Better Teaching through Provocation

Developing Critical Thinking and Communication Skills in Students: Implications for Practice in Education

“…Depending on how a question is asked the student may use various critical skills such as interpretation, analysis and recognition of assumptions to form a conclusion. Mills (1995) suggested that the thoughtful use of questioning may be the quintessential activity of an effective teacher.…”

“…Mills (1995) suggested that provocative questions should be brief and contain only one or two issues at a time for class reflection. It is also important to provide deliberate silence, or -wait‖ time, for students upon asking questions (Dillon, 1990).…”

Experimental study of teaching critical thinking in civic education in Taiwanese junior high school

“…Students could state why they supported or opposed certain perspectives, indicating their ability to argue and make decisions based on reasoned evaluation. The general exploitation of CT skills by learners supports the statement of Mills (1998, p. 21), ‘Provocative techniques directed towards the class force students to examine the grounds of their assumptions, which leads them to the formulation of solid, rational arguments and conclusions with logical foundations’. After listening to conflicting viewpoints, each group presented their consensus to the whole class, thus learning how to make active interpretation, examine their ideas for possible bias, and put forth clear and logical arguments to support their opinions in the face of strong opposition.Table 3 reveals significant growth of learner exploitation in five categories of CT abilities during the 10‐week experiment in pair‐ t test between early (the first 5 weeks) and late sessions (the last 5 weeks), indicating interpretation ( t = 9.57, p <.001), inference ( t = 6.16, p <.001), recognition of assumptions ( t = 9.00, p <.001), deduction ( t = 12.37, p <.001), as well as evaluation ( t = 6.97, p <.001).…”

“…Students could state why they supported or opposed certain perspectives, indicating their ability to argue and make decisions based on reasoned evaluation. The general exploitation of CT skills by learners supports the statement of Mills (1998, p. 21), ‘Provocative techniques directed towards the class force students to examine the grounds of their assumptions, which leads them to the formulation of solid, rational arguments and conclusions with logical foundations’. After listening to conflicting viewpoints, each group presented their consensus to the whole class, thus learning how to make active interpretation, examine their ideas for possible bias, and put forth clear and logical arguments to support their opinions in the face of strong opposition.…”

Teaching Holistically to Achieve Deep Learning

“…As mentioned earlier, holistic teaching builds on active learning, and many techniques used to promote active learning may be helpful in teaching holistically as well, such as provocative questioning and experiential learning (Mills 1998). Further, instructors can foster connections between themselves and students, or between students and the content, by attending carefully to students' reactions, using humor.…”