Encouraging Critical Thinking

Send/Pass-a-Problem

This structure is particularly effective for problem solving. Its exact source is unknown. The Howard County Maryland Staff Development Center developed a version of it inspired by Kagan’s (1989) work in cooperative learning. The starting point is a list of problems or issues, which can be generated by students through an activity such as brainstorming or can be faculty-selected. This is a group activity. Each team identifies the particular problem or issue upon which they wish to focus initially and records their choice on the front of a folder or envelope. Each team selects a different problem. Each team then brainstorms effective solutions for the problem or issue their team selected and writes them down on a piece of paper. At a predetermined time, the ideas are placed in the folder or envelope and forwarded to another team. The members of the second team, without looking at the ideas already generated, compile their own list of brainstormed solutions. This second set of ideas is added to the folder or envelope and forwarded to a third team whose task it is to look at all the suggestions provided from the other teams, add any ideas of its own, and then to decide on the two most effective solutions. Besides encouraging collaborative higher order thinking skills, this structure results in student evaluative judgments, the highest cognitive level in Bloom’s well-known taxonomy for analyzing cognitive skills. Reports to the whole group occur as time permits and can take many forms, including written reports when the material is relatively complex. Some faculty members use this structure for exam review sessions by putting typical exam questions in folders for group problem solving.

Kagan, S. (1989). Cooperative Learning. San Juan Capistrano, CA: Resources for Teachers.

This idea for encouraging critical thinking comes from a collection of group approaches included in Cooperative Learning for Higher Education Faculty by Barbara J. Millis and Philip G. Cottell (1997) published by Oryx Press. It was included in the session materials for their AAA 1999 Annual Meeting continuing professional education program, Cooperative Learning for Accounting Faculty, in San Diego, CA.