Martin Davies

University of Melbourne | MSD · Faculty of Education

In recent years, academics and educators have begun to use software mapping tools for a number of education-related purposes. Typically, the tools are used to help impart critical and analytical skills to students, to enable students to see relationships between concepts, and also as a method of assessment. The common feature of all these tools is...

This paper argues that Moore's specifist defence of critical thinking as ‘diverse modes of thought in the disciplines’, which appeared in Higher Education Research & Development, 30(3), 2011, is flawed as it entrenches relativist attitudes toward the important skill of critical thinking. The paper outlines the critical thinking debate, distinguishe...

The Palgrave Handbook of Critical Thinking in Higher Education explores critical thinking in higher education in all its forms, from definitions to teaching and incorporating it into the curriculum, its relationship to culture and the professions, and its social perspectives and scientific and cognitive manifestations. Davies and Barnett ask what i...

Argument mapping is a way of diagramming the logical structure of an argument to explicitly and concisely represent reasoning. The use of argument mapping in critical thinking instruction has increased dramatically in recent decades. A brief history of argument mapping is provided at the end of this paper.

There has been no shortage of definitions of the concept of “critical thinking” over the years and the concept has been subject to much detailed scholarly work. In social and educational terms critical thinking is an important topic. Of late, critical thinking has also been widely discussed in the popular media, and the concept has been regarded as...

A presentation I gave recently to staff and higher degree students on how to write a systematic review. Use with permission please

Written for students - how to avoid plagiarism. (from my book *Study Skills for International Postgraduates* (2nd Edition) Bloomsbury.

Written for students - I overview planning and writing an essay (from my book *Study Skills for International Postgraduates* (2nd Edition) Bloomsbury.

Written for students - I overview the different kinds of report writing (from my book *Study Skills for International Postgraduates* (2nd Edition) Bloomsbury.

Written for students - I overview the importance of critical thinking and how to do it (from my book *Study Skills for International Postgraduates* (2nd Edition) Bloomsbury.

[PLEASE USE WITH ACKNOWLEDGEMENT] Written for students. I overview the skill of writing a research proposal (from my book *Study Skills for International Postgraduates* (2nd Edition) Bloomsbury.

[PLEASE USE WITH ACKNOWLEDGEMENT] Written for students - I overview the skill of writing a critical review (from my book *Study Skills for International Postgraduates* (2nd Edition) Bloomsbury.

This is the definitive guide to successful study as an international postgraduate student. Chapters cover all the core academic skills, including time management, reading, referencing, critical thinking, doing research, and writing and speaking for assessment. The book features a wealth of examples, activities and checklists to help students hone t...

Written for students - I overview planning and writing a Lit review (from my book *Study Skills for International Postgraduates* (2nd Edition) Bloomsbury.

An journalism-style article on the FIRE movement in ANZ Bank journal BlueNotes: https://bluenotes.anz.com/posts/2020/07/financial-independence-retire-early-FIRE-trinity-study

Critical thinking and business education. A media piece at: https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/our-business-leaders-must-think-critically

This study investigates all available literature related to critical thinking in business education in a survey of publications in the field produced from 1990-2019. It conducts a thematic analysis of 787 articles found in Web of Science and Google Scholar, including a specific focus on 55 highly-cited articles. The aim is to investigate the import...

A rehearsal of new ways of teaching CT by means of computer-aided argument mapping, and a procedural process by which to teach it.

An argument that the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation is a worthwhile thing.

This paper analyses the entire publication history of the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science (JAMS) by analyzing 1747 documents from 1973 to June 2018. Citation networks were examined from available metadata such as author and index keywords, and institutional affiliations, and abstracts were analyzed using network analysis and text mining...

In anticipation of the journal’s centenary in 2027 this paper provides a citation network analysis of all available citation and publication data of the Australasian Journal of Philosophy (1923–2017). A total of 2,353 academic articles containing 21,772 references were collated and analyzed. This includes 175 articles that contained author-submitte...

