Teaching Critical Thinking Skills that Transfer Beyond the Classroom and Strengthen After Graduation

Professor Diane F. Halpern
Ph.D., University of Sheffield
Professor of Psychology and Director of Berger Institute for Work, Family, and Children
Claremont McKenna College

Seminar

In his award-winning book, Earl Hunt examined the skills that will be needed by our workforce in the early decades of this century and asked, "Will we be smart enough?" Our quality of life, perhaps even the future of our planet, depends on how we answer this question. We can call it "intelligence" or "job smarts" or the "ability to learn-today's workforce and citizenry need more of it than ever before. If we cannot think critically about the myriad of issues that confront us, then we are in danger of having all of the answers, but still not know what they mean. The real question for college faculty is whether we can teach critical thinking so that the skills generalize across domains and last long into the future. Empirical research has shown that with appropriate instruction college students and other adults can become better thinkers. A short sampler of applications from cognitive psychology designed to improve thinking skills will be presented.