翻译《为创造性思维训练批判性思考》

Coaching Critical Thinking to Think Creatively! (Zaid Alsagoff)

为创造性思维训练批判性思考

• 便于打印的版本
• PDF版本

“We want the development of modal insan (model citizen), students who can think critically and creatively, who are able to solve problems and have the ability to adapt themselves to an ever-changing global environment.” - Blueprint for Education Development, Malaysia (2006 – 2010)

“我们想培养人文资本（现代公民），学生可以批判性、创造性思考，可以解决问题，有能力适应不断变化的全球环境。”——马来西亚教育发展蓝图（二〇〇六——二〇一〇）

ONCE UPON A TIME ….

很久很久以前……

A long time ago (early 2007) in a galaxy far away (Malaysia), there was a little boy (33 years old) who happened to be me. This little boy was suddenly entrusted to transform a dying course at the University entitled ‘Critical Thinking’. Here I was leading a Learning and Teaching Unit (in the Quality Assurance department) facilitating change and improvements to our e-learning approach, and managing a University wide ‘Thinking Skills Infusion Programme’ (TSIP). Although, I had trained many lecturers, senior lecturers and professors in using technology to facilitate learning, I had ironically never had any real experience in managing an actual course at the University.
很久以前（二〇〇七年初），在一个遥远的星系（马来西亚），有一个小男孩（三十三岁），那正好是我。这个小男孩突然受到委托改造一门死去的大学课程，名为《批判性思考》。当时我正领导一个学习与教学小组（隶属于质量保证部门）促进改变改善我们的电子化学习方法，同时管理一项大学范围内的《思考技能输液项目》（TSIP）。虽然我训练了很多讲师、高级讲师和教授运用技术促进学习，但具有讽刺意味的是，我从未有在大学管理实际课程的任何实际经验。

Now, one of the leaders from our academic world figured rightly out that perhaps I needed some real experience to understand what it is like to be a lecturer, before having the right to lecture to lecturers on how to teach and facilitate effective learning (which makes perfect sense!). Also, since I had been managing the TSIP programme for over six (6) months, the “Critical Thinking’ course would be the perfect challenge and opportunity to test all my untested theories and suggestions on effective learning.
现在，我们学术世界领导者之一正确的指出，在有权力给讲师讲课如何教学如何促进有效学习之前，也许我需要一些实际经验，以了解当讲师是什么感觉。此外，由于我管理TSIP项目已经超过六个月，《批判性思考》课程将是一次完美挑战和机会，用来测试我所有关于有效学习的尚未检验的理论和建议。

In a nutshell, I was asked to lead and transform the ‘Critical Thinking’ course, which is a requirement for all undergraduate students.

简单地说，我被要求领导并改造《批判性思考》课程，是应所有本科生的请求。

THE UNITAR WAY!

敦拉萨大学之路！

Although, Universiti Tun Abdul Razak (UNITAR) is currently becoming a more conventional University, it used to adopt a blended learning model, which usually included courseware, online forums, online tutorials (OLT), and Face-to-Face (F2F) tutorials. Every course is led by a course leader supported by tutors who facilitate their own sections. The course leader is responsible for guiding the tutors, and preparing the course plan, course materials, assignments, quizzes and exams. In addition, the course leader is responsible for correcting the final exams (40% - 50% of the course assessment evaluation), and giving the students’ final grade for all sections. The tutor’s role is to communicate with the course leader, facilitate the course for their section(s), and grade the coursework (50% - 60%).
虽然阿卜杜勒拉扎克敦大学（敦拉萨大学）日渐成为一所更传统的大学，但它过去常常采用混合教学模式，通常包括课件、在线论坛、在线辅导、面对面辅导。每门课都由课程负责人负责，若干助教辅助，助教各负责自己一块大组。课程负责人负责指导助教、准备课程计划、课程材料、任务功课、测验考试。另外，课程负责人还负责期末考试改卷（占到课程功课评估的百分之四十至五十），为各大组学生评定最终等级。助教的任务是与课程负责人沟通，促进各自负责的大组进步，并评定课堂表现（占百分之五十至六十）。

COURSE REENGINEERING NEEDED?

课程需要重新设计么？

Based on my initial unscientific findings, students found the course difficult to understand and the overall students’ satisfaction rates were lower than in other courses for the undergraduate level. In addition, both students and tutors complained that the lecture notes were not sufficient.

基于我最初不科学的发现，本科水平的学生发现难以听懂课程，整体学生满意率低于其他课程。此外，学生和助教都抱怨讲义太简略。

Although, the past course leaders seemed to have a done a good job facilitating their own sections, they failed based on my understanding to communicate and facilitate consistent quality to all the sections. Overall, students and tutors seemed frustrated with ‘Critical Thinking’, and some even questioned the relevance of this course. They argued that this course focused too much on theory and memorization, and failed to actually help students develop fundamental thinking, reasoning and language abilities that are needed for academic success.

虽然，过去的课程负责人似乎都做得很好，促进了各自大组的进步，但是按照我的理解他们都失败了，他们没有沟通以促进所有大组齐头并进。总体而言，学生和助教似乎为“批判性思考”而沮丧，有些甚至怀疑这门课是否有用。他们认为，这门课过于注重理论和记忆，未能真正帮助学生形成基本的思维，推理和语言能力，而这些是学业成功的必需。

Although, UNITAR had developed a reasonably good page tuning critical thinking courseware, the existing curriculum of the critical thinking course seemed to be mostly (80-90%) based on John Chaffe’s famous book “Thinking Critically” (6th Edition, 2000). Even the course objectives and topic outline seemed to be paraphrased out of the book. As UNITAR’s self-developed courseware was structured very differently from the course outline, it was hardly reflected or used by either the educators, or the students.
虽然，敦拉萨大学开发了相当不错的调整批判性思维的页面课件，已有的批判性思维课程似乎基本上（百分之八十至九十）基于查非强的名著《批判性思维》（第六版，二〇〇〇年）。甚至课程目标和课题大纲似乎都改写自书本。由于敦拉萨大学的自主开发课件的结构与课程大纲差别非常大，因此很难为教师或学生所考虑或使用。

