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Classroom Q&A

With larry ferlazzo.

In this EdWeek blog, an experiment in knowledge-gathering, Ferlazzo will address readers’ questions on classroom management, ELL instruction, lesson planning, and other issues facing teachers. Send your questions to [email protected]. Read more from this blog.

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.

‘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.

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.

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.

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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Critical Thinking

Lesson ideas & tools.

• Confirmation Bias
• Deepfake Videos
• Evaluation Tools & Search Strategies
• Logic Puzzles
• Open Educational Resources
• Quiz and Certificate
• Bloom's Taxonomy Use Bloom's Taxonomy to help your students achieve a higher level of thinking.
• Check Please! Starter Course Five lessons that students can independently work through to improve their fact and source checking skills.
• Covid-19: The First 100 Days of U.S. News Coverage Examines Corona Virus news coverage and provides activities to improve news literacy
• Critical Thinking: Critical for Academic Success Three white papers with information about teaching critical thinking skills
• Everyone Has Invisible Bias. This Lesson Shows Students How to Recognize It.
• Fake News, Lies and Propaganda: The Class 7 week fake news course
• Keepin It Real: Tips and Strategies for Evaluating Fake News This lesson lets students practice evaluating the credibility of news stories.
• Source Credibility Pack Resources and lesson plan ideas for teaching critical thinking
• TEDEd Videos that include lesson and discussion ideas
• Writing Commons This is an open education resource that provides information to help you help students improve their writing, critical thinking, and information literacy skills.
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• Last Updated: Jul 31, 2023 4:04 PM
• URL: https://infoguides.wtamu.edu/criticalthinking

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.

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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Using Collaborative Reasoning to Support Critical Thinking

• Resources & Preparation
• Instructional Plan
• Related Resources

Designed as a starting point to build trust and respect, as well as to encourage and support conversations that evoke emotion and change, this lesson will invite students to participate in small group Collaborative Reasoning about issues of social justice and diversity. Students will read articles and answer questions that spur them to think critically about issues and discuss with others, using evidence and experiences to support their personal beliefs. Each group will create an online Persuasion Map to share whole class.

Featured Resources

• Sample Collaborative Reasoning Participation Guidelines and Conversational Moves : Use this handout to prepare for supporting students in the crucial Collaborative Reasoning aspects of participation and discussion language.
• Sample Think-Aloud Statements and Questions for Amazing Grace :  This handout provides guidance on modeling thinking during and after reading Amazing Grace.

From Theory to Practice

Zhang & Doughtery Stahl (2011) state that “Collaborative Reasoning (CR) effectively provides a forum for extended meaningful communication and promotes language development and thinking skills of all students” (257). Collaborative Reasoning is peer-led with students managing their own discussions and having control over what they say within small groups, which increases personal engagement. The purpose of using this model is for students to “cooperatively search for resolutions and develop thoughtful opinions about the topic” (257). Collaborative Reasoning works well with all kinds of students, no matter their gender, race, socioeconomic status, or other domains of diversity.

Common Core Standards

This resource has been aligned to the Common Core State Standards for states in which they have been adopted. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, CCSS alignments are forthcoming.

State Standards

This lesson has been aligned to standards in the following states. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, standard alignments are not currently available for that state.

NCTE/IRA National Standards for the English Language Arts

• 3. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).
• 11. Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of literacy communities.
• 12. Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).

Materials and Technology

• Five Smithsonian TweenTribune Junior articles (to be displayed on computers and/or tablets or printed out as class sets of each article)
• Computer and/or tablets with Internet access
• Small sheets of papers that list the title of each article chosen (one per student)
• Sticky notes
• Writing utensils
• SmartBoard or other means of projection
• Ten anchor chart papers and markers (for co-created guidelines, co-created conversational moves, each of the five article titles and some extra on hand in case some groups need to divide)
• Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman
• Sample Collaborative Reasoning Participation Guidelines and Conversational Moves
• Sample Think-Aloud Statements and Questions for  Amazing Grace

This free website by Smithsonian offers current events articles on various topics and complexity levels for students K-12, with specific areas titled TweenTribune Junior for elementary students.  Each article contains text, photos, and a critical thinking challenge question for students to reflect on and respond to. These questions vary based on the articles chosen for the lesson.  For example, an article on the site titled “Life is sweet, but we’re eating too much sugar” and the critical thinking challenge question is "What may make it difficult for the world to cut down on sugar?"

Preparation

• Title two anchor chart papers: one with “Guidelines” and the other with “Conversational Moves.”  Consult the  Sample Collaborative Reasoning Participation Guidelines and Conversational Moves handout and consider how to facilitate the co-construction of charts.
• Locate a copy of Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman.  Use the  Sample Think-Aloud Statements and Questions for  Amazing Grace to prepare for the think-aloud and discussion.
• Explore the  Smithsonian TweenTribune Junior website and choose five articles that your students would be interested in based on your knowledge of them and the community.
• Make class set copies of every article set up enough computers and/or tablets so students can read the article online.
• Display the anchor charts for the guidelines and conversational moves in a place that students will be able to access it easily throughout this lesson.
• Write the title of each article on a separate anchor chart. Place these around the room to give adequate space for each group discussion time.
• Gather several sticky notes and place in designated article areas.
• Have enough computers and/or tablets set up in the room for each group. Log onto the  Persuasion Map Student Interactive and familiarize yourself with the tool.

Student Objectives

Students will

• respond individually and reflect critically to an article with a social justice theme.
• use the Collaborative Reasoning model to discuss in small groups.
• develop and consolidate group opinions using an online tool.
• present opinions in a whole group setting.

