To what extent do you teach, model, and have students engage in critical thinking? Is it important? What more do you need to learn/feel comfortable about with regards to critical thinking?
Critical thinking is very important in the classroom, especially in science. So much of education requires students to just memorize, memorize, memorize then take a test. the problem with this method is that students have trouble committing information to long term memory...where it makes learning the material really worth the time! Critical thinking is a process... where questions are raised, information is gathered, and conclusions are drawn. This is exactly the scientific method...how scientific knowledge is born. Critical thinking also requires an open mind and communication between peers.
I've been in classrooms where teachers just give worksheet after worksheet to keep their students quiet and busy. It's my personal goal as a teacher to think deeper and design lesson plans with critical thinking involved. We can all remember instances where we had to think critically to solve a problem...and guess what? We REMEMBERED it! This is how we truly learn :)
We have been challenged this year to create an activity that would replace a worksheet. The activity developed should assist us in moving toward teaching/modeling more critical thinking skills. Do you teach with worksheets? How would you delete one of those worksheets to help the students use their critical thinking skills?
ReplyDeleteSounds good... And the biggest benefit to having the students think critically is that they learn to make connections. With science, I imagine that is extremely important. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteHow do your students respond to your efforts? Do they ever ask for the worksheets? Do they think that the projects/questions you ask of them are too difficult?
I completely agree with you. Especially this part: "So much of education requires students to just memorize, memorize, memorize then take a test. " Ouch! I am guilty of that, especially on vocabulary quizzes. I am changing my curriculum to include more critical thinking, so that kids use the Spanish words in context instead of just memorizing them. You are right--we remember best when we have to think critically about a problem instead of just filling in an answer on a worksheet.
ReplyDeleteYes, Lara. Higher-order thinking like critical thinking helps students remember things better, which means they learn better. As you mentioned, higher-order thinking facilitates students' deeper processing such as analysis, evaluation, and integration. I believe these are the skills that science learning often involves. What would you recommend in a science class instead of using worksheets? Do you have any specific examples that you have used?
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