So, I began to read John Chaffe’s famous book “Thinking Critically” to get better feel of what the students were learning. Strangely, I kept on falling asleep while reading this book, and although the content is relevant and useful, the writing style and design of that book (I suppose the later versions are more engaging!) did not appeal or inspire my thinking mind. So, if I am falling asleep reading this book, what about the students?
于是，我开始阅读查非强的名著《批判性思维》，好弄清楚学生们学的些什么。奇怪的是，我一度这本书就睡着，虽然这本书的内容有关且有用，但其写作风格和书籍的设计（我估计以后的版本会更吸引人！）并没有感染或激励我的思维头脑。因此，如果我在读这本书的时候睡着，更何况学生？

In addition to this book, the course also recommended students to read another book entitled ‘Critical Thinking: A Student's Introduction’ (G. Bassham & Co., 2007). So, I explored the book, and found it more activity-oriented, engaging, and inspiring. However, I still felt that something was missing to spark the ‘Critical Thinking’ course to life.
除了这本书，这门课还向学生推荐阅读另外一本书，书名《批判性思维：学生入门读物》（把三木及其同事，二〇〇七）。于是，我翻阅了这本书，发现它更多以活动为导向，有魅力，令人振奋。然而，我仍然觉得这本书缺少一些东西来激发“批判性思维”课程联系实际。

So, I explored our ‘Critical Thinking’ courseware again, and was actually positively surprised with the quality of the content. However, since it was structured very differently from the course outline and it did not have a search function, naturally students found it quite frustrating to use.
因此，我再次浏览了我们的“批判性思维”课件，事实上极其惊讶于其内容的质量。然而，由于它的结构与课程大纲非常不同，也不具备搜索功能，自然学生发现它难以使用。

Based on these surface level reflections, I felt (based on my limited knowledge) that I needed to revamp the whole course to really make any difference. However, I also decided to take advantage and extract the learning juices from the three original main course resources just mentioned. Based on my understanding, the problem with this course was not so much the content, but the process on how it was facilitated. Based on my findings, and too little focus was given to engaging the student’s learning mind to question, analyze, synthesize, reason, problem solve, and make better decisions, which I believe is the essence of this course. Finally, and importantly for most of our students, English is their second language, and the student population consists of a colourful inter-religious/cultural/racial blend (Indian, Chinese, Malay, etc.), which especially the two recommended critical thinking books are not really tailored to.
基于以上这些肤浅认识，我（根据我有限的知识）认为我需要改变整个课程，真正起点作用。然而，我也决定利用并从刚才提到的三个主要的原始课程资源中提取学习精华。基于我的理解，这门课的问题不在于内容，而在于它所提供的过程。根据我的发现，课程太少关注如何吸引学生的学习思维去提问、分析、综合、推理、解决问题，以及做出更好的决定，我相信这些正是这门课的精髓。最后，最重要的是我们的大多数学生，英语是他们的第二语言，全校学生由丰富多彩的多宗教、多文化、多种族构成（印度人、华人、马来人等），推荐的这两本批判性思维书籍，并不是真的很合适。

Although, I was no master in ‘Critical Thinking’ (still the case!), I believed that I had enough reasons to take the risk to reengineer the course to make it more relevant and effective.
虽然，我并不是很擅长“批判性思维”（至今仍然如此！），我相信我有足够理由承担改造这门课的风险，让这门课更相关更有效。

COURSE PLANNING & PREPARATION

课程规划及准备

Although, I was planning to reengineer the course, I felt that the original course objectives would remain the same, with just a minor twist. The role of the lecturer coaching ‘Critical Thinking’ is to:

虽然，我打算重新设计这门课，但是我认为，原来的课程目标保持依旧，只需一点微调。教师教授《批判性思维》的任务是：

• Teach the fundamental thinking, reasoning and language abilities that a student needs for academic success.
  教授学生取得学术成功所必需的基本思维、推理和语言技能。
• Engage students in the active thinking process.
  吸引学生进入积极思考过程。
• Integrate the development of thinking abilities with the four skills: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening.
  把思维技能发展过程与思想技能整合起来：阅读、写作、表述、倾听。

As students seemed to fear the word “Critical’ more than thinking (tough one, too!), I suggested to change the name of the course to just ‘Thinking Skills’, but that was firmly rejected. Then I had this crazy idea to simply develop the course outline (modules and topics) and learning objectives, and let the students discover, explore, organize, adapt and construct the course content based on existing materials available on the web (User-generated content). This idea was totally rejected. Finally, I suggested to include a ‘Creative Thinking’ topic, which I felt was missing from the course, but that was also rejected. Creative thinking is different! So, instead I decided to infuse creative thinking into every single module of the ‘Critical Thinking’ course.
由于学生似乎害怕“批判”这个词甚于思考（这个也很难！），因此我建议变更课程名称，仅仅为“思维技能”，但遭到坚决拒绝。然后我有了一个疯狂的主意，就是开发出简单的课程大纲（模块和主题）以及学习目标，然后让学生根据网上已有素材（用户生成内容），探索、发掘、整理、调整、构建课程内容。这个想法完全被拒绝了。最后，我建议包含“创造性思维”主题，我觉得这是这门课所缺少的，但是这也被拒绝了。创造性思维跟批判性思维不同！因此，我决定将创造性思维注入到《批判性思维》课程的每个模块当中。

In the end, just before the semester started we managed to agree upon the course outline, which was (Click on the links to view the modules in Slideshare):

最后，就在开学之前，我们终于敲定课程大纲，如下（点击链接查看SlideShare 上的模块）：

1. Introduction to Critical Thinking
2. 介绍批判性思维
3. Thinking Tools
4. 思维工具
5. Arguments = Part I + Part II + Part III
6. 辩论=第一部分+第二部分+第三部分
7. Fallacies
8. 谬误
9. Language
10. 语言
11. Decision Making
12. 下决定
13. Problem Solving
14. 解决问题

Due to limited time, I constructed the content for each module during the 15-week semester, usually a week or two ahead of schedule. As our University was increasingly becoming more conventional, we were required to conduct a 2-hour F2F tutorial every week with our students. Although, we could use OLT, I decided not to, due to the nature of the course (real-time activity-based), number of students (300+), students status (mostly full-time), lack of broadband Internet access (for some), and that the group of tutors facilitating this course were reasonably experienced (more than me, actually!) and were fully capable of managing their own section(s) without my interference. As a course leader, I was also assigned to manage three (3) sections (90+ students).

