Particularly at the university level, instructors need to incorporate critical thinking into their lessons – across the board. One way of doing this is for instructors to change their teaching methods so that they do not depend on the lecture as the sole method of instruction. Generally, lecturing tends to discourage student interaction with the instructor, with each other and with the material at hand. It also stifles creativity and doesn’t actively promote meaningful learning.

Instead, instructors should use strategies that encourage independent thought and autonomy, promote less dependence on the instructor and encourage real understanding of material.

Conference style learning is an alternative to lecturing. With this strategy, students are required to read assignments before coming to class and then engage in class discussions based on the readings. When using this approach, it is critically important that students read since this forms the basis of class discussions and there can be no intelligent discussions without knowledge of the topic at hand. On a related point, it is also important that the reading content be at a level that is easily understood by the students.

Having read the required material, students ask each other questions and engage in discussion on the topic. Here the instructor’s role is to guide the discussion, bringing out relevant points when necessary, and basically acting as a facilitator. These discussions give the students the opportunity engage with the material in a meaningful way, to peer correct, and to become independent and autonomous learners.