TY Update Spring 2018 | Page 26

ST. ALOYSIUS TYs CREATE CRITICAL THINKING MODULE In January this year TYI (Transition Year Ireland) facilitated a workshop for the fantastic TY students of St. Aloysius Secondary School, Cork. The purpose of the workshop was to d e t e r m i n e w h a t T Y ’s consider Critical Thinking and to create a module for peer to peer - teach and learn. The workshop was split into three main components as follows; ! • • • ! Identifying Critical Thinking Applying Critical Thinking Creating a Critical Thinking Campaign Each component comprised presentations and a group activity. Presentations were purposely kept short and concise to allow as much time as possible for discussion. The group was split into teams of 5-6 students to encourage participation. ! The first presentation was an introductory talk on what Critical Thinking is. Using the controversial Donald Trump as an example and posing the T Y UPDATE SPRING 2018 question – “Is Donald Trump a racist?” the group was shown how to analyse statements and, using such analysis, determine a fact based answer. ! The presentation also touched on how Critical Thinking is something that we already use on a daily basis without necessarily being aware of it. By learning how it is subconsciously employed, students were made aware of how they could apply critical thinking more often and to more complex situations. ! The activity for the first component asked students, in their teams, to consider Critical Thinking in a specific situation. Each team was assigned a different situation and asked to discuss and