由于时间的限制，在这个为期十五周的学期里，我通常提前一两周构建各个模块的内容。由于我们大学变得日益传统，要求我们每周两小时的面对面辅导学生。虽然我们可以使用在线交谈，但是我决定不用，由于这门课的性质（基于实时活动），学生数量（三百多人），学生的身份（基本上全日制），缺乏宽带互联网接入（部分学生），辅助这门课的助教团队相当有经验（居然比我还有经验！），并且都有能力在我不干涉的情况下管好各自大组。作为一名课程负责人，我也被指派管理三个部分（九十多名学生）。

However, to improve the possibility of consistent quality, I did prepare lesson plans (and student activity sheets) for the tutors, which gave them some idea on how I would conduct my tutorials. The lesson plans also included answers (if any), tips, and resource links to some of the puzzles, questions, and videos (YouTube) discussed in the presentation slides. In short, I provided them with some ideas on how I would facilitate the tutorials, but empowered them the freedom to think and do it their own way, as long as they covered the syllabus.
然而，为了提供品质的稳定性，我为助教们准备了课程计划（以及学生活动表格），这给了他们一些关于我打算如何构建我的教学的思路。这些课程计划也包含答案（如果有的话）、提示、和演示文稿中讨论到的某些智力测验、问题、视频（YouTube）的资源链接。总之，我为他们提供了一些关于我打算如何辅助教学的思路，但也允许他们自由的按照他们自己的方式思考和实施，只要他们不脱离大纲。

COURSE CONTENT

课程内容

The main focus of the revamped course would be on students’ practicing, reflecting and improving their thinking skills, and less emphasize would be given to exploring critical thinking theories, concepts and the endless definitions associated with it. What is critical thinking anyway?
改造后的课程重点关注学生的实践、反思，以及改善他们的思维技能，较少强调探索批判性思维理论、概念和与之相关的无穷无尽的定义。谁管批判性思维是什么？

With this in mind, the course content was constructed focused on engaging the students to reflect and improve their ability to question, analyze, synthesize, reason, problem solve, and make constructive decisions.
考虑到这一点，课程内容的重点放在吸引学生反思并改善他们提问、分析、综合、推理、解决问题和作出积极决定的能力。

To deal with the students fear and motivation to think critically, I decided to put Aristotle, Plato and Socrates on the bench, and introduce my new dream thinking support team led by Master Yoda, Mr. Bean and Inspector Gadget. They play a critical role in relaxing the learners’ mind to laugh, think, discuss and reflect their own thinking. If Mr. Bean can think critically, why can’t I?
为了解决学生的恐惧，促进学生积极批判性思维，我决定把亚里士多德，柏拉图和苏格拉底放到一边，介绍我的思维支持梦幻团队，由尤达大师、憨豆先生、神探加杰特组成。他们在促使学生开怀大笑、思考、讨论、反思自己的思维的时候起到批判性作用。如果憨豆先生可以批判性思考，为什么我们就不能呢？

Finally, to engage students to think, the content or presentation slides included a lot of thought provoking questions, puzzles, cartoons, pictures, quotes, and group activities to continuously spark the desire to explore the content further.
最后，为了吸引学生思考，演示文稿的内容包含了大量发人深省的问题、智力测验、卡通、图片、引文，以及小组活动，持续激发学生进一步探索内容的欲望。

In short, I extracted and mashed up past learning references, added my flavour, and brought in assistance from another galaxy (e.g. Master Yoda) and Earth (e.g. Mr. Bean) to reengineer the content.
总之，我从过去的学习参考资料红提取精华并重新组合，加上我的偏好，加上来自其他星系（比如尤达大师）和地球（比如憨豆先生）的支援，重构了课程内容。

F2F TUTORIALS

面对面辅导

I made it a point from day one that students will have to think-out-loud in this class, and no one will be able to escape this. Of course to loosen up the overall fear, I would first gently force the most nervous or scared looking student in the class to answer an open-ended question with their own opinion. By giving this person encouragement and support to whatever the answer may be, the other students in the class might feel safer to participate. It actually works, even in Malaysia were students are often scared to talk and share their ideas in class.
从第一天起我就坚持做到，学生在教室必须大声说出他们的想法，没有人可以例外。当然，为了放松整体的恐惧感，一开始我会温和的强迫班上看上去最紧张最害怕的学生用他们自己的观点回答一个开放式问题。不管他回答什么都给予这个学生鼓励和支持，班上其他学生会感觉参与进来比较安全。事实上很有效，在马来西亚教室里，学生们甚至往往害怕说出并分享他们的想法。

Every F2F tutorial is broken down into four (4) sessions:

每次面对面辅导都分成四个环节：

• Warm Up (5 – 15 minutes) – To awaken the students’ minds and bring the class to life, I would begin each class with a few brain stimulating activities, which could be a/an puzzle, question, picture, issue, or a quote.
  热身（五到十五分钟）：唤醒学生的头脑，将课堂联系生活，我每堂课都会用几个刺激头脑的活动开始，可以是智力测验、问题、图片、热点问题、引文等。
• Lecture & Discussion (30– 40 minutes) – This session is very much like an interactive lecture, whereby I would explain, reflect and discuss together with the students the ‘Thinking Menu’ of the day.
  讲授与讨论（三十至四十分钟）：这一环节非常像互动式授课，我会与学生一起解释、反思、讨论今天的“思考话题”。
• Group Activities (45 - 55 minutes) – In this session students are broken up into small groups (4- 6 participants) to collaborate on some relevant thinking activities. Each group have to choose their leader, and are given specific time frames to complete particular tasks (or using specific thinking tools), and then they need to summarize their answers or findings in writing, and finally one (or more) of the group representatives have to present and discuss the group’s output with the class.
  小组活动（四十五至五十五分钟）：在这一环节，学生分成若干小组（每组四至六人）合作进行某些思维相关活动。每个组必须选出自己的负责人，在具体的时间范围内完成特定任务（或者使用特定的思维工具），然后他们需要以书面形式总结他们的答案或发现。最后，小组的一（或多个）代表需要展示并讨论小组本堂课的成果。
• Sum Up (5-10 minutes) – Summarize the module and synthesize/evaluate/reflect the group activity findings.
  总结（五至十分钟）：总结这一模块，综合、评估、反思小组活动成果。

Students are also required to share and rotate task duties, which will ensure that all students at least once or twice will have the pleasure to present the output to the class during the semester. By having such group activities in each class, students also get to practice their teamwork, time management, communication, listening, writing, and presentation skills while collectively thinking about important issues.
同时要求学生分享、交换任务职能，这将确保在学期里，每个学生至少有一两次机会很高兴在班上展示成果。由于每堂课都有这些小组活动，学生们在合作思考重要问题的时候，也获得机会实践团队工作、时间管理、交流沟通、倾听、写作、演讲等技能。

To make the group activities relevant to their learning, I tried to select interesting and meaningful discussion topics. For example, during the first F2F class group activity, students were asked to reflect what it means to be an excellent student and lecturer. They were asked to discuss, identify and rank the “Top 10” characteristics/traits/behaviours of an excellent lecturer and student. By the end of the class we together had actually negotiated what to expect from one another throughout the semester. I told them that I will try my level best to be an excellent lecturer according to their terms (caring, punctual, open minded, effective teaching, etc.), and that I hoped that they could be an excellent student accordingly (hard working, self-disciplined, active participation, honest, etc.).
为了让小组活动与其学习相关，我试着选择有趣有意义的讨论话题。比如，在第一次面对面课堂小组活动中，要求学生反思优秀学生、优秀教师意味着什么。要求他们讨论、确定并排序优秀教师优秀学生的十大特征、个性、表现。快下课的时候，我们一起实实在在的商定整个学期对彼此的期望。我告诉他们，我会尽自己最大的努力去做一名符合他们要求的优秀教师（关怀、守时、思维开放、有效教学等），相应的，我希望他们能成为优秀学生（工作努力、自律、积极参与、诚实等）。

By the end of the semester we had managed to discuss and reflect collectively a lot of interesting and relevant topics including global warming, great thinkers and inventions, whether entrepreneurship is genetic or can be learned, the essence of beauty, whether all-star wrestling is real or not, and much more. During the learning process students had also managed to explore several useful thinking tools including mind mapping, six thinking hats, CoRT, and SWOT Analysis.
到学期末的时候，我们已经成功的共同讨论、反思了大量有趣的相关课题，包括全球变暖、伟大思想家和发明、创业精神是遗传的还是可以学到、美的本质，全明星摔跤是真的还是假的，等等。在学习过程中，学生们也成功的探索了几种有用的思维工具，包括思维导图、六顶思考帽、比知识还多（CoRT）思维训练、SWOT分析法。

ONLINE FORUMS

在线论坛

Students were required to participate in two (2) online forums scheduled during the semester. Each forum carried 2.5 percent (total = 5%) of the course assessment evaluation. Assessment scheme for each forum was:

学生被要求在这个学期安排参与两个在线论坛。每个论坛占到课程评估的百分之二点五（一共百分之五）。每个论坛的评价方案是：

• 1.0 % - For your reflective response to the forum issue.
• 百分之一点零：你对论坛问题作出有深度的回复。
• 1.0 % - for reflecting, adding value or challenging at least one of your classmates’ responses.
• 百分之一点零：你反思、增值、质疑至少一名同班同学的回复。
  
• 0.5 % - for submitting your 1st response within the first week of the forum.
• 百分之零点五：第一周在论坛里提交你的第一条回复。
  

The assessment scheme was set to encourage early participation and threaded discussions (not just a list of short essay answers!).
该评价方案旨在鼓励尽早参与并积极参与到讨论中（不只是回答几个单词而已！）

In the first online forum, students were asked to argue who they thought was the greatest thinker of the 20th century, and in the second forum students were asked to discuss an invention (and the thinking process behind it) that had an influential impact on mankind.
在第一个论坛，要求学生辩论他们认为谁是二十世纪最伟大的思想家，在第二个论坛要求学生讨论一项对人类有重大影响的发明（及其背后的思维过程）。

Both forums turned out to be informative and dynamic. Especially, the first forum, where approximately 300 students joined one mega discussion, was a huge challenge beyond the capability of our in-house developed learning management system (LMS), and my browser. After having several mega headaches trying to manage and reflect hundreds of posts, I made sure in the second forum to chunk the discussion into groups based on the course sections, which were facilitated and marked by each individual tutor.
两个论坛都充满了信息，生机勃勃。尤其是第一个论坛，有大约三百名学生加入到一个大型讨论，这对我们自己开发的学习管理系统的性能是巨大挑战，对于我的浏览器也是如此。在经历尝试管理和思考数百篇帖子引起的几次头疼之后，我要确保在第二个论坛，大部分讨论按照课程大组展开分组讨论，由各个助教辅导及打分。

The good thing we can take from the online forums is that most students know about Wikipedia. The not so good thing was that many of the students simply copy/pasted from it without giving much thought, or any reference or credit to the source. Interestingly, a few students managed to copy/paste Aristotle, Plato and Socrates from Wikipedia (No comment!). There was even one case of a student copying another students’ excellent reflective answer from the forum itself, and then pasting it as his own answer with a minor change to the introduction and conclusion. Luckily, the student being plagiarised informed me about it, and I did the necessary to teach the plagiarizer a lesson he probably won’t forget.

