CRITICAL THINKING
TOOLS
Ginny Price, MS, CVT, VTS (Behavior)
School of Veterinary Technology- St Petersburg College
CONFERENCE
GUIDES!
STRATEGIES
 Writing courses for student learning
• http://www.deefinkandassociates.com/GuidetoCourseDesignAug05.
pdf
• Using active learning & critical thinking assignments to engage
students’ minds
 Creating learning communities
• Using faculty, community members & students as resources;
collaborating
STUDENT EXPECTATIONS
 This course is not like other courses…
 In this course we will be thinking like a behaviorist...
• We will be using behaviorist language & concepts
 In this course we will have assignments to help you think deeply
about this subject.
 We will learn how to apply new concepts and practices
 My expectations are…
YOUR COURSES
 What will students think like in your course?
TOOLS
 The wheel: 8 elements of reasoning
 SEEI
 Socratic questioning
THE WHEEL
 Purpose
 Concepts
 Questions at issue
 Assumptions
 Information
 Consequences
 Inferences
 Points of view
APPLICATION
SEEI
 State (your main problem)
 Elaborate (on your main point)
 Example (give an example)
 Illustrate (give an analogy/metaphor)
APPLICATION
SOCRATIC QUESTIONING
 Instead of telling…ask…
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Can you elaborate, give an example?
How could we verify that?
Could you be more specific?
How does your answer relate to the problem?
What are some of the complexities of this issue?
Do we need another perspective?
How does this fit together?
Which of these facts are most important?
How am I bias on this issue?
APPLICATION
MOTIVATION!
GRADE PROFILES
 Use descriptions of grades in syllabus
• Sets expectations
• Use as a guide for determining grades
• Example:
• The essence of B-level work is that it demonstrates more strengths than
weaknesses and is more consistent in high level performance than C-level
work. It nevertheless has some distinctive weaknesses, though no major
ones.
GRADE DEFENSE
 Students submit a proposal at the end of the grading period
supporting a specific grade profile using your comments on
assignments, projects & exams as support.
QUESTIONS?