Salman Rushdie on Censorship and Critical Thinking

I had the opportunity to hear Salman Rushdie speak twice on Monday at Central Michigan University. I even got to meet and speak with him briefly. It was amazing how what he talked about overlapped with many of the issues that librarians deal with on a regular basis.

Rushdie has had his books protested against and censored. He was even sentenced to death by the Ayatollah Khomeini (who issued a fatwa against him) in 1989 for his book The Satanic Verses. Some perceived his book as an attack on Islam.

As can be imagined, Rushdie is an outspoken critic of censorship. He noted that "being sentenced to death by a fanatical leader who sent people out to kill him" was "bad for his self-esteem." However, he also said he would write this book again and would not back down in the face of censors.

He also talked a great deal about using critical thinking skills when faced with information found online. When a student asked him about reports online that the United States (and not Al-Qaeda) was responsible for the 9/11 attacks he retorted, "This is just horse shit. Use your critical thinking skills, does that make sense? I saw the planes hit the buildings. Al-Qaeda has accepted responsibility for the attack. Did the United States attack Pearl Harbor to declare war on Japan? There are conspiracy theories about that too."

He also spoke against the US government and the responses made (including the Patriot Act) to 9/11.

His talks were very relevant for librarians. If you have a chance, I would encourage you to listen to Salman Rushdie speak.

We Won't Be Fooled Again: Teaching Critical Thinking via Evaluation of Hoax and Historical Revisionist Websites in a Library Credit Course

The new issue of College and Undergraduate Libraries 15 (1/2) (2008) is on critical thinking. Stephanie Mathson and I have an article in it titled "We Won't Be Fooled Again: Teaching Critical Thinking via Evaluation of Hoax and Historical Revisionist Websites in a Library Credit Course." The article is not online but Stephanie and I are pleased with it.

From the abstract:

At Central Michigan University, librarians teach multiple sections of an eight-week, one-credit research skills class to hundreds of undergraduate students each semester. While the main focus of the course is to teach students how to find, use, and properly cite library resources, librarians also address critical thinking skills by designing lessons to teach World Wide Web organization and how to analyze the information found via search engines. Showing student's obvious hoax sites about “tree octopi” and “male pregnancy” introduces the concepts of critical thinking and Website analysis. Most students quickly refute the information on such sites. However, students have a more difficult time assessing social, historical, or political revisionist Web sites' validity. Contrasting those claims with evidence accepted by international courts, historians, and scientists is useful in pointing out the flaws of seemingly well documented but one-sided revisionist sites. There are dangers in exposing students to these groups via their Websites. Yet, it is important to do so in order to convey the importance of critical analysis of information. The authors discuss students' preand post-test (CMU's online assessment tool, the “research readiness self-assessment” [RRSA]) scores to determine whether critical thinking skills have improved.

Cryptids are Real

I have two sons. They often watch the Cartoon Network. Recently, the network has been running some commercials promoting a site titled Cryptids are Real.

A description of the site reads:

Discover the hidden world of cryptids. Watch legendary animals caught on video, read eyewitness monster encounters, and track creatures like the Loch Ness Monster.

The site looks nice. It has the commercials online, some headlines, graphics with brief text, and a map for tracking cryptid sittings. The site is not deep and there is not really a lot of content yet. I think this site was developed to promote a new cartoon show on the network.

It does not take long to see that this is a hoax site. None of the stories are real. Headlines like "Bigfoot's Stinky Cousin" give it away. However, as this site is aimed at children, will this not be taken seriously by some of them? For this reason, I am going to classify this as a hoax site. It could be useful for teaching Web evaluation and critical thinking skills to elementary school students.

Weird Universe

I have long been a fan of News of the Weird. Not only is it humorous, it can be used as a great teaching tool. I wrote a lesson plan on this years ago titled Using Weird News to Teach About Verifying Information on the Web.

For the last year, I have been following the almost daily blog of News of the Weird which was at a Blogger blogspot address. Last week, the author discontinued that site to create a new one. It is Weird Universe. Several people into collecting weird and strange news have come together to create on terrific blog. Go ahead and check it out. I promise you will find items to help you in teaching critical thinking at the library!

From the site:

Weird Universe explores every aspect of a human and natural cosmos that is not only "stranger than we imagine, but stranger than we can imagine."