我们从在线论坛得到的好消息是，大多数学生都知道维基百科。不那么好的消息是许多学生仅仅是简单的复制粘贴维基百科，而不做任何思考，也没有为出处给出任何参考文献和致谢。有趣的是，少数学生成功的从维基百科复制粘贴了亚里士多德，柏拉图和苏格拉底（拒绝评论！）。甚至有一个学生从这个论坛里复制其他学生的优秀深度回答，然后略作改动引言和结语就粘贴到他自己的答案里。幸运的是，被抄袭的学生通知了我，我给了抄袭者一次必要的教训，他大概不会忘记的。

Overall, it was a thrill to engage and discuss about great thinkers and inventions (and the struggles they went through) with the students, and many of them took these forums quite seriously, and some of their reflections and arguments were quite impressive. I was also impressed with some of the students’ reflective arguments for why they should get a better grade.
总之，参与并讨论最伟大的思想家和发明（以及他们所经历的斗争），这是一件令人兴奋的事情，他们许多人非常重视参与到论坛当中，他们一些人的思考和论点，令人印象深刻。我对一些学生经过深思熟虑的论点也抱有好印象，这也是他们能够得到好的评定等级的原因。

ONLINE QUIZ

在线测验

Students had to take three small quizzes, each carrying five (5) percent of the course assessment evaluation. One (1) quiz was conducted during a F2F class and two (2) quizzes were conducted online. I gave the students the opportunity to do each online quiz (multiple-choice) from any place within a one week period.

学生必须参加三次小的测验，每次占到课程评估评价的百分之五。一次测试是在面对面课堂上实施，两次是在线实施。我给了学生一个机会，允许他们在一周之内在任何地方完成这两次在线测验（多项选择）。

In the first online quiz, I used randomization of questions (from a question pool) and shuffling of questions/answers, and I had deliberately created a tough one to awaken and challenge the students to think early on in the course. Interestingly, only 3 out of 272 who took the first online quiz got 100%.

在第一项在线测验，我使用随机题目（取自试题库），打乱了题目和答案顺序，我可以制造了一份很难的测验，以唤醒并激励学生尽早在课程中思考。有趣的是，二百七十二名学生当中只有三名学生在第一次在线测验中拿到满分。

The second online quiz was based on the module 4 (Fallacies). This time around I did not use randomization of questions, but I did continue with shuffling of questions/answers. 60 out of 285 managed to get 100%, which was an astonishing result (and perhaps a much easier quiz!). Interestingly, I had constructed a ‘Two Wrongs Make a Right’ fallacy in module 4 which says,

“I don’t feel guilty about cheating on Zaid’s online quiz. Half the class cheats on his quiz.”

第二次在线测验基于第四模块（谬误）。这一次我没有使用随机试题，但是我继续打乱题目答案。二百八十五名参考学生中有六十名学生成功获得满分，这个结果很惊人（也许是因为测验很容易！）。有趣的是，我在第四模块构建了一个“你我皆错”（Two Wrongs Make a Right）谬误，这是说：“我认为小查在在线测验中作弊没有错。班上有一半人都在作弊。”

Strangely enough, in one section a whopping 20 out of 42 got 100% correct. The results were impressive, but something was not right. Then I discovered that 17 out of these 20 with full marks had completed the quiz in less than 3 minutes. Other students who did the quiz took on the average more than 10 minutes to complete. Also, one of the students had come to my office during the quiz period with a friend (in a giggling mood!), claiming that someone else had logged in as her, and done her quiz (and gotten only 90%!). She asked me to reset her quiz. So, to give her a second chance, I reset her quiz. She took less than 2 minutes to get 100%.

奇怪的是，在某一个大组高达四十二分之二十的人获得满分。这一结果令人印象深刻，但是有些事情不对头。接下来我发现这二十名学生中，有十七人做完测验只用了不到三分钟。其他学生做完测验平均超过十分钟。同时，有一个学生和朋友一起在测验期间进到我的办公室（而且还乐呵呵的！），声称有人以他的名义登录，做完了他的测验（并且只拿到百分之九十分！）。他要求我重新设置他的测验。因此，我给了他第二次机会，重置了他的测验。他花了不到两分钟拿到了满分。

I told the students in the next class that some of them had cheated on the online quiz, and asked those who had done it to come forward and admit their wrongdoing. I also told them about the quiz completion time discovery, and that I had a list of all those that are likely to be guilty, and that this was also a test of integrity and character. After the class, the guilty came forward one by one to apologize for their wrongdoing. Although, they did something wrong, they showed great character to come forward and admit their mistake. To my astonishment, one student made it clear to me that they did not cheat, but instead argued that they had collaborated together to succeed. Now, that got me to think that perhaps we could also conduct online group quizzes in the future, which could be useful to facilitate collaborative learning in a quiz competitive mode. I suppose we all learned a few lessons from this incident.

