Critical thinking: Some views from the front line

✍ Scribed by Marilla D. Svinicki; Richard H. Kraemer

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1980
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 975 KB
• Volume: 1980
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0271-0633
• DOI: 10.1002/tl.37219800306

✦ Synopsis

What is it like to participate in a course which tries to foster critical thinking? According to one student, "The emphasis on critical thinking makcs this course. Without critical thinking, college is an exercise in endurance rather than education." From the point of view of the instructor, 'In teaching contemporary, controversial, and complex material and in doing it with obvious commitment, we overcame the criticisms levelled at the orthodox courses. And we did much more. We discovered new facets of ourselves, our students, and our disciplines." Finally, as one teaching assistant put it, 'Being a TA in 'The American Experience' is a mixed blessing. We have a lot of say in what happens, but we also have a lot of responsibility. When a group is going well, it's fantastic. But when a group is bad, it's the worst."

The authors would like to thank the GS610 teaching assistants, Alan Kamasaki, Abelardo Gana, Vincent Shepherd, and Gail Watkins, for providing us with their own reactions and for their assistance in obtaining reactions from students. The authors would also like to thank Professor Thomas L. Philpott of the Department of History, the team teacher in GS610-a superb teacher with enormous commitment and a unique ability to destroy complacency and make people think.