What Do Students Need to Know to Think Critically?
In today’s academy, memorization and critical thinking are often pitted against each other. But contemporary research and cognitive science reveal a more nuanced interdependence. Indeed, meaningful learning requires both memorization and application. Critical thinking relies on a base of factual knowledge stored in memory.
This learning community will examine the complex relationship between memory and critical thinking. Using Michelle D. Miller’s Remembering and Forgetting in the Age of Technology as our foundational text, we will engage with the ongoing debate about the roles of memorization and critical thinking with an eye toward determining what our students need to know in order to think critically.
Registrations will close Thursday, September 11, 2025 at 12:00pm MST.
When: Tuesdays 1:00-2:30m MST | 9/11, 10/2, 10/23, 11/13, 12/4
View the ECTL's "Making CCT Visible" Webpage
The ECTL's "Making It Visible" webpage is designed to celebrate the thoughtful activities, assignments, and other curricular elements UW instructors have created to help students develop their critical and creative thinking skills. We hope the ideas presented here will motivate others to make critical and creative thinking more visible in their own courses.
Why? We want educators to make critical thinking visible because we know that students are more likely to transfer, appreciate, and apply skills when they understand why they are being asked to engage in certain kinds of tasks. We know that clear frameworks, metacognition, and reflection can encourage students to be more aware of the importance of critical thinking and better versed at engaging their critical thinking skills in diverse contexts.
Do you have a great critical and/or creative thinking assignment, activity, or other resource (e.g., syllabus discussion) to share?
