Critical thinking questions depend on what's being 'thought about,' but one universal example includes, 'How do I know what I think I know?'
In behavior support classrooms, teachers must work to provide a prime environment for learning. In multi-age classrooms, teachers have to address a wide array of learning needs-- not to mention juggling multiple curricula. This makes it all the more challenging to ensure that students are actually learning. So how do we meet the needs of our learners while setting up situations that elicit deep learning? First, we need to understand the difference between learning and regurgitation. In college, my favorite professor announced that we would be having a pop quiz. She handed out a quiz on drills and saws. Now, we were education majors. Not many of us had the background knowledge to pass a quiz like that. "You might not know a lot about the topic," she told us, "but you do know how to take a test. Off you go!" To our surprise, we all got a 100% on the quiz. I still can't remember what it was about, and I didn't understand any of it-- but I passed it with flying colors. Our teacher congratulated all of us for demonstrating that we learned a lot about drills and saws, and when we all looked at her with puzzled expressions, she let us know that we had simply "regurgitated" information but hadn't learned it. Learning Vs. Regurgitation I created a similar quiz, using all nonsense words. Try it out for yourself. Sure, you were able to comprehend the text at a surface level and spit back answers. You probably gathered that a schmigglefiggin is some type of creature in the dopplehopper category. They live in the rainforest and have poisonous bites. There are four types of schmigglefiggins. Blah blah blah. But could you make a presentation about schmigglefiggins without just retelling the passage? Could you apply the information learned to a new situation? Do you think you would be able to teach someone else about schmigglefiggins? How are schmigglefiggins, or at least learning about schmigglefiggins, important to your life? Will you ever use this information? Why is it worth learning? How will it serve you? Do you have any emotional connection to it? Nope! Our students with behavioral needs don't always feel successful in school. We focus so much on getting them to complete tasks that our focus shifts from learning to reinforcing task completion. I could complete tasks all day long, but how does that serve me? What is it teaching me for my life? It's so important to start small, with task completion goals, for our students with severe behaviors. It's even more important, though, to make it worth their while. My professor explained to us that the best form of classroom management is an engaging lesson. But realistically, in a multi-age classroom, it's very time-consuming to create elaborately exciting lessons for everything. In a behavior support classroom, sometimes more elaborate lessons can be overstimulating. How do we win? Emotion-Evoking Questioning Emotions play a great role in learning. Think about the feeling of guilt. It's such a strong, awful feeling that keeps us from repeating behaviors. Strong, negative feelings can stick with us for a while. That's why we can remember sad childhood incidents like they happened yesterday. Same thing goes for our happiest memories. Ask me what I had for breakfast last Tuesday, though, and I might have to stop and think. The human brain is programmed to hold onto things that are relevant to us. Such things are usually tied to strong feelings of emotion. That's why it's so important for teachers to work to evoke emotion in the classroom. Emotions leave a much stronger impression than facts for regurgitation. I studied World War II by reading a factual textbook. It was this-side versus that-side, and they were fighting over this and that, and it happened from this year to this year, and there were however-many casualties. Then, I was asked to interview a man who served in the war. My great-grandfather told me stories with emotion, and they stuck with me forever. I had a teacher who told us how history wasn't just something we learned about in social studies; it was real life for real people who had families, fears, desires, and everything just like us. Imagine how they must have felt. As the teacher taught about September 11, 2001, the student yawned and said, "I'm bored. How much longer til recess?" When I was a student observer, I watched a student say this to his teacher. I was completely and utterly shocked, but then I remembered... this is ancient history to these kids. I currently teach in an elementary school, and a colleague mentioned to me that not a single student in our K-5 school was alive when 9/11 happened. I was, though. I was actually in history class. My teacher, who was the one who taught with such emotion, turned to us as we watched the news and said, "You are living history right now. This will be in a social studies book one day that eighth graders like you will read." That stuck with me forever. That's how I teach now. Teach with emotion-- happy, sad, scared, excited, amused, laughing hysterically, the list is endless. Take students into events, and have them explore. Challenge their thinking, and have them challenge the author and even events in history. You can bring alive a boring text by connecting it to the student and letting them see how it serves them. Use Bloom's Taxonomy verbs to help. Students won't regurgitate facts on a test when they learn this way. Their answers will contain evidence of higher-order thinking. I made a list of emotion-evoking questions that can be used with just about any reading. You can grab that freebie here! Do you use emotion in your teaching? What kinds of results do you find with this technique? How do you feel about learning and regurgitation? Please share in the comments below! A Peach for the Teach
Critical thinking questions include, 'Why is this important? What are the causes and effects of this? How do we know if this is true?"
