You are invited to an exciting workshop...

Strategies to Assess and Improve Student Critical Thinking Performance

Saturday, November 14, 2009
9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Southwest Minnesota State University
Conference Center - Upper Level

Workshop Description

Teachers in all disciplines agree that critical thinking is an important educational outcome for their students.  Although teachers are able to articulate the critical thinking skills that they would like their students to exhibit, the cognitive steps between actual student performance and desirable student performance often remain unarticulated and vague.  Critical thinking is a cognitive ability that does not develop automatically as people get older and accumulate more experience.  It is a series of learned cognitive processes that develop through incremental steps that can be measured along a continuum ranging from low or simple thinking skills to high or complex thinking skills.  In order to improve students' critical thinking skills, teachers must understand the relationship between stages of cognitive development and students' critical thinking performance.

 In this workshop we will explore the following questions about student critical thinking assessment and development.

1. What is critical thinking?
2. What are learning outcomes for critical thinking?
3. How does cognitive development affect student critical thinking performance?
4. How can teachers assess students' critical thinking skills in the classroom?
5. How can teachers use critical thinking assessment to design developmentally appropriate coursework activities that will improve the students critical thinking performance?

 This workshop will provide participants with innovative and practical ways to use assessment results to enhance student critical thinking skills.  This workshop is of interest to teachers as well as administrators.

 Workshop Facilitator

We have invited Dr. Susan K. Wolcott to lead this workshop.  Dr. Wolcott is an internationally recognized expert on critical thinking assessment and development.  She is widely published and has presented numerous workshops at major universities throughout North America, Europe, and Asia.

For more information about Dr. Wolcott, click here

 Cost of the Workshop

Through a generous grant from the SMSU Foundation, we are able to offer this full-day workshop at the cost of only $45.00 per person.  The following is included in your registration fee.

 - Morning and Afternoon coffee breaks with snacks and refreshments.
- A delicious lunch featuring the following menu selections:

• Chicken Caesar Salad, soup, garlic bread sticks, desert, and drinks
• Turkey Spinach Salad, soup, garlic bread sticks, desert, and drinks
• Grilled Salmon Salad, soup, garlic bread sticks, desert, and drinks
• Vegetarian Salad, soup, garlic bread sticks, desert, and drinks

- Workshop materials in hard copy format.
- Each workshop participant will receive a personal computer flash drive preloaded with all of the workshop materials.
- Six hours of CEU credit, certificates given at the end of the workshop.

 Click here to download and print out the Workshop Registration Form.

 * Scholarships Available, please contact Lori.Witthaus@smsu.edu for more details.

 How to Register

To register for the workshop:

1. Download and print out the Workshop Registration Form.
2. Fill out the Workshop Registration Form
3. Mail the completed Workshop Registration Form and a $45.00 check made out to "Southwest Minnesota State University" to:

Critical Thinking Workshop
Attn: Lori Witthaus
Southwest Minnesota State University
1501 State Street
BA 109
Marshall, MN 56258

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