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Eight Instructional Strategies for Promoting Critical Thinking
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(This is the first post in a three-part series.)
The new question-of-the-week is:
What is critical thinking and how can we integrate it into the classroom?
This three-part series will explore what critical thinking is, if it can be specifically taught and, if so, how can teachers do so in their classrooms.
Today’s guests are Dara Laws Savage, Patrick Brown, Meg Riordan, Ph.D., and Dr. PJ Caposey. Dara, Patrick, and Meg were also guests on my 10-minute BAM! Radio Show . You can also find a list of, and links to, previous shows here.
You might also be interested in The Best Resources On Teaching & Learning Critical Thinking In The Classroom .
Current Events
Dara Laws Savage is an English teacher at the Early College High School at Delaware State University, where she serves as a teacher and instructional coach and lead mentor. Dara has been teaching for 25 years (career preparation, English, photography, yearbook, newspaper, and graphic design) and has presented nationally on project-based learning and technology integration:
There is so much going on right now and there is an overload of information for us to process. Did you ever stop to think how our students are processing current events? They see news feeds, hear news reports, and scan photos and posts, but are they truly thinking about what they are hearing and seeing?
I tell my students that my job is not to give them answers but to teach them how to think about what they read and hear. So what is critical thinking and how can we integrate it into the classroom? There are just as many definitions of critical thinking as there are people trying to define it. However, the Critical Think Consortium focuses on the tools to create a thinking-based classroom rather than a definition: “Shape the climate to support thinking, create opportunities for thinking, build capacity to think, provide guidance to inform thinking.” Using these four criteria and pairing them with current events, teachers easily create learning spaces that thrive on thinking and keep students engaged.
One successful technique I use is the FIRE Write. Students are given a quote, a paragraph, an excerpt, or a photo from the headlines. Students are asked to F ocus and respond to the selection for three minutes. Next, students are asked to I dentify a phrase or section of the photo and write for two minutes. Third, students are asked to R eframe their response around a specific word, phrase, or section within their previous selection. Finally, students E xchange their thoughts with a classmate. Within the exchange, students also talk about how the selection connects to what we are covering in class.
There was a controversial Pepsi ad in 2017 involving Kylie Jenner and a protest with a police presence. The imagery in the photo was strikingly similar to a photo that went viral with a young lady standing opposite a police line. Using that image from a current event engaged my students and gave them the opportunity to critically think about events of the time.
Here are the two photos and a student response:
F - Focus on both photos and respond for three minutes
In the first picture, you see a strong and courageous black female, bravely standing in front of two officers in protest. She is risking her life to do so. Iesha Evans is simply proving to the world she does NOT mean less because she is black … and yet officers are there to stop her. She did not step down. In the picture below, you see Kendall Jenner handing a police officer a Pepsi. Maybe this wouldn’t be a big deal, except this was Pepsi’s weak, pathetic, and outrageous excuse of a commercial that belittles the whole movement of people fighting for their lives.
I - Identify a word or phrase, underline it, then write about it for two minutes
A white, privileged female in place of a fighting black woman was asking for trouble. A struggle we are continuously fighting every day, and they make a mockery of it. “I know what will work! Here Mr. Police Officer! Drink some Pepsi!” As if. Pepsi made a fool of themselves, and now their already dwindling fan base continues to ever shrink smaller.
R - Reframe your thoughts by choosing a different word, then write about that for one minute
You don’t know privilege until it’s gone. You don’t know privilege while it’s there—but you can and will be made accountable and aware. Don’t use it for evil. You are not stupid. Use it to do something. Kendall could’ve NOT done the commercial. Kendall could’ve released another commercial standing behind a black woman. Anything!
Exchange - Remember to discuss how this connects to our school song project and our previous discussions?
This connects two ways - 1) We want to convey a strong message. Be powerful. Show who we are. And Pepsi definitely tried. … Which leads to the second connection. 2) Not mess up and offend anyone, as had the one alma mater had been linked to black minstrels. We want to be amazing, but we have to be smart and careful and make sure we include everyone who goes to our school and everyone who may go to our school.
As a final step, students read and annotate the full article and compare it to their initial response.
Using current events and critical-thinking strategies like FIRE writing helps create a learning space where thinking is the goal rather than a score on a multiple-choice assessment. Critical-thinking skills can cross over to any of students’ other courses and into life outside the classroom. After all, we as teachers want to help the whole student be successful, and critical thinking is an important part of navigating life after they leave our classrooms.
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‘Before-Explore-Explain’
Patrick Brown is the executive director of STEM and CTE for the Fort Zumwalt school district in Missouri and an experienced educator and author :
Planning for critical thinking focuses on teaching the most crucial science concepts, practices, and logical-thinking skills as well as the best use of instructional time. One way to ensure that lessons maintain a focus on critical thinking is to focus on the instructional sequence used to teach.
Explore-before-explain teaching is all about promoting critical thinking for learners to better prepare students for the reality of their world. What having an explore-before-explain mindset means is that in our planning, we prioritize giving students firsthand experiences with data, allow students to construct evidence-based claims that focus on conceptual understanding, and challenge students to discuss and think about the why behind phenomena.
Just think of the critical thinking that has to occur for students to construct a scientific claim. 1) They need the opportunity to collect data, analyze it, and determine how to make sense of what the data may mean. 2) With data in hand, students can begin thinking about the validity and reliability of their experience and information collected. 3) They can consider what differences, if any, they might have if they completed the investigation again. 4) They can scrutinize outlying data points for they may be an artifact of a true difference that merits further exploration of a misstep in the procedure, measuring device, or measurement. All of these intellectual activities help them form more robust understanding and are evidence of their critical thinking.
In explore-before-explain teaching, all of these hard critical-thinking tasks come before teacher explanations of content. Whether we use discovery experiences, problem-based learning, and or inquiry-based activities, strategies that are geared toward helping students construct understanding promote critical thinking because students learn content by doing the practices valued in the field to generate knowledge.
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An Issue of Equity
Meg Riordan, Ph.D., is the chief learning officer at The Possible Project, an out-of-school program that collaborates with youth to build entrepreneurial skills and mindsets and provides pathways to careers and long-term economic prosperity. She has been in the field of education for over 25 years as a middle and high school teacher, school coach, college professor, regional director of N.Y.C. Outward Bound Schools, and director of external research with EL Education:
Although critical thinking often defies straightforward definition, most in the education field agree it consists of several components: reasoning, problem-solving, and decisionmaking, plus analysis and evaluation of information, such that multiple sides of an issue can be explored. It also includes dispositions and “the willingness to apply critical-thinking principles, rather than fall back on existing unexamined beliefs, or simply believe what you’re told by authority figures.”
Despite variation in definitions, critical thinking is nonetheless promoted as an essential outcome of students’ learning—we want to see students and adults demonstrate it across all fields, professions, and in their personal lives. Yet there is simultaneously a rationing of opportunities in schools for students of color, students from under-resourced communities, and other historically marginalized groups to deeply learn and practice critical thinking.
For example, many of our most underserved students often spend class time filling out worksheets, promoting high compliance but low engagement, inquiry, critical thinking, or creation of new ideas. At a time in our world when college and careers are critical for participation in society and the global, knowledge-based economy, far too many students struggle within classrooms and schools that reinforce low-expectations and inequity.
If educators aim to prepare all students for an ever-evolving marketplace and develop skills that will be valued no matter what tomorrow’s jobs are, then we must move critical thinking to the forefront of classroom experiences. And educators must design learning to cultivate it.
So, what does that really look like?