Critical Thinking: Promoting It in the Classroom

The ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading and Communication Skills published an ERIC Digest in 1989. It was titled Critical Thinking: Promoting It in the Classroom. It was written by M. Carrol Tama. Although a bit dated, it still seems relevent today for K-12 and higher education teachers.

From the site:

The NCTE Committee on Critical Thinking and the Language Arts defines critical thinking as "a process which stresses an attitude of suspended judgment, incorporates logical inquiry and problem solving, and leads to an evaluative decision or action." In a new monograph copublished by the ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading and Communication Skills, Siegel and Carey (1989) emphasize the roles of signs, reflection, and skepticism in this process.

Ennis (1987) suggests that "critical thinking is reasonable, reflective thinking that is focused on deciding what to believe or do." However defined, critical thinking refers to a way of reasoning that demands adequate support for one's beliefs and an unwillingness to be persuaded unless the support is forthcoming.

Why should we be concerned about critical thinking in our classrooms? Obviously, we want to educate citizens whose decisions and choices will be based on careful, critical thinking. Maintaining the right of free choice itself may depend on the ability to think clearly. Yet, we have been bombarded with a series of national reports which claim that "Johnny can't think" (Mullis, 1983; Gardner, 1983; Action for Excellence, 1983). All of them call for schools to guide students in developing the higher level thinking skills necessary for an informed society.

Thinking Critically About Statistics

(This is a guest post by Julie Lorenzen.)

This past winter an idea I had fell short of being accepted during a meeting of my autism awareness committee on the campus of Central Michigan University. My idea was to create bulletin boards that veered away from statistics and focused on individuals instead because I think that advocates in the United States rely too much on numbers.

I was visualizing outlines of hands or maybe stars that featured respective traits of a variety of local individuals (no names included) to emphasize that people on the spectrum do not fit into any particular mold. I like to think of people as snowflakes with no two individuals being exactly alike (this is not exclusive to just the folks on the spectrum).

However, another person on the committee with a bit more clout than me had a different idea. This committee member wanted CMU students to create the boards using stats. I was disappointed, but the diplomat in me knows to choose battles wisely. So I backed down as I had plenty of other ideas for activities that could be put into action with little conflict.

In the end the idea of creating the bulletin boards fell through for many different reasons, but we did end up with almost two dozen posters created by college students. Ninety percent or more featured the statistics related to autism. A few of them had this stat: Autism occurs in 1 in 150 births. I knew that statistic came from the Center of Disease Control, but always wondered how it came into being. Now I have better knowledge of the origin of that statistic thanks to the author of the blog, translating autism (http://www.translatingautism.com/2008/04/autism-rates-in-usa-where-did-1-in-150.html). The author recently wrote a great post that constructively criticizes the use of the 1 in 150 statistic.

Here is a summation of the author’s thoughts:

“Things to keep in mind:

- This report was based ONLY on children born in 1994. Thus it is possible that the rates could not apply to other cohorts.

- The differences in prevalence rates between States with and without access to educational records could suggest that 1) the overall rate is an underestimate because some sites only had access to health records, or 2) that the overall rate is an overestimate because some sites included cases ascertained from educational records which may be less reliable than health records.

- This rate of 1 in 150 does not refer to new cases of autism, or total cases in the population. It only speaks to cases among 8 year old children in 2002.”

My thoughts on the use of statistics: I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to convince fellow committee members to veer away from using statistics. The use of stats to back a cause (not just autism!) seems to be ingrained in the culture of advocacy. Additionally, the 1 in 150 statistic is the first one featured on the facts and statistics site for Autism Society of America (http://www.autism-society.org/site/PageServer?pagename=FactsStats), an organization with which my group is affiliated.

The bottom line is that this statistic takes center stage in terms of autism awareness. It’s going to be difficult to get certain key people to admit that this stat may not actually reflect reality. Some people do not like to admit that they are incorrect. I’m not certain, but I’m suspecting it may be awhile before the use of critical thinking replaces the liberal use of statistics in regard to advocacy.

Libraries urged to embrace ICT to stay relevant

There is another news article relating to information literacy coming out of Brunei. The Borneo Bulletin has an article titled Libraries urged to embrace ICT to stay relevant by P. Marilyn. In it Marilyn writes about The Permanent Secretary (Higher Education) at the Ministry of Education, Awang Haji Daud bin Haji Mahmud, yesterday called for a change in the traditional role of librarians or information officers.

