Dave Kinkead
03 September 2018
A useful way to conceptualise critical thinking is as metacogntive evaluation - thinking about our thinking and evaluating its quality. It follows then that an essential activity in the teaching of critical thinking is to help students become metacognitive aware. But how does one actually do that?
The Critical Thinking Matrix is a tool developed by Peter Ellerton at the University of Queensland that helps teachers do exactly that.
There's a lot of information in there, so have a go with this interactive version. First select which value of inquiry you'd like to focus on followed by which cognitive skill you'd like to develop. The maxtrix will prompt you with a range of activities and descriptions of them.
Try it now.
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In my student's .
Adapted from the Critical Thinking Matrix by Ellerton, P (2015) Univeristy of Queensland (pdf).
Cognitive skills modified from Facione, P. A. (1990). Critical Thinking: A Statement of Expert Consensus for Purposes of Educational Assessment and Instruction.
Values of inquiry concept from Kuhn, T. S. (1970). The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. International Encyclopedia of Unified Science. Chicago, University of Chicago Press. 2.
Values of inquiry modified from Elder, L. and R. Paul (2001). "Critical Thinking: Thinking with Concepts." Journal of Developmental Education 24(3)