Students’ Learning Through New Teaching Approaches

Pablo Valdés R.
Language IX
Crystal Hickerson
Monday 1st, June , 2009


Students’ Learning Through New Teaching Approaches


Robert Duron, Barbara Limbach and Wendy Waugh, in their article “Critical Thinking Framework For Any Discipline”, support that “Active/Cooperative Learning as a pedagogical approach to encouraging critical thinking can be very effectively used in conjunction with lectures”(2006,p. 165). After analyzing their argument, I shall argue that, although the article relies excessively on the exemplification of how they used the actual framework in a specific subject, they offer a convincing argument in how teachers should use this framework along with lectures in order to enhance critical thinking skills on students’ learning.

The argument presented in the article suggests a 5-step framework that can be put into practice in any teaching practice in order to move students toward critical thinking. They supported it by given an example in Accounting Education where they think it is necessary to have an active-learning approach on lectures. According to Duron, Limbach and Waugh, this framework is based on an existing theory regarding to cognitive development, effective learning environments and outcomes-based assessment which will provide teachers a powerful tool for teaching and encouraging critical thinking skills. Finally, the use of a active-learning approach should increase the development of these critical thinking skills and, therefore, it should be used through a new way of delivering lectures.

What makes this result most interesting, according to the authors, the problem with lectures in disciplinary areas such as business courses is that they are too focused on a teacher’s centered approach. Therefore, students’ learning are excessively oriented towards memorization and the topics chosen for teaching are discussed sequentially rather than critically. Consequently, the teacher does the majority of the thinking and students are not placed in an active/cooperative learning. In order to demonstrate this , Duron, Limbach and Waugh state that the quality of accounting education has a tendency to produce professionals who have little tolerance for ambiguity or unstructured problems solving (2006,p. 165). Hence, they research is based on the necessity of having a substantial change in how the actual lecture format on business courses are delivered. In order to do so, they illustrate an application of this framework on the topic of financial statement analysis. The whole idea of doing this is to argue for an Active/Cooperative Learning in order to encourage critical thinking skills on students and improve the quality of learning.

Behind their argument it is implied the premise that the teachers that are going to make this substantial change are already prepare to do so. Obvious or not, I think the authors do not explain clearly what kind of teachers should be or at least what should be the teachers’ profile to implement and use this framework. One can question this because teaching is not only about changing the way lectures are delivered but it has to do with teachers’ beliefs toward education in general and their own practice. At the same time, Duron, Limbach and Waugh through their exemplification illustrate how to use the framework in order to enhance students in an active/cooperative lecture. In this sense, one can argue that the central idea that this framework could be used in an accounting course does not implies that it is going to work the same in other courses. They explain that the framework should be modified according to different interdisciplinary courses but they do not suggest how to do it or through what strategies teachers should apply this in other subject areas. My basic point here is that in order to introduce this framework to any lecture, the teachers’ profile raises as an important factor to be considered at the moment of changing the way that lectures should be delivered. And most importantly, the use of this framework into other subjects areas should be analyzed first in order to change the actual lecturing format.

Finally, I think that Duron, Limbach and Waugh provide a very useful idea about changing the way lectures are delivered. Although, one might reasonably argue that there are other important factors to carry out this idea in lectures, this do not diminish the importance of their argument which claims for a new view of teaching. In order to have an active/cooperative learning they offer a convincing argument in how teachers should use this framework along with lectures in order to enhance critical thinking skills on students’ learning.

References

Duron, Robert., Limbach, Barbara., and Wendy Waugh. “Critical Thinking Framework for Any Discipline”. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. 17.2 (2006): 160 – 66.