The Case for Critical Thinking 1
Running head: THE CASE FOR CRITICAL THINKING
The Case for Critical Thinking:
A Staff Development Seminar Presentation
by Danny Blas
National University
March 1, 2008
CHAPTER ONE: THE INTRODUCTION 3
Background 3
Purpose 4
Personal Statement 4
Significance of Critical Thinking 4
Limitations 5
Definitions 5
Summary of The Introduction 8
CHAPTER TWO: THE LITERATURE REVIEW 10
Critical Thinking 10
What is Critical Thinking? 10
What Does Critical Thinking Look Like? 11
Why is Critical Thinking Important? 11
Quality of Life 12
Critical Thinking and English Language Learners 12
Academic Achievement 12
Critical Thinking and Democracy 13
Critical Thinking in a Changing World 14
Changing Education for a Changing World 14
Critical Thinking and Popular Media 15
Critical Thinking and the Work Places of the 21st Century 16
Implementing Critical Thinking in the Classroom 17
Literacy and Critical Thinking Skills 17
Reading, Writing, Discussing and Arguing 17
Reading Instruction 17
Argumentative Reading and Writing 18
Imitation Writing 19
Writing and Learning 19
Assessing Student Writing 20
Facilitating Classroom Discussions 21
Discussing Popular Media Texts 21
Problem-Based Learning 21
Critical Thinking in the Social Studies Curriculum 22
Critical Thinking and Elementary Grades 23
Summary of The Literature Review 24
CHAPTER THREE 26
Staff Development Presentation on Critical Thinking 26
Presentation Format 26
Presentation 26
REFERENCES 27
CHAPTER ONE: THE INTRODUCTION
Education in the United States is experiencing rapid and significant change. One of the most significant changes taking place in education is accountability; teachers, schools, and school districts are being held to account for student achievement under No Child Left Behind [NCLB]. Student achievement, as mandated by NCLB, is measured by state standardized tests, and according to the latest testing results, we are neither closer to our goal of 100% proficiency, nor are we closing the achievement gap between certain ethnic groups (Krashen, 2005).
In addition to changes in education, significant changes are taking place in the American work force. Gone are the once abundant and highly-paid blue collar industrial jobs of the 20th Century. Jobs of the past century are being replaced by computer-intensive, knowledge work. Twentieth Century employees often times worked for one company for an entire career. In the 21st Century, workers are changing companies regularly and routinely, creating a need for transportable skills.
People today, with rapid changes in information technology, have access to more information than ever before. Volumes and volumes of high and low quality information are just a click away for most people. The importance of a person's ability to determine what is good and what is bad information will only increase in the future.
These changes and more are creating a need for more focus on critical thinking in the classroom. Critical thinking, the process of thinking about thinking to effectuate the outcomes we seek, is essential for success in the 21st Century. Critical thinking equates to higher achievement on standardized tests (Traub, 2007). Critical thinking and problem-solving are the skills many companies are seeking from potential employees (Pianta, 2007). Critical thinking can help thinkers make better use of information, much of which have varying degrees of quality and abundance (Paul & Elder, 1, 2007).
Background
Teaching critical thinking is essential to developing successful students. The positives of teaching critical thinking are undeniable. Standardized tests, however, were not expressly developed to measure critical thinking skills, thus few teachers take the time to explicitly teach it.
One important objective of critical thinking is continuous improvement of decision making outcomes. Critical thinking facilitates improved outcomes because it supports deeper understanding of the connection between decision making, implication, and consequence. In other words, quality decision making positively affects quality of life. The teaching of critical thinking, thus, must take place in every classroom because critical thinking is essential to prepare students to become: [A] participating citizens in a functioning democracy; [B] effective knowledge workers of the future; [C] successful participants in an interconnected world.
Purpose
The purpose of this research project is to prepare a staff development presentation on critical thinking, and to present easy to implement strategies to integrate critical thinking into everyday teaching.
Personal Statement
Teachers are under intense pressure to raise student achievement. With federal sanctions written into NCLB, teachers—many of whom are dedicated professionals, working in very difficult environments—have become targets of a misguided law. As a teacher, I have personally witnessed students unwittingly use unreliable web sites and employ dubious content in their presentations, essays, and discussions. For these reasons and more, I see the importance of teaching critical thinking is unprecedented. If we as educators make the decision to focus on delivering more critical thinking in the classroom, many of the issues facing educators and students today might very well be resolved.
