Critical Thinking

Online Resources on Critical Thinking

Compiled by Megan Popovic , Doctoral Candidate, School of Kinesiology

Active Learning Practice for Schools (ALPS) at Harvard University
The intention of this site is to create an electronic community dedicated to the improvement and advancement of educational instruction and practice at all levels of education. There are two sections that are applicable to enhancing the teaching of and reflection around critical thinking in the university setting: 1) Reflect (How can I reflect upon my teaching practice?); 2) Build (How can I design curriculum and brainstorm ideas?)

Center for Critical Thinking at Baker University
This website has a variety of references in the “Bibliography of Critical Thinking” section (articles, monographs, graduate thesis, dissertations, papers and book reviews, books, tests, textbooks). 

Center for Research on Teaching and Learning at the University of Michigan
Within the Teaching Strategies & Disciplinary Resources section has myriad resources to encourage, integrate, and mark critical thinking in the classroom in the following subsections: Evaluation of Teaching, Learning Styles and Theories, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Syllabus and Course Design, Teaching Methods/Approaches, Testing, Grading and Feedback on Student Learning. 

Critical Thinking Across the Curriculum Project from Longview Community College
The intention of this site is to provide faculty members in every discipline with complete resources for integrating Critical Thinking into their classes. The resources in the Contents section are in two subsections: 1) Internal Core Resources - introductory level resources for any discipline; 2) Resources for Instructors - integrating critical thinking into college classes in specific discipline area. 

The Critical Thinking Community from the Foundation for Critical Thinking
This is the most in-depth, comprehensive website that exists for critical thinking currently. Click on the Where To Begin link, move into the College and University Faculty page, and all possible area of teaching, learning, and scholarship of critical thinking is there. The website is well-organized and everything from teaching tools and examples, to key issues in critical thinking, to conference and organization opportunities are listed.

Critical Thinking in Education and Life from the American Scientific Affiliation
This website has six areas of critical thinking skills in education and life, each with creative, thought-provoking, and informative links about the subtopics, themes, key phrases, examples. The main sections are: 1) What is Critical Thinking?, 2) Characteristics of Critical Thinkers, 3) Why Teach Critical Thinking, 4) Critical Thinking in Education, 5) The Logic of Critical Thinking, 6) The Ethics of Critical Thinking.

Critical Thinking: Teaching College and University Students from Howard Community College (PDF)
This online textbook is a tremendous resource because of its many examples for teaching with the purpose of expanding critical thinking in the university setting. Some key areas of this text include: various definitions of critical thinking; the distinction between creative problem solving and critical thinking; step-by-step descriptions of the critical thinking exercises (including previous and current goals, methods, and results for each example); practical examples of how critical thinking is integrated into psychology; undergrad classes at Howard College; questions to ask when critically thinking about textbooks in social and behavioural sciences; ideas for developing various kinds of thinking projects; pros and cons of teaching critical thinking; focus on thinking dispositions (attitudes), not just critical thinking dispositions; selected articles on teaching and assessing critical thinking. 

Critical Thinking Web from the Philosophy Department at The University of Hong Kong
In the Tutorials section there are links that for each the key elements within: critical thinking, meaning analysis, argument analysis, basic logic, Venn diagrams, sentential logic, predicate logic, basic statistic, scientific reasoning, values, fallacies and biases, strategic reasoning, and creative thinking. There is also a free download pdf document - Critical thinking mini-guide - that summarizes the tutorials. 

The Idea Center
The IDEA Center is a nonprofit organization with a mission to serve colleges and universities committed to improving learning, teaching, and leadership performance. These papers posted in the IDEAS subsection are written in collaboration with the Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education (POD). The papers are within three subsections: IDEA Papers, POD-IDEA Notes: Instruction, POD-IDEA Notes: Learning. A few key papers include: Helping Your Students Develop Critical Thinking Skills; Focusing on Active, Meaningful Learning; Answering and Asking Questions; The Learning Portfolio: A Powerful Idea for Significant Learning; “Introduced stimulating ideas about the subject”; “Stimulated students to intellectual effort beyond that required by most course”; “Developing a clearer understanding of, and commitment to, personal values”; “Learning to apply course material (to improve thinking, problem solving, and decisions). 

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE) Annotated Bibliography by The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
Although this annotated bibliography is much more expansive than critical thinking exclusively, this published document contains hundreds of resources for the scholarship of teaching and learning. Included within each of the three sections (Defining the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Selected Examples of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Resources for Faculty Undertaking the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning) are resources specifically for critical thinking.

Teaching Critical Thinking Links from the University of Nebraska
This site provides additional links to critical thinking resources, including: Collaborative Learning Enhances Critical Thinking - Journal of Technology Education; The National Center for Teaching Thinking; Critical Thinking as an Educational Outcome - An Evaluation of Current Tools of Measurement; Teaching Critical Thinking with Electronic Discussion.