A good starting point in development of critical thinking skills is use of authentic examples meaningful to the student. The popular media are rich in such material -- sports physiology, reproductive health, nutrition, fad diets, psychoactive drugs, alternative therapies, pollution, genetic engineering, and evolution.
The following examples show how active learning can be incorporated into the lecture theater environment to target critical thinking skills. Active learning requires that the students themselves grapple with the case examples, such as in temporary small groups within the lecture hall. During small group work, the instructor can circulate among the groups and suggest directions for student discussion. Short lectures (15-20 minutes) are excellent for inspiring students and for demonstrating how to attack problems, but active learning is superior to a mimetic learning environment in which students only listen, take notes, and repeat what they have been told.
Note the brevity of these introductory cases. Brief quotations help students focus on the fundamental scientific issues without distraction and provide ample substrate for group discussion. Students may of course progress to the analysis of longer articles, scientific papers, advertisements, and web pages assigned as homework or term papers.
In each case, the students must evaluate the reliability of the claim being promulgated. Reliable knowledge is evidence-driven. The students musk ask, "What is the quality of evidence supporting this claim?"