Significance of Critical Thinking
Critical thinking is important for many reasons. Critical thinking can have a significant impact on student achievement. In addition to its effect on student achievement, critical thinking is a behavior dimension of successful people. As a result, critical thinking is important to students, teachers, and all peoples benefiting from the successes of students and teachers—the world.
Limitations
There are two factor, which are outside the control of the researcher/presenter, that would limit the successful adoption and implementation of critical thinking in the classroom. The first limitation is the extent to which the school's leadership takes ownership of critical thinking concepts. If the principal, for example, drives the critical thinking initiative, teachers would most probably make good faith attempts to implement critical thinking in their classrooms. The second limitation is to what extent teachers feel a need for change. If teachers don't feel a need, for example, to improve student achievement or prepare students for success as 21st Century knowledge workers, implementation of critical thinking in the classroom won't happen or will fail.
Delimitations
Delimitations, or ways the researcher chooses to narrow the focus of the research, are two. The first delimitation deals with the terms critical thinking, critical reasoning, and higher-order thinking. The three terms are used interchangeably for this study.
The second delimitation deals with suggested critical thinking activities. The suggested critical thinking activities must be easy to implement. In other words, most of the suggested critical thinking activities involve modifications to an activity most teachers already use. The main reason for this delimitation is based on my understanding of teachers—many are resistant to drastic change. If the change is minor, but the impact major (i.e. critical thinking), teachers will be more open to a change.
Definitions
Argue
To argue is to contend in oral disagreement; to dispute, by stating reasons for or against (Argue, n.d.).
Argumentative Literacy
Argumentative literacy is one's ability to write, speak, and listen in an effort to defend or argue against a topic or issue; an acquired skill.
Authentic Literacy
Authentic literacy is “purposeful, intellectually engaging reading, writing, and discussion” (Schmoker, 2006, p. 49).
Cognitive
Cognitive is “the mental processes of perception, memory, judgment, and reasoning, as contrasted with emotional and volitional processes” (Cognitive, n.d.).
Collaboration
Collaboration is to work cooperatively and willingly with another or others toward a shared goal.
Congruous
Congruous describes a person's experience that is consistent with his or her perceptions and expectations.
Critical Thinking
Critical thinking is “the mental process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating information to reach an answer or conclusion” (Critical Thinking, n.d.).
Debate
A debate is a “contest in which the affirmative and negative sides of a proposition are advocated by opposing speakers” (Debate, n.d.).
Democracy
Democracy is a type of representative government formed by members of the governed.
Discussion
A discussion occurs when two or more people engage in dialogue or discourse.
Egocentric Thinking
Egocentric thinking is non-empathetic thinking; one's inability to appreciate or consider differing points of view.
Generation Q
Generation Q describes the current generation of college students known for not speaking out; the “quiet Americans” (Friedman, 2007, para. 6).
Globalization
Globalization is the “ongoing process of intensifying economic, social, and cultural exchanges across the planet” (Suarez-Orozco & Sattin, 2007, p. 58).
Higher-order Thinking/Reasoning
Higher-order thinking is “a fundamental concept of Education reform based on Bloom's Taxonomy. Rather than simply teaching recall of facts, students will be taught reasoning and processes, and be better lifelong learners” (Higher-order Thinking, 2007).
Information Revolution
The information revolution is a process of demographic and economic transformations resulting from widespread movement away from manufacturing of goods towards the development and delivery of information and knowledge.
Interconnectedness
Interconnectedness is a feeling of global closeness due in large part to the advancements in communications and transportation technologies.
Literacy
Literacy is one's ability to read, write, and speak a certain language.
Media Text
Media texts are messages conveyed via media.
Metacognition
Metacognition is thinking about the processes of thinking
No Child Left Behind
No Child Left Behind is a 2002 federal law enacted to increase academic achievement of all students in two subjects by 2014. Teachers, schools and districts face penalties for not creating adequate progress towards the 2014 goal.
Perspective by Incongruity
Perspective by incongruity is the use of “imaginative metaphors” to illustrate connections between the messages from popular media and a person's values. Perspective by incongruity is a “creative way to compare concepts that seem unrelated” (Rockler, 2002, p. 18).
