Developing Critical Thinking in
Student Clinicians:
The Role of Questions
Elizabeth Gavett, MA, CCC-SLP
Boston University
Ruth Peaper, M Ed, CCC-SLP
University of New Hampshire
SETTING THE STAGE
• Think about critical thinking: What is it?
• Examine the role questioning behavior
plays in critical thinking.
• Analyze supervisor & supervisee
questions.
Contentions
• We supervise more effectively and
efficiently when we are aware of the
assumptions behind the questions we
pose.
• Questions posed by students offer a
valuable window into their
understanding of the clinical process
and disorder knowledge.
• The quality of thinking is reflected in
the quality of questions.
COMPONENTS
Understanding
Planning
Observation
Analyzing
Integrating
What is Critical Thinking?
• A unique kind of purposeful thinking
• In which the thinker systematically and habitually
• Imposes criteria and intellectual standards upon the
thinking
• Taking charge of the construction of thinking
• Guiding the construction of the thinking according to the
standards
Critical Thinking (cont’d)
• Assessing the effectiveness of the
thinking according to the purpose, the
criteria and the standards.
[From: Paul, R. (1993). Critical Thinking, 3rd Edition.
Santa Rosa, CA: Foundation for Critical Thinking.]
CORE CRITICAL THINKING
SKILLS
•
•
•
•
•
•
Inference
Explanation
Interpretation
Analysis
Evaluation
Self-regulation
[Facione, Facione, Giancarlo, 2000]
DISPOSITION TOWARD
CRITICAL THINKING
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Inquisitive
Systematic
Judicious
Analytical
Truth seeking
Open-minded
Confident in Reasoning
[Facione, Facione, & Giancarlo, 2000]
APPLICATION TO CLINICAL
PRACTICE
Clinical thinking IS critical thinking!
Bloom’s Taxonomy: 6 Levels of
Complexity in Behavior
Evaluation
Synthesis
Analysis
Application
Comprehension
Knowledge
Bloom’s Taxonomy (Cont’d)
• Knowledge: Recall of information
[list, describe, identify, name]
· Comprehension: Understanding information
[ discuss, summarize, contrast]
· Application: Use information
[apply, illustrate, demonstrate]
Bloom’s Taxonomy (Cont’d)
• Analysis: Application of knowledge to a new
situation.
[Analyze, separate, order]
• Synthesis: Bringing together parts.
[integrate, formulate, generalize]
• Evaluation: Judgments about the value.
[assess, judge, convince]
Bloom’s Taxonomy (Cont’d)
Lower Level (Foundation behaviors)
Knowledge
Comprehension
Application
Higher Level (Putting it all together)
Analysis
Synthesis
Evaluation
How can we use Bloom’s
framework for question asking?
• Become aware of the complexity of our
questions and modify when necessary.
• Become aware of potential gaps in student
foundation knowledge.
• Become aware of the complexity level in
supervisee’s questions and track over
time.
Eureka Moment
Designing the Instructional Process to
Enhance Critical Thinking Across the
Curriculum
Inquiring Minds Really Do Want to
Know: Using Questioning to Teach
Critical Thinking. (King, A., 1995)
Article offers a pedagogical process and specific
methodology (questions) for encouraging critical
thinking.
Inquiry Based Instruction vs.
Inquiry Based Learning
• Inquiry based learning structured around
questions posed.
• If questions posed are primarily factual, learning
will not progress beyond the factual level.
• Learning improved when questions stimulate
students to use the facts for analysis, prediction,
synthesis, evaluation and inferencing.
• New clinicians need to begin to ask these
question of themselves – How do we facilitate?
Why Should Supervisors Examine
Their Questions?
• Supervisor questions can:
1. Provide a model for how an expert
clinician reasons.
2. Provide structure for supervisees as
they begin to make connections between
theory and practice.
3. Challenge students to think beyond a
specific client toward broader applications.
Modeling: Supervisor “Self-Talk”
• Supervisors “think out loud” throughout the day.
“The reason I…….”
“I wonder if……”
• Pose the questions for yourself that require making
connections - go beyond factually based questions.
• Questions that will require us to model the kind of
thinking we want to develop in our students.
• Let students see that the process can be complex and
sometimes messy even for proficient/expert clinicians.
Sample Question Stems
King, 1995
• What do we already know about….?
Activation of prior knowledge
• How could ……be used to…..?
Application
• What is the difference between…… and…..?
Compare/contrast
• What are the pro/cons of……..?
Analysis/inferencing
Sample Question Stems (cont.)
• How does……effect?
Analysis of relationship (cause-effect)
• Explain why………occurred?
Analysis of situations
• Why is ……..important?
Analysis of significance
• What is a counterargument to………?
Rebuttal
Sample Question Stems (cont.)
• What would happen if…..?
Analysis/inferencing
• What is the best…..and why?
Evaluation and provision of evidence
• What is a solution to this problem?
Synthesis
• What is another way to look at?
Considering other perspectives
(King, 1995)
Strategies for Using Questions in
Your Setting
• Consider asking supervisee to formulate
questions on:
– Lesson Plans
– Session Management Summary
– Soap Notes or other Clinical Documentation
– Journal Entry
– End of Day Question
– Portfolio Reflections
Bibliography
•
Anderson, J. (1988). The supervisory process in speech-language
pathology and audiology. Boston: College Hill Press.
•
Bloom, B.S. (Ed) (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives: The
classification of educational goals: Handbook I, cognitive domain. New
York, Toronto: Longmans, Green.
•
Facione, P., Facione, N., & Giancarlo, G. (2000). The Disposition toward
Critical Thinking: its Character, Measurement, and Relationship to Critical
Thinking Skill. informal Logic, Vol. 20, No.1.
•
King, A. (1995). Designing the instructional process to enhance critical
thinking across the curriculum. Teaching of Psychology. Vol. 22, No. 1, pp.
1-17.
•
Paul, R. (1993). Critical thinking, 3rd edition. Santa Rosa, CA: Foundation
for Critical Thinking.
Thank you!