Session One

• staying on topic
• respecting other beliefs and viewpoints through not interrupting or arguing
• making an effort to look at both sides of the issue (for and against)
• giving all members of the group opportunities to participate and share
• Open the discussion up to the students. Help prompt students by asking a question such as “When you are having a conversation with one of your peers, what is important to you?”

Create together a list of conversational moves , phrases that the students can refer to if they need support in responding to a member of their group or for delving deeper in the conversation. These can include, but are not limited to

• “I agree/disagree with you because…”
• “I can connect to… because…”
• “I was confused when…”
• “I wonder why…”
• “I would like to add that…”

Read Amazing Grace aloud, modeling using a think-aloud strategy with your reactions and feelings to the text and illustrations for the first half of the book. Some ideas for thinking to share include

• I bet that was fun to watch Grace act out all of those stories!
• She is so creative!
• That’s too bad that Mom and Nana don’t want to act out with her.
• I wonder how that made Grace feel with her classmates said she couldn’t be Peter Pan because she was a girl and she was black.

As you continue to read the rest of the story, open the discussion up to the students, reminding them of the  guidelines and conversational moves that were created together. This is a time to start building an environment of trust and respect so students will begin feeling comfortable to share aloud. If students need some prompting, some sample questions include

• How would that make you feel if your classmates told you that you couldn’t do something that you wanted to do?
• Why do you think her Nana is taking her to that play?
• Do you believe that Grace can be anyone she wants to be?
• What do you think changed her classmates’ minds?

When finished, give the students time to think silently about their reactions and feelings.

Have the students turn and talk with a partner, referring to the guidelines and conversational moves for support.

Have students share with the full class their thoughts about the text.

Session Two

Explain to the students that in this session they will be continue their practice with the Collaborative Reasoning model centering around five different articles and a critical thinking challenge question that encourages them to think more deeply about a particular social justice or diversity topic.

Display the five titles of the articles that you have chosen from TweenTribune Junior on the SmartBoard.

Pass out the small papers to the students and have them spend a couple of minutes deciding which article title they feel most passionate about and/or interested in.

Once all of the students have circled an article title, explain the process, writing some key instructions on an anchor chart for students to refer to while they collaborate:

• When they form their groups, students will read the article individually (either with paper copies or on a computer/tablet), reflect on the critical thinking challenge question at the bottom of the article.
• Then they should use sticky notes to record their thinking, remembering to try to use evidence from the article and their own experiences to support. While students fill out their sticky notes, they can place them on the anchor charts at their set location in the room.
• When all group members have had enough time to each read and reflect, they may begin discussing the article, the critical thinking question, and their beliefs with evidence and experience to support, with their group members. They may create new sticky notes during this time as well.
• Point out the different article areas in the room and direct the students to travel to the article they chose. Since the students are self-selecting, there may be uneven numbers of students within a group. If many (say, more than 5) students choose the same article, divide the students into multiple groups. If there is only one student that chose an article, discuss with the student that since he or she had passion for the article, he or she can still have a copy, read it, and talk about it with you later.
• During this time, walk from group to group to listen in on the conversations that the groups are having with each other. Notice if they are sharing their experiences and pulling information from the article in as well. Are they using the guidelines and conversational moves to dive deeper in their conversations? Provide support and redirection as necessary.

Session Three

• Explain to the students that in this session they will be using their discussions and sticky notes from the previous session to map out their ideas in a fun, interactive way. They will informally present these maps to their classmates.

Display the Persuasion Map on the SmartBoard or other projector. Model how to complete the map by typing in the parts (thesis, reasons, examples for each reason, and conclusion) based on the text Amazing Grace that the class read in Session One. Encourage students to help fill the map out based on what was shared during that time or any new ideas that have come to their minds. The beginning of the map may look like this:

Title: Amazing Grace

Goal or Thesis: Grace can be Peter Pan in the play if she wants to.

Reason: Grace has many experiences with acting.

Example: Her mom and nana tell stories and she acts out the parts, no matter who or what the characters are. She was a spider in one story.

• Return students to their discussion groups from the previous session by the anchor chart with their sticky notes.

Each group should then begin creating their Persuasion Map . It is possible that students within the same group will have differing ideas for the thesis. Consider having extra computers for students to complete one for each side simultaneously, or when students complete one persuasion map, they can create another.

• Students should save their work at the end of the session.

Session Four

• Allow each group to group to take turns sharing a summary of their article, critical thinking question, and their Persuasion Map with the whole class on the SmartBoard or other projector.
• The members of the group can encourage other students in the class to interact with their Persuasion Map as well with their own thoughts and beliefs on the topic.
• This same Collaborative Reasoning model can be used with other texts such as picture books, other articles, or students’ choices of what is happening in their own lives, the community, or the world.
• After hearing other groups' presentations, invite students to read one or more of the other articles and share how their thinking is similar to or different from their classmates.

Student Assessment / Reflections

• Students will be informally assessed through walking around and observing students while they are in their Collaborative Reasoning groups, as well as with the students’ sticky notes on the anchor charts and their Persuasion Map .
• Were these article topics appropriate for these students?
• Did the students display interest and passion through their discussions?
• Were there other topics or issues that would lead to other discussions?
• Were students able to each have a voice and share their beliefs about the topic?
• Were students able to balance their belief support through both evidence and experience?
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• Kindergarten K

Teaching Critical Thinking

Help your students develop their critical thinking skills with these lesson plans. “Could Lincoln Be Elected Today?” is a resource developed from a Annenberg Public Policy Center political literacy project called FlackCheck. All the other critical thinking lessons were produced by the FactCheck.org education project called FactCheckEd.