Popular Culture
Popular culture describes “what is popular within a social context; that of which is most strongly represented by what is perceived to be popularly accepted among society” (Popular Culture, 2008, para. 1).
Problem-based Learning
Problem-based learning is a student-centered instructional strategy in which students collaboratively solve problems and reflect on their experiences. In problem-based, learning is driven by challenging, open-ended problems. Problem-based learning usually requires students to work in small collaborative groups, which teachers take on the role as facilitators of learning (Problem-based Learning, 2008, para. 1)
Quality of Life
Quality of life is described as “the degree of well-being felt by an individual or group of people” (Quality of Life, 2008, para. 1).
Rubric
A rubric is a document created by a teacher for students, outlining the specific components required in a project or assignment in order to earn a desired grade
Summary of The Introduction
In Chapter One: The Introduction, critical thinking and its importance to students and teachers were discussed in the context of preparing a staff development presentation. Chapter One served as the setup for Chapter Two: The Literature Review by beginning with a background to critical thinking and proceeding to the purpose of the research, followed by a purpose statement. The chapter went on to discuss the significance of critical thinking, why critical thinking is important, and to whom, followed by a discussion on outside influences that might affect the effectiveness of the research as well the limitations the researcher imposed on the research. The chapter closed with a list of key terms and definitions.
The next chapter, Chapter Two: The Literature Review, will discuss what others have written on the topics of critical thinking and implementing critical thinking in the classroom for everyday teaching.
CHAPTER TWO: THE LITERATURE REVIEW
The purpose of this staff development project is to prepare a presentation on critical thinking and reasoning, and to present easy to implement strategies to integrate thinking and reasoning into everyday teaching. The purpose of Chapter Two: The Literature Review is to discuss what others have written on the topics of critical thinking and critical reasoning, and the implications and consequences on students' academic and civil lives if properly implemented, or not.
Critical Thinking
The world is changing more rapidly than ever before. Much of the changes taking place are due to the removal of barriers to the international exchange of information and people. Information technology, which includes personal computers, the Internet, mobile phones, and messaging, have been a driver to a significant degree of these changes, allowing more people to take part in an information revolution. To develop successful students and citizens in a world with near-infinite amounts of easily accessible information, critical thinking and reasoning are essential in order to successfully navigate through the massive volumes of available data.
What is Critical Thinking?
Etymologically, critical—the word—came from the Greek kriticos, which means “discerning judgment,” and kriterion, which means “standards” (Paul & Elder, 2, 2007, p. 42). Critical thinking is a deliberate attempt by thinkers to analyze their thinking, using specific benchmarks, resulting in higher quality thinking outcomes. Critical thinking can be likened to a process thinkers use in order to effectuate the outcomes they seek.
One objective of critical thinking is to continuously improve one's thinking. One way to improve thinking is to think about thinking. In other words, to improve thinking, critical thinkers analyze the processes of selecting, prioritizing, and questioning the information used in decision making. Paul and Elder (1, 2007) define critical thinking as “the art of analyzing and evaluating thinking with a view to improving it” (p. 4).
What Does Critical Thinking Look Like?
Smith (1990) found that low achievers and high achievers differ in how they thought about and solved problems. In describing how problem solving and critical thinking are different in low and high achievers, Smith said low achievers “demonstrated one-shot thinking rather than extended, sequential construction of understanding,” adding that low achievers “were indifferent toward achieving accurate and complete comprehension of situations and relationships” (para. 4). Paul and Elder (1, 2007) described this type of thinking as “egocentric thinking” (p. 9).
As for the high achievers, and how they went about problem solving and critical thinking, Smith (1990) observed that the group employed “lengthy, sequential analysis to arrive at an answer” and revisited “known information to clarify the question and carefully proceeded through a chain of logical steps that finally brought them to a solution” (para. 5). Paul and Elder (1, 2007) described the thinking processes employed by the high achieving group as “what critical thinkers routinely do” (p. 3).
Critical thinking does have its limitations. According to Stenberg (as cited by Hechinger, 1987), critical thinking “must scuttle the tendency to think of every issue in terms of choosing the correct one of two options” because in reality there is probably more than one option to a situation, or side to a disagreement, and the correct one is most probably a combination of the available options (para. 12). Effective critical thinking helps thinkers to weigh all the options, implications, and consequences (Paul & Elder, 1, 2007).