Help the learning process with these simple strategies for making studennt thinking visible. Perfect for middle and high school English classes.
Getting stuck in negative thinking traps can impact your relationships. Learn 15 common cognitive distortions and how they distort reality.
The Six Thinking Hats (affiliate link) is a book written by Edward de Bono in which he lays out a practical method that expands on the very simple concept of thinking. Since its publication a decade ago, several teachers and educators worldwide have adopted Edward's thinking approach with success. The Six Thinking Hats can be used with students in class to enhance their thinking and decision making skills.
Learn more about a variety of THINKING ROUTINES used by A.M.P.S. staff and students in order to make their thinking VISIBLE. Click below to access hyperlinked version of poster. Enjoy! Making Think…
Whilst working on some other projects at school, I wanted to finally post this to a searchable resource that instructors and other educators can use. This is a combination of my most two recent pos…
Which common thinking biases do you suffer from? And how can you overcome them? Here are tips from research.
If you have ever struggled knowing the best way to teach grammar to your students, you are not only one! Whether you infuse your grammar instruction into your reading and writing units or whether you teach from a more traditional curriculum, I think it is safe to say that none of our students have mastered […]
Explore our comprehensive collection of classroom resources, including classroom posters, engaging activities, classroom management techniques, and more. Enhance your teaching and inspire your students with these valuable insights.
Last week, I blogged about Bloom's Taxonomy and Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS). (See April 2, 2012.) My friend, Andrea, over at One Teacher's Take...is Another's Treasure commented that she also uses Webb's Depth of Knowledge (DOK) Levels and Marzano's Dimensions of Thinking, both of which are new to me. So, I immediately googled them. Here's what I found. . . Webb's DOK Levels look like this: What I like about Webb's model is the 4 levels versus Bloom's 6. It's always nice to condense things, isn't it? At least in my realm of preparing dozens of lesson plans each day, less is more! The 4 level descriptors (the inner circle) boast newer and somewhat clearer concepts. Then my eye wanders over the outer circle. Ouch! Another sea of verbs to swim through. The 4th level, presumably the quarter in which we strive to spend most of our time, is curiously short on verbs compared to the other 75%. Are those 8 verbs/phrases just more succinct? Or, do they reflect the limitations foisted upon teachers by the Common Core of Teaching Standards, standardized testing, and uniform time lines? Surely that triad has bearing on it. Perhaps there is more to be considered, however. Is the 4th level truly where teachers strive to be? I hope, in my heart of hearts, that the answer is YES. However, it is possible that some, if not many, teachers find little motivation to work on level 4. Their efforts are not evaluated by standardized tests, depriving them of extrinsic approval. Paychecks remain static whether teachers push their students toward extended learning or not. Indeed, rewards are esoteric. Certainly the dedicated, professional teacher experiences intrinsic satisfaction. S/he may even be fortunate enough to receive accolades from students, parents, colleagues, and/or administrators. Is that enough? In a future blog, I'll discuss Marzano's Depth of Knowledge Levels. Until then, I'd love to hear your thoughts about teaching HOTS.
Fun and engaging ESL activities, games and worksheets in printable PDF format with full teacher's notes and answers for English teachers to use in class.
Systems scribing can create an original model that the group needs right in the moment. As visual practitioners, we can make visible the parts and the whole; the patterns and perspectives.
Visible Thinking is about helping students become better thinkers. The way our students think and their disposition towards thinking, are each greatly influenced by the culture of our schools and c…
An interactive list of logical fallacies & rhetorical devices with examples. In nine languages. Never be duped again!
-This issue we focus on our thinking touchstone Having a range of thinking tools available to us is very useful. They help ensure the engagement and stimulation of a wide variety of students. But, …
“Deep learning is the central principle of Curriculum for Excellence. It involves knowledge and understanding and the skills to apply knowledge in useful ways.” High Order Skills Excellence Group F…
Master the 5 Commandments of Microlearning for Engagement, Retention, and Results. Explore more about this on the Shift E-Learning blogs today!