Could Lincoln Be Re-elected Today?

FlackCheck.org, a political literacy project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, compares ads from the 2020 presidential election to a series of ads that it created using modern-day tactics for the 1864 Lincoln vs. McClellan race to help students recognize patterns of deception and develop critical thinking skills.

“Could Lincoln Be Elected Today?”

This lesson uses a series of ads that were created using modern-day tactics for the 1864 Lincoln vs. McClellan race. Students will learn to recognize flaws in arguments in general and political ads in particular and to examine the criteria for evaluating candidates, past and present, for the presidency.

Background Beliefs

We’ve all had that experience, the one where we start arguing with someone and find that we disagree about pretty much everything. When two people have radically different background beliefs (or worldviews), they often have difficulty finding any sort of common ground. In this lesson, students will learn to distinguish between the two different types of background beliefs: beliefs about matters of fact and beliefs about values. They will then go on to consider their most deeply held background beliefs, those that constitute their worldview. Students will work to go beyond specific arguments to consider the worldviews that might underlie different types of arguments.

Building a Better Argument

Whether it’s an ad for burger chains, the closing scene of a “Law & Order” spin-off, a discussion with the parents about your social life or a coach disputing a close call, arguments are an inescapable part of our lives. In this lesson, students will learn to create good arguments by getting a handle on the basic structure. The lesson will provide useful tips for picking out premises and conclusions and for analyzing the effectiveness of arguments.

Language of Deception

It’s a phased withdrawal, not a retreat. Except that the terms actually mean the same thing. But “retreat” sounds much worse, so savvy politicians avoid using it. That’s because they understand that there is a difference between the cognitive (or literal) meaning and the emotive meaning of a word. This lesson examines the ways in which terms that pack an emotional punch can add power to a statement – and also ways in which emotive meanings can be used to mislead, either by doing the reader’s thinking for him or by blinding her to the real nature of the issue.

Everything You Know Is Wrong 1: Us and Them

Good reasoning doesn’t come naturally. In fact, humans are instinctively terrible reasoners. Most of the time, the way our brains work isn’t rational at all. Even with exceptional training in analytical thinking, we still have to overcome instincts to think simplistically and nonanalytically. In this lesson, students explore some of the irrational ways in which humans think, and learn to recognize and overcome the habits of mind that can get in the way of good reasoning. Here we focus on the ways that people define themselves and others — how we develop our personal and group identities, how we treat people whose identities are similar or different, and how this affects our perceptions and our ability to reason.

Everything You Know Is Wrong 2: Beliefs and Behavior

Good reasoning doesn’t come naturally. In fact, humans are instinctively terrible reasoners — most of the time, the way our brains work isn’t rational at all. Even with exceptional training in reasoning skills, we still have to overcome instincts to think simplistically and non-analytically. This is the second of two lessons focusing on the instincts and habits of mind that keep us from thinking logically. In the first one, we looked at how people define themselves, alone and in groups, and how this affects behavior. This time around, we will focus on how people reconcile their beliefs with the world around them, even when the evidence doesn’t seem to agree with those beliefs.

Monty Python and the Quest for the Perfect Fallacy

If you weigh the same as a duck, then, logically, you’re made of wood and must be a witch. Or so goes the reasoning of Monty Python’s Sir Bedevere. Obviously, something has gone wrong with the knight’s reasoning – and by the end of this lesson, you’ll know exactly what that is. This lesson will focus on 10 fallacies that represent the most common types of mistakes in reasoning.

Oil Exaggerations

Ever notice how political speeches and ads always mention “the worst,” “the best,” “the largest,” “the most”? It’s effective to use superlatives, but it isn’t always accurate. For instance, President Barack Obama has said that “we import more oil today than ever before” – but do we? How can you find out? What do the numbers really mean? And why would he say it if it wasn’t true? In this lesson, students will weigh Obama’s superlative claim against the facts.

The Credibility Challenge

The Internet can be a rich and valuable source of information – and an even richer source of misinformation. Sorting out the valuable claims from the worthless ones is tricky, since at first glance a Web site written by an expert can look a lot like one written by your next-door neighbor. This lesson offers students background and practice in determining authority on the Internet – how to tell whether an author has expertise or not, and whether you’re getting the straight story.

Peta Pressure

Persuading an audience requires intensive research and scrupulous fact-checking – or, you could just figure out what your audience wants to hear and tell them that. Politicians, advertisers and others with something to sell choose words and images that will appeal to their target audience, enticing them to accept claims unquestioningly. Some of these manipulators, like the animal activism site peta2.com, focus their attentions on teenagers and young adults. In this lesson, students won’t check peta2’s factual accuracy, but will learn to spot their manipulative tactics and why they should be skeptical about them.

The Battle of the Experts

When we hear a piece of information that surprises us, we often react by saying, “Where’d you hear that?” It’s a good question, and one we should ask more often, because some sources are better – sometimes much better – than others. In this lesson, students will learn to distinguish between credible and not-so-credible types of sources. They’ll explore the biases of different sources and develop tools for detecting bias. In their effort to get to facts that are as objective as possible, students will examine the differences between primary and secondary sources, check the track records of different sources, and practice looking for broad consensus from a range of disinterested experts.

