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The 42nd Annual International Conference on Critical Thinking

 

Join Us for
The 42nd Annual International Conference on Critical Thinking



Entirely Online

Registration Closed


 Pre-Conference: July 24
Main Conference: July 25 - 29, 2022

 

Includes 10 Weeks of Free Membership at Our Subscription Website:
The Center for Critical Thinking Community Online!
Access Begins July 13th!

Webcam Highly Recommended



Conference Theme:

Critical Thinking - Essential to Effective Reasoning in All Subjects, Fields and Professions




About the Conference

How Do We Make Sense of the World's Growing Complexity & Become More Effective Within It?

The world is swiftly changing, and with each day the pace quickens. The pressure to respond intensifies. New global realities are rapidly working their way into the deepest structures of our lives: economic, social, cultural, political, and environmental realities with profound implications for thinking and learning, business and politics, human rights and human conflicts. These realities are becoming increasingly complex; many represent significant dangers. And they all turn on the powerful dynamic of accelerating change.

The question of how to survive, let alone to thrive, is continually transforming itself. How can we adapt to reality when we lack the time to master it before it changes itself, again and again, in ways we can but partially anticipate? And for those of us in education, how can we equip our students to face the exponentially more complicated realities they will see in their own lifetimes?

The Answer:
Critical Thinking

The problems we now face, and will increasingly face, require a radically different form of thinking that is more complex, more adaptable, and more sensitive to divergent points of view than traditional thought outfitted for routine and automation. The world now requires that we continually relearn, routinely rethink our decisions, and regularly reevaluate how we work and live. In short, the power of the mind to command itself – to regularly engage in self-analysis and self-evaluation – will increasingly determine the quality of our work and lives, and perhaps even our very survival.

Join us for the world's longest-running critical thinking conference, now online and led by world-renowned experts on the Paul-Elder Approach to Critical Thinking
– the most comprehensive, robust framework for the analysis, assessment, and improvement of human reasoning created to date.

A Different Type of Conference

We learn critical thinking by practicing critical thinking. Therefore, look forward to dynamic interactions with others at the conference as you discuss, read, write, and think the ideas of critical thinking into your reasoning framework.

Expect:
  • Highly interactive sessions filled with stimulating discussions and activities.
  • Concepts and tools you can immediately apply to your work, life, learning, and teaching. Nothing "purely academic" is taught here!
  • Sessions occurring multiple times to accommodate participants in different time zones.
  • Ten weeks' free access to the Center for Critical Thinking Community Online - the world's largest repository of critical thinking publications, videos, activities, and interaction among fellow critical thinking enthusiasts.

Conference Rates

Registration Options
Cost Per Person
Early-Bird Rates:  If Paid by June 13, 2022 1 Person 2-3 people 4-6 People 7 or More
Main Conference Only
$495.00 $480.00 $455.00 $430.00
Main Conference & Pre-Conference $595.00 $575.00 $545.00 $515.00
Standard Rates:  If Paid Between June 13 - July 17, 2022 1 Person 2-3 people 4-6 People 7 or More
Main Conference Only $585.00 $565.00 $530.00 $495.00
Main Conference & Pre-Conference $695.00 $670.00 $630.00 $590.00
Pre-Conference Only: Pay Any Time Before July 18, 2022 1 Person 2-3 people 4-6 People 7 or More
Pre-Conference  Only $195.00 $185.00 $165.00 $145.00
 

Types of Sessions

Focal Sessions

This year's Focal Sessions are live online workshops led by Fellows and Scholars of the Foundation for Critical Thinking. These sessions are 'Focal' because they focus on the very foundations, or the central ideas, in a rich conception of critical thinking. Each Focal Session targets one or more essential concepts or sets of principles in critical thinking, often in connection with essential applications of critical thinking. Most Focal Sessions are appropriate for both new and returning attendees, while a few are for those who have worked with us before; these will be plainly marked as 'Advanced Sessions'

Focal Sessions involve minimal lecture and a great deal of interactive group work. 

