Author Archives: Nancy Burkhalter

Alison King, in her article “Designing the Instructional Process to Enhance Critical Thinking across the Curriculum,”* relates the story of physics Nobel Prize winner Isidor Rabi. When he returned from school, he said his mother would not ask what had he learned, but rather what good questions had he asked that day. He said itContinue reading “Questions: Our Secret Weapon”

Fake news is everywhere, it seems. Such chicanery succeeds because many of us don’t have tools to help us tell the difference. Peter Facione, in his article “Ten Ways To Spot Fake News,” outlines a Credibility Test, consisting of 10 yes/no questions that can signal a dubious source. I am abbreviating his ideas here, butContinue reading “Can You Spot Fake News?”

The New York Times’ Warren Berger suggests that critical thinking can get a boost if you ask  the powerful questions “why” and “what if.” As questions proliferate, you are likely to get some good answers. Asking ‘why’ and ‘what if’.

Michael Shermer tries to sort out what happens when people turn a deaf ear to the facts we know to be “true.” When Facts Fail.

 

  Fake Academic Journals? I’m shocked!  

`    Quizzes and tests are time-honored methods of finding out about student learning beyond what you think they know. But there is a quicker, informal, non-graded way to do that by asking them. Although it could be done every class session, I do it after I teach a certain skill and always at midtermContinue reading “Think they understand? Ask ’em.”