U.S. Generals…Support the Draft

Being drafted hasn’t been much of a concern for anyone born on this side of the Age of Aquarius. But rumors of the return of the draft abound. Those rumors are especially scary when they seem to originate from U.S. military commanders. This lesson examines an anti-war advertisement sponsored by Americans Against Escalation in Iraq asserting that military officials plan to continue the war in Iraq for an additional 10 years and that that plan will require reinstating the draft. Students will examine whether quotations from Gen. David Petraeus and Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute really do support AAEI’s claims.

In the good old days, back in January 2007, gas cost just $2.20 per gallon. Your parents might even remember those four months in 1998–1999 when it dropped below $1 per gallon. And your grandparents can likely tell you stories about filling the tank for $5 — or about the cost per gallon in some parts of the U.S. in July 2008. That’s when presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain ran an ad promoting his plan for bringing down the cost of gas. According to McCain, gas prices were high because some politicians still opposed lifting a ban on offshore oil drilling. But McCain’s ad left out some basic facts about offshore drilling. In this lesson, students will examine the facts behind McCain’s false connections. This lesson comes in a basic version, for classrooms without internet access and/or students at the 8th-9th grade level, and a more advanced version, which does require internet access and is aimed at students at higher grade levels.

Olly Olly Oxen Free

You find the perfect hiding spot and you wait, hoping to hear that magical sound, to hear whoever is “it” call out in frustration, “Olly Olly Oxen Free!” You know that you’re safe, that your hiding spot – your sanctuary – can be used again the next time you play. But in debates about people who are in the U.S. illegally, the concept of sanctuary is considerably more controversial. In fact, some argue that providing sanctuary to people who are in the country illegally is decidedly wrong. This lesson focuses on an argument between former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani over New York’s  alleged  status as a sanctuary city for illegal immigrants. Students will explore the meaning of the term “sanctuary city” and determine for themselves whether New York City ought to be designated a sanctuary city.

Made in the U.S.A.

It seems as if fewer and fewer things bear that label anymore. In 2007, Toyota  outsold  two of Detroit’s big three automakers. Our televisions and DVD players are mostly made elsewhere. And Walmart  imports  about 50,000 pounds of merchandise every 45 seconds. As if that’s not bad enough, American companies are shipping many jobs overseas. Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards wanted to stop U.S. companies from moving jobs offshore, and a group called Working 4 Working Americans ran an ad in support of his plan. But the story the ad tells doesn’t quite give the whole picture. In this lesson, students will examine the facts behind this potentially misleading ad. This lesson comes in a basic version, for classrooms without internet access and/or students at the 8th-9th grade level, and a more advanced version, which does require internet access and is aimed at students at higher grade levels.

Health Care Hooey

“Candidate X will raise your taxes!” “Candidate Y will take away your health care!” In the hotly contested 2008 presidential election, one ad from Democrat Barack Obama created the perfect storm of election themes, accusing Republican John McCain of planning to increase taxes on your health care. But the ad used outdated sources to justify its claims. In this lesson, students will draw on  independent  experts to determine the accuracy of Sen. Obama’s charge. This lesson comes in a basic version, for classrooms without internet access and/or students at the 8th-9th grade level, and a more advanced version, which does require internet access and is aimed at students at higher grade levels.

Combating the Culture of Corruption

It’s a classic American film: the young, idealistic new senator, Jefferson Smith, heads off to Washington where he finds that his boyhood hero, Sen. Joseph Paine, is accepting bribes. Worse still, Mr. Smith finds that none of the other senators really care all that much. In Hollywood, the solution is simple: Jimmy Stewart saves the day. Fast forward 60 years: The corruption is still around, and in a fundraising e-mail, the Democratic National  Committee  claims that presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain is more Joseph Paine than Jefferson Smith. That charge has little basis in reality. In this lesson students will dig into a bribery scandal to assess John McCain’s real role in rooting out the culture of corruption.

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Lesson Plan: Critical Thinking: Definitions, Skills, and Examples

This lesson plan includes the objectives of the lesson teaching students how to define critical thinking and identify and employ some critical thinking skills.

Students will be able to

• understand the definition of critical thinking,
• identify five components of critical thinking,
• identify and employ critical thinking skills,
• identify and apply four steps of critical thinking.

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Critical Thinking Lesson Plan

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Lesson Plan #:AELP-LIT0004 Author: Mary Barton, English instructor School or Affiliation: Bishop Carroll High School, Wichita, KS Date: April 1996

Grade Level(s): 9, 10, 11, 12

Subject(s):

• Language Arts/Literature

Description: The following is designed as an independent lesson to foster critical thinking over Dr. Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream speech.

Concepts: The lesson has individual sections divided into vocabulary development, rhetorical structures (figures of speech), understanding the speech, relating to the speech, and an optional opportunity for students to record the speech.

Background Information: Attached to the beginning of the lesson is background information on the civil rights movement, including Dr. King’s leadership role, in order to familiarize students with the context in which the speech was written. (I usually run off a copy for each student so that they can refer back to this information as they think through the lesson.)

Materials and Procedures: Of course, the lesson can be copied as a whole or with only desired sections extracted. (For example, some teachers may choose only to have students tape record the speech using the accompanying guidelines as a means of encouraging oral presentations.) Teachers would also need a copy of Dr. King’s speech. (This lesson is based on an abridged version which includes the first two paragraphs and the last two-thirds of the speech beginning with …There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, ‘When will you be satisfied?’)