Here is some of what he said during the speech:

"He said the role of libraries in an academic enterprise is dedicated to maintaining the importance and relevance of the academic library as a place of intellectual stimulation and a centre of activity on campus."

"Though access to information is increasingly decentralised, and computer labs now compete with libraries as campus gathering points, librarians must demonstrate to the campus community that the library remains central to the academic process."

"Information literacy skills and user education should be integrated across the curriculum and into appropriate courses with special attention given to information evaluation, critical thinking, intellectual property, copyright and plagiarism."

"As the profession becomes progressively challenging, we have to ensure professional education of new librarians and re-educating existing librarians with skills and knowledge to support new roles in a Digital Information Age, especially roles involving teaching and library promotion."

Teaching with Wikipedia

Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia of over two million articles that is open to anyone to edit. It does well in Google search results and is one of the most heavily used sites on the Internet. Students are increasingly using Wikipedia to conduct research. The fact that anyone can edit Wikipedia has raised concerns from many academics and some of them have banned the use of Wikipedia in their courses. Despite this, recent research reports in Nature and the Journal of American History have found the accuracy of Wikipedia comparable to the Encyclopedia Britannica and Encarta.

A recent study I published in MLA Forum explained some of the reasons why Wikipedia is hard to successfully vandalize. Yet, the type of peer review conducted is different than the scholarly literature and errors do get through. Even if students do not cite Wikipedia in a paper, it is very possible they used Wikipedia to find information anyway. Facing this reality, how can instructors teach students about the validity of research resources?

Wikipedia can be used as a tool for teaching students how to evaluate sources and think critically. Instructors who assign writing assignments should talk about Wikipedia and other similar sources early in the semester. The instructor should explain how she feels about Wikipedia and what her expectations are for the types of resources that will be accepted as citations in papers. Even if Wikipedia is not acceptable for use in papers for the course, the instructor can explain why this is the case and when it might be appropriate to use Wikipedia for research.

The instructor can also have students edit and use Wikipedia to teach critical thinking. Assign the students a relevant article and have them then look up the facts in more reliable sources. Is the article accurate? If not, have the students update the article with corrections and the appropriate citations.

Students can also be directed to articles that assert facts but do not have citations to back them up. Is what is written true? If not, have the students delete that part of the article. If it is correct, find and cite a source to verify it in the article. If other users delete factual corrections the students make, what does that say about the accuracy of Wikipedia?

Students can also be directed to examine Wikipedia articles on controversial subjects. Have the students compare this with articles from more mainstream sources. This can lead to a good discussion about whether bias can be detected in any of the articles. Does the methods of verifying information at the differing resources have any difference on apparent bias in the articles?

Instructors may be tempted to vandalize Wikipedia to demonstrate how easy it is to put bad information in Wikipedia. This is not a good idea. Not only is the vandalism likely to be detected and corrected quickly (disproving the point being made) but it is also rude to sabotage a project that thousands have contributed to for years just because you do not like it.

Wikipedia is not going to go away. Students will continue to use it. How can instructors find new and novel ways to teach about and with it?

Is Bigfoot on Mars?

NASA has captured some images on Mars. They appear to show a Bigfoot type creature walking on the surface of the red planet. (I am not making this up! Check out Bigfoot on Mars? NASA captures alien figure. I believe this news site is a credible source.)

I imagine this is probably an optical illusion and the image is of a rock. However, this photo could be used as a teaching tool for critical thinking. Take this picture and compare it in class to other long range purported photos of Bigfoot. There are many out there to be found by doing a Google Image search on Bigfoot or Sasquatch. Find a few that look similar to the NASA Mars photo. Ask the students if the Martian photo is Bigfoot. Then ask the students if the Earth photos are of Bigfoot. I believe this could generate some good discussion and allow the instructor to introduce critical thinking ideas.

CRITICAL THINKING: CALL FOR ARTICLES/PROPOSALS FOR SPECIAL JOURNAL ISSUE

CRITICAL THINKING
CALL FOR ARTICLES/PROPOSALS FOR SPECIAL JOURNAL ISSUE

College & Undergraduate Libraries, a Haworth Press peer-reviewed publication, invites proposals for articles to be published in a special issue addressing critical thinking and its incorporation into library instruction programs.