Understanding the history of citation, over centuries, can help map the influence of an idea-telling us where research began and where it might go in the future

A simple media piece from https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/tech-savvy-teaching-of-critical-thinking

Michael Calver’s recent exhortation ‘Please don’t aim for a highly cited paper’ (AUR, 57(1): pp. 45-49) is welcome and a timely reminder of the problems associated with seeking citations at any cost. While not disagreeing with the concerns he raises we offer another way of looking at citation-seeking; thereby outlining a reconsideration of its purp...

This paper provides a citation network analysis of the publications of the journal Higher Education from 1972 to 2014 inclusive. This represents nearly the entire history of the journal. It analyses the most published authors and the most cited articles, as well as the most cited authors. This data includes the highest number of publications both b...

Being a good critical thinker is a desirable and highly-sought after trait for getting a job in today's economy. But are universities actually teaching this skill effectively? https://theconversation.com/what-is-critical-thinking-and-do-universities-really-teach-it-69046

This paper provides a citation network analysis of publications from the Academy of Management Journal, one of the key US-based journals in the field of Management. Our analysis covers all publications in the journal from 1958–2014. This represents the entire history of the journal until the arbitrary cut-off point of our study. The paper analyses...

What is critical thinking, especially in the context of higher education? How have research and scholarship on the matter developed over recent past decades? What is the current state of the art here? How might the potential of critical thinking be enhanced? What kinds of teaching are necessary in order to realize that potential? And just why is th...

The Palgrave Handbook of Critical Thinking in Higher Education provides a single compendium on the nature, function, and applications of critical thinking. This book brings together the work of top researchers on critical thinking worldwide, covering questions of definition, pedagogy, curriculum, assessment, research, policy, and application. [*Bef...

This paper provides a citation network analysis of the publications in Studies in Higher Education from 1976 to 2013 inclusive. This represents the entire history of the journal to date. It analyses the most published authors, most cited authors, and most discussed topics using keywords. 1056 articles were taken from Web of ScienceSM as a source of...

The results of the Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ) in Australian tertiary institutions have been available for a number of years and have provided the administration of these institutions with valuable information as to students’ perceptions of their courses. In addition to the CEQ, all of these institutions survey their students at the subje...

Two approaches have dominated Western philosophy in Australia: idealism and materialism. Idealism was prevalent between the 1880s and the 1930s, but dissipated thereafter. Idealism in Australia often reflected Kantian themes, but it also reflected the revival of interest in Hegel through the work of ‘absolute idealists’ such as T. H. Green, F. H. B...

https://theconversation.com/a-farewell-to-arts-on-philosophy-arc-funding-and-waste-19064

Maps and mapping have been used for educational purposes for many years. That is nothing new. Mind mapping and concept mapping are both routinely used in higher education contexts. What is new is a variety of software packages that permit more complex forms of map-making. These software programs take advantage of computational power to enhance and...

This paper is in two parts. Part I outlines three traditional approaches to the teaching of critical thinking: the normative, cognitive psychology, and educational approaches. Each of these approaches is discussed in relation to the influences of various methods of critical thinking instruction. The paper contrasts these approaches with what I call...

A piece I wrote some time ago when the MOOC revolution was just starting. Enjoy it with a glass of your favourite tipple.

Part I of this paper outlined the three standard approaches to the teaching of critical thinking: the normative (or philosophical), cognitive psychology, and educational taxonomy approaches. The paper contrasted these with the visualisation approach; in particular, computer-aided argument mapping (CAAM), and presented a detailed account of the CAAM...

This skills-focused book is written for international students completing postgraduate degrees in western tertiary institutions. It outlines what I think all students need to know to survive in the teriary sector, and is based on my experience in teaching international students over a 20 year period. Topics covered include: Being a Postgraduate Stu...

An argument map visually represents the structure of an argument, outlining its informal logical connections and informing judgments as to its worthiness. Argument mapping can be augmented with dedicated software that aids the mapping process. Empirical evidence suggests that semester‐length subjects using argument mapping along with dedicated soft...