Unpack and define critical thinking
To understand critical thinking, educators need to first unpack and define its components. What exactly are we looking for when we speak about reasoning or exploring multiple perspectives on an issue? How does problem-solving show up in English, math, science, art, or other disciplines—and how is it assessed? At Two Rivers, an EL Education school, the faculty identified five constructs of critical thinking, defined each, and created rubrics to generate a shared picture of quality for teachers and students. The rubrics were then adapted across grade levels to indicate students’ learning progressions.
At Avenues World School, critical thinking is one of the Avenues World Elements and is an enduring outcome embedded in students’ early experiences through 12th grade. For instance, a kindergarten student may be expected to “identify cause and effect in familiar contexts,” while an 8th grader should demonstrate the ability to “seek out sufficient evidence before accepting a claim as true,” “identify bias in claims and evidence,” and “reconsider strongly held points of view in light of new evidence.”
When faculty and students embrace a common vision of what critical thinking looks and sounds like and how it is assessed, educators can then explicitly design learning experiences that call for students to employ critical-thinking skills. This kind of work must occur across all schools and programs, especially those serving large numbers of students of color. As Linda Darling-Hammond asserts , “Schools that serve large numbers of students of color are least likely to offer the kind of curriculum needed to ... help students attain the [critical-thinking] skills needed in a knowledge work economy. ”
So, what can it look like to create those kinds of learning experiences?
Designing experiences for critical thinking
After defining a shared understanding of “what” critical thinking is and “how” it shows up across multiple disciplines and grade levels, it is essential to create learning experiences that impel students to cultivate, practice, and apply these skills. There are several levers that offer pathways for teachers to promote critical thinking in lessons:
1.Choose Compelling Topics: Keep it relevant
A key Common Core State Standard asks for students to “write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.” That might not sound exciting or culturally relevant. But a learning experience designed for a 12th grade humanities class engaged learners in a compelling topic— policing in America —to analyze and evaluate multiple texts (including primary sources) and share the reasoning for their perspectives through discussion and writing. Students grappled with ideas and their beliefs and employed deep critical-thinking skills to develop arguments for their claims. Embedding critical-thinking skills in curriculum that students care about and connect with can ignite powerful learning experiences.
2. Make Local Connections: Keep it real
At The Possible Project , an out-of-school-time program designed to promote entrepreneurial skills and mindsets, students in a recent summer online program (modified from in-person due to COVID-19) explored the impact of COVID-19 on their communities and local BIPOC-owned businesses. They learned interviewing skills through a partnership with Everyday Boston , conducted virtual interviews with entrepreneurs, evaluated information from their interviews and local data, and examined their previously held beliefs. They created blog posts and videos to reflect on their learning and consider how their mindsets had changed as a result of the experience. In this way, we can design powerful community-based learning and invite students into productive struggle with multiple perspectives.
3. Create Authentic Projects: Keep it rigorous
At Big Picture Learning schools, students engage in internship-based learning experiences as a central part of their schooling. Their school-based adviser and internship-based mentor support them in developing real-world projects that promote deeper learning and critical-thinking skills. Such authentic experiences teach “young people to be thinkers, to be curious, to get from curiosity to creation … and it helps students design a learning experience that answers their questions, [providing an] opportunity to communicate it to a larger audience—a major indicator of postsecondary success.” Even in a remote environment, we can design projects that ask more of students than rote memorization and that spark critical thinking.
Our call to action is this: As educators, we need to make opportunities for critical thinking available not only to the affluent or those fortunate enough to be placed in advanced courses. The tools are available, let’s use them. Let’s interrogate our current curriculum and design learning experiences that engage all students in real, relevant, and rigorous experiences that require critical thinking and prepare them for promising postsecondary pathways.
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Critical Thinking & Student Engagement
Dr. PJ Caposey is an award-winning educator, keynote speaker, consultant, and author of seven books who currently serves as the superintendent of schools for the award-winning Meridian CUSD 223 in northwest Illinois. You can find PJ on most social-media platforms as MCUSDSupe:
When I start my keynote on student engagement, I invite two people up on stage and give them each five paper balls to shoot at a garbage can also conveniently placed on stage. Contestant One shoots their shot, and the audience gives approval. Four out of 5 is a heckuva score. Then just before Contestant Two shoots, I blindfold them and start moving the garbage can back and forth. I usually try to ensure that they can at least make one of their shots. Nobody is successful in this unfair environment.
I thank them and send them back to their seats and then explain that this little activity was akin to student engagement. While we all know we want student engagement, we are shooting at different targets. More importantly, for teachers, it is near impossible for them to hit a target that is moving and that they cannot see.
Within the world of education and particularly as educational leaders, we have failed to simplify what student engagement looks like, and it is impossible to define or articulate what student engagement looks like if we cannot clearly articulate what critical thinking is and looks like in a classroom. Because, simply, without critical thought, there is no engagement.
The good news here is that critical thought has been defined and placed into taxonomies for decades already. This is not something new and not something that needs to be redefined. I am a Bloom’s person, but there is nothing wrong with DOK or some of the other taxonomies, either. To be precise, I am a huge fan of Daggett’s Rigor and Relevance Framework. I have used that as a core element of my practice for years, and it has shaped who I am as an instructional leader.
So, in order to explain critical thought, a teacher or a leader must familiarize themselves with these tried and true taxonomies. Easy, right? Yes, sort of. The issue is not understanding what critical thought is; it is the ability to integrate it into the classrooms. In order to do so, there are a four key steps every educator must take.
- Integrating critical thought/rigor into a lesson does not happen by chance, it happens by design. Planning for critical thought and engagement is much different from planning for a traditional lesson. In order to plan for kids to think critically, you have to provide a base of knowledge and excellent prompts to allow them to explore their own thinking in order to analyze, evaluate, or synthesize information.
- SIDE NOTE – Bloom’s verbs are a great way to start when writing objectives, but true planning will take you deeper than this.
QUESTIONING
- If the questions and prompts given in a classroom have correct answers or if the teacher ends up answering their own questions, the lesson will lack critical thought and rigor.
- Script five questions forcing higher-order thought prior to every lesson. Experienced teachers may not feel they need this, but it helps to create an effective habit.
- If lessons are rigorous and assessments are not, students will do well on their assessments, and that may not be an accurate representation of the knowledge and skills they have mastered. If lessons are easy and assessments are rigorous, the exact opposite will happen. When deciding to increase critical thought, it must happen in all three phases of the game: planning, instruction, and assessment.
TALK TIME / CONTROL
- To increase rigor, the teacher must DO LESS. This feels counterintuitive but is accurate. Rigorous lessons involving tons of critical thought must allow for students to work on their own, collaborate with peers, and connect their ideas. This cannot happen in a silent room except for the teacher talking. In order to increase rigor, decrease talk time and become comfortable with less control. Asking questions and giving prompts that lead to no true correct answer also means less control. This is a tough ask for some teachers. Explained differently, if you assign one assignment and get 30 very similar products, you have most likely assigned a low-rigor recipe. If you assign one assignment and get multiple varied products, then the students have had a chance to think deeply, and you have successfully integrated critical thought into your classroom.
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Thanks to Dara, Patrick, Meg, and PJ for their contributions!
Please feel free to leave a comment with your reactions to the topic or directly to anything that has been said in this post.
Consider contributing a question to be answered in a future post. You can send one to me at [email protected] . When you send it in, let me know if I can use your real name if it’s selected or if you’d prefer remaining anonymous and have a pseudonym in mind.
You can also contact me on Twitter at @Larryferlazzo .
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Teaching Strategies to Promote Critical Thinking
Janelle cox.
