1. Integrative Learning to Enhance Critical Thinking TILT Summer Workshop Colorado State University May 18, 2011

2. Agenda  9:00 Introductions  9:30 Workshop Objectives  9:35 Critical Thinking  9:45 Integrative Learning  10:00 Panel - Examples of IL  10:30 Break  10:45 Designing CT Assign. I  11:15 Panel – Benefits of CT and IL  12:00 Lunch  1:00 Designing CT Assign. II  1:30 Designing IL Assign.  2:45 Workshop Summary

3. Introductions  Workshop Facilitators:  Laura Giles  Jon Leydens  Teresa Metzger  Tae Nosaka  Mike Palmquist  Tom Siller  Paul Thaye r  Participants:  Name  Department  Courses  Workshop Goals

4. Workshop Objectives When we finish this workshop, we should be able to  Demonstrate sufficient understanding of integrative learning concepts by applying them to courses and/or assignments designed to elicit critical thinking.  Design assignments that foster the forging of connections across diverse problem contexts (e.g., between course knowledge and knowledge in a discipline, in a core curriculum, or in practice).  Follow an interest in participating in continuing professional development work on curriculum development that involves integrative learning.

5. Workshop Objectives When we finish this workshop, we should be able to  Demonstrate sufficient understanding of integrative learning concepts by applying them to courses and/or assignments designed to elicit critical thinking.  Design assignments that foster the forging of connections across diverse problem contexts (e.g., between course knowledge and knowledge in a discipline, in a core curriculum, or in practice).

6. What is Critical Thinking? 1 1) Critical thinking…  …is rooted in learners’ engagement with a high-quality problem, wherein inquiry is motivated by curiosity (e.g., Dewey, 1916; Meyers, 1986). Challenge for Instructors  How do we design courses and/or assignments that inspire curiosity-driven problem engagement among our students?

7. What is Critical Thinking? 2 2) Critical thinking…  …involves “identifying and challenging assumptions and exploring alternative ways of thinking and acting” (Brookfield, 1987). Challenge for Instructors  Through course and/or assignment design, how do we inspire curiosity- driven problem engagement that empowers students to identify and challenge assumptions and explore alternative ways of thinking?

8. What is Integrative Learning?  Integrative Learning… “has limited common meaning” (DeZure, Babb, and Waldmann, 2005).

9. Integrative Learning “is an understanding and a disposition that a student builds across the curriculum and cocurriculum, from making simple connections among ideas and experiences to synthesizing and transferring learning to new, complex situations within and beyond the campus” (Rhodes, 2010: ©American Association of Colleges and Universities)

10. Integrated Learning can produce an interdisciplinary understanding, “the capacity to integrate knowledge and modes of thinking [drawn from] two or more disciplines to produce a cognitive advancement—for example, explaining a phenomenon, solving a problem, creating a product, or raising a new question—in ways that would have been unlikely through single disciplinary means” (Mansilla, 2006).

11. Pre-Integrative Learning Course Knowledge ? Disciplinary Knowledge Knowledge from Other Disciplines Practice

12. Integrative Learning Course Knowledge ! Disciplinary Knowledge Knowledge from Other Disciplines Practice

13. PeerReview Magazine, Summer/Fall 2005

14. CT+IL= Overarching Workshop Questions  Through course and/or assignment design, how do we ask the kinds of questions that inspire curiosity-driven problem engagement that empowers students to identify and challenge assumptions and explore alternative ways of thinking? (Critical Thinking)  And how do we do this in ways that foster connections among ideas and experiences so students synthesize and transfer learning to new, complex situations within and beyond the campus. (Integrative Learning)

15. Panel: Examples of Integrative Learning Assignments That Foster Critical Thinking  Tae – Psycho-Biology  Tom – Engineering & the Brain  Paul - Why are students the way they are?  Teresa - Live Green Retreat

16. Live Green Retreat Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve

17. Designing CT Assignments  Through course and/or assignment design, how do we ask the kinds of questions that inspire curiosity-driven problem engagement?  Thinking about your course and assignment learning objectives, devise 1-2 of such questions and/or assignments.  Discuss and report back

18. Panel: Benefits of CT & IL? Questions for Panelists  Why do you think critical thinking activities promote student learning?  Why do you think integrative learning activities promote student learning?  How do we educate the whole person? And for you and for your discipline, what benefits emerge from educating the whole person using IL?

19. Designing CT Assignments  Through course and/or assignment design, how do we empower students to identify and challenge assumptions and explore alternative perspectives/ways of thinking?  Brainstorm, discuss, and report

20. Designing IL Assignments  Take five minutes to create a visual representation of an integrative learning assignment, including 1. An overarching question or context that makes the assignment relevant. 2. An initial assignment description 3. Connections between this course and other knowledge/experience areas (e.g., other courses, co-curricular links, practice, life experiences, etc.)  Discuss in Groups

21. Designing Purposeful & Integrative Learning  See Handout  Discuss at your tables, then with all.

22. 366 Days of Integrative Learning Starts…Today  Workshop Wrap Up  Future Activities  Sign Up Sheets