How is "critical thinking" taught?

[Anonymous]

There is a lot of discussion on these threads about progressive vs. traditional schools, busy work, memorization vs. critical thinking skillls, etc. The curriculum at our own (middle) school seems to be almost entirely memorization. Can anyone, preferably an educator, tell me how critical thinking skills are taught in the middle and upper grades and how to recognize a school that teaches these skills over one where so-called "busy work" predominates? What sorts of projects/assignments would there be? How would students be evaluated? I don't mean to denigrate memorization, which is also an important skill and has its place, or to start an argument, but to ask how these other skills are taught and how to identify the schools that teach them well. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Middle school project in science (6th grade): After a unit in physics on simple machines, kids are divided into small groups (3-4) and told to build a Rube-Goldberg machine that performs a specific function (in this case, pulls a Kleenex out of a box). They are given a rubric that shows how the projects will be assessed -- e.g. points for number and variety of simple machines used, points for the thing working, etc. Then kids are encouraged not only to gather components from the science lab but also from home. Unit blocks, magnets, bits of wire, and Darda car engines, and lego wheels left our house. Haven't seen the video of DC & cos' machine yet, so I don't know which were used or how.

middle school history project (8th grade): early in a unit on the American Revolution, each kid is given a Mission Impossible style dossier on some member of the 2nd Continental Congress. In addition to studying the issues leading up to the Revolution generally, they get to know this particular character whom they will impersonate in a 3 day debate over whether to declare independence. The character's background (regional, economic, philosophical) and position on the issue (pro, con, open to persuasion) structure the students role in that debate (which is conducted by candlelight in quasi period garb). On the third day (i.e. class period), the whole assembly votes, with the ope- to-persuasion characters presenting speeches explaining how the (pro- and con-) speeches of the previous two days influenced their votes.

Both of these assignments are the culmination of weeks of work in class, some of which looks more traditional (e.g. lectures, quizzes). So I'm not sure you'd see any difference in a random classroom visit. Maybe the best way to get at this issue is to ask something along the lines of what kinds of projects, evaluations, final exercises, etc. do you use to synthesize the materials presented and assess student learning.

[Anonymous]

PP This is so wonderful. My kids outline book chapters and regurgitate what they have learned on objective tests. In every subject. It is mind numbing. I would love to hear more of these examples, and of course I would love to know what schools teach this way, so that we can visit them!!

[Anonymous]

Me too!

[Anonymous]

GDS is the school where the examples in 9:06 were drawn from.

[Anonymous]

We came from a school that was all about critical thinking. Moved to a more challenging school that balances the fundamentals with critical thinking. Have been scrambling to get child caught up with math essentials (tables, etc.) and grammar rules which previous school didn't find important to teach. Kids won't succeed unless they know both. Tutor tells us that she sees more and more kids with deficient math skills because their schools don't make them study multiplication tables, etc. anymore.

Memorization can be a very good thing in some subjects. As a result, we are firm believers that the best school will combine both aspects.

[Anonymous]

I am so thrilled to hear about these projects! I am a professor in the humanities and, at the college level, we are encouraged also to teach students so that they are actively engaged with the material. This means not just lectures and assigned readings, but classroom discussion, debate, and case studies so that students are not receiving the material passively.

BTW, my DC will be attending GDS starting this fall, and one reason why the school was at the top of our list is because of the type of learning and teaching described above.

[Anonymous]

I'm 9:06 and an ex-college prof who chose GDS for my DC for the same reasons!

[Anonymous]

5th grade projects: Science: did the same or similar Rube Goldberg project as discusssed above from the GDS poster. This was a lengthy group project that really challenged the kids to think and also required writing skill (had a prepare journal entries on the project work). Also did a project where they put together a model of a cell from anything they wanted, but the catch was that the things used in the model were supposed to reflect the functions of the different parts of the cell. So, for example, my daughter used an old piece of a circuit board as the nucleus because it controls the operation of the cell. The kids really enjoyed that.

Social studies: When studying Constitutional history, had to make arguments either from the perspective of John or Sam Adams (I forget what the specific issue was) based on a book they had read. Did Lewis and Clark unit and had to develop a major project with oral presentation, written report and visual display concerning a particular aspect of the trip and how it impacted the outcome.

Reading: Lots of writing projects with a twist to get them thinking. For example, they had to write a story in which two of their favorite characters from two different books meet. They do a reading blog on the computers in which kids write about the books they have read and why they would recommend them or not.

Math: tests include "open response" questions, which are complex problems to solve for which the kids get credit based not only on whether they get the answer but on how far they get through the process of solving the problem.

These are just a few of the recent things that come to mind. There is also a big effort to make the kids care about learning the facts such as, for example, playing "Constitutional Jeopardy" with questions about the Constitution (i.e, what article mandates the census? What year did the Constitution get ratified? etc.)

These examples are from Lowell.

[Anonymous]

Moved to a more challenging school that balances the fundamentals with critical thinking.

Please, do explain how memorizing static multiplication tables is 'more challenging' than designing a machine that works.

[Anonymous]

Could anyone provide lower school examples? 1st, 2nd, 3rd grades?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Moved to a more challenging school that balances the fundamentals with critical thinking.

Please, do explain how memorizing static multiplication tables is 'more challenging' than designing a machine that works.

S/he didn't say memorizing is more challenging; s/he said the new school is more challenging and offers a mix of types of learning.