Listed below are selected learning outcomes in the area of critical
thinking that Western Washington University is actively integrating
into its curriculum. Dr. Smeins teaching method assists students
in critically evaluating their course materials. Each learning outcome
is listed with its definition, along with a description of how Art
History 220 meets each of these student learning outcome goals.
Critical Thinking
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| Identification |
Accurately identifies
and interprets evidence. |
Students interpret visual
evidence and information on websites by (1) identifying those
visual forms (art works, buildings, etc.) and points of information
already learned in class, (2) identifying additional or alternative
information and visual forms among the sites, (3) recognizing
the relationships between the images and the text by asking
whether the visual and textual information work together to
provide a more comprehensive and convincing thesis and argument,
and (4) recognizing the selectivity of information in visual/textual
presentations by noting types of information that could have
been presented in this context but were not. |
| Alternative Consideration |
Considers major alternative
points of view. |
Following identification,
students develop critical thinking skills by using theoretical
frameworks learned in class to evaluate the website author's
selection of information about a topic and the conclusions drawn
from that information. By evaluating several websites, students
explore alternative approaches to writing history and types
of questions asked about people, places, art and cultural values.
Class group discussion works toward recognizing contemporary
social perspectives that lead to differing questions and conclusions
about the past. |
| Accurate Conclusions |
Draws warranted, judicious,
non-fallacious conclusions. |
Students study social
situations and the important role that visual forms take in
representing societal beliefs, attitudes and values. They develop
the means to recognize relationships between visual forms, written
and spoken words, and social practices, which leads to analyzing
how a combination of visual forms and words may tap into several
beliefs about self and society and propose new conclusions for
the viewer/reader (as in today's advertising). |
| Justification |
Justifies key results and procedures,
and explains assumptions and reasons. |
Justification becomes an active
process when students apply critical thinking strategies with
in-class rapid response questions and web-board discussion
groups. The in-class questions prompt immediate thoughts,
while the web-board discussions provide an opportunity for
explaining reasons and exposing assumptions upon which the
immediate thoughts were based. When students take objective
examinations, they write justifications for their incorrect
answers by using evidence to pose an alternative and arguable
conclusion for each examination question that did not require
a memorizable 'fact'. |
Source: Adapted from the California Academic
Press's Holistic Critical Thinking Scoring Rubric (http://www.insightassessment.com/HCTSR.html)
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