Why is Critical Thinking Important?
Critical thinking supports deeper understanding of relationships and better decision making—important qualities of successful people. Baron and Brown, and Osana, Derry, and Levin (as cited by Osana & Seymour, 2004) believe “the ability to reason appropriately about complex interdisciplinary problems is arguably one of the most important skills underlying contemporary success in everyday contexts” (para. 1). Critical thinking leads “to greater subject learning, more accurate retention, higher-quality decisions, and sounder, more creative solutions to problems” (Marcketti, 2007, para. 5).
Quality of Life
Most people want to improve their status in life. It's also human nature for parents to want more for their children than what they themselves have. Be it financial, professional, or social standing, people around the world want higher qualities of life for them and for their children. Critical thinking helps people make informed decisions (Paul & Elder, 1, 2007). With better decisions, derived from informed decision making, thinkers can theoretically improve their quality of life. Paul and Elder (1) argue that a person's quality of life is dependent upon the quality of their thinking. Thus, critical thinking and quality of thinking can be considered synonymous.
Critical Thinking and English Language Learners
According to Dong (2006), English language learners (ELLs) are ill prepared for success on high stakes tests if the ELL curriculum is focused primarily on language and literacy skills. Research by Collier (as cited by Dong) tells us that ELLs can achieve academic success quicker if they are allowed to take part in mainstream, general education classes alongside native English speakers. Successful integration into general education classrooms is only possible if ELLs “receive instruction that integrates literacy and critical thinking skills” (Dong, para. 4).
Academic Achievement
In the era of No Child Left Behind and high-stakes tests, critical thinking helps raise academic achievement as measured by standardized testing (Traub, 2007). In one study, incoming freshmen to the University of Charleston, in West Virginia, were administered standardized tests to assess such skills as critical thinking and creativity. The same freshmen were tested again each year to their senior year. If a student did not meet a minimum test benchmark for a skill, instructors would attempt an amelioration of the deficiency. As a result of the assessments and interventions, University of Charleston experienced the greatest achievement gain—from first to fourth year—of all the participating universities (Traub).
Carroll (2008) reported on a high school in Morris County, NJ, where “more than a third of students earned science scores in the advanced category” (para. 11). Instead of teaching to the test to raise scores, the school focused on developing students' critical thinking and analysis skills, which the superintendent credited for the school's improved science scores (Carroll).
Critical Thinking and Democracy
Citizens must possess critical thinking skills in order to critically examine claims made by leaders. The birth of Nazi Germany—many consider—was when Adolph Hitler falsely accused communist and insurrectionist of starting a fire that burned the Reichstag in 1933 (Nazi Germany, 2008). Here in the United States, the Watergate Scandal, which brought down the Nixon Administration, was considered to many a botched amateur robbery until two journalist, refusing to believe presidential denials of involvement, continued to follow and report on the incident. Woodward and Bernstein, reporters from The Washington Post, eventually broke the story, unraveling a world of presidential “dirty tricks,” “plumbers,” and “Saturday Night Massacre[s]” (Watergate scandal, 2008).
Critical thinking is essential to a democracy. The ability of the citizenry to determine what are legitimate claims and what are not is a positive skill to have in an effective democracy; government by the people, for the people. Postman (as cited by Schmoker, 2007) believes that citizens can easily be deceived if they are unable to comprehend differences between opinion and fact, and that the deceivers will see no need to cloak their deceptions. Without critical thinking, we can be told to believe untruths without a fight (Schmoker).
Democracy works well when the ideas of citizens and politicians are vetted, tested, discussed, and argued. The process of democracy begins with political discourse, followed by agreed upon courses of action, and from there we move forward, or not. Argumentative literacy and discussion are integral elements of critical thinking, a quality college education, and a functioning democracy. Argumentative literacy and discussion, however, are not part of the curriculum at most K-12 schools (Schmoker, 2006). Graff (as cited by Schmoker) believes academic discussions are educationally important to students, and to their ability to think critically.
