Active Learning and Critical Thinking

More important than your preferred learning style and your dominate personality traits is whether you are an active learner. Here we mean cogni- tively active rather than jumping-jacks-in-the-lecture-hall active. Do you ask questions, either out loud in class or internally as you read? Do you anticipate outcomes? Do you propose theories? Do you follow your curiosity? Do you reflect on your understanding of a topic and identify gaps in your knowledge? Do you look for biases in your own thinking and in others'? Do you synthesize new information with previous knowledge? The active learner does all of these things all of the time. In fact, the term "active learner" is redundant: A learner does all these things all the time.

The passive learner, by contrast, simply consumes information. To the passive learner, a lecture is like a TV show, and a lab is just a series of actions one must imitate. The term "passive learner," then, is a misnomer, as there is no real learning taking place in these examples.

One of the hallmarks of an active learner is the ability to think critically. According to Edward Glaser, co-author of the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (1941), Critical thinking requires a certain attitude, a body of knowledge, and skills:

Attitude: The critical thinker considers ideas and information in a thoughtful way. The word consider comes from the Latin considerare, meaning "to inspect closely, to observe." A critical thinker's attitude, then, is being observant and ready to inspect.

Knowledge: The critical thinker possesses knowledge of the methods of logical inquiry and reasoning. She or he understands how to approach his or her own or another person's argument systematically and with established criteria.

Skills: The critical thinker knows how and when to apply her or his knowledge and does so skillfully.

Note that when we talk about critical thinking, there are two frequently misconstrued terms. First, the word critical often connotes "judging harshly," as in "Hannah was so critical of the restaurant that we couldn't even mention it in her presence." But a critical thinker will think critically about everything, whether he or she loves, hates, or feels neutral about it. Second, the word argument often connotes disagreement, especially a verbal disagreement. Argument in the academic sense means "a course of reasoning."