- September 9, 2014
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Critical thinking is an essential skill that all students will use in almost every aspect of their lives. From solving problems to making informed decisions, thinking critically is a valuable skill that will help students navigate the world’s complexities. In a post-COVID teaching environment , incorporating teaching strategies that help students think rationally and independently is an excellent way to strengthen students’ abilities and prepare them for any new challenges in the future.
There are several techniques to engage students and help strengthen these skills. Here are some teaching strategies that prove to be effective.
Encourage Students to Question Everything
We are now living in a world where AI ( artificial intelligence ) is slowly making its way into the classrooms. With these innovations, it’s imperative today, more than ever, for students to question everything and understand how to verify information when making an informed decision. AI has the potential to spread misinformation or be biased. Teach students to be careful of what is and is not a reliable source . Discuss credibility and bias and have students look for examples of both trusted content and misinformation. By using different forms of media for this exercise, students will need to use their critical thinking skills to determine the validity of the information.
Activate Student Curiosity
You can activate a student’s curiosity by using the inquiry-based learning model. This approach involves posing questions or problems for students to discover the answers on their own. In this method, students develop questions they want to know the answers to, and their teacher serves as their guide providing support as needed along the way. This approach nurtures curiosity and self-directed learning by encouraging students to think critically and independently. Recent research from 2019 supports the assertion that the use of this model significantly enhances students’ critical thinking abilities.
Incorporate Project-Based Learning
Immerse students in real-world problem scenarios by having them partake in project-based learning. Engaging in hands-on projects where students need to collaborate, communicate, analyze information, and find solutions to their challenges is a great way to develop their critical thinking skills. Throughout the project, students must engage in higher-order thinking while gathering their information and making decisions throughout various stages.
This approach pushes students to think critically while they connect to a real-world issue, and it helps them understand the relevance this issue has in their lives. Throughout the project, students will hone their critical thinking skills because PBL is a process that requires reflection and continuous improvement.
Offer Diverse Perspectives
Consider offering students a variety of viewpoints. Sometimes classrooms are filled with students who share similar perspectives on their beliefs and cultural norms. When this happens, it hinders learners from alternative viewpoints or experiences. Exposing students to diverse perspectives will help to broaden their horizons and challenge them to think beyond their perspectives. In addition, being exposed to different viewpoints encourages students to be more open-minded so they are more equipped to develop problem-solving strategies and analytical skills. It also helps them to cultivate empathy which is critical for critical thinking because it helps them appreciate others more and be concerned for them.
To support diverse viewpoints in the classroom, use various primary sources such as documentaries and articles from people who have experienced current events firsthand. Or invite in a few guest speakers who can offer varying perspectives on the same topic. Bring diverse perspectives into the classroom through guest speakers or by watching documentaries from varying experts.
Assign Tasks on Critical Writing
Assign writing tasks that encourage students to organize and articulate their thoughts and defend their position. By doing so, you are offering students the opportunity to demonstrate their critical thinking skills as well as effectively communicate their thoughts and ideas. Whether it’s through a research paper or an essay, students will need to support their claims and show evidence to prove their point of view. Critical writing also requires students to analyze information, scrutinize different perspectives, and question the reliability of sources, all of which contribute to the development of their critical thinking skills.
Promote Collaboration
Collaborative learning is a powerful tool that promotes critical thinking among students. Whether it’s through group discussions, classroom debates , or group projects, peer interaction will help students develop the ability to think critically. For example, a classroom debate will challenge students to articulate their thoughts, defend their viewpoints, and consider opposing viewpoints.
It will also challenge students to have a deep understanding of the subject matter as well as sharpen their communication skills. Any group setting where students can work together and be exposed to the thought processes of their classmates will help them understand that their way of thinking is not the only way. Through peer interaction, students will develop the ability to think critically.
Critical thinking requires consistency and commitment. This means that to make the above teaching strategies effective, they must be used consistently throughout the year. Encourage students to question everything and verify all information and resources. Activate student curiosity by using the inquiry-based learning model. Incorporate a real-world project that students can work on throughout the entire semester or school year. Assign critical writing tasks that require students to analyze information and prove their point of view. Finally, foster peer interaction where students work with their classmates to sharpen their communication skills and gain a deeper understanding of other perspectives.
The ultimate goal is for students to become independent thinkers who are capable of analyzing and solving their own problems. By modeling and developing student’s critical thinking skills in the classroom we are setting the stage for our student’s growth and success in the future.
- #CriticalThinking , #TeachingStrategies
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Strategies to Increase Critical Thinking Skills in students
Teach Better Team October 2, 2019 Blog , Engage Better , Lesson Plan Better , Personalize Student Learning Better
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In This Post:
- The importance of helping students increase critical thinking skills.
- Ways to promote the essential skills needed to analyze and evaluate.
- Strategies to incorporate critical thinking into your instruction.
We ask our teachers to be “future-ready” or say that we are teaching “for jobs that don’t exist yet.” These are powerful statements. At the same time, they give teachers the impression that we have to drastically change what we are doing .
So how do we plan education for an unknown job market or unknown needs?
My answer: We can’t predict the jobs, but whatever they are, students will need to think critically to do them. So, our job is to teach our students HOW to think, not WHAT to think.
Helping Students Become Critical Thinkers
My answer is rooted in the call to empower our students to be critical thinkers. I believe that to be critical thinkers, educators need to provide students with the strategies they need. And we need to ask more than just surface-level questions.
Questions to students must motivate them to dig up background knowledge. They should inspire them to make connections to real-world scenarios. These make the learning more memorable and meaningful.
Critical thinking is a general term. I believe this term means that students effectively identify, analyze, and evaluate content or skills. In this process, they (the students) will discover and present convincing reasons in support of their answers or thinking.
You can look up critical thinking and get many definitions like this one from Wikipedia: “ Critical thinking consists of a mental process of analyzing or evaluating information, particularly statements or propositions that people have offered as true. ”
Essential Skills for Critical Thinking
In my current role as director of curriculum and instruction, I work to promote the use of 21st-century tools and, more importantly, thinking skills. Some essential skills that are the basis for critical thinking are:
- Communication and Information skills
- Thinking and Problem-Solving skills
- Interpersonal and Self- Directional skills
- Collaboration skills
These four bullets are skills students are going to need in any field and in all levels of education. Hence my answer to the question. We need to teach our students to think critically and for themselves.
One of the goals of education is to prepare students to learn through discovery . Providing opportunities to practice being critical thinkers will assist students in analyzing others’ thinking and examining the logic of others.
Understanding others is an essential skill in collaboration and in everyday life. Critical thinking will allow students to do more than just memorize knowledge.
Ask Questions
So how do we do this? One recommendation is for educators to work in-depth questioning strategies into a lesson launch.
Ask thoughtful questions to allow for answers with sound reasoning. Then, word conversations and communication to shape students’ thinking. Quick answers often result in very few words and no eye contact, which are skills we don’t want to promote.
When you are asking students questions and they provide a solution, try some of these to promote further thinking:
- Could you elaborate further on that point?
- Will you express that point in another way?
- Can you give me an illustration?
- Would you give me an example?
- Will you you provide more details?
- Could you be more specific?
- Do we need to consider another point of view?
- Is there another way to look at this question?
Utilizing critical thinking skills could be seen as a change in the paradigm of teaching and learning. Engagement in education will enhance the collaboration among teachers and students. It will also provide a way for students to succeed even if the school system had to start over.
[scroll down to keep reading]
Promoting critical thinking into all aspects of instruction.
Engagement, application, and collaboration are skills that withstand the test of time. I also promote the integration of critical thinking into every aspect of instruction.
In my experience, I’ve found a few ways to make this happen.
Begin lessons/units with a probing question: It shouldn’t be a question you can answer with a ‘yes’ or a ‘no.’ These questions should inspire discovery learning and problem-solving.