The issue will be edited by John Spencer of Gonzaga University (spencer at gonzaga.edu) and Christopher Millson-Martula of Lynchburg College (millsonmartula at lynchburg.edu). For this issue, the editors are defining critical thinking as:

The intellectual and mental process by which an individual successfully Conceptualizes, analyzes, synthesizes, evaluates, And/or applies information In order to formulate judgments, conclusions, or answers.

In their pieces, authors should focus solely on those aspects of a library’s instruction program relating to critical thinking. Authors are invited to submit articles/proposals for pieces such as:

1. theoretical, philosophical, or ideological discussions of critical thinking in general

2. opinion or position papers

3. case studies

4. collaboration or relationships between librarians and classroom faculty

5. research studies dealing with the effects of library instruction on students’ critical thinking skills

6. annotated reviews of the literature.

We welcome proposals from librarians and classroom faculty both individually and as teams.

The proposal should consist of an abstract of 500 words together with all author contact information. Articles should run at least 20 double-spaced pages in length.

For additional information, please contact either editor. Please submit proposals to John Spencer by April 30, 2007. First drafts of accepted proposals will be due by June 30, 2007. Feel free to contact either of us with any questions you may have.

John Spencer
Christopher Millson-Martula

Hoax or Just Strange? A Web Evaluation Exercise

I tried a new exercise to teach critical thinking and web evaluation skills. I had a small class (10 students) and I passed each a website address to examine and evaluate. Each website was accompanied by a set of four questions.

These were:

1. What is this site about? For what purpose was it created?

2. What evidence do you see that would indicate this is a valid site for information?

3. What evidence do you see that would indicate that this might not be a good site for finding valid information?

4. In your opinion, is this a hoax site? If not, would it be a good site to use for information even if you think the site is strange or out of the mainstream?

Each student got a different site. Sites used included:

Save The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus

TEXAS INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT

Southern Lake Michigan - Where You Will Meet The Whales and Dolphins!

Voluntary Human Extinction Movement

HAWAII - INDEPENDENT & SOVEREIGN

A Concise Grammar of Feorran

The First Human Male Pregnancy

Visit Exciting Fredericton

Shards O'Glass

Dominion of British West Florida

Before I passed out the exercise, I went over with the class what to look for when evaluating a site. I used Five criteria for evaluating Web pages from Cornell as a guide.

The students had mixed success. They correctly identified the whale watching, shards of glass, male pregnancy, and tree octopus sites as being hoaxes. They correctly identified the Texas independence and the human extinction movement as real. They mistakenly labeled the Hawaiian and West Florida independence sites as hoaxes. They also believed the Fredericton site and the Feorran site were real.

After the results were shared, I again went over criteria for web evaluation and how the points could be used in looking at the sites. The students agreed that they were helpful when looking at these sites and that even the real sites would not be good sources for unbiased information. For example, the Texas independence site would be good for getting information on Texas separatists but it would not be a good source for Texas history due to political bias.

The students had a lot of fun and I think some real critical thinking skills were further developed. I would encourage others to try this or some variation on the exercise. The Open Directory Project has a good Hoax category for finding fake sites. Any fringe political group (or micronation online) is good for finding a real cause the students will doubt as real. Good luck.

Strategies for Teaching Critical Thinking

Strategies for Teaching Critical Thinking. Yes, it can be taught. And this brief essay has some good ideas for teaching it!

From the site:

Critical thinking skills figure prominently among the goals for education, whether one asks developers of curricula, educational researchers, parents, or employers. Although there are some quite diverse definitions of critical thinking, nearly all emphasize the ability and tendency to gather, evaluate, and use information effectively (Beyer, 1985).

In this digest, we discuss skills related to critical thinking and three specific strategies for teaching these skills: 1) Building Categories, 2) Finding Problems, and 3) Enhancing the Environment.

Teaching Critical Thinking through Environmental Education

Teaching Critical Thinking through Environmental Education. This is a well done ERIC Digest which looks at how the environment can be used to teach critical thinking skills. This is a few years old (1989) but I found a few useful tips I will be using in my library instruction sessions in the future.

From the site:

The ability to think critically is essential if individuals are to live, work, and function effectively in our current and changing society.

Students must make choices, evaluations, and judgments every day regarding (1) information to obtain, use and believe, (2) plans to make, and (3) actions to take. As adults they will be living in a complex world and in a democracy where both individual and collective actions will require effective selection, processing, and use of information.