The English Language Growth (ELG) Project was conducted in five Australian universities in 2008-09 to address the on-going English language development of international students from non-English speaking backgrounds. Using an online survey inviting both qualitative and quantitative responses, 798 international students provided a rich source of dat...

The so-called 'Melbourne Model' has recently been adopted by the Council of the University of Melbourne, Australia after a long consultation process and widespread media attention. It proposes the design of new subjects which offer what are referred to as 'different ways of knowing' from students' 'core' disciplines, partly through 'the delivery of...

The results of the Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ) in Australian tertiary institutions have been available for a number of years and have provided the administration of these institutions with valuable information as to students’ perceptions of their courses. In addition to the CEQ, all of these institutions survey their students at the subje...

In higher education, interdisciplinarity involves the design of subjects that offer the opportunity to experience ‘different ways of knowing’ from students’ core or preferred disciplines. Such an education is increasingly important in a global knowledge economy. Many universities have begun to introduce interdisciplinary studies or subjects to meet...

The honour of being the first to teach philosophy in Australia belongs to the Congregationalist minister Barzillai Quaife (1798-1873), in the 1850s, but teaching philosophy did not formally begin until the 1880s, with the establishment of universities (Grave, 1984). Two approaches have dominated Western philosophy in Australia: idealism and materi...

This is the accompanying Resource Document for the report with the same name.

This book is an attempt to document our knowledge of interdisciplinarity in higher education, with an emphasis – though not exclusively – on the Australasian and South-East Asian region, and to a lesser extent on Europe. The book is being published at a time when interdisciplinary higher education is enjoying a resurgence of interest globally, chal...

This report presents the outcomes of The English Language Growth (ELG) Project, a large scale project conducted in five Australian universities in 2008-09 to address the ongoing English language development of international students from non-English speaking backgrounds. While these international students have a level of English deemed adequate for...

Computer-Assisted Argument Mapping (CAAM) is a new way of understanding arguments. While still embryonic in its development and application, CAAM is being used increasingly as a training and development tool in the professions and government. Inroads are also being made in its application within education. CAAM claims to be helpful in an educationa...

This case study outlines the use of client-sponsored research projects in a quantitative postgraduate marketing research subject conducted in a 12-week semester in a research-intensive Australian university. The case study attempts to address the dearth of recent literature on client-sponsored research projects in the discipline of marketing. Evalu...

This paper reviews some of the literature on the use of groupwork as a form of assessment in tertiary institutions. It outlines the considerable advantages of groupwork but also its systemic associated problems. In discussing the problems, the paper considers issues such as “free riding” and the “sucker effect”, issues associated with ethnic mix in...

This paper looks at the need for a better understanding of the impediments to critical thinking in relation to graduate student work. The paper argues that a distinction is needed between two vectors that influence student writing: (1) the word-level–sentence-level vector; and (2) the grammar–inferencing vector. It is suggested that much of the wor...

All tertiary institutions in Australia use the same Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ); however, for the internal evaluation of teaching they use their own surveys. This paper performs an analysis of the internal Quality of Teaching Surveys (QTS) used in Australian universities. We classify the questions within the QTS surveys. This classificati...

The term ‘interdisciplinary’ is used increasingly in the rapidly changing context of higher education. It is often used loosely, and is frequently confused with ‘multidisciplinary’ and ‘cross- disciplinary’. Collectively, however, terms such as these have become catch-cry. But what do these terms mean and what are the implications for higher educat...

In this paper, we examine eight years of Quality of Teaching (QOT) responses from an Economics Department in an Australian University. This is done to determine what factors, besides the instructor, have an impact on the raw average student evaluation scores. Most of the previous research on student ratings has been conducted in the US. One signifi...

This paper is the first attempt to perform an analysis of the internal Quality of Teaching Surveys (QTS) used in all Australian Universities by investigating how they compare across Universities. We categorize the questions on each university’s QTS into one of 18 types and then define a proximity measure between the surveys. We then use an agglomer...