Encourage Creativity: I have seen teachers prepare projects before they give it to their students many times. For example, designing snowmen or other “creative” projects. By doing the design work or by cutting all the circles out beforehand, it removes creativity options.
It may help the classroom run more smoothly if every child’s material is already cut out, but then every student’s project looks the same. Students don’t have to think on their own or problem solve.
Not having everything “glue ready” in advance is a good thing. Instead, give students all the supplies needed to create a snowman, and let them do it on their own.
Giving independence will allow students to become critical thinkers because they will have to create their own product with the supplies you give them. This might be an elementary example, but it’s one we can relate to any grade level or project.
Try not to jump to help too fast – let the students work through a productive struggle .
Build in opportunities for students to find connections in learning. Encouraging students to make connections to a real-life situation and identify patterns is a great way to practice their critical thinking skills. The use of real-world scenarios will increase rigor, relevance, and critical thinking.
A few other techniques to encourage critical thinking are:
- Use analogies
- Promote interaction among students
- Ask open-ended questions
- Allow reflection time
- Use real-life problems
- Allow for thinking practice
Critical thinking prepares students to think for themselves for the rest of their lives. I also believe critical thinkers are less likely to go along with the crowd because they think for themselves.
About Matthew X. Joseph, Ed.D.
Dr. Matthew X. Joseph has been a school and district leader in many capacities in public education over his 25 years in the field. Experiences such as the Director of Digital Learning and Innovation in Milford Public Schools (MA), elementary school principal in Natick, MA and Attleboro, MA, classroom teacher, and district professional development specialist have provided Matt incredible insights on how to best support teaching and learning. This experience has led to nationally publishing articles and opportunities to speak at multiple state and national events. He is the author of Power of Us: Creating Collaborative Schools and co-author of Modern Mentoring , Reimagining Teacher Mentorship (Due out, fall 2019). His master’s degree is in special education and his Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from Boston College.
Visit Matthew’s Blog
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The Will to Teach
Critical Thinking in the Classroom: A Guide for Teachers
In the ever-evolving landscape of education, teaching students the skill of critical thinking has become a priority. This powerful tool empowers students to evaluate information, make reasoned judgments, and approach problems from a fresh perspective. In this article, we’ll explore the significance of critical thinking and provide effective strategies to nurture this skill in your students.
Why is Fostering Critical Thinking Important?
Strategies to cultivate critical thinking, real-world example, concluding thoughts.
Critical thinking is a key skill that goes far beyond the four walls of a classroom. It equips students to better understand and interact with the world around them. Here are some reasons why fostering critical thinking is important:
- Making Informed Decisions: Critical thinking enables students to evaluate the pros and cons of a situation, helping them make informed and rational decisions.
- Developing Analytical Skills: Critical thinking involves analyzing information from different angles, which enhances analytical skills.
- Promoting Independence: Critical thinking fosters independence by encouraging students to form their own opinions based on their analysis, rather than relying on others.
![critical thinking instructional strategies critical thinking instructional strategies](https://willtoteach.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/critical-thinking-1-1024x683.png)
Creating an environment that encourages critical thinking can be accomplished in various ways. Here are some effective strategies:
- Socratic Questioning: This method involves asking thought-provoking questions that encourage students to think deeply about a topic. For example, instead of asking, “What is the capital of France?” you might ask, “Why do you think Paris became the capital of France?”
- Debates and Discussions: Debates and open-ended discussions allow students to explore different viewpoints and challenge their own beliefs. For example, a debate on a current event can engage students in critical analysis of the situation.
- Teaching Metacognition: Teaching students to think about their own thinking can enhance their critical thinking skills. This can be achieved through activities such as reflective writing or journaling.
- Problem-Solving Activities: As with developing problem-solving skills , activities that require students to find solutions to complex problems can also foster critical thinking.
As a school leader, I’ve seen the transformative power of critical thinking. During a school competition, I observed a team of students tasked with proposing a solution to reduce our school’s environmental impact. Instead of jumping to obvious solutions, they critically evaluated multiple options, considering the feasibility, cost, and potential impact of each. They ultimately proposed a comprehensive plan that involved water conservation, waste reduction, and energy efficiency measures. This demonstrated their ability to critically analyze a problem and develop an effective solution.
Critical thinking is an essential skill for students in the 21st century. It equips them to understand and navigate the world in a thoughtful and informed manner. As a teacher, incorporating strategies to foster critical thinking in your classroom can make a lasting impact on your students’ educational journey and life beyond school.
1. What is critical thinking? Critical thinking is the ability to analyze information objectively and make a reasoned judgment.
2. Why is critical thinking important for students? Critical thinking helps students make informed decisions, develop analytical skills, and promotes independence.
3. What are some strategies to cultivate critical thinking in students? Strategies can include Socratic questioning, debates and discussions, teaching metacognition, and problem-solving activities.
4. How can I assess my students’ critical thinking skills? You can assess critical thinking skills through essays, presentations, discussions, and problem-solving tasks that require thoughtful analysis.
5. Can critical thinking be taught? Yes, critical thinking can be taught and nurtured through specific teaching strategies and a supportive learning environment.
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How To Promote Critical Thinking In Your Classroom
Promoting Thinking
November 25, 2006, by The Critical Thinking Co. Staff
Modeling of critical thinking skills by instructors is crucial for teaching critical thinking successfully. By making your own thought processes explicit in class - explaining your reasoning, evaluating evidence for a claim, probing the credibility of a source, or even describing what has puzzled or confused you - you provide a powerful example to students, particularly if you invite them to join in; e.g., "Can you see where we're headed with this?" "I can't think of other explanations; can you?" "This idea/principle struck me as difficult or confusing at first, but here's how I figured it out." You can encourage students to emulate this by using them in demonstrations, asking them to "think out loud" in order for classmates to observe how they reason through a problem.
Develop the habit of asking questions that require students to think critically, and tell students that you really expect them to give answers! In particular, Socratic questioning encourages students to develop and clarify their thinking: e.g., "Would your answer hold in all cases?" "How would you respond to a counter-example or counter-argument?" "Explain how you arrived at that answer?"
This is another skill that students can learn from your example, and can use in working with each other. Providing regular opportunities for pair or small group discussions after major points or demonstrations during lectures is also important: this allows students to process the new material, connect it to previously learned topics, and practice asking questions that promote further critical thinking. Obviously, conveying genuine respect for student input is essential. Communicating the message that you value and support student contributions and efforts to think critically increases confidence, and motivates students to continue building their thinking skills. An essential component of this process is the creation of a climate where students feel comfortable with exploring the process of reasoning through a problem without being "punished" for getting the wrong answer.
Researchers have found consistently that interaction among students, in the form of well-structured group discussions plays a central role in stimulating critical thinking. Discussing course material and its applications allows students to formulate and test hypotheses, practice asking thought-provoking questions, hear other perspectives, analyze claims, evaluate evidence, and explain and justify their reasoning. As they become more sophisticated and fluent in thinking critically, students can observe and critique each others' reasoning skills.
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25 Of The Best Resources For Teaching Critical Thinking
From rubrics and presentations to apps, definitions, and frameworks, here are 25 of the best resources for critical thinking.
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25 Of The Best Resources For Teaching Critical Thinking
by TeachThought Staff
As an organization, critical thinking is at the core of what we do, from essays and lists to models and teacher training.
For this post, we’ve gathered various critical thinking resources. As you’ll notice, conversation is a fundamental part of critical thinking. Why? The ability to identify a line of reasoning, analyze, evaluate, and respond to it accurately and thoughtfully is among the most common opportunities for critical thinking for students in everyday life. Who is saying what? What’s valid and what’s not? How should I respond?