State and local curriculum guides contain goal and objective statements regarding the importance of critical thinking skills. National, state association, business and industry reports on education produced since 1983 have called for increased emphasis on higher-order learning skills, including critical thinking skills.

The Skeptic's Dictionary

The Skeptic's Dictionary. This is a very nice Web site which was also recently published as a good reference book. I have been reading both the web site and the book and have enjoyed both very much. It takes a skeptics approach to a variety of topics including bigfoot, UFO's, Noah's Ark, ghosts, dreams, etc. It also covers a few topics that are usually not addressed by skeptics such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.

The Skeptic's Dictionary cherry picks the evidence for the most part and only reports studies that prove the skeptical point of view or reports articles which are easy to use straw man arguments against when the author believes something that the site/book author does not. Despite this, the articles are well written and make sense.

A good information literacy/critical thinking assignment could allow students to examine a topic from the Skeptic's Dictionary site. For example, the teacher/librarians could have the students read the entry on Myers-Briggs. Then the instructor could pass out a scholarly article from a good journal which makes the case for Myers-Briggs. The students could then discuss the differences and draw their own conclusions. I think this would help students develop skills required for critical thinking and information literacy.

From the site:

The Skeptic’s Dictionary provides definitions, arguments, and essays on subjects supernatural, occult, paranormal, and pseudoscientific. I use the term “occult” to refer to any and all of these subjects. The reader is forewarned that The Skeptic’s Dictionary does not try to present a balanced account of occult subjects. If anything, this book is a Davidian counterbalance to the Goliath of occult literature. I hope that an occasional missile hits its mark. Unlike David, however, I have little faith, and do not believe Goliath can be slain. Skeptics can give him a few bumps and bruises, but our words will never be lethal. Goliath cannot be taken down by evidence and arguments. However, many of the spectators may be swayed by our performance and recognize Goliath for what he often is: a false messiah. It is especially for the younger spectators that this book is written. I hope to expose Goliath’s weaknesses so that the reader will question his strength and doubt his promises.

Another purpose of The Skeptic’s Dictionary is to provide references to the best skeptical materials on whatever topic is covered. So, for example, if that pesky psychology teacher won’t let up about “auras” or “chi” being inexplicable occult phenomena, you can consult your Skeptic’s Dictionary and become pesky yourself with more than a general skepticism. You may not change your teacher’s mind, but you may take away some of his power over you.

The Skeptic’s Dictionary is aimed at four distinct audiences: the open-minded seeker, who makes no commitment to or disavowal of occult claims; the soft skeptic, who is more prone to doubt than to believe; the hardened skeptic, who has strong disbelief about all things occult; and the believing doubter, who is prone to believe but has some doubts. The one group this book is not aimed at is the “true believer” in the occult. If you have no skepticism in you, this book is not for you.

The Church of Critical Thinking - Dedicated to spreading the word about cynical reasoning in established religion, politics, the paranormal beliefs, as well as anything else that people tend to accept blindly. "Your Suspicion is Our Mission" is the motto. There is some good content here that could be useful in teaching critical thinking skills.

From the site:

What is Critical Thinking?

Critical Thinking is the process of acquiring information, analyzing and evaluating it, and attempting to reach a conclusion or answer by using logic and reasoning skills. A much more detailed answer can be found in the excellent document Critical Thinking: What It Is & Why It Counts published by Insight Assessment.

What's the Church of Critical Thinking?

The Church of Critical Thinking is not a religious organization, and it does not acknowledge the existence of any deities. The Church of CT believes that separation of church and state is a very good idea, but is frustrated that the separation is becoming increasingly blurred. As an atheist, I should be able to enjoy my life without the restrictions imposed by your religion. The Church of CT is surprised that there is so much acceptance and so little outrage over the importance religion has in our government. But we're about more than just keeping religion out of our government.

In addition to religions, there are politicians, pseudo-scientists, psychics, advertisers, and others all asking you to believe things on faith alone without providing clear evidence that what they say is the truth. Our goal is to teach people to use Critical Thinking skills to analyze what they're being told, to be skeptic where appropriate, and to reject ideas that they may already hold as true if they don't hold up when examined critically.