我在后一堂课告诉学生他们当中有人在在线测验中舞弊，要求舞弊的人站出来承认自己的错误。我还告诉他们我所发现的测验完成时间，我有一份清单，上面有所有可能有罪的学生名单，这也是一次对诚信和品格的测验。课后，舞弊的挨个站出来为其错误行为道歉。虽然他们犯了错，但是他们展现了伟大的品格，站出来承认错误。令我惊讶的是，有一名学生明确告诉我，他们没有作弊，而是认为他们在合作完成任务。现在，这让我想到，也许将来我们还可以构建在线小组测验，对促进测验竞争模式下的合作学习可能非常有用。我希望我们大家都从这次事件中学到一点教训。

Finally, if you are planning to conduct online quizzes, keep in mind that you will never know who is actually doing the online quiz, unless you have a witness (proctored exam), or it is done in a computer lab with surveillance, so that you can verify who is actually doing it. But then again if students really want to cheat, they will find a way. Besides minimizing the possibility of cheating, it is perhaps more useful to encourage and practice good values and behaviours during the learning process. In short, we need to practice good values and behaviours ourselves first, before we can expect such things from our students. Look who’s talking!

最后，如果你正计划实施在线测验，请记住，你永远也不知道谁会真正去做在线测验，除非你有证人（有监考的考试），或者是在有监控的机房完成的，使你可以验证谁真正做了测验。但是话又说回来，如果学生真的想舞弊，他们会找到办法的。除了尽量减少作弊的可能性，可能更好的办法是鼓励和实践学习过程中的良好价值观良好行为。总之，我们需要自己首先实践良好价值观和良好行为，然后才能期望学生做到这些。言行一致！

GROUP PROJECT & PRESENTATION

小组项目与展示

In addition to three (3) quizzes, two (2) online forums, and group activities in each F2F session, students were required to work on a group project, which would be presented to the class some time during the last four (4) weeks of the course. They were required to research a problem or issue of their choice, and then write a recommendation report with constructive suggestions on how to deal with it. Interestingly, I made it compulsory that everyone in the group had to present some portion of their project during the group project presentation. While all shared the same grade for the group project (15%), each student was evaluated individually for the presentation session (10%).

除了这三次测验、两个在线论坛、每次面对面课程时的小组活动，还要求学生做一项小组项目，并将在课程最后四周的某个时间向全班展示。要求他们自己选择研究某个问题或事物，然后写出一份带有如何处理它的建设性意见的建议报告。有趣的是，我做了硬性规定，在做小组项目展示的时候，同一小组的每个成员都必须展示项目的一部分。虽然同一项目组的人等级评分相同（百分之十五），但每个学生会因其展示任务而单独评分（百分之十）。

Although, there were many interesting projects and engaging presentations, I suppose the video showed by one of the groups of a person dying from AIDS (last moments!), is something that until today still lingers in my head. Overall, it was good to see that most of the students were confident enough to present and not chicken out. Although, many of the presenters perhaps faced the slides and notes more than the audience, we have to give them credit, because they were also presenting and articulating their findings in English, which is their second language. I suppose with more practice and encouragement, they can master the ability to present confidently with less supporting aids.

虽然，有许多有趣的项目，有吸引力的展示，但是，某个小组呈现的一个人因为艾滋而死（最后时刻！）的视频，直到今天仍然在我脑海中萦绕。总的来说，看到大多数学生充满了信心，而不是临阵退缩，这很好。虽然，许多讲演者可能面对幻灯片和演讲稿多过面对观众，但我们还是要赞赏他们，因为他们至少用英语展示陈述了他们的成果，这是他们的第二语言啊。我想，如果给予更多的实践和鼓励，他们可以掌握在较少外力帮助的情况下自信讲演的能力。

FINAL EXAM

期末考试

The final exams (50% of the total course evaluation) are conducted F2F at the students’ respective study centres. The ‘Critical Thinking’ course exam included a mixture of short essay and discussion type of questions. The final exam was divided into two sections:

期末考试（占到课程总评估的百分之五十）在学生独立研究中心面对面进行。《批判性思维》课程考试同时包括有短文和论述题。期末考试分成两部分：

• Section A (20%) – They were given five (5) questions (answer all) to check their understanding on the core concepts learned in this course. They were required to (depending upon the question) identify, describe, differentiate, and give examples.
  第一部分（百分之二十）：有五道题目（必答），检查他们对课程核心概念的理解。要求他们（视题目而定）识别、描述、区分、举例。
• Section B (30%) - They were asked to identify the purpose (or main-point), analyze, evaluate and/or give their opinions/reasons/suggestions on an article, advertisement and a quote.
  第二部分（百分之三十）：给出一篇文章、广告、引文，要求他们明确文章的意图（或要点）、进行分析、评价，给出他们的观点、原因、建议。

Having punished the students mentally to think-out-loud throughout the course, I suppose I made the final exam reasonably easy to pass (including juicy examination tips!), testing all the six (6) levels of Bloom’s taxonomy.
在心理上折磨学生，要求他们在课上自始至终大声说出他们的想法，我想，这在一定程度上让期末考试好过一些（也包括令人满意的考前提示！），考试覆盖布卢姆分类法的所有六个层次。

To be honest, I have never been a fan of final exams. If I had the choice I would instead add at least 30% of these marks for class participation (Currently only 5%). If I was to take any of those final exams I took during my undergraduate and graduate studies, I would surely fail this time around (Even if I got ‘A’ previously!). So, what are final exams measuring anyway? Then again, we cannot blame it on the final exam mode, but instead we should question those asking the questions.
说实话，我从来就不喜欢期末考试。如果我有选择，我宁愿为其课堂参与增加百分之三十的分数（目前只有百分之五）。如果让我现在去做我本科和研究生期间的任何一场期末考试，我可以肯定我会不及格（即使我以前拿的是“优秀”！）。那么，期末考试到底衡量的是什么？再说了，我们不能责怪期末考试这种模式，翔安我们应该质问出这些题目的人！

RESULTS

成绩

Were students satisfied? It was encouraging to know that I averaged approximately 90% (you need at least 85% to me nominated for best lecturer award!) in the teaching/course evaluation survey over three (3) sections. However, it was more encouraging to learn that the total average for this course was around 85% (including the tutors’ results).
学生是否满意？令人鼓舞的是，在三个大组的教学及课程评价调查中我得到平均超过百分之九十（至少需要百分之八十五的人评我为最优秀教师！）的评分。然而，更令人鼓舞的是，这门课总的平均分约为百分之八十五分（包含助教的成绩）。

However, did learning take place? It is difficult to verify this one, but I know for sure that 92.9% of all the students taking this course (316) managed to pass it. I do have some positive and constructive comments to share here from a few students and tutors.

