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[quote=Anonymous]Couple quick ideas:

-- always question the source and bias, and intentionally introduce students to multiple opposing sources addressing the same topic. Extend that to critical reviews of the source with opposing opinions. Analyze how each side supports their position. Look for and point out tricks of logic and rhetoric. Highlight ambiguity and areas where right and wrong are not clear or may not exist, when compromise is essential for action to occur. Role play and make each student argue both sides of something.

-- Teach them to use the 5 Why's technique to consider an issue or problem, especially before beginning their own critical writing piece. It helps dig down to root causes, it also identifies alternative possibilities and sometimes it changes their minds about the premise before they start to write.

-- In math, try to get them to discover formulas before you teach them formulas. Word problems help with this, as do geometry proofs, and even just playing with and questioning geometry (what is the relationship between these shapes, are there any unvarying truths about the relationships between them no matter the size, etc.). Same with science: use observation, object lessons, pre- and post- lesson experiments. Let them discover what you are planning to teach, as much as you teach lessons.

All of this takes time, great planning, and a cooperative group of curious students willing to work for the knowledge (and understanding parent who won't complain that their kids aren't being 'taught anything"). To cover a full course of knowledge that students need to be well prepared for the next level, some things will need to be taught in a more expedient manner. Bur a good dose of the slow process of discovery goes a long way.

Jane Healey wrote about the development of the very young mind and illustrated beautifully how much more a child learns when given an objective and time to explore, but is not taught how to achieve the objective. Make a tower of these 5 blocks. If one child is shown by an adult how to stack them and mimics it immediately, the child learns how to stack blocks like the adult. If the other child spends half an hour trying and failing, until eventually it figures out how to get them just right so they stay on top of each other -- which has learned more about gravity, physics, architecture, geometry, not to mention the method of trial and error, grit and determination, being set free of the fear of failure, work and reward, self-confidence and personal achievement?[/quote]

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