Critical Thinking in the Social Studies. ERIC Digest. This is an older ERIC Digest that looks at how critical thinking skills can be cultivated in students studying the social sciences. Although libraries are not mentioned directly, there are some good ideas that teaching librarians could use.

From the site:

Critical thinking has been a long-standing major goal of education in the social studies. It was the theme of the 1942 Yearbook of the National Council for the Social Studies. It is highlighted today in various statements and publications of state education departments, local school districts, and professional associations. Research and commentary on critical thinking have increased greatly during the last ten years. But it has not been taught extensively or satisfactorily in most social studies classrooms. Goodlad's nationwide study of schooling found little evidence of critical thinking and concluded that "preoccupation with the lower intellectual processes pervades social studies and science as well" (1984, 236).

Current efforts to promote critical thinking in the social studies will fail unless teachers know what it is, why it is important, and how to use it in the classroom. This ERIC digest treats the (1) meaning of critical thinking, (2) primacy of critical thinking as a social studies goal, (3) inclusion of critical thinking in the social studies curriculum, and (4) means of teaching critical thinking to social studies students.

Reflective Thought, Critical Thinking. This is an essay which looks at the concept of reflective thought and how it impacts critical thinking. I think it has applications for library instruction.

From the site:

This digest concerns itself with the origin of reflective thought, the application of theories about reflective thought to classrooms, conflicts and issues, and a synthesis of the essential ideas.

ORIGIN OF THE IDEA OF REFLECTIVE THOUGHT

The concept "reflective thought" was introduced by John Dewey in 1910 in his "How We Think", a work designed for teachers. Dewey admitted a debt to both his contemporaries in philosophy, William James, and Charles S. Peirce. Dewey's most basic assumption was that learning improves to the degree that it arises out of the process of reflection. As time went on, terminology concerning reflection proliferated, spawning a host of synonyms, such as "critical thinking," "problem solving," and " higher level thought."

DEFINITIONS

Dewey's definition of reflective thinking repeated over the years was:

"Active, persistent, and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds that support it and the further conclusion to which it tends". (Dewey, 1933)
However, other researchers added to this definition and modified it. Thus,

"The purpose of Socratic Seminars is to enlarge understanding of ideas, issues, and values. The intent is to create dialogue that gives voice to rigorous thinking about possible meaning... Seminars are structured to take the student thought from the unclear to the clear, from the unreasoned to the reasoned. . . from the unexamined to the examined." (Lambright, 1995)

Many other definitions exist, but what all have in common is conviction. Some are of a more generalized nature, such as the two above. Others assume that true reflective thinking can only be derived from the application of the various intellectual disciplines.

Using Critical Thinking To Conduct Effective Searches of Online Resources. This essay is by Sarah K. Brem and Andrea J. Boyes. As the title suggests, it looks at ways teachers and librarians can help students learn to use their critical thinking skills to find information online.

From the essay:

More than 80 percent of academic, public and school libraries offer some form of Internet access (American Library Association, 2000); thousands of full-text electronic journals and serials are available online. However, most searches of these materials are cursory and ineffective(Hertzberg & Rudner, 1999). This Digest complements guidelines addressing the mechanics of online searching by considering how treating information searches as exercises in critical thinking can improve our use of online resources. It addresses the use and application of metacognition, hypothesis testing, and argumentation.

Critical Thinking in College English Studies. This article talks about the role of critical thinking in college English programs. As most academic librarians reach students through English writing programs, this article seems relevant. What new ways can libraries and English departments work together to promote critical thinking?

From the site:

In California and elsewhere, college-level critical thinking instruction has largely been assumed to be the realm of philosophy departments. Within the discipline of philosophy, however, the critical thinking movement has turned from an emphasis on formal logic and linguistic analysis, and toward informal logic, or the application of principles of reasoning to everyday situations. The movement has also seen a growing attention to the mental attitudes and emotional "dispositions" that foster or impede critical thinking within the broader context of psychological, cultural, social, and political influences. This changing emphasis within philosophy has promoted interdisciplinary coordination of critical thinking studies with English and rhetoric along with many other fields--preeminently developmental psychology.

Critical Thinking in an Online World This article by Debra Jones is from 1996. It is amazing how relevant it still is.

Abstract:

In a rapidly evolving information technology era, librarians find their foundations of professionalism shaken. Critically evaluating the intrinsic role of the librarian reveals our responsibility for the educa