Critical Thinking in a Changing World
An important element of critical thinking is questioning (Paul & Elder, 1, 2007). Our children will become our leaders, and will need critical thinking skills to make difficult decisions when their time to lead comes. With deficit spending, unequal educational quality, and environmental degradation abound, Friedman (2007) believes that the nation's young people are inexplicably silent. There are consequences to this silence, according to Friedman, because “if [the nation's young people] are not spitting mad, well, then they’re just not paying attention” and the government will just continue piling on (Friedman, para. 6). If the government continues adding to the deficiencies—and twenty-somethings continue in quiet mode—Friedman believes the problems facing the next generation will grow immeasurably, beyond the point of repair.
Friedman (2007) suggests that students of “Generation Q,” a generation of young people who he described as “the quiet Americans,” begin asking difficult questions of political candidates during the 2008 election cycle (para. 6). Friedman, informed by his travels to several college campuses, believes there are three main categories of concern for this generation: the environment, retirement security, and trade imbalances. Friedman suggests Generation Q begin asking the following questions of politicians: “[1] What is your plan for mitigating climate change? [2] What is your plan for reforming Social Security? [3] What is your plan for dealing with the deficit — so we all won’t be working for China in 20 years?” (para. 11).
Changing Education for a Changing World
Most societies of the world value and are committed to some form of education for their young people. Universal education was not the case last century, but as a result of a changing world, more children now receive some sort of education (Suarez-Orozco & Sattin, 2007). The education they receive, however, is not properly preparing students for the “realities of a global world” (Suarez-Orozco & Sattin, p. 58). Suarez-Orozco and Sattin warn with “globalization—the ongoing process of intensifying economic, social, and cultural exchanges across the planet—young people the world over need more innovative thinking skills, cultural awareness, higher-order cognitive skills, and sophisticated communication and collaboration skills than ever before” (p. 58). In other words, the free exchange of people and ideas are bringing disparate groups of people from all over the world together, creating a need for change in how students are educated. In the face of globalization, the United States, according to Suarez-Orozco and Sattin, has focused its educational system on effectively competing with China, India, and Russia. Instead of focusing on the competitive aspects of globalization, Suarez-Orozco and Sattin believe we should retool K-12 curricula in a way that emphasizes critical thinking skills. Doing so opens the door for students to view issues with multiple perspectives, enabling trans-global cooperation to solve regional problems. In other words, mass migration, free flows of information, and interconnectedness have changed the way we view ourselves and the world, and teachers must take this new world view into consideration when developing curriculum.
Critical Thinking and Popular Media
Media is a powerful purveyor of information. People are inundated with a plethora of messages from television, radio, movies, music, Internet, and advertising. Messengers are all competing for time and credibility from message consumers. Many of these messages are consumed unchallenged. Rockler (2002) asks why are “media texts—especially those that are entertaining as opposed to informative” not candidates for critical analysis (p. 17)?
According to Bell (as cited by Rockler), many viewers of films produced by The Walt Disney Company are famous for their resistance to critically analyzing messages in Disney movies. Critical analysis of Disney movies is “incongruous with popular culture,” according to Rockler (p. 17). To that point, when Bell (as cited by Rockler) observed student reactions after reading a critical analysis of Disney's The Lion King, students responded with: “you're reading too much into the film” or “you can't say that about Walt Disney” (p. 17).
Teaching students that popular media is an appropriate subject for critical analysis will help students to become better critical thinkers of media messages. But it's difficult to teach students to become critical analyzers of media because of the difficulty in persuading people to critically question their “most valued assumptions about everyday life,” according to Burke (as cited by Rockler, 2002, p. 18). Because people have not learned to question their culture-related assumptions, Rockler believes that employing logic is ineffective when arguing against those assumptions. Rockler tells us critical questioning of media is rare and difficult to change for today's younger generation because
popular culture is congruous with fun, entertainment, and escape. To argue that popular culture texts represent race, gender, sexual orientation, and class in significant ways, or that the popular culture texts reflect and promote dominant ideology, is incongruous with how most Americans view the role of popular culture. (p. 18)
Critical Thinking and the Work Places of the 21st Century
The interconnected world is changing ever so rapidly, and with it the work places of the 21st Century. The American economy is evolving into a knowledge-based model that utilizes a highly transient global workforce (Fletcher, 2007). With this speed of change, companies—approximately 84% of them—are complaining that many new graduates are inadequately prepared for the workplace (Fletcher). Companies rank critical thinking as one of the most important skills for new graduates to have before entering the workplace, but K-12 schools are not very effective at consistently producing graduates with critical thinking skills (Fletcher). Many companies, because they are unsatisfied with the quality of new employs, are questioning the curriculum of K-12 schools in the United States.