This paper outlines new work in cross-cultural psychology largely drawn from Nisbett, Choi, and Smith (Cognition, 65, 15–32, 1997); Nisbett, Peng, Choi, & Norenzayan, Psychological Review, 108(2), 291–310, 2001; Nisbett, The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently...and Why. New York: Free Press 2003), Ji, Zhang and Nisbet...

This paper argues that general skills and the varieties of subject‐specific discourse are both important for teaching, learning and practising critical thinking. The former is important because it outlines the principles of good reasoning simpliciter (what constitutes sound reasoning patterns, invalid inferences, and so on). The latter is important...

This paper reviews the literature on the use of intensive teaching formats in the tertiary sector. The paper begins with a summary of recent changes in higher education which have led to the consideration of intensive teaching as a mode of learning. The paper then addresses two principal issues: the advantages and disadvantages of intensive teachin...

One important aim of Theory of Knowledge in the International Baccalaureate is to teach students how to think for themselves. The student is encouraged to reflect on what they are learning and to reflect on themselves as learners. Theory of Knowledge is different from other areas in the International Baccalaureate because there are few hard facts t...

The evaluation of teaching and learning has become an important activity in tertiary education institutions. Student surveys provide information about student perceptions and judgments of a particular subject. However, as is widely recognised, the appropriate interpretation of this data is problematic. There is a large literature, mainly for the US...

Although Barsalou is right in identifying the importance of perceptual symbols as a means of carrying certain kinds of content, he is wrong in playing down the inferential resources available to amodal symbols. I argue that the case for perceptual symbol systems amounts to a false dichotomy and that it is feasible to help oneself to both kinds of c...

This paper argues that general skills and the varieties of subject- specific discourse are both important for teaching, learning and practising critical thinking. The former is important because it outlines the principles of good reasoning simpliciter (what constitutes sound reasoning patterns, invalid inferences, and so on). The latter is importan...

Following Kaplan (1966) and Scollon (1997) this paper makes a distinction between contrastive rhetoric, contrastive poetics and contrastive inferencing. From this, it is argued that there are a number of confusions implicit in the teaching of critical reasoning. The paper looks at the construction of inferences in the form of syllogistic reasoning...

The subject of this work is the work of Scottish-born Sir William Mitchell, the Hughes Professor of Philosophy and Vice Chancellor of the University of Adelaide, and the first major philosopher who lived in South Australia. Mitchell worked at Adelaide University during the years 1895-1940 and died in 1962. This study argues that Mitchell’s work is...

The subject of this book is the work of Scottish-born Sir William Mitchell, the Hughes Professor of Philosophy and Vice Chancellor at the University of Adelaide, and the first major philosopher who lived in South Australia. Mitchell worked at Adelaide University during the years 1895-1940 and died in 1962. Mitchell is a major, yet long forgotten, h...

This is an old tongue-in-cheek(but partly serious!) paper of mine from 1999 when I was a bit wet behind the ears. It comes in two parts. Enjoy it with a glass of red.

This is an old tongue-in-cheek(but partly serious!) paper of mine from 1999 when I was a bit wet behind the ears. It comes in two parts. Enjoy it with a glass of red.

This book is about experiential content: what it is; what kind of account can be given of it. I am concerned with identifying and attacking one main view - I call it the inferentialist proposal. This account is central to the philosophy of mind, epistemology and philosophy of science and perception. I claim, however, that it needs to be recast into...

This book is about experiential content: what it is; what kind of account can be given of it. I am concerned with identifying and attacking one main view - I call it the inferentialist proposal. This account is central to the philosophy of mind, epistemology and philosophy of science and perception. I claim, however, that it needs to be recast into...

This paper looks at the need for a better understanding of the influences and impediments to critical thinking in relation to graduate student work. The paper argues that a distinction needs to be made between two vectors that influence student writing: 1) the word-level—syntax vector and 2) the grammar— inferencing vector. Students can require mor...