In David Orr’s Earth in Mind, Orr says “the danger with education is that students graduate without knowing how to think in whole systems, how to find connections, how to ask the big questions, and how to separate the trivial from the important.” For me, this is him talking about the importance of critical thinking. In my mind, there is no question that critical thinking is an essential skill that we must cultivate within young learners. I do however have many more questions than answers as to how that looks, works, feels in a classroom, as a teacher, a student, etc.
So I began my exploration by thinking about what critical thinking is to me. I believe that to critical think, students analyze and evaluate evidence and learn to make judgments based on sound reasoning. It reaches beyond the mere acquisition and retention of information or set of skills, and enables the learner to use that information or skills to guide their behavior and make their own connections and conclusions. I also believe that critical thinking is an important skill that must be nurtured and developed in students. What I am unclear on however, is how I can facilitate this for my students.
My first burning question is at what age, can critical thinking be introduced to students? I believe that no student is too young to benefit from my modeling critical thinking, but I am less sure of the roles that maturity and knowledge base play within a student’s ability to critically think on their own.
As an elementary teacher, how will I begin to incorporate critical thinking into my classroom? One way that I think critical thinking can be incorporated into my practice is by constantly connecting learning back to the big idea. My recollection of elementary school is that these connections were not present. It seemed that once a unit was completed, there was no revisiting the material at a later period or connecting it to the large idea. This is something I intend to include within my teaching practice.
Since elementary schools are set up with one educator teaching all subjects, this presents an opportunity to develop solid critical thinking skills such as finding connections between subjects. Should it be as direct as my telling the students to question anything they read or learn and consider its source and intention, or should it be more subtle? How does one go about creating lessons that encourage students to take charge of their own thinking?
Although I am not in a classroom yet, I feel this is the first skill that should be introduced and developed. I can envision lessons that begin with a question leading to student analysis and acquisition of what they believe is relevant about the problem/situation. From there, they would select plausible solutions and conclusions, implement them, and then evaluate the outcome. This I can envision, but the details of it are far less clear. What resources are needed, what background knowledge is required, is this plausible with a diverse class of 24 students? What would that question be? What happens if the students have a weak knowledge base, can they develop their critical thinking skills? These are questions I will explore as I begin my journey as a teacher.
So I began my exploration by thinking about what critical thinking is to me. I believe that to critical think, students analyze and evaluate evidence and learn to make judgments based on sound reasoning. It reaches beyond the mere acquisition and retention of information or set of skills, and enables the learner to use that information or skills to guide their behavior and make their own connections and conclusions. I also believe that critical thinking is an important skill that must be nurtured and developed in students. What I am unclear on however, is how I can facilitate this for my students.
My first burning question is at what age, can critical thinking be introduced to students? I believe that no student is too young to benefit from my modeling critical thinking, but I am less sure of the roles that maturity and knowledge base play within a student’s ability to critically think on their own.
As an elementary teacher, how will I begin to incorporate critical thinking into my classroom? One way that I think critical thinking can be incorporated into my practice is by constantly connecting learning back to the big idea. My recollection of elementary school is that these connections were not present. It seemed that once a unit was completed, there was no revisiting the material at a later period or connecting it to the large idea. This is something I intend to include within my teaching practice.
Since elementary schools are set up with one educator teaching all subjects, this presents an opportunity to develop solid critical thinking skills such as finding connections between subjects. Should it be as direct as my telling the students to question anything they read or learn and consider its source and intention, or should it be more subtle? How does one go about creating lessons that encourage students to take charge of their own thinking?
Although I am not in a classroom yet, I feel this is the first skill that should be introduced and developed. I can envision lessons that begin with a question leading to student analysis and acquisition of what they believe is relevant about the problem/situation. From there, they would select plausible solutions and conclusions, implement them, and then evaluate the outcome. This I can envision, but the details of it are far less clear. What resources are needed, what background knowledge is required, is this plausible with a diverse class of 24 students? What would that question be? What happens if the students have a weak knowledge base, can they develop their critical thinking skills? These are questions I will explore as I begin my journey as a teacher.
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