Learning lowercase letters can be really confusing for many children, especially the letters b, d, p, and g . When you think about it, it...
I don't want you to think that I am the mistress of doom and gloom, but after last week's post on words that collocate with injury I thought I would continue with the theme of medical problems in this week's post. A few weeks ago I posted this excellent image about medical symptoms shared on my Facebook Page which proved to be very popular with my followers. It was created by a fellow teacher and blogger, Jenny on her excellent website, The English Student. You can also view it on Jenny's post here. Jenny has some excellent tools and resources for language learners so
Explore our comprehensive collection of classroom resources, including classroom posters, engaging activities, classroom management techniques, and more. Enhance your teaching and inspire your students with these valuable insights.
Learning by doing has become widespread. Screw reading a textbook and just do stuff. Start your own business. Fail fast, fail often. Learn-by-doing is a sexy way to learn. While there is arguably no…
Explore our comprehensive collection of classroom resources, including classroom posters, engaging activities, classroom management techniques, and more. Enhance your teaching and inspire your students with these valuable insights.
Seven essential elements to include in your next PBL to
What exactly is the thinking we need to teach? Bloom's Revised Taxonomy It's not just the cognitive processes categorized within Bloom's Revised Taxonomy students are expected to demonstrate. Those cognitive processes define the knowledge and skills students need to know, understand, and be able to do. Webb's Depth of Knowledge It also goes beyond the levels in Webb's of Depth of Knowledge that students are expected to communicate. That determines how deeply students need to know, understand, and be aware of a concept, idea, subject, or topic in order to answer a question, address a problem, or accomplish a task. It's also not the postsecondary ready (read this to understand why we don't use "college and career ready" in this blog) standards - be it the Common Core or those developed independently by those states who have not adopted the CCSS - that we need to address in our instruction. Those designate the performance objectives our students must meet or exceed in order to achieve and attain grade-level proficiency in reading and mathematics. Students also need to demonstrate and communicate domain or subject-specific deeper knowledge, understanding, thinking, and awareness - thinking, action, and knowledge that is specific to a particular content area. In English language arts and literature, we're not just teaching students how to read, write, speak, and listen fluently with basic comprehension. We need to teach students to think deeply about how text - which can be print, audio, visual, or technical - is presented, why it is presented that way, and what effect the presentation has on the reader, viewer, audience. In mathematics, we're not just teaching students mathematical content, concepts, facts, practices, and procedures they need to reproduce and apply to answer questions, address problems, and accomplish tasks correctly and successfully. We need to teach students to think deeply about how the procedures they followed led them to attain their answer, solution, or result; why a specific answer, solution, or result is correct or valid; how many different ways questions can be answers, problems address, and tasks accomplished; and how mathematics extends beyond numbers, algorithms, and formulas into the real world. In history and social studies, we're not just teaching important dates, events, ideas, information, names, and people. We need to teach the causes and reasons behind these events; why historical figures accomplished what they did; what was the situation or the thinking during a given time that influenced a person or an event; and what impact events throughout history had not only during the time in which it occurred but also on current events and perspectives in modern society. In science we're not just teaching scientific facts, ideas, and theories. We're teaching students research, investigate, and experiment with science in order to validate or refute existing theories, test their own ideas, draw their own conclusions, and even design new procedures and products that could improve - or even control - a particular scientific phenomena. Such teaching and learning can be provided by implementing a thinking curriculum that addresses demonstrating and communicating knowledge, understanding, thinking, and awareness in the core academic disciplines in what we define as The Thinking Curriculum. The Thinking Curriculum The Thinking Curriculum is for us educators what Bloom's and Webb's are for our students - a specific framework that informs teachers specifically of what we should be addressing in the instruction, assessment, and evaluation we plan and provide our students in the core academic disciplines. Where Bloom's and Webb's details the level of knowledge, understanding, thinking, and awareness our students need to demonstrate and communicate in their learning, the Thinking Curriculum informs us teachers what we're supposed to address in designing and developing our subject-specific lessons, units, and assessments. The Thinking Curriculum consists of four areas: Literary Thinking: Literary thinking focuses on teaching students how to recognize what a text says, what a text does, and what a text means by analyzing choices of content, language, and structure. Instruction focuses on non-critical reading (understand the text ), critical reading (understand the