This varied and purposely broad collection includes resources for teaching critical thinking, from books and videos to graphics and models, rubrics, and taxonomies to presentations and debate communities.
See also 10 Team-Building Games That Promote Critical Thinking
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1. The TeachThought Taxonomy for Understanding , a taxonomy of thinking tasks broken up into 6 categories, with 6 tasks per category
2. 60 Critical Thinking Strategies For Learning by Terry Heick
3. It’s difficult to create a collection of critical thinking resources without talking about failures in thinking, so here’s A Logical Fallacies Primer via Wikipedia .
4. The Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Test (this link keeps moving around so I’ve removed it for now; if you can’t find it, let me know ).
5. 6 Hats Thinking is a model for divergent thinking.
6. 6 Strategies for Teac h ing With Bloom’s Taxonomy
7. An Intro To Critical Thinking , a 10-minute video from wireless philosophy that takes given premises, and walks the viewer through valid and erroneous conclusions
8. Why Questions Are More Important Than Answers by Terry Heick
9. 20 Types Of Questions For Teaching Critical Thinking
10. A Collection Of Bloom’s Taxonomy Posters
11. 6 Facets of Understanding by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe
12. A Comprehensive Visual Codex Of Cognitive Biases
13. Helping Students Ask Better Questions
14. Examples Of Socratic Seminar-Style Questions (including stems) from changingminds.org
15. 20 Questions To Guide Inquiry-Based Learning , a 4-step process to guide learning through inquiry and thought
16. Socratic Seminar Guidelines by Grant Wiggins
17. How To Bring Socratic Seminars Into Your Classroom , a 7-minute video by the Teaching Channel
18. How To Teach With The Socratic Seminar Paideia Style, a PDF document by the Paideia that overviews
19. Using The QFT Model To Guide Inquiry & Thought
20. Create Debate , a website that hosts debates
20. Intelligence Squared is a Oxford-style debate ‘show’ hosted by NPR
21. Ways To Help Students Think For Themselves by Terry Heick
22. A Rubric To Assess Critical Thinking (they have several free rubrics, but you have to register for a free account to gain access)
23. 25 Critical Thinking Apps For Extended Student Thought
24. Debate.org is a ‘debate’ community that promotes topic-driven discussion and critical thought
25. A Collection Of Research On Critical Thinking by criticalthinking.org
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4 Strategies for Sparking Critical Thinking in Young Students
Fostering investigative conversation in grades K–2 isn’t easy, but it can be a great vehicle to promote critical thinking.
In the middle of class, a kindergartner spotted an ant and asked the teacher, “Why do ants come into the classroom?” Fairly quickly, educational consultant Cecilia Cabrera Martirena writes , students started sharing their theories: Maybe the ants were cold, or looking for food, or lonely.
Their teacher started a KWL chart to organize what students already knew, what they wanted to know, and, later, what they had learned. “As many of the learners didn’t read or write yet, the KWL was created with drawings and one or two words,” Cabrera Martirena writes. “Then, as a group, they decided how they could gather information to answer that first question, and some possible research routes were designed.”
As early elementary teachers know, young learners are able to engage in critical thinking and participate in nuanced conversations, with appropriate supports. What can teachers do to foster these discussions? Elementary teacher Jennifer Orr considered a few ideas in an article for ASCD .
“An interesting question and the discussion that follows can open up paths of critical thinking for students at any age,” Orr says. “With a few thoughtful prompts and a lot of noticing and modeling, we as educators can help young students engage in these types of academic conversations in ways that deepen their learning and develop their critical thinking skills.”
While this may not be an “easy process,” Orr writes—for the kids or the teacher—the payoff is students who from a young age are able to communicate new ideas and questions; listen and truly hear the thoughts of others; respectfully agree, disagree, or build off of their peers’ opinions; and revise their thinking.
4 Strategies for Kick-Starting Powerful Conversations
1. Encourage Friendly Debate: For many elementary-aged children, it doesn’t take much provoking for them to share their opinions, especially if they disagree with each other. Working with open-ended prompts that “engage their interest and pique their curiosity” is one key to sparking organic engagement, Orr writes. Look for prompts that allow them to take a stance, arguing for or against something they feel strongly about.
For example, Orr says, you could try telling first graders that a square is a rectangle to start a debate. Early childhood educator Sarah Griffin proposes some great math talk questions that can yield similar results:
- How many crayons can fit in a box?
- Which takes more snow to build: one igloo or 20 snowballs?
- Estimate how many tissues are in a box.
- How many books can you fit in your backpack?
- Which would take less time: cleaning your room or reading a book?
- Which would you rather use to measure a Christmas tree: a roll of ribbon or a candy cane? Why?
Using pictures can inspire interesting math discussions as well, writes K–6 math coach Kristen Acosta . Explore counting, addition, and subtraction by introducing kids to pictures “that have missing pieces or spaces” or “pictures where the objects are scattered.” For example, try showing students a photo of a carton of eggs with a few eggs missing. Ask questions like, “what do you notice?” and “what do you wonder?” and see how opinions differ.
2. Put Your Students in the Question: Centering students’ viewpoints in a question or discussion prompt can foster deeper thinking, Orr writes. During a unit in which kids learned about ladybugs, she asked her third graders, “What are four living and four nonliving things you would need and want if you were designing your own ecosystem?” This not only required students to analyze the components of an ecosystem but also made the lesson personal by inviting them to dream one up from scratch.
Educator Todd Finley has a list of interesting writing prompts for different grades that can instead be used to kick off classroom discussions. Examples for early elementary students include:
- Which is better, giant muscles or incredible speed? Why?
- What’s the most beautiful person, place, or thing you’ve ever seen? Share what makes that person, place, or thing so special.
- What TV or movie characters do you wish were real? Why?
- Describe a routine that you often or always do (in the morning, when you get home, Friday nights, before a game, etc.).
- What are examples of things you want versus things you need?
3. Open Several Doors: While some students take to classroom discussions like a duck to water, others may prefer to stay on dry land. Offering low-stakes opportunities for students to dip a toe into the conversation can be a great way to ensure that everyone in the room can be heard. Try introducing hand signals that indicate agreement, disagreement, and more. Since everyone can indicate their opinion silently, this supports students who are reluctant to speak, and can help get the conversation started.
Similarly, elementary school teacher Raquel Linares uses participation cards —a set of different colored index cards, each labeled with a phrase like “I agree,” “I disagree,” or “I don’t know how to respond.” “We use them to assess students’ understanding, but we also use them to give students a voice,” Linares says. “We obviously cannot have 24 scholars speaking at the same time, but we want everyone to feel their ideas matter. Even if I am very shy and I don’t feel comfortable, my voice is still heard.” Once the students have held up the appropriate card, the discussion gets going.
4. Provide Discussion Sentence Starters: Young students often want to add their contribution without connecting it to what their peers have said, writes district-level literacy leader Gwen Blumberg . Keeping an ear out for what students are saying to each other is an important starting point when trying to “lift the level of talk” in your classroom. Are kids “putting thoughts into words and able to keep a conversation going?” she asks.
Introducing sentence starters like “I agree…” or “I feel differently…” can help demonstrate for students how they can connect what their classmate is saying to what they would like to say, which grows the conversation, Blumberg says. Phrases like “I’d like to add…” help students “build a bridge from someone else’s idea to their own.”
Additionally, “noticing and naming the positive things students are doing, both in their conversation skills and in the thinking they are demonstrating,” Orr writes, can shine a light for the class on what success looks like. Celebrating when students use these sentence stems correctly, for example, helps reinforce these behaviors.