Guest Presentations

Guest Presentations will be prerecorded by conference participants whose proposals have been approved by Fellows of the Foundation for Critical Thinking. These are presentations in which presenters share their experiences in bringing critical thinking into the teaching and learning process, into daily decision-making, throughout organizations or departments, or into any other aspect of work or life. Guest Presenters may share their research in critical thinking, or their developed theory and application of critical thinking. 

"How Can I Prepare to Get the Most from This Conference?"

1. Watch Dr. Linda Elder’s introduction to critical thinking .

2.
Watch our tutorial video on how to navigate the Center for Critical Thinking Community Online, which will be used frequently during sessions.

3. See the list of publications we recommend to help you internalize conference concepts.

Focal Session Presenters

Dr. Linda Elder

Dr. Linda Elder is an educational psychologist and international authority on critical thinking. President and Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Critical Thinking, she has taught psychology and critical thinking at the college level, and has given presentations to more than 50,000 educators and leaders. She has coauthored four books, including 30 Days to Better Thinking and Better Living through Critical Thinking and Critical Thinking: Tools for Taking Charge of Your Professional and Personal Life, as well as 24 Thinker's Guides on critical thinking. Concerned with understanding and illuminating the relationship between thinking and affect, and the barriers to critical thinking, Dr. Elder has placed these issues at the center of her thinking and work.

Dr. Gerald Nosich

Dr. Gerald Nosich is a noted authority on critical thinking and has given more than 250 workshops to instructors and governmental agencies on all aspects of teaching it. He is the author of Reasons and Arguments, Learning to Think Things Through: A Guide to Critical Thinking Across the Curriculum , and Critical Writing: Using the Concepts and Processes of Critical Thinking to Write a Paper .

Dr. Nosich has given workshops for instructors at all levels of education  in the United States, Canada, Thailand, Lithuania, Austria, Germany, Singapore and England. He has worked with the U.S. Department of Education on a project for a National Assessment of Higher Order Thinking Skills; given teleconferences sponsored by PBS and Starlink on teaching for critical thinking; served as a consultant for ACT in Critical Thinking and Language Arts assessment; and been featured as a Noted Scholar at the University of British Columbia.  He is author of numerous articles, audio- and videotapes on critical thinking.  He has been Assistant Director at the Center for Critical Thinking at Sonoma State University. Dr. Nosich is Professor Emeritus at the State University of New York Buffalo State and at the University of New Orleans.

Dr. Carmen Polka

Dr. Carmen Polka has worked diligently to infuse critical thinking into her classroom instruction, curriculum, and assessment for nearly twenty years. Focused on transforming education through the implementation of quality instructional practices, Dr. Polka instigated and co-authored the Colorado Academic State Standards targeting research and reasoning based on the Paul-Elder framework. As a leader and critical thinking expert in her district, she led professional development and coached K-12 teachers to effectively utilize Paulian theory.

Dr. Polka is currently a principal at an elementary school, and she recently earned her doctorate in the Educational Leadership and Policy Studies program at the University of Northern Colorado. She is also a licensed K-12 Special Education teacher.

Dr. Paul Bankes

For nearly twenty years, Dr. Bankes has played an important leadership role in fostering the Paulian conception of critical thinking in multiple school districts. As a principal, he led the implementation of this critical thinking approach to bring about state-recognized levels of achievement in three different Title I schools – a high school, a middle school, and an elementary school. He helped author the reasoning portion of the Colorado Academic Standards that are based on the Paul-Elder framework. In addition to his administrative experience, Dr. Bankes was an elementary school teacher, continues teaching critical thinking courses at the college level, and is currently serving as a Director on his School Board of Education.

