Thinking Critically

Dr. Richard Paul of Sonoma State University lectures to educators the value of thinking critically

“We use the words critical thinking a lot in education. However, very few people understand how to systematically get to the point where you not only understand it, but can teach it and challenge your students to use it,” says Dr. Steve McCleery. He went on to say that this is just one of the reasons that he is extremely supportive of this program.

The program he’s talking about is the Integrating Critical Thinking into the Curriculum Workshop, sponsored by NMJC and held at the Lea County Event Center Banquet Room.

“The faculty requested having someone host the in-service that could provide them with practical information they could apply in the classroom; Dr. Richard Paul did just that,” says Steve Davis, Dean of Business and Technology.

Dr. Richard Paul of Sonoma State University is Director of Research and Professional Development at the Center for Critical Thinking and also Chair of the National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking. He has received four degrees, numerous honors, and has given lectures on critical thinking at many universities in both the United States and abroad, including Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, British Columbia, Toronto, England and Amsterdam. His knowledge and enthusiasm about this subject make him highly recognized and a greatly respected presenter.

“Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action. Everyone thinks; it is our nature to do so. But, much of our thinking, left to itself, is biased, distorted, partial, uninformed or down-right prejudiced,” says Dr. Paul. He went on to say that careless thinking is costly in both money and quality of life.

As he continued with his lecture over two days, a person could almost see virtual idea light bulbs popping-up from the audience as he lectured. He seemed to remind people of long forgotten ideas and spark new ones.

Dr. Paul’s words seemed to ooze with ideas on applying new learning strategies in the classroom.

Misty Stine, Professor of Nursing, said, “I feel that students should be more accountable for their own learning; therefore, I plan to employ a note card strategy.” This is where students put their name on a note card, hand it in to the instructor and the instructor pulls a card at random and asks that person a question on the previous night’s reading assignment.

Patrick Mellon, Professor of Business Marketing and Management, said, “The best idea that I brought back from this workshop is to get my students to question topics. In other words, get them to ask themselves the who, what, when, where, why and how about a topic in order to think more deeply about that concept. Also, have them question the validity of something, and not simply accept it because it’s been given to them.”

Although the days were long and tough, the topics were interesting and the lecture was a well-received one. The campus is still buzzing.