Contemporary Teacher Leadership – Project Proposal

Project Team Number – 1B 

Title:  Improving critical thinking across curriculum: A stage 4 intervention

The strand: Critical Thinking

Background

What is critical thinking?

‘the ability to consider a range of information derived from many different sources, to process this
information in a creative and logical manner, challenging it, analysing it and arriving at considered
conclusions which can be defended and justified’ (Moon, 2008).

Connected to dispositions:

- Probing
- Inquisitiveness
- Keenness of mind
- Zealous dedication to reason
- Hunger for reliable information

Development and application of interrelated cognitive and meta-cognitive skills:

- Problem solving
- Expressing meaning
- Identifying relationships
- Assessing credibility
- Identifying elements needed to draw conclusions
- Presenting results of one’s own reasoning coherently (Justification)
- Self-consciously monitoring one’s own cognitive actions

Comprises the development of habits of mind:

- Responsible deliberation
- Generating original approaches
- Identifying alternate perspectives
- Scrutinising impulsivity
- Thinking flexibly
- Striving for accuracy

Critical thinkers demonstrate high levels of abstract and logical thinking.

[ CITATION Gro13 \l 3081 ]

Students' education can always be improved, even at schools where students show a high level of
academic achievement. St Dominic’s College is one of these schools. The goal of our project is to
improve critical thinking skills across a group of year 8 students. 

Project Plan
(a)   Goal of the action research project to be undertaken outside the faculty.

Improving critical thinking skills in year 8 students. (because its good to start earlier rather than later)

(b)   Type of intervention that you intend to undertake?

Improve questioning (‘why’ questions, not ‘what’ questions) Count the number of times a teacher asks
questioning techniques. From this aim to increase the frequency of improved questioning.[ CITATION
Oli10 \l 3081 ]

Students perform investigative tasks. Students are increasingly asked to apply their knowledge to
scenarios rather than recount information. [ CITATION Oli10 \l 3081 ]

Incorporate reflection journal [ CITATION Gro13 \l 3081 ]

Increase the number of written tasks undertaken in a classroom. [ CITATION Hal02 \l 3081 ]

These interventions will be undertaken by teachers of History, Music and Science as professional
development (PD) seminars over the period of a week. Teachers will spend an extra hour after
school each weekday to undergo their PD and can forego their weekly PD for the remainder of the
project. Having the trade-off of PD hours in necessary to aid in teacher’s participation in this project.

(c)   How do you intend to measure improvement? Measure outcomes

Observations around ‘why’ questions and testing at the beginning, middle and end, of the
proposed timeline, followed by data analysis of the results. The data will be analysed for any
changes in CT skills, as measured by the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (WGCTA) tests.
Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (WGCTA)

$30 – includes 9 tests

Each test is 5 questions – No prior knowledge required