Discussion: View Thread

Hi,

I am preparing a class (workshop based) on critical thinking. I am looking for activities, exercises, articles, simulations, etc. that you have found to be effective.  The goal is to  help MBA students increase their capacity to think critically. 

Thanks, Scott

Scott,

I've never taught this material explicitly, but this was something we use to do at McKinsey all the time. You might consider the book "The McKinsey Mind" by Rasiel and Friga. It gives some insight into analyzing problems from a consulting perspective. Also goes over some useful techniques that you could easily adapt to a classroom setting.

Good luck,

Jeremy

Jeremy Bernerth, PhD

Rucks Department of Management

E.J. Ourso College of Business

Louisiana State University

2710 Business Education Complex

Baton Rouge, LA 70803

225-578-6154 (w)

Hi,

I am preparing a class (workshop based) on critical thinking. I am looking for activities, exercises, articles, simulations, etc. that you have found to be effective.  The goal is to  help MBA students increase their capacity to think critically. 

Thanks, Scott

Hi Scott

Critical thinking is something we grapple with a lot in evidence-based management teaching and training.  In fact some would argue that evidence-based practice is a variant of critical thinking where evidence is slightly more prominent.  I guess that some critical thinking people would say evidence-based thinking is part of critical thinking.

If you to the Center for Evidence-Based Management teaching website you may find some useful teaching resources and papers:

http://www.cebma.org/

Also, the Foundation and Center for Critical Thinking seems to have some useful stuff though I've never used it.

http://www.criticalthinking.org/

Best wishes

Rob

Rob B Briner | Professor of Organizational Psychology | School of Management | University of Bath

From: Organizational Behavior Division Listserv [mailto:OB@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU] On Behalf Of Bruce Hoag
Sent: 02 October 2012 10:03
To: OB@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
Subject: Re: [OB-LIST] Critical Thinking exercises, activities, simulations, cases, etc.

Hi Scott,

Hi Scott,

I use a group decision making exercise called the conservation crisis (originally developed by hillocks) where the different members of the group have to come up with evidence to back up the arguments they make for their interests and positions. This is an ideal exercise in which students learn critical thinking skills. I can provide the materials offline if you wish but any group negotiation exercise that allows for the parties to search for evidence to back up logical arguments will enable students to develop critical thinking skills.

Phani

Phani Radhakrishnan PhD

Senior Lecturer, Organizational Behavior & Human Resources

Management Department

University of Toronto

phanira@utsc.utoronto.ca

www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~phanira (cv & publications here)

1265 Military Trail

Scarborough, ON M1C1A4 Canada

P please consider the environment before printing this email

Hi Scott

Critical thinking is something we grapple with a lot in evidence-based management teaching and training.  In fact some would argue that evidence-based practice is a variant of critical thinking where evidence is slightly more prominent.  I guess that some critical thinking people would say evidence-based thinking is part of critical thinking.

If you to the Center for Evidence-Based Management teaching website you may find some useful teaching resources and papers:

http://www.cebma.org/

Also, the Foundation and Center for Critical Thinking seems to have some useful stuff though I've never used it.

http://www.criticalthinking.org/

Best wishes

Rob

Rob B Briner | Professor of Organizational Psychology | School of Management | University of Bath

From: Organizational Behavior Division Listserv [mailto:OB@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU] On Behalf Of Bruce Hoag
Sent: 02 October 2012 10:03
To: OB@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
Subject: Re: [OB-LIST] Critical Thinking exercises, activities, simulations, cases, etc.

Hi Scott,

No virus found in this message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 2012.0.2221 / Virus Database: 2441/5304 - Release Date: 10/02/12

Hi everyone,

Even if general mental ability is resistant to interventions, there is some initial evidence that openness to experience can be raised through interventions. The ability to see multiple sides of an issue (and become more "integratively complex") is something I think most of us believe is valuable. See this article:

Jackson, J. J., Hill, P. L., Payne, B. R., Roberts, B. W., Stine-Morrow, E. A. 2012. Can an old dog learn (and want to experience) new tricks? Cognitive training increases openness to experience in older adults. Psychology and Aging, 27(2), 286-292.

Best,

Marc

Marc H. Anderson

Associate Professor

Department of Management

College of Business

Iowa State University

2350 Gerdin Business Building

Ames, IA 50011-1350

Ph: 515-520-2217

Fax: 515-294-7112

email: mha@iastate.edu

Critical thinking assessments are substantially correlated with general cognitive ability which does not benefit substantially from environmental interventions, particularly short-term ones (e.g., workshops).  This does not mean that your workshop would not be enjoyable.

Best wishes,

Mike
 

From:        Scott Comber <Scott.Comber@DAL.CA>
To:        <OB@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU>
Date:        10/02/2012 12:16 AM
Subject:        [OB-LIST] Critical Thinking exercises, activities, simulations, cases, etc.
Sent by:        Organizational Behavior Division Listserv <OB@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU>

Hi,
 
I am preparing a class (workshop based) on critical thinking. I am looking for activities, exercises, articles, simulations, etc. that you have found to be effective.  The goal is to  help MBA students increase their capacity to think critically.  
 
 
Thanks, Scott
 

 
 [attachment "image002.jpg" deleted by Michael A McDaniel/AC/VCU]

I guess you may be right Mike.  I don't know but it sounds plausible.   One definition of critical thinking from the teaching of psychology literature is:  "reflective thinking involved in the evaluation of evidence relevant to a claim so that a sound or good conclusion can be drawn from the evidence" (http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/publications/observer/2010/december-10/a-brief-guide-for-teaching-and-assessing-critical-thinking-in-psychology.html)

Paradoxically, perhaps, I don't have time right now to think critically about Mike's claim about the trainability of critical thinking though there are some published reviews and meta-analyses.  Also, I really hope that as educators we can in principle develop critical thinking at least a little bit in our students and that learning transfers to workplaces and communities.  But who knows?

Cheers

Rob

Friends,

I believe that the one thing that creates resistance to critical thinking, or that we learn soon to shut it down, is our educational system itself. Business education is not an exception: we teach conformance! In reality I heard an expression while visiting Santiago, Chile with a group of MBA students. The presenter when talking about entrepreneurship tendencies among  Chileans responded that the educational system only formed "employee." Conformance is what we emphasized which allows us to form great employees. I attended a critical thinking 3-day workshop many years ago. One of the references I read from there was the one below:

Robert Sternberg, "Teaching Critical Thinking, Part 1:  Are We Making Critical Mistakes?", Phi Delta Kappan, Vol. 67, 3, (1985)