10 Ways to Stop Teaching Answers and Start Teaching Critical Thinking

[MarisaBluestone]

In a world of instant answers, where students can summon AI-generated text faster than they can raise their hand, how do we actually teach critical thinking? Critical thinking might be one of the most in-demand skills. But it can also be one of the most elusive.

In essence, it’s the ability to slow down, ask better questions and make sense of complexity. It’s about how to think: analyzing assumptions, evaluating evidence, connecting ideas, and articulating why something makes sense (or doesn’t).  

In a world full of instant answers, critical thinking helps students stop and think. It can be found just about anywhere, including assignment rubrics, baked into learning outcomes or even tossed into syllabi under "course goals." But ask students to explain how they think, and you might just get a long pause, a hopeful shrug, or a copy-paste from ChatGPT.

So how do we move beyond the buzzword to discover how it belongs in the classroom? At The What and Who of EDU,, we asked instructors from across the country to show us what critical thinking looks like in real classrooms, with real students. No ivory tower theories. Just 10 practical, powerful ways to help students do more than find the right answer to help them figure out why it’s the right answer in the first place.

Be sure to check out the full podcast episode From “Is This on the Test?” to “Here’s What I Think”: 10 Ways to Make Critical Thinking Happen on Apple or Spotify to hear all the tips straight from the instructors themselves. Here's a preview of what they shared:

Remove the Fear of Failure

Instead of punishing wrong answers, Dr. Christin Monroe makes space for them. She offers unlimited attempts on auto-graded assignments and one revision opportunity on hand-graded work to support her neurodivergent learners, and shift their mindset from perfection to persistence.

“I think that if you give a student one attempt on an assignment, the challenge is that they're not incentivized to go back and redo it. But if you give them those multiple attempts, then they have more of an incentive to keep going with it, and they're less likely to just get frustrated and give up.”

Why it works: When students know their first attempt isn’t their final grade, they feel freer to explore, revise, and learn from the process.

Unplug to Go Deeper

To help students think for themselves, Dr. Margaret Holloway starts by taking away their favorite crutch: their phones. She prints out readings, insists on handwritten annotations, and makes sure the conversation happens in class, and not online.

“Students who come into my classroom are so heavily reliant on their phones, and what other people are saying. They're scared to voice their opinion on something. They go to the Internet to see who's saying what or what the right answer is.”

Why it works: No screens, no shortcuts. Students have to generate their own questions and ideas, and get comfortable being uncomfortable.

Focus on the Thinking

Dr. Amy Goodman doesn’t spend class time lecturing. Instead, she flips the script, delivering direct instruction through videos so students can use class to engage in metacognition—thinking about how they think.

“I offload the direct instruction part to video lectures that happen outside of class, so that when they come to class, we can really focus on that metacognitive component. And I have been rewarded in the assumption that students do come to class prepared. I just ask them to do it and then talk to them like they’ve done it—and far and away, most students really do.”

Why it works: When you come to class, the assumption is that students have actually watched the video beforehand. And most students really do come to class prepared.

Answer Every Question With a Question

Ask Dr. Erika Martinez a question, and she’ll probably respond with another one. Her go-to method? Socratic questioning that keeps students building, refining, and defending their reasoning.

“Socratic questioning is my go-to. I'm constantly engaging the students. When students have a question, I almost always answer it with another question. Sometimes a series of questions. I push students to justify their reasoning with follow-up questions.”

Why it works: Students stay mentally engaged and learn to justify their thought process, not just memorize talking points.

Teach the Process, Not Just the Point

Instead of telling students how science works, Dr. Charlotte de Araujo immerses them in it. Her lectures feature live data interpretation, real-time hypothesis building, and scenario-based experimentation.

“Students are required to interpret the information. We'll provide scenarios in our molecular biology course, where we ask if the hypothetical samples are positive for covid and students perform the calculations. They'll submit trends they've identified during our lecture in real time. providing these many scenarios encourages students to develop hypotheses and also actively apply content that they've been taught.”

Why it works: Active problem-solving mimics the scientific process, and turns learners into investigators.

Give Them Problems Worth Solving

From minimum wage to marijuana legislation, Dr. Ryan Herzog invites students to apply economic principles to real-world problems. The messier the question, the more engaged the classroom.

“There's a lot of research over fun areas, and so whether it's at a principals or an intermediate or even like in a field course, I like introducing them to some of the kind of research questions that we're talking about ... it's getting them to be curious about the world and ask those questions."

Why it works: Relevance fuels curiosity. And curiosity is the engine of critical thought.

Make Them Explain It Like a Kid Is Listening

Complex concepts become clear when students have to explain them to a fictional nine-year-old. Dr. Mike May plays the curious kid, misinterpreting every answer until his students really nail it.

“They have to get it specific, because whatever they say, I'm going to come up with a way to misinterpret it.”

Why it works: No jargon. No filler. Just the clean, simple logic of someone who really gets it.

Hide the Critical Thinking in Plain Sight

Say “critical thinking” and watch students shut down. That’s why Dr. Jennifer Ripley Stickle disguises it with quick, layered iClicker questions that build a chain of logic without ever announcing the goal.

“For critical thinking, I try to hide it. If I tell them it's critical thinking, the door closes and they shut out on me. And so I've used clicker questions to build critical thinking skills.” She starts with a simple iClicker ... question: What’s the oldest type of cell? Then builds on it—Which domain is the oldest? What type of cell are bacteria? In less than a minute, students connect the dots themselves: bacteria are prokaryotes, and prokaryotes are the oldest cells. This is layered questioning that quietly leads to critical thinking.

Why it works: Stealth mode engagement lets students build confidence without the pressure of high-stakes thinking.

Let AI Make the Mistakes

AI isn’t the enemy in Dr. Jennifer Duncan’s class, it’s the case study. She has students ask ChatGPT for answers, then critique them for bias, hallucinations, and logical gaps.

“Instead of asking students to give their work to ChatGPT, I ask them to have it generate something—a thesis, for example—and then evaluate it. What works? What doesn’t? What hallucinations do you spot? So I’m having them think critically about what the AI produces.”

Why it works: Critiquing machine-made responses trains students to read more critically—and trust their own analytical instincts.

Make Them Teach It Live

Dr. Derek Harmon’s anatomy students don’t just study the body—they dissect it, discuss it, and teach it. At the end of each lab, groups present live demos to their peers (with cameras rolling).

“At the end of each lab session, I assign a lab group to do a live teaching demonstration to the entire class. And the way that we think about this in kind of this Bloom's taxonomy or learning kind of hierarchy is if you can explain a topic to somebody else that is essentially the highest level of learning that you can kind of get to."

Why it works: Teaching forces synthesis. When you have to explain it, you own it.

Critical thinking isn’t a concept, it’s a craft. And like any craft, it gets messy, takes time, and starts with the courage to say, “I’m not sure, but here’s what I’m thinking.” These 10 instructors aren’t just assigning critical thinking. They’re building the conditions that make it possible.

These 10 educators didn’t rely on trendy frameworks or clever acronyms. They built learning environments where students could actually practice thinking asking why, making connections, and staying curious long enough to figure something out. Because critical thinking is one of the most important and impactful strategies students can master.

🎧 Want to hear it all in action? Listen to the full episode → From “Is This on the Test?” to “Here’s What I Think”: 10 Ways to Make Critical Thinking Happen on Apple or Spotify

Have a critical thinking hack of your own? Leave us a voicemail at (512) 765-4688 and you might just hear yourself on a future episode