Dr. Brian Barnes

Dr. Brian Barnes holds a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Humanities and an MA in Philosophy from the University of Louisville. Barnes is a veteran of the US Army, along with other non-academic careers, and currently teaches face-to-face and online classes at several universities in traditional philosophy topics, sustainability, and critical thinking. He has co-authored articles examining critical thinking strategies and tactics for the National Teaching and Learning Forum and is author of the textbook, The Central Question: Critical Engagement with Business Ethics . Barnes co-hosts the weekly radio show, Critical Thinking for Everyone! , on 106.5 Forward Radio in Louisville; he also created Adventures in Critical Thinking , a critical thinking comic book series.


Dr. Linda Tym

Dr. Linda Tym is an Associate Professor of English in Tennessee. Originally from Canada, she completed her PhD studies at the University of Edinburgh and was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at The Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities. She is currently pursuing her Certification in the Paul-Elder Approach to Critical Thinking under the mentorship of Dr. Elder.

In addition to Dr. Tym's focus on critical thinking, her research focuses on memory studies, Scottish literature, and Scottish-Canadian diasporic literature. Her work has been published in the Scottish Literary Review, Journal of the Short Story in English, Macmillan Interdisciplinary Handbooks: Gender series, and Gale Cengage’s Contemporary Literary Criticism series.

What People Say About Our Conferences


"The level of expertise and knowledge of the presenters are excellent. In addition, I appreciate their positive attitudes, willingness to explain concepts, clarity of visual aids and handouts, and opportunities to ask questions."

"Excellent sessions, challenging and thought provoking."

"It doesn’t matter how many times I attend, I always learn something new!"

"The insights I have gained from this one conference far exceed any other conference I have attended to date. Wonderful, insightful, well presented!"

"I loved the practical ideas and activities we got to engage in."

"Exceptional! Terrific! Stimulating!"

"I wish people in all walks of life would engage their minds and hearts in this way."
"It provides a depth of understanding that isn't possible from reading."

"Your "stepping-out" on the proverbial "limb" in designing this conference was worthwhile. The info was clearly presented, usable, concrete and even FUN!"

"Exceeded my expectations. A very worthwhile experience."

"No one can possibly participate without changing (or learning) some aspect of how to improve their own thinking."

"It was life changing!"

Registration Closed


Overview of Sessions

  • A more visually intuitive Overview of Sessions is available here
  • A detailed daily schedule can be seen here
  • Full Session Descriptions can be seen here

Sunday, July 24:

1:00 p.m. - 7:00p.m. EDT

Pre-Conference

  • Placing Critical Thinking at the Heart of Teaching and Learning Every Day Dr. Brian Barnes
  • Improving Student Writing in Any Class Through Explicit Tools of Critical Thinking... Dr. Gerald Nosich
  • Advanced Session: Improving Your Instruction Through an Enriched Understanding of Critical Thinking Fundamentals... Dr. Paul Bankes

MONDAY, July 25:

Pre-Recorded

  • *Introduction to the Conference Dr. Linda Elder

    *Please view before attending sessions.


12:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. EDT

Focal Sessions I

Choose from the following…

  • Foundational for New Participants:
    Understanding Critical Thinking as Essential to Education in Any Field of Study and at Every Level… Dr. Linda Elder
  • For Business and Government: Using Critical Thinking to Analyze Problems
    Dr. Paul Bankes
  • For Returning Attendees: Practice Deconstructing Problems in Your Classes or Profession… Dr. Linda Tym


Pre-Recorded

  • *Introduction to the Conference Dr. Linda Elder

    *If you haven't already, please view before attending sessions.


3:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. EDT

Focal Sessions II

Choose from the following …

  • Teaching Students to Properly Assess Reasoning in Every Course… Dr. Gerald Nosich 
  • Connecting Evidence-Based Instruction to the Rich Tools of Critical Thinking... Dr. Paul Bankes
  • For Returning Attendees:
    Where Are You in the Stages of Critical Thinking Development?… 
    Dr. Carmen Polka 

Pre-Recorded

  • *Introduction to the Conference Dr. Linda Elder

    *If you haven't already, please view before attending sessions.