patterns and style of the text), and critical thinking (understand the meaning) (Kurland, 2000). The foundation of literary thinking is learning to read and write, where the student learns how to hear and recognize sounds, gains experience with and exposure to text, hear what good reading sounds like, and have opportunities to read and write at their developmental level. As students develop phonemic awareness and fluency, they should also be taught to engage in critical reading and thinking by restating in their own words what the text says (restatement); describing what type of text they are reading or viewing, what it is discussing, and what it is doing or its purpose (description); and also what the text means or its underlying message (interpretation). Students should also be taught to learn how to analyze and evaluate the text for the ideas its infers or suggests (inference), the elements the author includes within the text to support its meaning or message (choices), and consider such elements when developing and producing their own text. Students should also be taught how to read and write different text that present a specific message or purpose (ways to read). Teaching and learning grammar are also a key component of literary thinking not only to know, understand, and apply the conventions of grammar and usage but also build fluency, develop a deeper understanding of how authors and their text use language to convey a particular tone and create a desired or unintentional effect on the reader, and use conventions of writing to develop a desired tone or effect on the reader or viewer. Mathematical Thinking: Mathematical thinking address how mathematical ideas interconnect and build on one another and can be connected to contexts and phenomena outside mathematics (connections); making and investigating mathematical theories and developing and evaluating mathematical arguments and proofs (reasoning and proofing); expressing mathematical thinking clearly and coherently and analyzing and evaluating the mathematical thinking and strategies of others (communication); create and use representations to organize, record, and communicate mathematical ideas and to model and interpret physical, social, and mathematical phenomena (representation); and build new mathematical knowledge by solving problems that arise in mathematics and in other contexts (problem solving) (NCTM, 2000). Mathematical thinking goes beyond knowing, understanding, and doing math - or, more specifically, reproducing and applying procedures to attain the correct answer. Mathematical thinking challenges and engages students to think about the mathematical concepts and practices they are learning, how answers are attained or how they attained their answers, explain their thinking process, and develop and demonstrate analytical and creative problem solving skills that will not only help them in math but also in every aspect of their lives. Historical Thinking: Historical thinking goes beyond knowing historical dates, events, facts, ideas, information, and names, which remain a key component of teaching history and social studies. Historical thinking challenges and engages students to develop a deeper understanding of what and when events occurred as well as recognize, analyze, and evaluate patterns of historical duration (length of time) and succession (relationship between and sequence of events) (chronological thinking); understand the intentions and difficulties of various cultures, people, regimes, and societies encountered and the complex world in which such historical figures actually lived (historical comprehension); recognize and realize the differences in the various opinions and perspectives of educators, experts, eyewitnesses, how they convey ideas and information; distinguish between fact and opinion, and determine the credibility of sources (historical analysis and interpretation); conduct in-depth research and investigations to discover the facts, reasoning, and truth behind historical events, facts, ideas, information, and people and draw their own conclusions, opinions, or perspectives supported by evidence (historical research capabilities); examine and explore past and current controversial issues, problems, and situations deeply, develop arguments, claims, conclusions and provide solutions; and analyze and evaluate their impact on subsequent or current actions and decisions (historical issues). (NCHS/UCLA, 1996). Scientific Thinking: The core idea behind scientific thinking is evidentiary thinking - thinking that requires proof to support arguments, choices, claims, and conclusions. In science, students demonstrate and communicate evidentiary thinking in three ways: inquiry (asking questions), investigations (conducting examinations and research), and experimentation (testing and validating ideas). There are two processes students can be taught to demonstrate and communicate their thinking: the scientific method in which students generate and test a hypothesis about an observation or phenomena and engineering design, which involves inventing a new plan or product or innovating an existing procedure or product to solve a problem (Kuhn, 2010). For teachers, the Thinking Curriculum is our Bloom's Revised Taxonomy and Webb's Depth of Knowledge - the framework that tells us what and how we need to plan and provide our instruction, assessment, and evaluation. In order to do this, we need to go beyond the textbook, the classroom, and even beyond ourselves to provide that deeper teaching and learning experience. Literary Thinking with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.3.2, 3.3) If you're going to teach a novel such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, don't only teach how