Critical thinking in course design

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Developing critical thinking among students implies finding reasonable and effective solutions to problems in different directions for adopting balanced and effective strategies. Critical and creative thinking means being well informed and focused on the details to express ideas more powerfully in collaboration with others.

Instructional designers Adriana González Nava and Paulo Mendoza Rivera explain how to apply some critical-thinking strategies in course design:

1. Inquiry-based learning (IBL) – the most common strategy is about learning by researching and connecting research with teaching. It includes the following components:
– orientation to explore and analyze;
– conceptualization to generate predictions and hypotheses;
– research (with the teacher’s support) to present evidence for supporting the hypothesis;
– conclusion with the information and data collected;
– discussion to learn from each other and share results, promoting debate and reflection.

2. Project-oriented learning (POL) – the application of knowledge “by doing” arouses students’ interest and stimulates them to develop and apply new solutions. Critical analysis shouldn’t be associated exclusively with boring research activities. The project approach can be used as a basis for the implementation of this educational tool to encourage students be able to think and make decisions by themselves in a rapidly changing world. Integrating project-oriented critical thinking into classes is possible through information research, data analysis, and preparation of proposals, advances and prototypes by using collaborative documents and interaction spaces such as Google Docs, Padlet, Flipgrid, Planner, or Canva.

3. Phenomenon-based learning (PhenoBL) – the new cross-curricular approach focused on the real-world phenomenon to be investigated. It could be social, cultural, political, scientific, geographical, etc. The goal is to analyze the problem from different perspectives and use multiple disciplines. As an example, It’s suitable for ESG or sustainability topics. PhenoBL strategy implies motivating and guiding students, so the teacher has to always provide feedback during the activity.

Introducing critical thinking into your classes helps students develop many of necessary skills and improve an intellectual environment by using evidence and reasoning to support thinking, valuing and respecting the ideas of others, using relevant sources and innovating thinking for clear and accurate communication.

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