8:00 p.m. - 10:30 p.m. EDT

Focal Sessions III

Choose from the following…

  • Repeat (Foundational for New Registrants):
    Understanding Critical Thinking as Essential to Education in Any Field of Study and at Every Level... Dr. Gerald Nosich
  • Repeat:
    Connecting Evidence-Based Instruction Based on the Broader Tools of Critical Thinking... Dr. Linda Elder
  • Repeat
    (For Returning Attendees) : Practice Deconstructing Problems in Your Classes or Profession … Dr. Linda Tym

TUESDAY, July 26:

12:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. EDT

Focal Sessions IV

Choose from the following…  

  • Helping Students Learn the Fundamental and Powerful Concepts in Your Courses ... Dr. Linda Elder
  • For Business and Government:
    Using Critical Thinking to Evaluate Alternatives in Complex Contexts... Dr. Brian Barnes
  • Practice Deconstructing the Reasoning Embedded in Articles or Chapters to Improve Your Instruction and/or Knowledge Base in Any Field... Dr. Paul Bankes

3:30 p.m. - 6:00p.m. EDT

Focal Sessions V

Choose from the Following Focal Sessions...

  • Why Education Should Entail the Development of Intellectual Character as Well as Skills and Abilities... Dr. Gerald Nosich
  • Helping Students Learn to Reason Through Social, Political, and Environmental Issues Using the Tools of Critical Thinking... Dr. Carmen Polka
  • How Egocentric and Sociocentric Thinking Lead to Belief in Misinformation, Fake News, Conspiracy Theories and All Manner of Nonsense... Dr. Brian Barnes


8:00 p.m. - 10:30 p.m. EDT

Focal Sessions VI

Choose one of the following sessions to attend…

  • Repeat:
    Helping Students Learn the Fundamental and Powerful Concepts in Your Courses
    ... Dr. Gerald Nosich
  • Educating for Freedom of Thought and Why This is Essential to Cultivating Fairminded Critical Societies  Dr. Linda Elder
  • Repeat:
    Practice Deconstructing the Reasoning Embedded in Articles or Chapters - to Improve Your Instruction and/or Knowledge Base in any Field
    ... Dr. Paul Bankes 

WEDNESDAY, July 27:

3:00 p.m. EDT

Guest Presentations Posted


8:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. EDT

Special Meetings on Professional Development (interested participants can choose one at the conference)...

  • K-12... Dr. Linda Elder
  • Higher Education... Dr. Gerald Nosich
  • Business & Government... Dr. Brian Barnes

THURSDAY, July 28:

12:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. EDT

Focal Sessions VII

Choose from the following…  

  • How to Approach Students as Thinkers in K-12 Instruction ... Dr. Paul Bankes
  • How to Assess Yourself as a Reasoner; How Students Can Assess Themselves as Reasoners... Dr. Brian Barnes
  • Why Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Social Justice and Anti-Racism Require Critical Thinking... Dr. Linda Elder


3:30 p.m. - 6:00p.m. EDT

Focal Sessions VIII

Choose from the following…  

  • Reworking Your Syllabus Using Critical Thinking Foundations ... Dr. Gerald Nosich
  • Distinguish Questions of Fact, Preference and Judgment ... Dr. Paul Bankes
  • For Administrators:
    How to Support Critical Thinking at Your Institution ... Dr. Carmen Polka


8:00 p.m. - 10:30 p.m. EDT

Focal Sessions IX

Choose from the following…  

  • Repeat:
    How to Assess Yourself as a Reasoner; How Students Can Assess Themselves as Reasoners
    ... Dr. Brian Barnes
  • Repeat:
    Reworking Your Syllabus Through Critical Thinking Foundations ... Dr. Gerald Nosich
  • Critical Thinking Therapy for Mental Health and Self-Actualization ... Dr. Linda Elder

FRIDAY, July 29:

Choose from the following closing sessions...

12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. EDT

  • Early Closing Session ... Dr. Linda Elder

8:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. EDT

  • Late Closing Session... Dr. Gerald Nosich