A fundamental paradigm shift in curriculum and assessment is needed. We need to have greater emphasis on problem-solving and critical thinking skills, and assessments that accurately measures those skills. Only then will we develop highly-skilled knowledge workers prepared for the 21st Century workplace (Fletcher, 2007). Pianta (2007) agrees, saying teachers need to facilitate more “classroom interactions that foster social skills, communication, critical thinking, and problem-solving” because they are the skills they will need as adults, entering “a working world of intense global competition” (para. 11).
Implementing Critical Thinking in the Classroom
Literacy and Critical Thinking Skills
There are many easy-to-implement activities teachers can use to promote critical thinking in the classroom. Many of the activities are already in use. With a few modifications to reading, writing, discussion, and problem-based learning lessons, activities emphasizing critical thinking can be effectively introduced.
Schmoker (2006) believes critical thinking revolves around authentic literacy—“purposeful, intellectually engaging reading, writing, and discussion” (p. 49). Authentic literacy is the bedrock of critical thinking, according to Schmoker, because
the lifelong consequences of good—or poor—literacy skills are monumental. Whether we acquire them in science, social studies, or English, they affect not only school success, but intelligence itself—our ability to think. Authentic literacy, rightly acquired, profoundly affects students' life and career options, their understanding of the world, their facility with concepts and ideas. (p. 52)
Reading, Writing, Discussing and Arguing
Reading Instruction
Schmoker (2006) believes teachers spend inordinate amounts of time teaching basic literacy, focusing the reading time towards fluency and decoding. While such skills are important, reading time can be slightly modified to include writing, arguing, and critical thinking activities. Schmoker believes reading should be viewed
as invitations to argue—to defend or support a claim about an interpretation, an author's purpose, bias, or credibility; to defend conclusions we draw; or to distinguish between facts and opinions (which often masquerade as facts) as we argue for or against the claims or inferences in the text we encounter. (p. 165)
Argumentative Reading and Writing
Discussions and arguments in the classroom can be easy to implement, and fun for the students. Teachers, according to Schmoker, can easily begin facilitating regular classroom discussions, starting with the books students read in class (2006). Not only will this activity help build students' argumentative literacy, but will better prepare students for college (Schmoker). Graff (as cited by Schmoker) believes students often times enjoy a good argument when debating stimulating topics.
Graff (as cited by Schmoker, 2006) proposes teachers adopt argumentative writing for any reading assignment. Graff (as cited by Schmoker) suggests the following steps:
Read a text or texts very carefully (as often as possible, select texts with differing or opposing viewpoints).
Based on your reading, make a claim—and make the claim very clear to your reader.
Summarize objections to your claim.
Make one point at a time, supporting your claim and addressing the objections.
Write clearly enough so that virtually anyone can understand what you have written. (p. 166)
Graff's easy-to-implement lesson for argumentative writing can be used for activities such as editorial writing, criticism of text, or research papers (Schmoker, 2006).
Imitation Writing
Schmoker (2006) believes students of average writing ability can create high quality works of writing by imitating outstanding passages from quality authors, poets, politicians, leaders or editorial columnists. An example of Schmoker's imitation writing activity starts when students
carefully read and discuss the structure and power of [works like] Martin Luther King's inspiring “I Have a Dream” speech—or a portion of it—and then write their own short or long adaptation for a dream or aspiration of their own. (p. 166)
Writing and Learning
Gammill (2006) cites Britton and Emig when she wrote “writing has long been recognized as the connector between reading and comprehension” (para. 1). Writing helps students create connections between what they are thinking and understanding from what they have just read. Gammill believes K-W-L charts and reading journals help students bridge what they have read and learned to what they understand. K-W-Ls, which can either be used individually or whole class, works much like a graphic organizer. Students begin a K-W-L by first recording what they already know about a topic [K], followed by what they don't yet know and want to know/learn [W], and after the lesson, students record what they learned from the lesson [L] (Gammill). Jared and Jared (as cited by Gammill) believe K-W-Ls are valuable because they allow “students to access background knowledge and use self-questioning to direct their focus as they read” (para. 6).
