Last week I had the very great pleasure of teaching some critical thinking skills to postgraduate students at AUT University with my good friend Dr Barbara Gibson. The students were physiotherapists, nurses, case managers, occupational therapists and others, and few of them, in truth, knew much about critical thinking. So we concentrated on what is perhaps the most important, but also the hardest skill in thinking critically: questioning things that we otherwise take for granted. Because something is taken-for-granted it is, by definition, hard to see. They include things we unquestioningly support (like taking care of your own health, for instance); things that are custom and … [Read more...] about Keys to critical thinking
Hannah Vitelson – Pippi gets critical – 30DoS #28
In this post, physiotherapist Hanni Vitelson writes about how a classic children's story became the inspiration for some critical thinking. An advertisement for an anti-freckle cream catches the attention of 9-years old Pippi Langstrump. The sign says: DO YOU SUFFER FROM FRECKLES? Pippi goes straight to the selling lady and says: 'NO!! I don’t suffer from freckles!!' 'But, my dear child, your whole face is covered with freckles!’ says the seller. ‘I know that,’ says Pippi, ‘but I don’t suffer from them. I love them. Good morning.’ This episode appears only in the fuller versions of the book, originally published in Sweden in 1945 by Astrid Lindgren. This ever-fresh 70-years old … [Read more...] about Hannah Vitelson – Pippi gets critical – 30DoS #28
Gwyn Owen – How we think – 30DoS #23
If you're new to this site, we publish one post each day in September celebrating a particular theme. This year it's about people and ideas that have inspired us to think critically. In this post, CPN Exec member Gwyn Owen writes about the work of John Dewey. I first came across ‘How we think’ while reading John Cowan’s inspiring, critical and beautifully crafted accounts of reflective practice and professional development a few years ago. ‘How we think’ was written by John Dewey - an American philosopher, educator, social critic and political activist. The first edition was published in 1910 & was updated in 1933. In it, Dewey sets out to describe the process of developing ‘a … [Read more...] about Gwyn Owen – How we think – 30DoS #23
Fiona Moffatt – Thinking allowed – 30DoS #14
If you are new to the CPN or this 30 Day of September campaign, we run a month of daily posts on a different topic each year. This year we are focusing on ideas, articles, books, films, etc., that have inspired members of the Network. There will be a different post from a different CPN member each day until the end of the month. Thinking Allowed is a 30 minute, weekly radio discussion programme which focuses on the latest social science research as well as casting historical perspectives on the gurus of sociology and philosophy (for example a recent programme on the ideas and legacy of French Sociologist Pierre Bordieu http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07gg1kb ). The programme is hosted … [Read more...] about Fiona Moffatt – Thinking allowed – 30DoS #14
Ways to be critical
I'm sometimes asked what the 'Critical' in Critical Physiotherapy Network refers to. It's a good question, because there's more than one meaning for the term, and we are using it in quite a specific sense here. So here are some different meanings for the word critical, only some of which apply to the Network. Critical in the sense of expressing disapproval or negative judgement, as in; 'I don't like that' or 'I think that's wrong' Critical as in 'critical review'; the sort of thing that a lot of students are trained to do these days; to review a body of literature and say whether it's any good or not Critical care: that required by acutely ill people Critical in the sense … [Read more...] about Ways to be critical
Learning to think otherwise
One of the real pleasures of my job is the chance to supervise students doing lengthy doctoral and masters theses. I have a number of students doing different project, and they seem like the epitome of the kind of close personal relationship at the heart of learning and teaching. I had pause to reflect yesterday on an experience with one of my students who is looking at the way that biomedical discourses have come to dominate the way we think about cancer. He's using the writings of Michel Foucault to guide his thinking and, having no real appreciation for Foucault, he's made really good progress. Throughout his project he's grappled with his own belief that environmental and … [Read more...] about Learning to think otherwise
Why you need to reject ethical guidelines if you want to practice ethically
Being critical to me is not about learning how to systematically review an article or deciding whether someone has used the right statistic test in their study. Rather, it's about asking fundamental questions about what I believe in, why I believe in those things, and what those things make possible and what they deny. I've tried to illustrate these principles this week with some posts that are superficially about sex and sensuality, but are really about how physiotherapists treat people. Sometimes this means subverting fundamental beliefs and upturning things that seem so obvious and taken for granted (quotidian, to use the fancy word), so that you can be sure that your moral compass … [Read more...] about Why you need to reject ethical guidelines if you want to practice ethically