Critical thinking

The Washington Post examines the elements of critical thinking and how to foster it. Writer Valerie Strauss notes, "What teachers and parents should do, experts say, is make sure students know the difference between memorizing material and understanding it, that students are open to different ways of thinking and that they learn as much as they can about as much as they can." Visit here to read the full report.

Excerpt:

It might, in fact, be easier to say what critical thinking is not. It is not simply being critical or asking a lot of questions, or being analytical or logical. There is more involved, as is suggested by the phrase's Greek roots: "kriticos," or discerning judgment, and "kriterion," or standards.

*Raise vital questions and problems, formulating them clearly and precisely.
*Gather and assess relevant information, using abstract ideas to interpret effectively.
*Reach well-reasoned conclusions and solutions and test them against relevant criteria and standards.
*Think open-mindedly within alternative systems of thought.
*Communicate effectively with others to solve complex problems.

"The easiest way to encourage critical thinking is to force [students] to question everything."

"Question me, question their parents, their pastor, everything," he said. "It doesn't mean you can't believe, but you must question. Is it true? Is it opinion? Is it justified by fact? . . . Students eventually learn to analyze. Some will do it better than others, but you can always get them to at least question."

Unprepared freshmen

60 University of Washington professors signed on an open letter to voice their concern about incoming freshmen's readiness for college level studies. Click here to read the full report.

Many college freshmen can't do basic math, and some instructors are dumbing down their classes to accommodate them, a group of University of Washington math, science and engineering professors warned in an open letter released Thursday.

"This is a big issue for us at the University of Washington," said Cliff Mass, a professor in the UW's atmospheric sciences department who gathered the 60 signatures on the letter.
He and his colleagues have noticed a rising number of students in their freshman classes who are unable to solve math problems at even a middle school level, indicating there are serious problems with how the subject is taught in the state, he said.

Physics Department Chairman David Boulware said he co-signed the letter because he's appalled that students don't have a better grasp on math by the time they get to college.
"They're confounded by simple algebra," he said.