“Students’ ability to clearly communicate with others in conversation is a critical literacy skill,” Blumberg writes, and teachers in grades K–2 can get students started on the path to developing this skill by harnessing their natural curiosity and modeling conversation moves.
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function to heighten the awareness of faculty to the challenge of bringing critical thinking substantively into instruction, provide some strategies for up-grading the effectiveness of instruction, and lay a foundation for follow-up workshops.
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For specific professional development guidelines, see A Professional Development Model for K-12 Schools: Critical Thinking as the Key to Substantive Learning.
Content-Driven and Question-Driven Instruction Faculty in a long-term staff development program learn how to design content-driven instruction; that is, how to take what students are expected to know and be able to do and design instruction that empowers the students to think their way to this knowledge and ability. They learn how to make every class day question-driven and how to layer a variety of content standards into a unified unit of instruction.
Thinker’s Guides Help Build Faculty Knowledge Base A long-range staff development program can be enhanced by the use of our Thinker’s Guide Library . These guides enable faculty to work together or individually to develop over an extended period of time. They help build the faculty knowledge base of critical thinking and instructional strategies. They demonstrate the practicality and comprehensiveness of the approach we recommend.
In planning staff development, you should begin with a session that lays the foundation for improvement in class instruction and for follow-up workshops. We introduce faculty to the basic components of critical thinking and ways to build those components into the design of what faculty teach, as well as ways to make that design effective. We help faculty design instruction, in the long run, so that students understand content as a system of logical relationships that can only be understood through active, inquisitive thinking.
Workshop Strands
We suggest that you follow-up the initial foundational workshop with a combination from the following workshop strands :
Foundational Workshop: An Introduction to the Fundamentals of Critical Thinking & the Art of Instruction
Critical Thinking and the Process of Assessment
Critical Thinking and Socratic Questioning
Critical Thinking and Writing
Critical Thinking, Socratic Questioning and Assessment
Critical Thinking & the Health Care Professions
Critical Thinking in Social Studies
Critical Thinking in the Arts & Humanities
Critical Thinking in Science & Math
Critical Thinking in the Professions
Teaching Students to Think Theoretically & Empirically
Teaching Students To Ask Good Questions & Follow Out the Implications of Thought
Teaching Students Intellectual Standards & Values
Teaching Students to Enter, Analyze, and Evaluate Points of View
Teaching for Emotional Intelligence
Questioning Students and Teaching Students to Question
Critical Thinking and the Affective Dimension: Fostering Rational Motivation in Students
Analytic Reading and Writing as Modes of Thinking
Ethics Without Indoctrination: Moral Reasoning Across the Curriculum
Critical Thinking: The Role of Administration
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Back to top Eberly CenterTeaching excellence & educational innovation, explore potential strategies., students don’t demonstrate critical thinking.. Course assignments do not adequately support students' critical thinking. Students may not engage in effective critical thinking in your course simply because they have not had sufficient, relevant practice of the skills you are looking for. For example, if your first assignment or assessment asks students to demonstrate critical thinking in a particular way for a particular context, but your students have had little or no experience doing so, it’s not surprising that they would perform poorly. This is because the knowledge and skills that people can use are directly related to (and rarely go much beyond) what they get to practice. Even when students have had some critical thinking experience (in your course or elsewhere), the key question is whether they have been adequately prepared to do the kind of critical thinking you are expecting from them on a given assignment. Instructors may not think of learning and performance this way because, for them, all the knowledge and skills associated with a given topic are so interconnected that knowing one piece is tantamount to knowing it all. However, this is not the case for students who are still novices in the domain and lack experts’ interconnected knowledge structures. Strategies:Analyze the alignment between your instructional activities and assessments., create assignments that help students develop specific aspects of critical thinking., make sure your assignments gradually build in difficulty/complexity.. The most important feature of an effective course is how well its key components – learning objectives, instructional activities, and assessments – are aligned with each other . For example, instructional activities and learning objectives are well aligned when students have the chance to learn and practice what you want them to be able to do by the end of the course; learning objectives and assessments are well aligned when the course assessments actually measure what you want students to have learned to do. To check the alignment between a given assignment or assessment and the preceding instructional activities in your course, the first step is to analyze what knowledge and skills students likely developed as they went through the preceding instructional activities (e.g., what skills did students practice while doing homework or contributing to class discussions) and then check to see if those skills would be sufficient to perform well on the target assignment or assessment. It often helps to ask: Did students need to integrate multiple pieces of knowledge to perform well on the target assignment? Did students need to apply their knowledge and skills to a rather novel context? In many cases, there are mismatches or gaps between the knowledge required for different assignments. This is particularly true when you consider that students likely only develop the specific knowledge and skills that they actually use during practice, rather than the broader set of information they might have passively heard during a lecture or read from the textbook. After identifying the mismatch or gap, the next step is to decide what action to take based on how many knowledge components (and their importance) that students might not have developed. Sometimes the degree of mismatch is rather small, so there is no urgent need to take action. Other times, the degree of mismatch is rather large with one assignment requiring key pieces of knowledge or skills that were not taught or practiced at all. Once you have identified gaps or mismatches – i.e., the component skills of critical thinking that students need to learn – give them assignments that target those skills. In other words, if students are having difficulty with a particular aspect of critical thinking, make sure your assignment focuses on that aspect and gives them enough structure to practice it productively. Giving students generic practice will not be as efficient as targeted practice and may not even lead students to develop the skills you hope for. For example, simply asking history students to read more primary source documents for practice will not push them to move beyond their current approach (i.e., reading the documents as if they were written yesterday), and it may lead them to waste time or practice bad habits. Instead, it would be more effective to focus students' practice by giving them a short list of historical factors they should consider and prompt questions they should answer when reading primary source documents. Just as construction workers use supports or scaffolding to help in building physical structures, so does "instructional scaffolding" help students build solid knowledge structures. Instructional scaffolding refers to the process by which instructors provide students with cognitive supports early in their learning, and then gradually remove the support as students develop greater mastery and sophistication. Here are two forms of scaffolding that can help students develop stronger critical thinking skills. In the first, instructors give students practice working on particular aspects of critical thinking in isolation before asking them to "do it all at once" in a given assignment. For example, early on in a reading-heavy course, you can ask students to identify the author's argument and evidence and separately ask them to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses, and then later in the course, you can ask students to identify and evaluate arguments at the same time. Similarly, early on in a design course, you can ask students to explain the key features of their designs separately from asking them to iterate and improve, whereas later on in the course, these processes may all be merged together. Breaking down assignments into pieces highlights the importance of particular stages (especially ones that students may undervalue or omit), and it gives you a chance to offer feedback on the different components separately. But remember that, after students have had practice with particular skills in isolation, they still need practice synthesizing and applying them in combination. The goal of this form of scaffolding is to help students progress toward (not to avoid) more complexity and integration. In the second form of instructional scaffolding, students are generally tackling "whole" critical thinking tasks, but early on they are doing so with much more support in the form of instructor-provided structure and prompts. In other words, you might consistently ask students to engage in critical reading tasks but early on in the semester you would give them explicit guidance and specific question prompts to answer whereas later on in the semester you might only remind them to pose and answer appropriate questions while they do the reading. Similarly, early on in a design course, you might give an assignment with several well specified milestones related to conceptualizing, analyzing, and refining a design, whereas later on in the course, you might give a design project with only a list of requirements for submission. The point of this form of scaffolding is that assignments progress from those with considerable instructor-provided structure to ones that require greater or even complete student autonomy. This site supplements our 1-on-1 teaching consultations. CONTACT US to talk with an Eberly colleague in person! ![]()