然而，学习真的发生了？这是一个很难核实的问题，但我确切的知道，参与了这门课的学生有百分之九十二点九（三百一十六人）都通过了。我确实有一些来自少数学生和助教的积极而建设性的建议，在此与大家分享。

• “(Student)…Thank you for your guidance and not forgetting your lively classes. It's been a month since the exam and I must say all the fallacies learnt remain and is being applied in everyday reading materials and at workplace with…”
  “（学生）……感谢你的指导，不会忘记你充满活力的课堂。距离考试已经有一个月了，学过的所有谬误都还记着，并且每天在工作中阅读材料时都在使用，……”
• ”(Student)…Last but not least I would like to thank you for being "the teacher that inspires". I truly enjoyed myself in your class and would really look forward to being your student again (No.no.. I don't want to repeat Critical Thinking ..maybe for other subject)…”
  “（学生）……最后，我要郑重地说，谢谢你作为一名‘鼓舞人的教师’。我真的很喜欢在你课上的自己，很期待再次成为你的学生（不，不，我不想重修《批判性思维》，或许是其他课题）……”
• "(Student)…Thank you very much for your quick reply. You are certainly a very good, efficient and helpful lecturer. From my experience, you are the second lecturer who have answered my questions during the holiday but for this semester the only one. They should be more lecturers like you…”
  “（学生）……非常感谢你这么快回复。你是一名非常好的、干净利落的、乐于助人的教师。在我的经历中，你是第二位在节假日回答我问题的老师，而且是这个学期唯一的一位。你比其他人更像教师……”
• ”(Student)… honestly I have learned a lot from this course, not only in thinking, but more than what I could describe here. Really enjoyed your class and the way you teach has definitely changed the way I looked at learning myself...”
  “（学生）……老实说，从这门课我学到了很多，不仅仅是思考，远比这里能描述的要多。真的很喜欢你的课，而且你教课的方式肯定改变了我看待自己学习的方式……”
• “(Tutor)…Your Forum 2 question is very interesting and the rules and regulations suggested are good. That will make the students send in their answers earlier…It’s nice having you as the course leader. You are so efficient and informative.”
  “（助教）……你的两个论坛问题非常有趣，建议的规则和制度也很好。这能让学生尽早提交答案……很高兴有你担任课程负责人。你是如此的干净利落、见闻广博。”
• “(Tutor)…I must let you know that I am very happy with your approach to the critical thinking course. It has such a fresh and imaginative look. The slides are so attractive and I like the F2F Lesson Plan. It keeps us aware on how you (as a course leader) look at things. Please keep that up…”
  “（助教）……我必须让你知道，我很满意你对《批判性思维》课程的处理方式。它因此有了这样一幅全新的、富有想象力的外观。幻灯片也很吸引人，我喜欢面对面课程计划。它让我们意识到你（作为课程负责人）是如何看待事情的。请继续努力！”
  

Now this is pleasing to my ego! As for Kirkpatrick’s levels of evaluation 3 and 4, it is difficult to provide any concrete evidence, except for comments such as the ones above. But let’s hope that students can apply some the thinking skills learned during the course and gain some positive results in their studies, work and life. Actually, I should track these 316 students down and find out!
接下来是最让我开心的！对于柯氏四级培训评估模式的第三第四层，除了上述这些评论，很难提供任何具体证据。但是，我们希望学生可以应用在课程期间学到的思维技能，在其学习、工作和生活当中获得一些积极成果。其实，我应该继续跟踪这三百一十六名学生，定会有所发现！

AREAS TO IMPROVE?

需要改进的地方？

One year has passed since I revamped the ‘Critical Thinking’ course. I only managed to facilitate this course for one semester, and then the top management argued that I could be more effective to the University doing other things than actually teaching students. Luckily, the course is still being taught and that they are still using my little contribution to ‘Critical Thinking’ at the undergraduate level.
自从我改造《批判性思维》课程，一年过去了。这门课我只设法上了一个学期，然后高层管理人员认为比起教学生，我对大学更有用处。幸运的是，这门课仍然开设，他们仍然在本科层次的《批判性思维》沿用我的小小贡献。

However, having become one year wiser (or dumber!) and discovered through reading what is needed to survive in places like Microsoft or Google, I believe this ‘Critical Thinking’ course needs to be constructively destroyed and reengineered.
然而，经过一年变得更聪明（或者更愚蠢！），通过阅读《在微软或谷歌之类的地方生存下来什么是必需的》得到的发现，我相信《批判性思维》课程需要建设性的破坏和再造。

Here are a few things that I would do, if I had the chance to revamp it again:

如果我有机会改造这门课的话，这里有些事情是我想要做的：

• Challenging Puzzles/Exercises – I would add new puzzles and thinking exercises to challenge the students’ analytical, imaginative and problem solving skills to the level they can expect from a Microsoft or Google interview. Give them a taste of it, which might actually accelerate their motivation to learn.
  有挑战性的难题、练习：我想补充新的难题和思维练习，培养学生的分析能力、想象力和解决问题的技能，提高到他们有机会获得微软或谷歌面试的水平。让他们见识之后，事实上可以加速他们的学习动机。
• Leaner Modules - Streamline the modules to consist of fewer topics and concepts, and instead spend more time on each element, enabling students to have more time to learn, practice and reflect before moving on. Especially, the 'Arguments' module would be totally revamped (simplify and focus), which was too much based on the book (Critical Thinking: A Student's Introduction’), due to my lack of knowledge in this area.
  学习者模块：优化各个模块，每个模块有更少的主题和概念组成，在每个元素上可以投入更多时间，让学生在采取行动之前有更多时间去学习、实践、思考。特别是，《论据》模块将完全改版（简化并集中），这本书太过倚重书籍《批判性思维：学生入门读物》，因为我缺少这方面的知识。
• Online Tools - Would use more tools such as online surveys/polls (to gather students' opinions and collectively reflect) and perhaps LAMS (Learning Activity Management System), which could be useful for sequencing and managing thinking activities such as Six Thinking hats. Also, I would request students to use wikis to work on their group projects, enabling me to follow the progress of the project. In addition, it would be interesting to explore 3D virtual worlds like Second Life and examine how it can nurture and motivate students to think-out-loud in such environments. In short, I would use more online learning tools to facilitate thinking beyond the physical classroom.
  在线工具：打算使用更多工具，比如在线调查、投票（收集学生意见和普遍观点），可能还包括LAMS（学习活动管理系统），这可以用来组织管理六顶思维帽子等思维活动。此外，我会要求学生使用维基完成他们的小组项目，让我可以紧跟他们的项目进度。另外，探索三维虚拟世界如《二度人生》，研究如何在这类环境中培养激发学生大声说出他们的想法，这一定会很有趣。总之，在现实课堂之外，我会使用更多在线学习工具去促进思考。
• More Videos – Although, I did use a few YouTube videos to stimulate thinking during the first round, I would probably embed more short videos this time around to engage the mind and bring the class to life.
  更多视频：虽然，我很少在第一轮教学中使用YouTube视频刺激思维，但是这次我可以嵌入更多视频短片，吸引注意力，把课堂带入生活。
• New Dream Thinking Team – Although, I would probably keep Master Yoda and Mr. Bean in my team, I would try to include local cartoons, such as LAT (if possible).
  新的梦幻思维团队：虽然，我可能会在我的团队中留下尤达大师和憨豆先生，但我还想尝试添加本土卡通角色，比如LAT，如果可能的话。

To improve my coaching or facilitation skills I would explore, study and reflect videos of well-known educators in formal and informal education around the world, which can today be easily accessed for free through YouTube channels (Stanford, MIT, Berkeley, etc.) or other video sharing sites (e.g. VIDEOLECTURES.net). In short, the only thing stopping us from becoming a good educator is our reluctance to learn, explore and challenge ourselves continuously (and a good Internet connection!).
为了提高我的教学和辅导技能，我打算探索、学习、反思世界上正规教育和非正式教育的著名教育者。如今从YouTube频道（斯坦福、麻理、伯克利等）和其他视频分享网站（土豆、优酷）很容易免费获得这些视频。总之，唯一阻止我成为优秀教育者的，就我们自己不愿意不断学习、探索、挑战自我（当然还需要一条好的互联网连接！）。

In short, the ‘Critical Thinking’ course would be revamped again to meet the challenges of the 21st century.
总之，《批判性思维》课程将再次改组，以迎合二十一世纪挑战。

CONCLUSION

结论

Oh man, you are still reading! Alright, I will have to say a few more things before I take off to my next learning adventure. First, if you ask me, I would not get so obsessed in trying to differentiate critical, creative, innovative or inventive thinking (learning and thinking prefers no human constructed borders!) during class, but instead focus increasingly on finding new ways to nurture and infuse more thinking into the students’ learning process for all courses, so that when they graduate it has become a habit for life.
哦，伙计，你还在读这篇文章啊！在我开始新的一次学习冒险之前，还要说几句。首先，如果你问我，我不会执着于在课堂中分清批判性、创造性、革新性思维（学习和思维并不欢迎人为构建的边界！），而是日渐集中精力寻找新的方法，来培养和影响学生在所有课程的学习过程中运用更多思考，在他们毕业的时候，思考就变成他们的生活习惯了。

Also, I would strongly recommend that we continue to have at least one or two courses that explore thinking and thinking tools intensively, enabling us to flex our imaginative, creative and analytical thinking muscles (e.g. using six thinking hats, SWOT, Disney Creativity Strategy, and ‘Five Ws and H’). In addition, we could always use our analytical imagination to create new thinking tools.
同样，我会强烈建议我们继续开一到两门课程集中探索思维和思维工具，让我们能够施展我们的想象力、创造力和分析思维能力（比如使用六顶思考帽、SWOT分析法、迪斯尼创意策略、“五个何”）。另外，我们总是使用我们善于分析的想象力去创造新的思维工具。

If you ask me, I would argue that the essence of all thinking boils down to asking QUESTIONS. And we all can do that, and therefore we all have the ability to think. Which fallacy did I just commit?

如果你问我，我坚信，思考的精髓可以归于提问题。我们都能提问题，因此我们都有思考的能力。我刚刚提出了一项谬误么？

If we can encourage students to ask more questions, going beyond the compartments of their disciplines, and increasingly nurture the courage in them to explore new ideas, we are probably on the right track.
如果我们能够鼓励学生提更多问题，超越学科的阻隔，日益培养他们探索新思路的勇气，我们可能就走在正确道路上了。

I remember way back in 1992, I had just finished my high school certificate (similar to A-Levels) at Ullern Gymnas (Oslo, Norway), and had just managed to scrape through. I was so sick of formal education that I made a promise to myself to never study again.
我记得，早在一九九二年，我刚刚在挪威奥斯陆Ullern Gymnas完成我的高中学业（类似于优等），还是勉强通过。我是如此的厌倦正规教育，以至于我想自己保证，再也不去学习。

Here I am in 2008, sharing my experiences on facilitating “Critical Thinking’ to undergraduate students at UNITAR, in Malaysia. You just never know :)

现在是二〇〇八年，我在分享我关于在马来西亚敦拉萨大学本科学生中促进《批判性思维》的经验。你只是不知道而已。

Posted by Zaid Ali Alsagoff at 19:04 .

http://zaidlearn.blogspot.com/2008/03/coaching-critical-thinking-to-think.html