Here are a few resources regarding critical thinking that teachers might find useful.
First, Roland Case’s The Critical Thinking Consortium (TC2) is a BC based organization that has been around for some time. I’ve talked to Roland several times over the years and have been to several of his professional development workshops: both as a secondary teacher and as an adult educator. He’s a dynamic, experienced, approachable, and humble fellow, and he’s a wealth of practical knowledge.
His organization’s website is here–look for the free publication: The Thinking Teacher available here. Just follow the links for the archives.
Second, folks may be interested in following this new initiative by the editor of The Skeptical Inquirer, Michael Shermer, here.
Shermer is putting out a call for teachers–of all levels–to send in their syllabi for critical thinking courses. His is posted and you can download it here.
Shermer’s is meant for a university level, but I think over time you’ll see quite a wide variety of syllabi posted online (check some of the comments already on the blog).
Third, I’ve been associated with the Foundation for Critical Thinking for several years now and I’ve found them to be an incredible resource. They are a bit formulaic, but once you’ve gotten used to their approach you realize that it is quite an efficient and directly applicable one.
You can order their critical thinking guides. They are quite useful, informative, and cheap.
You can peruse sections of the pamphlets online.
The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking: Concepts and Tools
The Thinker’s Guide to Analytic Thinking
The Thinker’s Guide to Educational Fads Which is, I’d suggest, a must read for teachers!
Fourth, Carl Sagan’s “Baloney Detection Kit” is an invaluable and simple approach to understanding what we can do when we find ourselves–teachers and students alike–faced with overwhelming and often contradictory claims about the world and the products around us. It can be downloaded for free here.
This version is a re-presentation of Sagan’s from Michael Shermer’s TED lecture, available here.
Sagan’s original “Baloney Detection Kit” can be found either in his excellent book, Demon Haunted World, or you can find an edited version on Google Books here.
This is a book I cannot suggest strong enough to anyone interested in critical thinking.
