Sul Ross State University
A Member of the Texas State University System

Helpful Web Sites for Critical Thinking

The three strategies Sul Ross chose for increasing student engagement are faculty support, innovation, and outdoor learning. Critical thinking became the obvious learning goal. Most of the ideas for piloting changes for student engagement concentrate on critical thinking.

Bonnie Potts (1994. Strategies for teaching critical thinking. ERIC/AE Digest. ED385606. http://ericae.net/edo/ed385606.htm) lists the following skills and situations important for overall ability in critical thinking:

• Generating multiple (or creative) solutions to a problem 
• Finding analogies and other kinds of relationships between pieces of information 
• Determining the relevance and validity of information that could be used for structuring and solving problems 
• Finding and evaluating solutions or alternative ways of treating problems 
• Promoting interaction among students as they learn 
• Learning in a group setting 
• Asking open-ended questions that do not assume the "one right answer." 
• Encouraging students to think and respond creatively, without fear of giving the "wrong" answer 
• Allowing sufficient time for students to reflect on questions asked or problems posed 
• Discovering 'rules" rather than memorizing rules 
• Testing their own discoveries through transfer to other situations 
• Finding solutions to complex problems rather than being given a simple problem with only one variable 
• Transferring newly acquired knowledge or skills to new or different situations 
• Applying newly acquired knowledge or skills to students' own experience 
• Critical thinking is fostered by outdoor learning which provides a rich potential for use by all disciplines.

RECOMMENDED CRITICAL THINKING WEBSITES WITH BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF THEIR CONTENTS:

http://www.criticalthinking.org/
Conferences, research, assessment and testing, bookstore, library/articles, professional development, online learning

http://www.austhink.org/critical/
Critical thinking on the web: a directory of quality online resources

http://www.accd.edu/sac/history/keller/ACCDitg/SSCT.htm

• What is critical thinking?/docs/qep/enhancing-learning.pdf
• Attributes of a critcal thinker
• Applying critical thinking to reading
• Applying critical thinking to American History
• Other useful critical thinking websites

http://www.nerel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/envrnmnt/drugfree/sa3crit.htm

• Critical Thinking skills
• Affective strategies
• Cognitive strategies--macro-abilities
• Cognitive strategies--micro-skills

http://ericae.net/edo/ed324193.htm
teaching critical thinking through environmental education

http://www.utc.edu/Administration/WalkerTeachingResourceCenter/FacultyDevelopment/CriticalThinking/index.html

• What is critical thinking?
• Characteristics of critical thinking
• Why teach critical thinking?
• Teaching strategies to help promote critical thinking skills

http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/cogsys/critthnk.html

• Critical Thinking: An overview
• Critical thinking is an important issue in education today
• Definition has changed over the past decade
• Contributions to our thinking about critical thinking
• How is critical thinking related to Bloom et al.'s Taxonomy of the Cognitive Domain?
• Proposed defintion
• Model of creative thinking and its modification

http://philosophy.hku.hk/think/

• 100 free online tutorials on critical thinking
• Free download of critical thinking mini-guide
• Free download of class exercises for teaching critical thinking

http://www.csicop.org/si/2006-02/thinking.html
Magazine article, "Critical Thinking: What Is It Good for?"

http://www.amazon.com/Critical-Thinking-Taking-Professional-Personal/dp/0130647608
Book: Critical Thinking: Tools for Taking Charge of Your Professional and Personal Life, FT Press, 2002, ISBN 0130647603.

http://www.sisu.edu/depts/itl/graphics/texts.html
Recommended textbooks

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig5/woolley3.html
Thinking out of the box

http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/teachtip.htm
Teaching tips index, including critical thinking and assessment

http://www.csub.edu/~jross/projects/infocomp/powerpoints.html
Power Points on critical thinking

http://www.etsu.edu/criticalthinking/default.asp
Helping students learn critical thinking skills: a resource for teachers

http://faculty.tamu-commerce.edu/espinoza/s/thorpe-t-657.html
Resources for Critical Thinking

• Critical Thinking
• Creative problem solving
• Lateral thinking
• Lesson plans

http://21stcenturyskills.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=260&Itemid=129

• Critical thinking and problem solving
• Critical thinking and Blooms' Taxonomy
• Georgia's critical thinking skills program
• Critical thinking lesson plans
• Resources
• Integrating critical thinking skills into the classroom
• Resources for Socratic questioning, higher order thinking, critical thinking conference books and academic resources 

http://www.criticalthinking.net.au/CTresources.html

• Critical thinking in an online world
• Resources including Power Points and puzzles

http://www.criticalthinking.net.au/Resources/INtrotoCT.pdf
Critical thinking exercises for the classroom