In critical thinking courses and business courses, students are asked to think outside of the box and to challenge their assumptions. Using this in class activity, you can teach students what it means, in practical terms, about what it means to really challenge assumptions and think outside of the box in examining situations.
Type of Material:
In class Activity or Assignment
Recommended Uses:
This is recommended as an in-class activity, recommended group sizes of 3 to 4 people. This can be set up and used in a virtual classroom using appropriate apps or software such as Microsoft teams or a discussion board.
Technical Requirements:
Firefox ver 85.0.1
Adobe reader ver 21.001.20135
Microsoft 365 ver 16.0.13530.20440
NOTE: This site is indicated by Google-Chrome as unsecure
Identify Major Learning Goals:
Students will understand how critical thinking can be disrupted by multiple influences and create decisions that may not be effective.
Students will learn how to think ‘outside the box’ takes effort.
Students will discuss how we jump to conclusions, how ambiguous terms impact our decision-making, and other influences that can derail critical thinking.
Target Student Population:
Upper-level management students
Upper-level students in any class which involves critical thinking
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:
None
Content Quality
Rating:
Strengths:
The instructions are clear about how to set up the activity.
A sequence of events and conversation items are provided.
Teaching notes are provided as part of the instructional handout in the live link.
This in-class activity is structured to encourage discussion and exchange of ideas and opinions.
It is non-complex, instructional and well targeted.
Concerns:
Because this is a live exercise, everything that could happen is not possible to predict. Ironically, this is supposed to be a problem-solving exercise but the final comment under the instructions says that they may decide there really is no problem to solve at all - this needs an explanation for teaching purposes.
Debriefing and follow-up discussions are needed to maximize learning.
Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool
Rating:
Strengths:
This is a creative approach in the form of a class exercise to demonstrate how critical thinking can be applied.
This exercise demonstrates how critical thinking can be easily derailed when people stop thinking on their own and give in to others or take assumptions for granted.
This could be adapted to an online environment.
The resource material is appropriate for learners who desire to discuss how we jump to conclusions, how ambiguous terms impact our decision-making, and other influences that can derail critical thinking.
Concerns:
Because this is a live exercise it is not possible to predict all potential outcomes students might develop but it would help to have some of those provided so facilitators are instructors can use that for guidance.
After an exercise like this would be most effective with the debriefing after the exercise to consolidate and affirm the challenges and the issues involved with critical thinking. This is not mentioned, and the instructor or facilitator would need to develop this if desired.
Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty
Rating:
Strengths:
Facilitation notes are provided with the handout which is available through a live link on the website.
A suggested sequence of events to form the conversations is provided.
The instructions are clear and easy to follow.
Easy to utilize and execute in a group setting but needs a proper team leader to initiate discussion and conclude with debriefing.
Concerns:
As noted previously, topics that may come up should be developed into a list of common items that facilitators are instructors may encounter because this could help them prepare if they choose to run this exercise for different courses or events.
This exercise would be more effective with the debriefing following the activity where everyone who participated has a chance to discuss their perceptions of the event as well as the implications and the learning outcomes.
There is need for a Team leader to initiate discussion, monitor progress, apply appropriate constraints, and conduct the debriefing.
Creative Commons:
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