This website is devoted to helping administration, faculty, staff, and students improve and expand their understanding and application of critical thinking, as Surry Community College strives to become a learning college built on critical thinking.

In 2002, as part of a Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) to improve and expand student learning, Surry Community College faculty identified critical thinking as a key learning outcome for all SCC students. As work on the QEP continued through 2002-2003, it became apparent that critical thinking would play the pivotal role in transforming Surry to a learning-centered college.

Critical Thinking in the Classroom

Critical thinking encompasses the more complex executive functions, such as reasoning, motivation, and judgment - essential skills for success in a high-performance work environment. Today's marketplace demands skilled workers who can think clearly, precisely, deeply, and accurately while solving problems, making decisions, identifying and answering questions, evaluating, analyzing, and communicating.

We believe we must focus on education that moves people away from the past and facilitates new ways of learning and interacting within the workplace. And we realize that critical thinking plays a vital role in facilitating that kind of authentic, active learning.

In fact, critical thinking is fundamental to learning any subject matter. To learn something, to truly understand it, we have to think it through, think it out, think it over - think it into our thinking. Thus, at Surry Community College, we strive to apply the concepts of critical thinking to what we teach, how we teach, and how we assess. As Richard Paul and Linda Elder (2005) note, "Critical thinking is necessary to all effective learning environments, and to all levels of education. It enables students to master systems, become more self-insightful, analyze and assess ideas more effectively, and achieve more control over their learning, their values, and their lives."

Critical Thinking College-Wide

Yet we don't limit critical thinking to the classroom: Critical thinking plays a significant role throughout the college, as administration, faculty, and staff alike are challenged to think critically with open minds regarding their roles and to engage collaboratively to remove barriers to learning.

Critical thinking, then, plays a vital role in moving the entire college forward.

Critical thinking requires administration, faculty, staff, and students to suspend judgment, to recognize and study biases and assumptions, to closely examine conclusions and concepts. Critical thinkers must identify what is relevant, accurate, and logical; must recognize differing points of view; and must cultivate intellectual humility and intellectual perseverance.

A culture of fairmindedness, intellectual integrity, and confidence in reason allows for the exchange of ideas and cooperation essential to educating students for the 21st century. The elements and tools of critical thinking are essential to our growth as a college. We invite everyone to read more about the importance of critical thinking and the particular critical thinking model that Surry has chosen.

Comments, suggestions, and submissions related to this website should be sent to Connie Wolfe at wolfec@surry.edu.