Exercising and Improving the Mind of Youth: Critical Thinking Following a Time-Honored Approach

We present a novel way to increase the ability of students to think creatively and critically. We follow the approach used by students of the Jewish Talmud. The students are presented with a case or topic (an ANIMAL which wanders around destroying), instructed to create four questions relevant to the topic, and then to provide four answers (elements) to each question. The elements are mixed into vignettes according to an underlying experimental design, ensuring that each respondent evaluates a unique set of 24 vignettes. Each respondent is told to adopt one of two judgment criteria, to be lenient or to be stringent in terms of evaluating the evidence presented by the vignette. Each vignette is rated on a 5-point scale, ranging from innocent to guilty. External respondents evaluate the vignettes, and the data presented in immediately analyzed form. The process provides a structured path for students to think in a creative manner when setting up the study and when they discuss the results from the real experiment. The students emerge as creative critical thinkers and experimenters. The opportunity now exists for students to grow in their thinking, with concrete results, and exciting, ‘new-to-the-world’ discoveries, both motiving the student at the time of the ‘experiment’, as well as generating a student-created portfolio of studies showcasing the ability to think at a deeper level.