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Using Assessment to Nurture Critical Thinking
Helping students to engage in critical,
creative and collaborative inquiry
Powerful assessmentsadapted from Geoff Scott
• Presents students with “real world” challenges that require them to apply what they know in unique, problematic situations
• Have no clear solutions (Present dilemmas that need a resolution)
• Involve sub-problems to arrive at a sound solution
• Assess for deep understanding and competence
The case for thinking at the core of learning
•“Although thinking is innate, skillful thinking must be cultivated”
Art Costa, 2008
“Students who passively receive information are far less likely to understand what they have
heard or read about than are students who have critically scrutinized, interpreted, applied or
tested this information.”
Roland Case, 2005
“Any subject—be it physics, art, or auto repair—can promote critical thinking as long as
teachers teach in intellectually challenging ways.”
Nel Noddings, 2008
Application
Synthesis
Analysis
Evaluation
Comprehension
Knowledge
From “knowledge hierarchies” to “knowledge networks”
Critical thinking explored and defined
Critical thinking - valued but misunderstood?
In a 1997 study of 66 post-secondary institutions in California, Richard Paul
found:
• 89% of faculty viewed critical thinking as a primary educational objective, yet only
19% could clearly explain its meaning
• 78% of faculty acknowledged students’ lack of appropriate criteria to assess their
thinking, yet only 8% could enumerate any intellectual criteria required of their
students
• 82% of faculty involved students in critical thinking at least once per class, but only
15% required this in writing
• 77% of faculty had little of no conception of how to reconcile content coverage with
the fostering of critical thinking
Creating thinking classrooms
A thinking classroom…is a classroom where students learn to
think and think to learn: thinking is the way to engage with and deepen students’
understanding of the subject matter of the curriculum.
Competence vs skills
• Possessing an array of skills does not necessarily make someone a competent scientist, health care provider or teacher
• Being competent in a field allows students to be both job ready and beyond
• Note: Thinking both critical thinking and creativity are competences not skills
Being competent refers to being able to perform a
constellation of challenging core tasks across a range of
contexts and fields.
London, Ontario 1950
South East corner of Dundas and Richmond
When is someone thinking critically?
• A person is thinking critically only if she is attempting to assess or judge the merits of possible options in light ofrelevant factors or criteria.
•Critical thinking is criterial thinking— thinking in the face of criteria.
A definition of critical thinking
TC2 defines critical thinking as the thinking through of a problematic situation about what to believe or how to act where the thinker makes a reasoned judgment that reflects competent use
of the intellectual tools for quality thinking.
Framing questions and tasks that invite critical thinking
Three Types of Questions
Type 1Type 2 Type 3
What are the ingredients in
Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor
Beans?
What is your favourite
flavour of Bertie Bott’s
Every Flavour Beans?
Should Bertie Bott’s Every
Flavour Beans be sold in school
cafeterias?
What are three activities in
Berlin?
Would you like to move to
Berlin?
Would your family’s needs be
better met in Berlin or London?
Identify several natural
disasters that impact on the
environment?
Which natural disaster
creates the most fear for
you?
Which natural disaster poses the
great threat to Ontario’s
economy?
List three types of exercise. What is your favourite type
of exercise?
Which sport would best meet
the needs of someone with
asthma – diving, soccer or
tennis?
Is Hamlet a sympathetic character in your eyes?
Which of the theories used by scientists to explain the dinosaurs
disappearance from the face of the earth is the most plausible?
What are three methods of harvesting trees?
Six prompts for framing critical thinking opportunities
Concept Attainment• Compare the two sets of terms – how are they
similar/different? • What characteristics do the YES examples possess
that make them like terms?
In June 1775, British troops attacked
American forces defending Bunker Hill,
the heights overlooking the city of Boston.
The heroic stand of American patriots in
battle inspired the colonists in their struggle
for independence.
From Unit 1: An Age of Revolution in
Patterns of Civilization vol. 2
What is the dominant perspective
represented by this picture and caption?
Where do you draw the line on hunger?
At what point is the absence of food a
human rights violation?
Using powerful assessments to inspire awe and wonder
Criteria for Powerful Assessments
1. Authentic (framed around a “real world” challenge)2. Assesses for deep understanding and competence3. Engages emotions (involves both a technical and a human
element)4. No clear solution (Engages critical, creative and collaborative
thinking as students construct a sound response)5. Cascade from a rich inquiry (involves sub-problems that help
to develop a sound response to the over-arching challenge)
Criteria: Assess for deep understanding and competence
Practices:a) Focus on conceptual understandingb) Provide rich challenges that require complex responses
(drawing on various discipline related skills that c) Require application of ideas, concepts and procedures to
authentic context that show d) Use authentic examples to initiate the inquiry
Teaching for deep understanding by focusing on the intellectual tools for
quality thinking
Problematize
everything!
Make thinking
routine.
Encourage “failing forward” by making revisions an expectation
Assessment rich learning recognizes that nurturing the habits of good thinkers requires that students are expected to revise and edit their work based on helpful critiques provided by the teacher, their peers or their own self-reflection.
Offer alternatives to consider rather than showing how to make a
correction
For students to see the feedback they receive as helpful
guidance it should be provided in the form of guiding
comments or questions and when appropriate should offer
alternatives for the student to consider. Offering students 3-4
options to consider for revision can help get them unstuck
without providing the answer thus contributing to nurturing
thinking rather than undermining their thinking.
Promote use of criteria when
considering an issue as well as in
creating a response
Helping students to understand the criteria that defines a
quality response to a challenge can help to focus both peer
and self assessment.
Descriptive Qualitative
Research notes are 4-5 pages in length
and draw upon 3-4 sources
Research notes are comprehensive and
reflect a variety of perspectives
Bibliography contains 8-10 sources
Bibliography is comprised of a variety of
relevant and reliable source providing
multiple perspectives
Essay contains three arguments with
supporting evidence
Essay thesis is supported by the use of
sufficient arguments that are convincing,
relevant and insightful
The title page includes a title, name,
course and date
The title page is informative and visually
appealing
Poster includes 3 visuals, titles and a 30-
word caption
Poster is visually appealing, informative
and convincing or provocative.
To critically assess the strength of the
studies by Reich L et. al. (2012) in support
of equal cross modal potential and Lewis L
et. al. (2010) in support of different cross
modal connectivity, it is important to
consider the scope of these studies, the
quality of the experimental methods used
and the consistency of experimental results
across various tasks.
To critically assess the strength of the
studies by Reich L et. al. (2012) in support
of equal cross modal potential and Lewis L
et. al. (2010) in support of different cross
modal connectivity, it is important to
consider the scope of these studies, the
quality of the experimental methods
used and the consistency of
experimental results across various
tasks.
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