Lesson: I Have a Dream

This speech, which has become one of the most recognized symbols of the civil rights movement, was written more than three decades ago as America struggled with the problems of how to create racial equality for all of her citizens. Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered the speech on August 28, 1963, to more than 200,000 people gathered during a massive demonstration before the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. Called the March on Washington, the demonstration was organized on the hundredth anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation to call attention to the wrongs suffered by African Americans and to push for federal legislation to bring about change.

Background Before the civil rights movement of the 1950’s and 1960’s, racial discrimination was deeply imbedded in American society. The reality of life for the great majority of African Americans meant that they lived with gross inequities in housing, employment, education, medical services, and public accommodations. Often they were denied the right to vote and faced great injustices within the legal system.

Segregation was a way of life. Most urban blacks, particularly in the South, lived in isolated tenements because white landlords refused them rent. Blacks had little access to good jobs, finding work mainly in positions of service to white employers. Black children attended separate, inferior schools. The result of being denied both employment and educational opportunities was that the great majority of African American families lived in poverty, with nearly 75% earning less than $3,000 a year in 1950. In addition, Southern blacks were denied admittance to such public facilities as hospitals, restaurants, theaters, motels, and parks. Blacks were even denied the use of public restrooms and drinking fountains marked with For Whites Only signs. When separate public accommodations for blacks were provided, they were usually inferior in quality and poorly maintained. At establishments in which practicality dictated that blacks and whites share the same facilities, blacks were relegated by law to the back of buses and trains and to the balconies of movies houses and courtrooms.

Worse, many African Americans were even denied the right to participate in America’s political process. They were kept from voting by state laws, polltaxes, reading tests, and even beatings by local police. Unlawful acts of violence against blacks, such as those perpetrated by the Ku Klux Klan, were ignored by the much of Southern society, and African Americans could expect little help from the judicial system. In fact, instances of police intimidation and brutality were all too common.

Change came slowly. Embittered Southern whites carried distrust learned during the years of Reconstruction following the Civil War. However, in the late 1940’s following World War II (when America had fought for freedom and democracy abroad and therefore felt compelled to make good on these promises at home), the federal government began to pass laws against racial discrimination. The United States military was integrated for the first time, and new laws and court rulings prohibited segregation in schools, government buildings, and public transportation. However, many of these laws met with bitter opposition in the South or were simply ignored. When members of the African American community tried to break through old barriers, they were often threatened or beaten and, in some cases, killed. Likewise, black homes and churches were sometimes burned or bombed.

It was within this atmosphere that Martin Luther King, Jr., rose as a prominent leader in the civil rights movement. The son of a Baptist minister who was himself ordained, he was inspired by both Christian ideals and India’s Mohandas K. Gandhi’s philosophies of nonviolent resistance to peaceable confront injustice. King first came into the national spotlight when he organized the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott—-during which time he was jailed, his home burned, and his life threatened. The result, however, was the mandate from the Supreme Court outlawing segregation on public transportation, and King emerged as a respected leader and the voice of nonviolent protest. He led marches, sit-ins, demonstrations, and black voter-registration drives throughout the South until his assassination in 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee.

In 1964 King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in the civil rights movement. Both Americans and the international community recognized King’s contributions in overcoming civil rights abuses without allowing the struggle to erupt into a blood bath. It was King’s leadership that held the movement together with a dedication to nonviolent change. Many believe that King’s skillful guidance and powerful oratory skills kept the South out of a second civil war, this time between the races. King led the civil rights movement to meet each act of violence, attack, murder, or slander with a forgiving heart, a working hand, and a hopeful dream for the future.

I. Vocabulary Development

• Find three words in the background information on the previous page about which you are unsure and look up their meanings. Write the definitions.
• Read Dr. King’s speech. Find seven words about which you are unsure and look up their meanings. Write the definitions.

II. Rhetorical Structure: Figures of Speech

Certain rhetorical devices called figures of speech (similes, metaphors, allusions, alliteration, etc.) are used in both poetry and prose to make ideas more memorable and forceful. For centuries speakers and writers have known that such well said devices affect listeners and readers in powerful ways.

• In the guide to literary terms in the back of your textbook, find and write the definitions of each of the following: alliteration, allusion, metaphor, and simile.
• Five score years ago, the opening phrase of King’s speech, is an allusion to what or whom? Why was this an appropriate and strong way for King to begin his speech?
• King’s speech contains other allusions in addition to the one with which he opens his speech. Find an allusion to the Declaration of Independence and the Bible.
• Find an example of alliteration in King’s speech.
• Find an example of a metaphor.
• Find an example of a simile.
• What type of figure of speech is this?
• These words bring up strong images of slavery. Why would this be an effective method of moving his audience?
• What inference was King making about the progress of African Americans to enter the mainstream of American life in the one hundred years which followed the end of slavery?
• Another figure of speech is called an anaphora, or the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of a sentence, verse, or paragraph. Besides the famous I have a dream phrase, find two other examples of anaphoras.
• List at least two possible effects upon King’s audience of repeating the phrase, I have a dream.
• Nearly every line of King’s speech is filled with powerful images, or mental pictures, many created by using figures of speech. Images help audiences to feel what speakers/writers want them to feel, help them remember what they have read or heard, and help them understand difficult material. Write a well-developed paragraph telling which of King’s images you find most powerful and appealing and explain why this image had meaning for you.

