empirical results into our class project; discuss next steps toward its completion.

Tue Dec 7: Review each others' project work and suggest revisions for the final version.

Thurs Dec 9: Career Opportunities in Cognitive Science
Turn in our class project
(informal discussion, no assigned readings)

Note for Students: Class readings have been made available through the Hampshire College Library Course Web-Site. Because of copyright restrictions, the readings are only available to students registered in the class.

Note for those outside Hampshire College: Hampshire College emphasizes exposing students to primary research in all of our classes, even those at the freshman (100) level. In lieu of grades, faculty write students detailed evaluation letters. This level of detail helps students understand their strengths and develop their weaknesses in future classes.