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Subject Description GeneratorHow to promote critical thinking in the classroom. A comprehensive guide for educators on enhancing critical thinking skills among students through innovative classroom techniques. Empower Your Students with Critical Thinking SkillsIn the evolving landscape of education, fostering critical thinking in the classroom has become paramount. As educators, it's essential to cultivate an environment where students can analyze information critically, engage in meaningful debate, and approach problems with a solution-oriented mindset. This article explores practical strategies to enhance critical thinking skills, leveraging the power of inquiry-based learning and open-ended questioning. Asking open-ended questions is a cornerstone of promoting critical thinking. By challenging students with questions that require more than a yes or no answer, educators can stimulate deeper thought and encourage students to explore multiple perspectives. Integrating these questions into lesson plans can transform the classroom into a dynamic space for intellectual exploration. Debate is another powerful tool in the critical thinking arsenal. Structured debates on relevant topics not only sharpen students' argumentation skills but also teach them to consider and respect different viewpoints. This form of student-centered learning fosters a sense of ownership over the learning process, making education a collaborative and engaging experience. Inquiry-based learning activities are designed to put students in the driver's seat of their educational journey. By posing questions, problems, or scenarios, teachers can guide students through a process of discovery that encourages critical analysis and independent thought. This approach not only boosts critical thinking but also aligns with the natural curiosity and creativity of learners. Utilizing AI teaching assistants, like those offered by Planit Teachers, can further enhance critical thinking in the classroom. These innovative platforms provide tools such as Lesson Plan Generators and AI Marking Assistants, which free up valuable time for educators to focus on developing student-centered learning experiences that promote critical thinking. Transform Your Grading with AI Teacher MarkingRevolutionize your grading process with our advanced AI Teacher Marking tool. Our AI algorithms can efficiently grade a variety of assignments, providing detailed feedback and insights. AI Teacher Marking doesnt just grade; it provides constructive criticism, pinpoints errors, identifies model answers, and references the mark scheme for a holistic evaluation. By automating the grading process, AI Teacher Marking frees up valuable time for educators, allowing them to focus more on student engagement and personalized teaching. AI Teacher Marking revolutionizes workflow efficiency for educators. The tool's capability to quickly process and grade student submissions in bulk significantly reduces the time spent on manual marking. Beyond just grading, AI Teacher Marking offers deep analytical insights into student performance. It provides educators with detailed reports highlighting class trends, common misconceptions, and areas needing more focus. Revolutionize Your Teaching with AI-Powered Lesson PlansWelcome to the future of education! Planit Teachers brings you AI-powered lesson plans, tailored for any subject and age group. Just describe your topic and age group, and our advanced AI will craft a bespoke, unique lesson plan designed specifically for your needs. Our AI-driven lesson plans are not just about convenience, they're about quality. Each plan is meticulously crafted to ensure it meets the highest educational standards. 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![]() But how do we go about teaching critical thinking? Here are some tips:
Here are a few examples of how students might use critical thinking skills as part of a classroom activity:
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Educationise 10 Innovative Strategies for Promoting Critical Thinking in the ClassroomAre you looking for innovative ways to promote critical thinking skills in your classroom? As an educator, you know the importance of developing strong critical thinking skills in your students. In today’s complex and ever-changing world, critical thinking is a vital skill that can make the difference between success and failure. Critical Thinking Lessons and Activities Now you may be wondering how to promote critical thinking in the classroom or how to develop critical thinking skills in the students. Well, to help you out, we’ve put together 10 surprising strategies to promote critical thinking skills in your classroom, complete with real-world examples and actionable strategies. Strategies for Promoting Critical Thinking in the ClassroomThese strategies are designed to promote active learning, inquiry-based learning, and Bloom’s Taxonomy levels of analysis, evaluation, and interpretation. Here they are: 1. Collaborative LearningCollaborative learning is an effective way to promote critical thinking skills in your classroom. By encouraging your students to work together to solve complex problems, you can help them develop skills in analysis, evaluation, and interpretation. For example, you could divide your students into small groups and give them a problem to solve. Each group can then present their solution to the class and the class can evaluate and critique each solution. This not only encourages critical thinking, but it also promotes teamwork and communication skills. If you are looking for examples of critical thinking in the classroom, then read our article 11 activities that promote critical thinking skills in the classroom . 2. QuestioningAsking open-ended questions is another effective way to promote critical thinking skills in your classroom. Open-ended questions encourage your students to think deeply about a topic and consider different perspectives. Read our article: 10 Best Educational Games for Kids That will Shape Their Future For example, if you’re teaching a lesson on climate change, you could ask your students questions such as “What are the causes of climate change?” and “What are the potential consequences of climate change?” These questions encourage your students to analyze information and think critically about the topic. 3. Active ListeningEncouraging active listening is another way to promote critical thinking skills in your classroom. When students actively listen to each other, they consider different perspectives and analyze information more deeply. Think Like a Detective – A Kid’s Guide to Critical Thinking For example, you could ask your students to work in pairs and have each student share their opinion on a topic. The other student must actively listen and ask follow-up questions to better understand their partner’s perspective. This activity promotes critical thinking skills such as analysis, evaluation, and interpretation. 4. Case StudiesUsing case studies is another effective way to promote critical thinking skills in your classroom. Case studies allow your students to apply critical thinking skills to real-world situations. For example, if you’re teaching a lesson on business ethics , you could present a case study on a company that faced an ethical dilemma. Your students can then analyze the case study and identify potential solutions. This activity promotes critical thinking skills such as analysis, evaluation, and interpretation. Organizing debates is another effective way to promote critical thinking skills in your classroom. Debates encourage your students to analyze and evaluate different viewpoints on a topic. For example, if you’re teaching a lesson on gun control, you could organize a debate where half of the class argues for gun control and the other half argues against it. This activity promotes critical thinking skills such as analysis, evaluation, and interpretation. Read our article: Engaging STEM Activities for Elementary, Middle and High School Students 6. Mind MappingUsing mind mapping is another effective way to promote critical thinking skills in your classroom. Mind mapping allows your students to organize and analyze complex information. For example, if you’re teaching a lesson on the solar system, you could have your students create a mind map of the different planets and their characteristics. This activity promotes critical thinking skills such as analysis, evaluation, and interpretation. 7. GamificationUsing game-based learning is another effective way to promote critical thinking skills in your classroom. Game-based learning engages your students and promotes critical thinking skills such as problem-solving, analysis, and evaluation. For example, you could use an online game that requires your students to solve math problems. This activity promotes critical thinking skills such as problem-solving, analysis, and evaluation. 8. Problem-Based LearningUsing problem-based learning is another effective way to promote critical thinking skills in your classroom. Problem-based learning requires your students to solve real-world problems using critical thinking skills such as analysis, evaluation, and interpretation. For example, you could present your students with a real-world problem, such as designing a sustainable community. Your students can then work in groups to research and propose solutions to the problem. This activity promotes critical thinking skills such as problem-solving, analysis, evaluation, and interpretation. 9. ReflectionEncouraging reflection is another way to promote critical thinking skills in your classroom. When students reflect on their learning experiences, they can identify areas where they need to improve and develop critical thinking skills. For example, you could have your students keep a learning journal where they reflect on their learning experiences and identify areas where they need to improve. This activity promotes critical thinking skills such as analysis, evaluation, and interpretation. 10. Real-World ApplicationsUsing real-world applications is another effective way to promote critical thinking skills in your classroom. When students can see how the skills they are learning can be applied in the real world, they are more motivated to learn and develop critical thinking skills. For example, if you’re teaching a lesson on fractions, you could show your students how fractions are used in cooking recipes. This activity promotes critical thinking skills such as analysis, evaluation, and interpretation. In conclusion, critical thinking skills are essential for success in today’s complex and ever-changing world. As an educator, you can promote critical thinking skills in your classroom by using these 10 surprising ways. Collaborative learning, questioning, active listening, case studies, debates, mind mapping, gamification, problem-based learning, reflection, and real-world applications are all effective ways to promote critical thinking skills. By incorporating these strategies into your teaching, you can help your students develop the critical thinking skills they need to succeed in the 21st century. Share this:Discover more from educationise. Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email. Type your email… One thought on “ 10 Innovative Strategies for Promoting Critical Thinking in the Classroom ”
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Search formtop 10 strategies for building students’ critical thinking. EducationWorld is pleased to present this article by Christi Wilson, an 11-year teaching veteran who contributes to several education Web sites, including TeacherPortal.com . ![]() Community Toolbox contributor Phil Rabinowitz explains that critical thinking is an essential skill for 21st-century citizens, since it involves analyzing, questioning and challenging situations, issues and information of all kinds. We use critical thinking when we raise questions about survey results, theories, media stories, scientific research, political statements and conventional wisdom. So how do we build these important abilities in students? The following 10 teaching strategies encourage young people to strengthen their critical thinking skills. These techniques can change classroom dynamics and have a profound impact on learning. Try them and watch your students come alive!
