Georgetown Professor, Author to Discuss Importance of Critical Thinking Among Today’s Youth

Dr. Bill Gormley, professor of public policy and co-director of the Center for Research on Children in the U.S. (CROCUS) at Georgetown University, will address the importance of critical thinking among today’s youth at an upcoming discussion hosted by the School of Education.

Gormley will present The Critical Advantage: A Discussion of Critical Thinking and Today’s Youth on Thursday, Nov. 9, from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Charles J. Dougherty Ballroom of the Power Center. The event is free and open to the public.

During his discussion, Gormley will draw from his most recent book, The Critical Advantage: Developing Critical Thinking Skills in School, and will include examples of successful critical thinking instruction from Pittsburgh area schools. A native of Pittsburgh, Gormley is the brother of University President Ken Gormley.

The presentation will also address the importance of critical thinking, whether critical-thinking skills can be taught in the classroom and outside the classroom, related teaching strategies and more.

“We are very excited to host Dr. Bill Gormley for a discussion based on his new book on critical thinking,” said Dr. Cindy Walker, dean of the School of Education. “We have invited all local school superintendents and have told them to feel free to bring a team of leaders from their district. It is sure to be an enlightening and interesting event.”

When he first joined the faculty at Georgetown University, Gormley worked specifically on child care issues, which led to his 1995 book, Everybody’s Children: Child Care as a Public Problem. He also served on the university’s committee that developed the school’s first daycare center. Gormley was named co-director of CROCUS in 2001, and principal investigator for the center’s Tulsa (Oklahoma) Pre-K project, which has documented substantial improvements in pre-reading, pre-writing and pre-math skills for young children participating in the school-based pre-K program.