III. Understanding the Dream

• Write a paragraph summarizing King’s dream in your own words.
• What are some of the specific acts of injustice against African Americans which King cites in his speech?
• Besides the Declaration of Independence and the Bible, King cites the American dream as a source for his own dream. What is the American dream? Discuss this concept with friends and family members and then write a composite definition for this commonly used term.
• Near the end of his speech, King names many different states. Why do you think he did this?
• I Have a Dream was a persuasive speech meant to convey to King’s audience the need for change and encourage them to work for federal legislation to help end racial discrimination. If you had been in the vast crowd that day, do you think you would have been moved my King’s speech? Why or why not?

IV. Relating to the Dream

• What is your definition of racism?
• Why do you think extreme right-wing organizations such as the Klan would chose violence as a means to fight against the civil rights movement, even though their actions enraged the rest of the country and gained sympathy for the cause of Southern blacks?
• Why do you think the black community withstood such violent attacks without responding with their own violent retaliations?
• Today’s skinheads share the same radical right-wing philosophies and views supporting white supremacy and segregation of the races that had been held by Hitler during World War II and the Klan during the civil rights movement. Do you think today’s skinheads are dangerous? Why or why not?
• King was assassinated for his work in civil rights. A quotation from the Bible on the memorial at his gravesite reads, Behold the dreamer. Let us slay him, and we will see what will become of his dream. What do you think has become of King’s dream? Write two paragraphs: one telling in what ways the dream has been fulfilled and one telling what yet remains to be accomplished.

V. Recording the Dream: Optional, Extra Credit

Tape record King’s I Have a Dream speech, following these requirements:

b. Provide your audience with enough background information so that they can understand the context in which this speech was given. Strive to answer the five W’s–who, what, when, where, and why.

b. Phrasing of the speech should show that you understand the meaning King intended, including the relationship of one sentence to another and the  importance of punctuation by observing appropriate pauses.

c. You should pronounce all words correctly.

Table of Contents

1. Teaching Critical Thinking: How to Inspire Better Reasoning

Teaching critical thinking, as most teachers know, is a challenge. Classroom time is always at a premium and teaching thinking and reasoning can fall by the wayside, especially when testing goals and state requirements take precedence. But for a growing number of educators, critical thinking has become a priority. 

This is because, for many reasons, young people simply need critical thinking instruction: 

• They are faced with myriad crises — many real and some imagined or exaggerated by unreliable news sources and overstimulated social media users. 
• They spend more and more of their time in internet-connected environments where advertisers and interest groups hold previously unimaginable powers of manipulation over them. 
• Technology, politics, and society in general all seem to be changing faster than ever before, and the future seems more uncertain than ever.

These changes don’t only complicate the world itself; they affect our powers of understanding at the same time. There’s evidence suggesting social media use can damage attention spans , have an outsized impact on emotions and mental health, and even affect memory . Psychologically addictive reward systems are built into many of these platforms. 

Even generally reliable news sources, which increasingly orient themselves to their own fragmented segment of the journalism market, can overwhelm our powers of judgment with sensationalistic headlines, misleading framing, and the sheer volume of information at our fingertips.

The kind of thinking and attention required to engage with complicated issues becomes harder to foster and harder to maintain than it might be in a less saturated information ecosystem. Under these conditions, critical thinking, which has long been a buzzword in education, takes on a new and more urgent significance. New opportunities and methods for teaching critical thinking are needed.

Critical thinking, which has long been a buzzword in education, takes on a new and more urgent significance.

Being able to think critically — with rigor, depth, patience, emotional intelligence, and humility — can have wide-ranging impacts on every aspect of students’ lives: their contributions to civic life, their professional success, their ability to build and maintain healthy relationships, their mental health, and even their physical well-being. 

What are the key strategies for teaching critical thinking skills? In many ways, we are still at square one when it comes to teaching our students how to think critically. There are a number of obstacles here:

• Teachers are not given the time, freedom, materials, or professional development tools to teach their students how to think critically.
• Mainstream education priorities — too focused on test results and narrowly defined skills — don’t leave room for critical thinking.
• The best education research, which strongly suggests that critical thinking instruction must be embedded in specific domain instruction, is not well-known or widely put into practice.
• Traditional curricula have not evolved quickly enough to adapt to the new challenges students face in analyzing information and media. 

What Is Critical Thinking?

For all the talk about critical thinking, there remains a lot of confusion about what exactly it is. So what does critical thinking mean? This is key to teaching critical thinking, of course. 

The Reboot Foundation defines critical thinking quite simply as high-level skills in reasoning, coming to judgments, and making decisions. Even more simply: critical thinking is thinking well. 

To get a little more specific, critical thinkers are regularly reflective, objective, and analytical in their thinking:

• They step back to reflect on their own thinking, taking time to plan, strategize, and reform their thinking when necessary. 
• They do their best to overcome subjective biases. While they know that pure objectivity is an ideal we can never reach, they draw on the perspectives of others, especially those with opposing views, in order to expand their own horizons.
• They use the analytical tools of logic and effective argumentation to evaluate evidence, make judgments, and discuss issues with others. 

For more about Reboot’s definition of critical thinking please see this post: “What Is Critical Thinking?”

How to Teach Critical Thinking

As part of the Reboot Foundation’s efforts to create this guide on how to teach critical thinking we consulted with a group of leading teachers from around the country, teaching in different types of schools, at different grade levels, and in different geographic areas.

When it came to teaching critical thinking skills the same kinds of obstacles cropped up over and over again such as a focus on testing and teacher accountability, which has put pressure on administrators and teachers to deliver testing results through more uniform and rigid curriculums. 

