CRITICAL THINKING in Transdigital Education

Ask yourself: How should you proceed with an analysis when thinking critically?

• Filter the information?
• Break down information into constituent parts?
• Draw logical conclusions?
• Identify patterns?

2. What do teachers think about critical thinking?

Martina, Geography teacher

‘’Critical thinking is really important when it comes to written exam work. Students need to be taught to work critically with the material, that is study it thoroughly, comment on it as well as present it in a structured way, according to the assignment given. This is very often a ‘’trial and error’’ game for students.’’

The teacher mentioned an example from her Geography class. The students had been asked to produce a critical examination of Vietnam's economic development in the last 20 years. One of the sources said that Vietnam had developed most positively and is now almost considered an industrialized country. However, the data presented in the study did not comply with that point of view - the source was biased. Because they had conclusive evidence that the data given was incorrect, the students should have been able to identify the biased information - if, that is, they used critical thinking skills.

David, environmental systems and societies and chemistry teacher

To encourage his students to think critically the teacher uses examples from case studies and encourages students to evaluate the material. The teacher says that students have to look for advantages or disadvantages in context-specific exercises: ‘’Not only do I have to push them to understand and acquire new knowledge but also to use the knowledge critically while finding answers. Great example – while writing an essay they need to manage the statement, to analyse, to conclude, and I try to critically evaluate and develop material with them as we go. Students should always think critically, even in sciences subjects, because they have to form a hypothesis and do lab work.’’

Barbara, psychology and theory of knowledge teacher

‘’I think that we should always employ critical thinking. In some countries, exams are structured in a way that students don’t have the possibility to use critical thinking. Questions are merely based on memorisation. In everyday life, we try to use as little energy to think as we can because in order to think critically, we have to use more energy. That’s why we use intuitive thinking and it is completely fine – that is how we developed through evolution in order not to be overwhelmed, or overstimulate ourselves. But for more complex decisions, where is necessary to develop complex, multi-step solutions based on different factors interfering with each other, it is necessary to think critically and employ more effortful thinking. Even when browsing the internet you need to critically think about and evaluate what you see in order even to save your psychological health.’’

3. What do students think about critical thinking?

Made by Victoria Gelfer, Frida Iwersen

Reflection time: In which way does critical thinking help in your day-to-day life? Reflect on how you personally can develop “higher” critical thinking.

4. Critical thinking in the IB Diploma Programme

The International Baccalaureate (IB) is an academic way of learning that requires a lot of knowledge but also critical thinking. All the subjects in the IB are in some way related to critical thinking. In the social sciences, you can see this in written essays in which students have to apply theories they have learned, evaluate examples and link all of them to the essay question. They need to analyse the question and reflect on what they have learned, and then choose relevant information for the essay. In scientific subjects, you have to think critically to understand the processes and reflect on what might have gone wrong. But the main critical thinking subject is TOK.

TOK, short for Theory of Knowledge, is the IB subject in which you learn how to think critically. We want to understand how we build knowledge, and why we think as we do. This is really important and also really difficult. To do that, you need to develop a critical thinking mind. TOK provides students with clues on how to develop higher-order thinking, getting deeper into the knowledge itself. Learning about new perspectives, and understanding there is sometimes more than one truth or another point of view is challenging, especially if you are not familiar with ambiguity and uncertainty. You will probably lean more towards one position than to another, but that doesn’t mean that the other position is wrong.

Ask yourself: Why do you need critical thinking even in the social subjects in the IB? Choose one answer.

• You need to analyze the question and reflect on what you learned.
• Social subjects do not require critical thinking
• You only need critical thinking in TOK.

5. Examples of activities that help students develop critical thinking in school

• Asking questions and encouraging discussion
• Class debates
• Thought-provoking questions
• Working in groups to challenge individual perspectives – students are able to hear different perspectives of other students and have to come to one common solution
• Extra reading material recommended by teachers – gives a way to explore useful sources of information
• Asking more knowledgeable people for help – gives access to extended insight into the topic of research and evidence
• Using diverse approaches to come up with solutions
• Checking various biased sources – gives access to extended personal insight into the topic of research and evidence
• Time management and planning school work – in order to plan your work efficiently you have to reflect on your priorities as well as have in mind break time and other interferences
• Using “Chat GPT’’ and other AI tools – asking an open-ended question challenges students to make assumptions, reconsider and make decisions

Now you know where critical thinking is used, and what it really is. Everyone uses critical thinking skills on a daily bases, but there is more. In order to use your critical thinking, you need to develop your 'higher critical thinking' skill. Read the graphic and learn how!

We talked a lot about critical thinking - what it is and how can you develop it. How does it connect to our Erasmus+ Project? Here are some examples of how we used the opportunity to participate in projects to further develop our critical thinking.

6. OUR PROJECTS

6.1 Example: Infographics

During the exchange in Poland as a part of "Module 5: Digital and Learner Autonomy", the task was to create infographics about current trends: Gentrification, Digitalization, Climate change, Educational change and Urbanization.

What is an infographic?

According to Infogram, an infographic is “a visual representation of information and data. It is an effective tool to present data and explain complex issues in a way that can quickly lead to insight and better understanding.”

How to make an effective infographic?

Making an infographic is not an easy task… That’s why, in this video you can see 10 tips for creating an infographic.

How does making infographics help to develop critical thinking?

In order to create an effective infographic, you have to do research and research requires critical thinking. Without efficient research, there wouldn’t be an effective infographic. By doing research for our infographics, we enhanced our critical thinking. Here is how we did that:

• Choosing information

You need to choose which information is valuable for your infographic. Think about what is important and which information can be omitted.

For example, what to include in an infographic about Gentrification? Should you give definitions only, should it be complex, should you include some examples? When we worked on infographics, we decided to first start with the definition and later add more details.

During making the infographic we also had to do research before coming to Poland. It took some time to look for information, analyse and to see which is valuable or not! But our critical thinking improved! We looked, analysed the information and checked if it's true.

• Checking information

You need to distinguish between true and false information. Research requires analysing the validity of the data. Fake news are common and some material on the internet is just not true or it is misleading. You also need to know where to look, and which sites are reliable. Everybody can put information on the internet, so being able to detect and check the information improves your skills of analyzing and your critical thinking.

• Showing perspectives

What’s more when looking for information, you can stumble upon different perspectives. They may be contrary, or differ only slightly. You can use that in your infographic as well! But you need to remember not to confuse your viewer with different perspectives. It needs to be clear what you intend to say!

In the infographics that we made in Poland, two groups actually included perspectives from different countries. It helped to think critically about how these countries and their perspectives are different, and to understand the topic in a more holistic and global way.

• Visuals enhance critical thinking!

What’s more, visuals can enhance critical thinking and infographics are a way of visualizing complex ideas and making them easier to understand for students and teachers!

Here you can watch a short video about how visual literacy goes hand in hand with visuals!

Summing up

As you could see, infographics are a tool to develop critical thinking! They encourage you to research, make decisions, distinguish between what is true and false information, showcase perspectives, reflect on them and evaluate your conclusions.

If you want to learn more...

You can read more here on how infographics can develop critical thinking in students.

Activity time: Complete the crossword!