Classroom engagement and critical thinking

Reflecting on my role as an educator, I consider engagement and critical thinking as two sides of the same coin. I recognise that while students may come to class with some level of internal motivation, it is my role as the educator to make the classroom experience worthwhile to maintain their interest and motivation. A productive and inclusive classroom requires students to feel comfortable sharing their ideas without fear of judgement. To achieve that, it is crucial to promote and guide critical thinking skills throughout learning activities and assessment, creating an engaging learning environment where curiosity is embraced and ideas are treasured.

Modelling intellectual curiosity and critical thinking in my teaching fosters an atmosphere of open enquiry, encouraging students to question, explore, and engage deeply. These six dimensions of critical thinking are integrated throughout my unit’s learning activities and assessment tasks:

	Curiosity and Questioning: Create an environment where students feel comfortable asking questions. Emphasise that all questions are valuable and encourage students to explore different perspectives. The educators must set clear expectations for respectful curiosity and model these behaviours themselves.
	Challenge Assumptions: Encourage students to question their assumptions, recognise bias, and consider alternative viewpoints. Creating a resource for students to refer to that contextualises critical thinking for your unit or discipline.
	Intellectual Humility: Model intellectual humility by acknowledging the limits of your own knowledge and being open to new ideas. Encourage students to do the same by creating a classroom culture that values learning and growth over being right.
	Active Listening: Model active listening and encourage students to listen to one another to understand, rather than to simply respond. Emphasise the importance of empathy and respect in communication.
	Logical Reasoning: Guide students in evaluating arguments and forming well-reasoned conclusions. The critical thinking resource is a useful reference for students and educators.
	Evidence-Based Thinking: Emphasise the importance of evidence in critical thinking and forming conclusions. Guide students to distinguish between facts and opinions in their work, and role model evidence-based thinking clearly in your classroom activities and learning resources.

Modelling and guiding critical thinking as part of class activities and assessment tasks seemed to increase student confidence to express their ideas, which in turn led to improved engagement and class participation. Here are two student comments from recent iterations of the course.

Teaching that demonstrates intellectual curiosity and critical thinking creates a space where students feel encouraged to question assumptions, explore new possibilities, and engage deeply with the subject matter.  To set clear expectations for students and teaching staff, I created a resource, How to Think Better.

This resource guides students in terms of expressing their ideas in class discussions and responding to assessment tasks. The teaching team refers to the resource to reinforce the relevance of critical thinking for students’ academic work and beyond.

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Through role modeling and explicit instruction, you can promote critical thinking skills and create a more engaging, supportive, and intellectually stimulating learning environment. Using a resource such as How to Think Better increases student confidence to share their ideas, listen to other perspectives, and be continuous learners.