Nov. 19-20, 2010
The College of Arts and Sciences at Quinnipiac University
Hamden, Connecticut
This conference will investigate the linkages between critical thinking, usually associated with general education, and thinking within the majors—the disciplinary thinking students must master before they graduate.
We are calling this movement from general education to study within the major “crossing the great divide” because students often find that what they are asked to master in their major differs in focus and complexity from the critical thinking pedagogies that most general education curricula require of undergraduates.
Sally Mitchell (Coordinator of the Thinking Writing Program at Queen Mary University in London) will draw on data from her ongoing research as she considers the usefulness of highly general terms such as “argument” and “critical thinking” for students attempting to enter disciplinary conversations.