Misunderstanding Critical Thinking

Our View

Misconceptions about critical thinking in schools are rampant among teachers. As former principals, we saw this regularly.

We work today with teachers who struggle with integrating critical thinking into student tasks and assessments. Administrators at the school and district levels would be better positioned to respond in helpful ways if they recognized what’s commonly misunderstood about teaching students to think critically.

The five leading misconceptions are these.

1. Critical thinking is not for all students.

All students are capable of higher-level thinking. The earlier children begin to think critically, the better equipped they are with tools to be successful in school and throughout their lives.

A quick review of lesson plans should reveal that higher-level thinking tasks or questions are not reserved for only gifted learners. Critical thinking should not be limited to one group or one age level of students. Critical thinking is essential for all.

2. Critical thinking assessments can be used multiple times.

The day before an actual assessment of students, a walk-through observation by an administrator discovered a teacher using items from the upcoming test during the review session. Because the teacher explained the answers during the review session and then administered the same assessment the next day, the students simply recalled information.

To prevent this, administrators should brainstorm alternatives with the faculty. Guide teachers to develop two sets of questions — one for the review session and another for the test. Content-area teachers can design higher-level assessment items (e.g., analyze scenarios, interpret graphics, evaluate quotes) that address the same standard or objective and challenge students to demonstrate a deeper understanding.

3. Using high-level thinking words ensures cognitive complexity.

Teachers who struggle with understanding critical thinking often rely on charts that supposedly align verbs to different levels of thinking. Caution teachers that verb charts must be used carefully.
As teachers incorporate higher-level tasks, have them look closely at the verbs in assessment items. An item might read, “Synthesize the passage and identify the main character.” Using the word synthesize does not mean students are engaging in high-level thinking skills.

Hold discussions to help teachers understand how verbs like “explain” can be used at various thinking levels. “Explain who is a main character” is a low-level prompt in contrast to “Explain what the main character fears the most and how he or she is resilient.”

Merely using the verbs associated with high levels of thought does not necessarily mean that students are actually thinking at high levels. Ensure that teachers identify the thinking processes that questions or tasks require of students to determine higher levels of engagement.

4. Student thinking is best assessed through oral questioning.

Students need time to process high-level questions. Often teachers pose challenging questions and expect students to respond immediately. Have teachers take note of the student response time to questions. If students immediately produce an answer, it probably is a low-level question. However, if students seem to need additional time to think before answering, the teacher probably asked a higher-level question.

With deeper-level questioning, students may want to re-read the question, so posting the question can be helpful. Allowing students to first think on paper and then turn to a partner to share responses prepares the students to participate more readily in class discussions.

5. All teachers know how to facilitate critical thinking.

Some teachers are more proficient at integrating critical thinking than others. Some may need professional development to improve the instruction and modeling of critical thinking.

Teachers should be led to see the importance of modeling thinking skills for students. Thinking aloud and examining proficient student work are essential strategies that help students learn how to improve their thinking.

After receiving initial professional development on critical thinking, teachers may wish to revise assessments and adjust classroom instructional tasks so they align with the thinking levels of the revised assessments.

Faculty members must be encouraged to support one another. By sharing successful lessons and resources, all teachers have the opportunity to improve their instructional skills. Teacher expertise levels can increase when teachers and administrators are willing to work together to develop students and teachers as critical thinkers.