Given this and numerous other challenges, this guide provides teachers subject-oriented advice for integrating critical thinking into their curricula. Different teachers, of course, face very different challenges and circumstances to teaching critical thinking. For this reason, instead of setting out rigid lesson plans, we have offered short research synopses and ideas for critical thinking lessons and activities. We expect teachers will modify these to their needs, or that these will spark new ideas and experiments in their classrooms.

The Importance of Domain Knowledge in Teaching Critical Thinking

Despite a great deal of rhetoric about critical thinking, not enough time is actually spent teaching critical thinking. One major reason is a misconception about its nature. Critical thinking is not a single skill that can be taught, like playing the cello, or content that can be memorized, like the history of the French Revolution.  What critical thinking entails often depends on the content and discipline. 

What critical thinking entails often depends on the content and discipline.

Although there is overlap, good thinking habits and strategies in physics don’t look the same as those in literary interpretation. We must keep this in mind when we seek to teach thinking. As cognitive scientist Daniel Willingham  puts it , “Thought processes are intertwined with what is being thought about.”

What does that mean for teaching critical thinking? There is good and bad news. The bad news is that critical thinking, as a generic skill, is challenging to teach. Critical thinking skills learned in one area aren’t guaranteed to transfer to other areas.  The good news is that specific critical thinking instruction can, in many cases, be integrated into existing classroom practices. The key is to understand what constitutes deeper thinking in particular domains and implement classroom practices that leads students toward that kind of thinking. That’s what we’ve set out to do in this guide.

How to teach Critical Thinking Habits

That said, there are some habits and virtues that cut across domains when it comes to how to teach critical thinking. Teachers can make an impact by modeling these intellectual virtues, when possible, for their students.

How to Teach Critical Thinking: Sparking Curiosity. 

Young students are eager to know about the world and ask questions tirelessly. Why is the grass green? Why do zebras have stripes? Even adolescents are prone to constant questioning — though their questions sometimes have a more cynical slant. 

In the classroom, it’s not always possible to indulge every last question, and some of these questions can be disruptive. But it is still absolutely vital that educators make time to indulge and encourage the curiosity of students. Curiosity, if it’s developed and refined, is crucial to being an informed and engaged citizen of the world. 

Open-ended discussions are an excellent way to spark curiosity. We model this kind of discussion in our article on critical thinking and reading .  There you’ll find tips on how to prompt students to ask deeper moral and philosophical texts about literary texts. With practice in refining their curiosity, students will begin to develop what’s called “metacognition,” or thinking about thinking. This is a foundational part of critical thinking, in which students turn their curiosity on themselves, and begin to ask why they think and believe what they do. 

How to Teach Critical Thinking: Managing Emotions. 

Emotions may seem far afield from the ability to reason but critical thinking is emotionally difficult. Critical thinkers have to exhibit the humility to admit that they don’t know everything and they may be wrong. At the same time, they have to be confident enough to ask tough questions and challenge authority when appropriate. And, perhaps most crucially, they have to be able to consider and analyze arguments on their merits, instead of judging the person making them.

When emotions run high in the classroom, for example in a discussion of a controversial topic, it’s a great time for teachers to model these virtues. We offer tips on how to do so in our article on civics education . The goal is to give students civic competence and confidence, ultimately, contribute positively to their communities and society as a whole. 

How to Teach Critical Thinking: Checking for Bias. 

Emotional arguments can make it especially difficult to recognize and overcome biases. When we’re emotional, we usually fail to step back and look for misinterpretations, hasty conclusions, and assumptions we may have made about the people we’re arguing against.

Instruction in logic and philosophy can help students recognize biased thinking in themselves and, especially, in some of the weak reasoning they all inevitably come across online. Too often, especially in the United States, we’ve considered these topics too advanced for K-12 learners.

Check out our articles on media literacy and philosophy for more on how to help students navigate emotional appeals and understand biases, and for more tips on how to teach critical thinking. 

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Critical Thinking – Lesson Plan for ESL

Critical Thinking: A Comprehensive Free English Lesson Plan for ESL (Online and In-Class)

Free lesson plans are valuable resources for educators and learners alike. These lesson plans provide structured outlines for teaching specific topics or skills, offering a roadmap for instructors to follow and ensuring a comprehensive learning experience for students . They are designed to be accessible and adaptable, catering to a wide range of educational settings, including classrooms, online platforms, and homeschooling environments.

Objective :

By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:

• Understand the concept of critical thinking and its importance in various aspects of life.
• Identify and analyze different types of arguments, including deductive and inductive reasoning.
• Evaluate the credibility and reliability of sources of information, such as articles, websites, and media.
• Demonstrate the ability to identify logical fallacies and biases in arguments.
• Develop effective problem-solving skills by applying logical reasoning and evidence-based thinking.
• Apply critical thinking strategies to analyze and interpret information from various perspectives.
• Engage in discussions and debates , expressing opinions and supporting them with logical reasoning and evidence.
• Demonstrate the ability to ask thoughtful and probing questions to deepen understanding and challenge assumptions.
• Engage in activities that require creative and innovative thinking , encouraging students to think outside the box.
• Reflect on their own thinking processes , identifying areas for improvement and implementing strategies to enhance critical thinking skills in their everyday lives.

Level: Intermediate – Upper intermediate – Advanced

Time: 60 minutes.

• Digital whiteboard software: Video and Online Games
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Play video and talsk about the 5 tips to improve critical thinking

Improving your critical thinking worksheet

Go through the worksheet

All downloads are in PDF format

Browse the ebook worksheet or download the pdf for free, breaktime activity.

