Mark Hennessy
Teaching Critical Thinking: Believe Half of What You See and None of What You Hear
Mark HENNESSY
Teaching Critical Thinking: Believe half of what you see and none of what you hear…
Maynooth University, Ireland
Five key words: value, scepticism, curiosity, truth, danger
Abstract:
How can students within Higher Education recognise, and gain the benefits of, genuine critical thinking skills relevant to both their studies and their lives outside of learning? This talk will focus on i) helping students understand some of the key factors that help inform true critical thinking and ii) an EAP classroom methodology and content for putting these factors into practice.
In Higher Education, critical thinking is an oft-used term that is almost in danger of becoming so familiar to some students that it ceases to have any real meaning, much less any practical application. It is always there but perhaps never quite understood as to how it could be utilised. Based on critical thinking lessons from the EAP unit within the School of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures at Maynooth University, this short talk will provide a small set of key terms used to aid students’ understanding of critical thinking while also demonstrating how students can be given interactive activities within a lesson framework that lead to a better understanding of critical thinking and its benefits.
The methodology used is informed by the work of several highly prolific authors within the field of critical thinking in (English language) Higher Education and is supported by vast classroom teaching experience. The aim is to craft lessons that do not simply transmit de-contextualised theory to students but rather seeks to gradually draw them further into a discovery-type of learning experience regarding critical thinking and instil a sense of curiosity and appreciation of the topic.
The hoped-for end result is that students will become sufficiently aware of the value of critical thinking, so that they will be able employ it in their own studies and, ultimately, in their lives outside of Higher Education, in a place rather scarily known as, ‘The real world….’
Biography:
Brookfield, S. (2017) Becoming a critically reflective teacher, 2nd edn. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
Cottrell, S. (2019) The Study Skills Handbook, 5th edn. Bloomsbury: London
Cottrell, S. (2017) Critical Thinking Skills: Effective Analysis, Argument and Reflection, 3rd edn, London: Macmillan
CQUniversityOLTv (2011) Emeritus Prof Phil Race – Learning. Available at: Emeritus Prof Phil Race - Learning (youtube.com) date of access 10/06/2024
Grimes, D.R. The Irrational Ape: why flawed logic puts us all at risk, and how critical thinking can save the world (2019) London: Simon & Shuster
Race, P. (2020) The Lecturer's Toolkit FIFTH EDITION Oxon: Routledge
Biography:
Mark Hennessy is EAP Coordinator, School of Modern Languages, Literatures & Cultures, Maynooth University, Ireland. He is the EAP Coordinator for the School of Modern Languages, Literatures & Cultures at Maynooth University, Ireland, where he has taught since 2018. Before that, he worked for many years in both the private sector and Adult & Further Education, in Kilkenny-Carlow Education and Training Board and at Waterford Institute of Technology (now SETU Technical University). His research interests include EAP teaching & learning practice, assessment, critical thinking and the physical T&L environments (classrooms) within higher education institutions.