Reading journals help students retain information derived from text. According to Gammill (2006), reading journals “allow students to engage in writing to learn while responding to their reading” (para. 9). Gammill encourages students to write about their “personal experiences” and connect it to what they just read. Gammill states that reading journals are essential to learning and critical thinking because journal writing facilitates understanding, organization of ideas, information retention, connecting of concepts, and metacognition. Gammill believes reading journals are appropriate for all levels and subjects.
Zinsser (as cited by Schmoker, 2006) believes editing and rewriting are at the heart of writing. When students begin a first draft, they are likely concentrating on form and content (Schmoker). A disconnect exists, according to Hillocks (as cited by Schmoker), because “students need to write whole drafts before they know what they want to say and how to organize their work” (Schmoker, p. 168). According to Schmoker, students “short-circuit the writing process” when thinking of the final draft, while writing the first (p. 168). The process short-circuits, according to Schmoker, because students lose their ability to develop high quality arguments.
To help ensure students are developing high quality arguments in their writing, Schmoker (2006) suggests teachers make high quality writing samples easily accessible to students, and that teachers use “rubrics and scoring criteria more systematically” (p. 168). Samples, rubrics and scoring criterion are important to a student's writing success because it allows the student to compare his writing to the standard upon which he will be assessed. Meier (as cited by Schmoker) doesn't understand why a great many teachers fail to offer students writing samples, rubrics, and scoring criterion because “when we [teachers] fail to carefully and explicitly explain, model, illustrate, and provide examples of the kind of work we expect, we are not being creative. We are in fact only withholding secrets” (p. 168).
Assessing Student Writing
Schmoker (2006) urges teachers to grade written work less often so students have an opportunity to write more. Hall (as cited by Schmoker) believes there is very little added value when teachers record extensive comments on student drafts because the research suggests “students are far better off when [teachers] score [students'] work for only one or two criteria that [the teacher] just finished teaching carefully and explicitly” (p. 169). According to the Schmoker, students need small doses of feedback, and the feedback they do receive must be specific, focused on very limited criteria, and offered in a timely manner so the student can begin revising and making corrections.
Facilitating Classroom Discussions
A classroom discussion can be started by encouraging students to think about their daily routines, and to ponder the implications of their activities. For example, students can explore the global implications their daily choices have on the world as it relates to what they eat and wear (Suarez-Orozco & Sattin, 2007). Many of our choices, students will find, do in fact have global implications. The validity of the phrase think globally, act locally increases when students debate issues like “sweatshop labor, global warming, and out-sourcing [because the issues] take on new meaning when students understand how these issues actually relate to their daily lives” (Suarez-Orozco & Sattin, p. 60).
Discussing Popular Media Texts
A strategy teachers can begin using in the classroom to help students critically analyze media is called “perspective by incongruity”. Rockler (2002, p. 18) describes perspective by incongruity as using “imaginative metaphors” to illustrate connections between what students receive from popular media and the values the students hold. In other words, if a teacher wants to begin a debate on popular culture and media, he must first invent a “creative way to compare concepts that seem unrelated; A and B, which previously seemed incongruous, strategically must be compared so that they seem alike” (Rockler, p. 18). Bostdorff (as cited by Rockler) describes how a political cartoonist used perspective by incongruity to illustrate a forest populated with oil rigs instead of trees to parody former U.S. Secretary of the Interior James G. Watt, who served in the business-friendly Reagan Administration. If executed properly, perspective by incongruity can move students toward a new comprehension of how reality is constructed, which may inspire students to question their cultural assumptions (Rockler).