Watch the video and start a class discussion on fallacies

Marfa Lights Mystery

Watch the video and start a class discussion Marfa Lights misteries

Wrap – up

Mini battles.

Break class into two teams. Students must answer your revision questions. If they get 2-3 right they can play ‘12 mini battles’ for their team.’

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Resources and Downloads for Teaching Critical Thinking

Educators from the Bay Area’s KIPP King Collegiate High School and the KIPP network have provided these resources for you to use in your own school.

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Lesson Plans & Rubrics

A general guide to help teachers plan curriculum for the year and set clear expectations about course goals

Student's individual learning plan to determine growth and drive throughout the year

US History civil rights town hall discussion simulation

US History civil rights simulation rubric

Rubric for public speaking, speech of self-introduction

Handout for intensified Socratic Seminar assessment

Socratic Seminar assessment rubric worksheet

Handout for student assessment in speech and composition class

Tools for Critical Thinking

Course overview for 9th Grade Speech and Composition

Discussion starters for Socratic seminar

Handout detailing roles and assignments for observation in outer circle

Handout listing connectors to help with Socratic discussions

Types of Socratic questions with examples

Culture at KIPP

Handout for Professional Development session for staff

Outline for teachers for development of character strengths and virtue in their students

Disciplinary card given to students describing consequences for poor conduct

Daily schedule at KIPP King Collegiate High School

KIPP King Collegiate High School

Per pupil expenditures, free / reduced lunch, demographics:.

20% English-language learners, 2% Individualized education programs

Critical Thinking Skills

Looking for a fun and engaging lesson plan on critical thinking? Look no further! This exciting lesson plan will have your students using their critical thinking skills to solve real-life problems. They’ll learn how to apply critical thinking in multiple disciplines, and they’ll have a blast doing it!

Description

Additional information.

In this lesson, students will learn about the different components of critical thinking and how they can use these skills to problem-solve. They will also have the opportunity to practice their new skills by exploring different problems from different perspectives.

By the end of this lesson, your students will be well on their way to becoming critical thinkers!

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Sharpen your critical thinking (CAE Speaking Part 3)

• Exam Tasks (FCE/CAE/CPE...)

Grammar - conjunctions

This is a standalone lesson but it can also be used as part of the set titled:

• Forming logical arguments

LESSON OVERVIEW

With this lesson plan, students evaluate the validity of arguments using the information from a video about logical fallacies. They also practise conjunctions and do a Cambridge CAE Speaking Part 3 activity. 

VOCABULARY & VIDEO

At the beginning of the lesson, students discuss what critical thinking is. They will use the ideas from the discussion to do the CAE Speaking Part 3 activity in the last part of the lesson. Then, students replace seven words in context with their synonyms. The words are related to critical thinking and arguments (e.g. faulty – flawed, refute – counter ). Students also share their thoughts about two of the statements which they agree with or relate to personally. Next, students read six arguments and decide what makes them faulty and how they would refute them. After that, they watch the first part of the video and explain what a logical fallacy is. After watching the second part, students discuss the logical fallacies from the video . They also look at the arguments from the beginning of the lesson and decide which logical fallacies they exemplify. Students watch the second part of the video again to check their answers.

CONJUNCTIONS & CAE SPEAKING PART 3

In the activity, students read nine sentences and choose the correct conjunctions (e.g. whereas, since, and yet ). Then,  they need to rewrite arguments using the words in brackets and make any necessary changes to the statements. After that, students need to evaluate the validity of the arguments they transformed and decide whether they display any logical fallacies. Finally, students do a Cambridge CAE Speaking Part 3 task. They need to talk about the importance of critical thinking in some professions, and then decide which of them least requires the skill of critical thinking. While doing the task, students need to use at least three conjunctions practised in the lesson. The worksheet also contains two more CAE Speaking Part 3 tasks which the teacher might decide to do at the end of the lesson or at the beginning of the next one. 

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Such a great lesson!

Wow!! What an inspiring & thought-provoking lesson!! Thank you!!

Thank you, Irina!

ESL Brains, thank you for all your lessons! They’re just the best!

We’re really happy to hear that! Thanks 🙂

Great lesson, my student loves it! However, the last 2 slides with CAE Speaking activities are hidden during the presentation. Could you unhide them and make them appear, please? Peter

Thanks for the comment! We purposefully set these slides to skip because these are extra tasks. There are two ways out of this: make your own copy of the e-lesson plan and unclick the skip option OR exit the presentation mode on slide 36, go to slide 37 and start the Present mode again. In such a case, when you press space or click the mouse button, you will get to the other skipped slide before the thank you page appears.

This is phenomenal!

Thanks, Liam!

👏👏👏👏 Great lesson!

👏👏👏👏 A really fun and beneficial lesson.

Thanks! I’m really happy you find it useful 🙂

This lesson is just immaculate!

Thank you, Vadim 🙂

An excellent lesson about critical thinking!!! Well paced and developed and so interesting for our students these days!!! Thank you!

Thank you! I’m glad you like the lesson 🙂

Ewa, your lessons are flawless. I simply loved this one.

That was superb!!

Awesome, thanks!

Good lesson, but there is 1 major problem. The only problem is that it’s labeled as “Conjunctions” and is also stated in the lesson, however these are not conjunctions, they are prepositions.

Hi, thanks for your comment! Most of the examples in the sentences in exercises 8 and 9 contain conjunctions (which connect clauses in a sentence rather than words or groups of words) but you’re right – in some of them prepositions are used. So we’ve changed the rubrics in the lesson so as not to confuse students. Thanks for spotting that!

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