Creating Better Thinkers

Classroom Strategies that Foster Positive Intellectual Habits

Session Description

Many instructors wish to initiate positive intellectual habits within their students that will serve them across all learning and life situations. These habits might include the aptitude to work through challenging problems or texts, or the readiness to consider multiple points of view. This workshop introduces one set of positive intellectual habits developed by scholars at The Foundation for Critical Thinking. These habits engage participants in classroom activities that can foster lifelong critical thinking habits in students and instructors alike. We will explore the value of practicing the Foundation's intellectual work in order to help students develop intellectual perseverance, intellectual humility, confidence in reasoning, intellectual courage, and other positive habits of thinking. Participants will gain new strategies related to leading discussions, delivering lectures, and designing assignments that keep students active in the classroom, and which are adaptable to participants' respective disciplines.

Learning Objectives

At the completion of the session, you will be able to:

• Explore the concept of the Eight Intellectual Traits as it is related to critical thinking in the classroom
• Engage in activities, discussion, and reflection about how selected traits can be developed by a specific course or assignment
• Discuss one's lifelong learning goals for students and consider how intellectual traits can be used to support these goals

Session Date

No sessions are available at this time

Presenter Bio

Brian Barnes teaches Philosophy at UofL. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees in Philosophy, and he is finishing a doctorate in Interdisciplinary Humanities. Barnes is passionate about sustainability issues, and he directs the EcoReps training program on campus. His research areas involve critical thinking as it intersects with justice, food, and other topics in everyday life.