Notes from 2/14/08 meeting

We discussed the following quote from the American Educator- Summer 2007, page 8.

"In layperson's terms, critical thinking consists of seeing both sides of an issue, being open to new evidence that disconforms your ideas, reasoning dispassionately, demanding that claims be backed by evidence, deducing and inferring conclusions from available facts, solving problems, and so forth."

Our discussion centered on the ideas that students need practice solving problelms and need to acquire different problem solving skills. Students often have limited conditioning to think deeper than the surface of the problem. Often they lack perserverence in solving problems and have little confidence to take risks in solving problems or in looking at problems in new and creative ways. In addition, students' need for immediate gratification sometimes affects their ability to think critically about a problem. An over-reliance on technology may also negatively affect students' critical thinking skills.