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Students grappled with ideas and their beliefs and employed deep critical-thinking skills to develop arguments for their claims. Embedding critical-thinking skills in curriculum that students care ...
Critical thinking requires consistency and commitment. This means that to make the above teaching strategies effective, they must be used consistently throughout the year. Encourage students to question everything and verify all information and resources. Activate student curiosity by using the inquiry-based learning model.
Teach Reasoning Skills. Reasoning skills are another key component of critical thinking, involving the abilities to think logically, evaluate evidence, identify assumptions, and analyze arguments. Students who learn how to use reasoning skills will be better equipped to make informed decisions, form and defend opinions, and solve problems.
Students must learn to amass the proper expertise to inform their thinking. Teaching critical thinking skills can be supported by an understanding of how to analyze, organize, and clarify information. 6. Utilize Peer Groups. There is comfort in numbers, as the saying goes.
The importance of helping students increase critical thinking skills. Ways to promote the essential skills needed to analyze and evaluate. Strategies to incorporate critical thinking into your instruction. We ask our teachers to be "future-ready" or say that we are teaching "for jobs that don't exist yet." These are powerful statements.
A complete guide to teaching Critical Thinking. This 180 page e-book is an excellent resource for teachers looking to implement critical thinking in the classroom. It is packed full of great content whether you are just starting out, or looking to go further. It makes relevant connections to technology, STEM, and critical and creative thinking.
Yes, critical thinking can be taught and nurtured through specific teaching strategies and a supportive learning environment. Elise Phillips Elise is an enthusiastic and passionate Australian teacher who is on a mission to inspire and support fellow educators.
Modeling of critical thinking skills by instructors is crucial for teaching critical thinking successfully. By making your own thought processes explicit in class - explaining your reasoning, evaluating evidence for a claim, probing the credibility of a source, or even describing what has puzzled or confused you - you provide a powerful example to students
So, on with the list. 1. Analyze. One of the more basic critical thinking strategies is 'analysis': Identify the parts and see the relationships between those parts and how they contribute to the whole. 2. Interpret. Explain the significance or meaning of a 'thing' in a specific content or to a specific audience.
Maskot Images / Shutterstock. Critical thinking is using analysis and evaluation to make a judgment. Analysis, evaluation, and judgment are not discrete skills; rather, they emerge from the accumulation of knowledge. The accumulation of knowledge does not mean students sit at desks mindlessly reciting memorized information, like in 19th century ...
22. A Rubric To Assess Critical Thinking (they have several free rubrics, but you have to register for a free account to gain access) 23. 25 Critical Thinking Apps For Extended Student Thought. 24. Debate.org is a 'debate' community that promotes topic-driven discussion and critical thought.
But how do we develop critical thinkers in the classroom? All you need are a few simple strategies to develop critical thinkers in your classroom. #1 - Questioning Techniques. Questioning is an essential tool for developing critical thinking skills. This is the simplest and easiest strategy to start implementing in your classroom right now.
4 Strategies for Kick-Starting Powerful Conversations. 1. Encourage Friendly Debate: For many elementary-aged children, it doesn't take much provoking for them to share their opinions, especially if they disagree with each other.
Critical thinking (CT) is purposeful, self-regulatory judgment that results in interpretation, analysis, evaluation, and inference, as well as explanations of the considerations on which that judgment is based. This article summarizes the available empirical evidence on the impact of instruction on the develop-
Games and puzzles that encourage critical and creative thinking strategies include logic puzzles, brain teasers, strategic board games, word puzzles, and problem-solving activities. These games require students to analyze information, make connections, think critically, and develop innovative solutions. By engaging in these activities, students ...
At best, a one or two-day workshop can do three things: 1) function to heighten the awareness of faculty to the challenge of bringing critical thinking substantively into instruction, 2) provide some strategies for up-grading the effectiveness of instruction, and 3) lay a foundation for follow-up workshops. But a long-term approach to critical ...
Here are two forms of scaffolding that can help students develop stronger critical thinking skills. In the first, instructors give students practice working on particular aspects of critical thinking in isolation before asking them to "do it all at once" in a given assignment. For example, early on in a reading-heavy course, you can ask ...
Inspire creativity. Imagination is key to teaching critical thinking in elementary school. Teachers should seek out new ways for students to use information to create something new. Art projects are an excellent way to do this. Students can also construct inventions, write a story or poem, create a game, sing a song—the sky's the limit.
This article explores practical strategies to enhance critical thinking skills, leveraging the power of inquiry-based learning and open-ended questioning. Asking open-ended questions is a cornerstone of promoting critical thinking. By challenging students with questions that require more than a yes or no answer, educators can stimulate deeper ...
Here are some tips: Encourage questioning: One of the most effective ways to foster critical thinking is to encourage students to ask questions and seek out answers. Encourage them to challenge assumptions and think about things in different ways. Asking open-ended questions, rather than those with a simple yes or no answer, can be particularly ...
Strategies for Promoting Critical Thinking in the Classroom. These strategies are designed to promote active learning, inquiry-based learning, and Bloom's Taxonomy levels of analysis, evaluation, and interpretation. Here they are: 1. Collaborative Learning. Collaborative learning is an effective way to promote critical thinking skills in your ...
Top 10 Strategies for Building Students' Critical Thinking EducationWorld is pleased to present this article by Christi Wilson, an 11-year teaching veteran who contributes to several education Web sites, including TeacherPortal.com.. According to the Critical Thinking Community, critical thinking includes both information processing skills (how information is sought and treated) and the ...
Argumentative writing serves as a stage where students showcase their critical thinking, a skill they already possess and have cultivated throughout their lives. However, it is argued that learners need instances within the classroom to activate this thinking, enriching it under the guidance of their teachers. It is the teacher who shapes and adapts the pedagogical environment, enabling ...
5 Essential Strategies To Cultivate Critical Thinking in Students. Get Our Monthly eNewsletter Search Jobs Share this post. Related Posts . 5 Allied Health Careers Poised for Growth in 2022. With more than 13 million workers, the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that the healthcare industry is the largest in the U.S. While fluctuations ...
Discover strategies for improving reasoning and critical thinking skills; develop media literacy and analysis; reduce the knowledge gap; promote metacognition; connect the brain and body to thinking, and develop analytical, creative and design thinking skills needed to solve complex problems.Lilly Conference on Evidence Based Teaching and ...