Teaching Critical Thinking: Some Lessons From Cognitive Science

This article draws six key lessons from cognitive science for teachers of critical thinking. The lessons are: acquiring expertise in critical thinking is hard; practice in critical-thinking skills themselves enhances skills; the transfer of skills must be practiced; some theoretical knowledge is required; diagramming arguments (?argument mapping?) promotes skill; and students are prone to belief preservation. The article provides some guidelines for teaching practice in light of these lessons. This article draws six key lessons from cognitive science for teachers of critical thinking. The lessons are: acquiring expertise in critical thinking is hard; practice in critical-thinking skills themselves enhances skills; the transfer of skills must be practiced; some theoretical knowledge is required; diagramming arguments (?argument mapping?) promotes skill; and students are prone to belief preservation. The article provides some guidelines for teaching practice in light of these lessons.