Student Involvement and Critical Thinking Discussion Terms
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Activism
- From Merriam-Webster:
- A doctrine or practice that emphasizes direct vigorous action especially in support of or opposition to one side of a controversial issue.
- In adult literacy:
- Agency, or recognizing one's own power, is the "act" in activism.
The link between critical thinking and activism is that with critical thinking, you should be uncovering the ways that human beings (who have certain interests and therefore make certain decisions) use their agency to create certain outcomes. The systems that have a lot of influence over how we live on a daily basis did not descend from the sky. They're not immutable. They're "man"-made and can be "man"-unmade. Or not. But it depends on people seeing themselves as being able to have an effect.
Critical thinking helps us see not just the "what" of a situation, but the "why" and the "how," thus uncovering the agency behind the "what."
It's not for the adult educator to "tell" students what to do or how to do it, but to see that they can, if they wish, organize with others to have an impact.
Agency
From the Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
2: the capacity, condition, or state of acting or of exerting power : operation
3: a person or thing through which power is exerted or an end is achieved : instrumentality
Critical thinking
The following is a consensus definition of nearly 50 “experts” in the late 80’s and the study then breaks down the definition. The experts are from many different scholarly disciplines in the humanities, sciences, social sciences, and education. They participated in a research project that lasted two years and was conducted on behalf of the American Philosophical Association.
From: Critical Thinking: A Statement of Expert Consensus for Purposes of Educational Assessment and Instruction. (The California Academic Press, Millbrae, CA, 1990)." http://www.insightassessment.com/pdf_files/Dexadobe.pdf
- "TABLE 1
- CONSENSUS STATEMENT REGARDING CRITICALTHINKING AND THE IDEAL CRITICAL THINKER
- We understand critical thinking to be purposeful, self-regulatory judgment which results in interpretation, analysis, evaluation, and inference, as well as explanation of the evidential, conceptual, methodological, criteriological, or contextual considerations upon which that judgment is based. CT is essential as a tool of inquiry. As such, CT is a liberating force in education and a powerful resource in one's personal and civic life. While not synonymous with good thinking, CT is a pervasive and self-rectifying human phenomenon.
- The ideal critical thinker is habitually inquisitive, well-informed, trustful of reason, open-minded, flexible, fair-minded in evaluation, honest in facing personal biases, prudent in making judgments, willing to reconsider, clear about issues, orderly in complex matters, diligent in seeking relevant information, reasonable in the selection of criteria, focused in inquiry, and persistent in seeking results which are as precise as the subject and the circumstances of inquiry permit. Thus, educating good critical thinkers means working toward this ideal. It combines developing CT skills with nurturing those dispositions which consistently yield useful insights and which are the basis of a rational and democratic society.
- As Table 1 suggests, a key result of inquiry is the articulation by a panel of CT experts of a conceptualization of CT it terms of two dimensions: cognitive skills and affective dispositions. Section II of this report describes the Delphi research methodology. Section III address the skill dimension of CT, and Section IV the dispositional dimension
Critical Literacy
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_literacy
Student Involvement
What Is Student Involvement?
- Student involvement is when learners become involved in the classroom or program in ways that help them meet their goals. Student involvement includes a range of possibilities, including:
- actively participating in classroom activities
- becoming involved in a class project
- taking a position (volunteer or paid) within the program
- becoming involved in the community
- Students have a voice in class and program decisions that matter to them.
- Students create the vision for involvement, for the project or position, such that their involvement equals the interest they have in what is at stake.
- Student involvement is a learner-teacher partnership, renegotiating the power dynamics inherent in traditional learner-teacher roles. Student involvement fills the gap that seems to exist between students and teachers because of this traditional power differential.
- Learners have greater responsibility by being involved, and it offers their classroom peers student leadership models.
Comments
- True student involvement has to go beyond superficial gestures. For example, students should be empowered to figure out *how* they want to be involved.
- I think student involvement is when students are actively participating in classroom activities and putting in effort into their work. It can be very frustrating when you have a classroom full of students who do not want to be involved in anyway.
