Exhibit 2.3. Questions Designed to Prompt Three Kinds of Thinking.

Field
Psychology

Critical Thinking
Compare Freuds
theory of dreaming to
Cricks.

Biology

Evaluate the validity

of the bacterial theory
of ulcers.

Literature

In what ways were

Catherine Earnshaw
and Daisy Miller
similar?

History

How did events in

post-WWII Germany
lead to the rise of
Nazism?

Creating Thinking
Design an experiment
to test a theory of
dreaming. How might
a catastrophe theory
be applied to
psychology?
Design an experiment
to test the bacterial
theory of ulcers.

Write and alternative

ending to Wuthering
Heights, uniting
Catherine and
Heathcliffe in life.
How might Truman
have encouraged the
surrender of Japan
without A-bombing
Hiroshima?
Prove [a given
proposition].

Practical Thinking
What are the
implications of Freuds
theory of dreaming
for your own life?

How would the

bacterial theory of
ulcers change
conventional
treatment regiments?
Why are lovers
sometimes cruel to
each other and what
can we do about it?

What lessons have

Nazism hold for the
multiethnic war in
Bosnia during the
1990s?
Mathematics
How is this
How is trigonometry
mathematical proof
applied to the
flawed?
construction of
bridges?
Art
Compare and contrast Draw a beam of light. How could we
how Rembrandt and
reproduce the lighting
Van Gogh used light
in this painting in an
in [specific paintings].
actual room?
Source: Material supplied by Robert J. Sternberg, formerly of the Department of Psychology, Yale
University; now provost at Oklahoma State University. Use by permission in Fink, L. D. (2013).
Creating significant learning experiences: An integrated approach to designing college courses,
revised and updated. Jossey-Bass. p. 47.