to read the story but ask students to consider how Dahl satirizes - or, if working with younger children, brings attention to - how children behave and how parents do not attempt to adjust their improper behavior. Have students analyze and evaluate how Dahl describes each of the characters and how their appearance, words, and actions define or reflect their character. Literary Thinking with Genre Study (CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.9) If you're going to teach a genre study such as science fiction, don't just have your students read and view text from the genre, identify the main idea, describe the characters, and analyze the themes. Teach students the motifs of science fiction and have students analyze and evaluate how these stories address and incorporate these motifs. Have students consider whether science fiction influence scientific fact or vice versa. Challenge students to create their own science fiction tales that have deep, resonating themes about the future, space, time, machines, monsters, and society. If you're going to challenge students to interpret a multiplication equation as a comparison, don't just have them work with numbers, algorithms, and formulas. Have them explain the reasoning behind their conclusions, choices, and decisions. Provide them a real world situation in which they would have to use multiplicative comparisons such as express in a number sentence the difference between the average size and weight of a porpoise (5 ft., 121 lbs.) to a dolphin, which is double or triple the size and approximately nine times heavier. If you're going to have students learn about seminal historical documents such as the Declaration of Independence, the articles of the U.S. Constitution, or The Gettysburg Address, don't just talk about or even read these documents. Have students analyze and evaluate the the style in which these documents were written; why these documents were written; how they reflect the thinking of the individual, period, or situation they address; and the impact these documents had not only during the time in which it was written but also its impact on modern society and culture. Have students analyze how and evaluate why Thomas Jefferson carefully worded The Declaration of Independence to convey the colonies' conflict and concerns were with King George, not the people of England. Have students analyze and evaluate the reasons behind the amendments of the U.S. Constitution and whether those reasons remain practical or pertinent. Have them analyze and evaluate why Abraham Lincoln said what he did in The Gettysburg Address and the effect he hoped to have on his listeners. Scientific Thinking with Natural Disasters (NGSS 4-ESS2-2. MS-ESS2-2, HS-ESS2-1-3) If you're going to have students learn about natural disasters, don't just have them identify what natural disasters are and what causes them. Have them research natural disasters throughout history, analyze and evaluate the impact of different kinds of natural disasters, why people continue to live in areas prone to natural disasters, how human interference and man-made disasters can cause natural disasters, predict the possibility of a historical natural disaster occurring again, and design a plan to protect people from or even prevent natural disasters. Not only will lessons and units such as these encourage students to develop, demonstrate, and communicate deeper knowledge, understanding, and awareness of what they are being taught and learned but also make learning interesting and relevant for them - and perhaps, even you as the teacher. Stay tuned to this blog for entries in which we delve deeper into the four core content areas of the Thinking Curriculum. - E.M.F.
Need to teach 21st Century skills in your classroom? Learn why 'the four C's' are the most important qualities to focus on and how you can teach them.
The Padagogy Wheel brings together in one chart several different domains of thinking with education apps for learning.
Critical thinking flowcharts like these 5 beauties make explaining and understanding critical thinking processes easy as you please. Try them out with your learners.
The need to develop critical thinkers has never been as urgent as it is now. In a world that is digitally focused and where there is an outpouring of information surfeit, students need to be equipped with the right tools to live up to the new learning exigencies. Critical thinking as a skill is the mother of all other skills and one that underpins and solidify students overall learning.
AI integration in education can enhance higher order thinking skills by using AI to generate higher-level questions that promote critical thinking & creativity
The series board games should be a funny, playful way to practice vocabulary and grammar orally. The instructions for the teachers are included.If you like this game, you can find more board games here:https://en.islcollective.com/mypage/my-creations?search_key=Board+games&type=printables&option=published&id=5163&grammar=&vocabulary=&materials=&levels=&studentTypes=&skills=&languageExams=&dialect=&functions=&page=1&sorting_type=most_newest&filter_type=filter_all&view_type=list&view_length=12 - ESL worksheets
When we meet a new person, we can take guesses about their culture, but we can’t really tell too much until we get to know them. Even when we know someone for a while, we might not under…
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Critical thinking questions include, 'Why is this important? What are the causes and effects of this? How do we know if this is true?"
From reading a calendar to using a ruler, this measurement review quiz covers a variety of second grade measurement topics. Download to complete online or as a printable!