Problem-Based Learning
Businesses are beginning to offer lesson alternatives that focus on developing the types of skills students will need in the workplace. Kay (as cited by Fletcher, 2007) suggests teachers not “teach a series of facts,” but instead employ “problem-based” learning. One activity Kay (as cited by Fletcher) suggested is to divide students into teams,
give each team a GPS and specifications for a city park, then ask the students to pick the best site to place the park as well as articulate the rationale for their decision. Students can thereby use technology to gather data, analyze and synthesize the data, and make suggestions based on facts. (para. 10)
Khourey-Bowers (2007) described how a 5th grade art teacher introduced critical thinking and reasoning into her classroom. The task the students undertook was to determine legal ownership of works of art stolen by the Nazis during WWII. The teacher began the lesson by first discussing provenance, which is “the written documentation of ownership of a work of art” (para. 4). A provenance helps to prove the work's legitimate owner by documenting the a work's movement, from the time of artist completion to its last known owner. Art works with complete provenance are deemed more valuable than pieces without. For this lesson, students read articles related to Nazi-era works of art with incomplete provenance. Based upon the information contained in the article, students were instructed to draw upon their critical thinking skills to determine rightful owners of works. After reading the articles, students debated who they thought was the rightful owner, and what should happen with the work in question. Khourey-Bowers, writing about the results of the lesson, said the “students responded to the Stolen Art unit with excitement. Many chose to stay in from recess or crowded into the art classroom during lunch to continue their research” (para. 7).
Critical Thinking in the Social Studies Curriculum
Schmoker (2006) believes classroom activities in history, economics, or civics that allow students to evaluate, compare, or contrast people, events, or philosophies are excellent strategies for helping student acquire critical thinking skills. Schmoker suggests the following:
Evaluate or compare as the best, favorite, or greatest:
President (any two or more, in general, or for war-time, economic or other aspects of leadership)
Space mission (first orbit of the earth, the moon, space station, Mars exploration)
Economist (Keynes or Friedman? Arguably the most influential economist ever)
Civil Rights leader (Harriet Tubman or Sojourner Truth? Martin Luther King Jr. or Malcolm X or . . . ?)
Which woman made the most significant positive or negative contribution to the women's movement? Be sure your argument includes references to her rivals for this distinction (e.g. Susan B. Anthony and Betty Friedan)
Opinions—for or against (wherever possible, provide texts for both sides or these issues):
The New Deal
The Contract with America (1994)
The 1960's War on Poverty
The wisdom of the United States entering WWI/WWII/Viet Nam War/Iraq War
Breeding cows for veal
Big Box stores—bane or benefit
Israeli withdrawal from Gaza (p. 172)
Critical Thinking and Elementary Grades
Schmoker (2006) believes elementary grade students should develop critical thinking skills. Applying critical thinking to children's books can work well when questions are used to help guide the students' reading (Schmoker). Schmoker suggests the following activities:
In “Jack and the Beanstalk,” evaluate Jack's character. Is he admirable or heroic? Or something else entirely?
In the folk tale “Hungry Spider and the Turtle,” who would make a better friend, Spider or Turtle?
In Green Eggs and Ham, why is Sam so persistent? Do you like him? Is such persistence a strength or a shortcoming? (p. 173)
Summary of The Literature Review
The purpose of Chapter Two—The Literature Review—was to discuss what others have written on the topics of critical thinking and critical reasoning, and the implications and consequences on students' academic and civil lives if properly implemented, or not. The overall objective of this project was to assemble easy to implement critical thinking activities for a presentation to teachers.
In the opening of Chapter Two, critical thinking was defined and the processes and behaviors associated with critical thinkers were described. Following the opening, The Literature Review discussed why critical thinking is important by focusing on the impact critical thinking skills have on a person's: quality of life; academic achievement; ability to thrive in a democracy; ability to survive in a changing world; ability to critique popular media; success in the workplaces of the 21st Century.
After the discussion on critical thinking, the focus became implementation of critical thinking activities in the classroom. In other words, a discussion on activities teachers can easily implement, and how the activities influence critical thinking. The implementation section opened with a discussion on the positive connections between authentic literacy and critical thinking skills. The discussion then moved to reading, writing, discussing, and arguing, which were described as the building blocks of authentic literacy. Information was presented on how teachers can structure reading instruction, argumentative reading and writing, imitation writing, writing and learning, assessments of student writing, facilitations of classroom discussions, discussions of popular media texts, problem-based learning, and critical thinking in social studies and the elementary grades.
Chapter Three will describe a presentation for teachers based on the findings from Chapter Two, The Literature Review.
CHAPTER THREE
Staff Development Presentation on Critical Thinking
The purpose of this staff development project is to prepare a presentation on critical thinking and reasoning, and to present easy to implement strategies to integrate thinking and reasoning into everyday teaching. In other words, the objective of the staff development presentation is to educate teachers on the importance and necessity of integrating critical thinking activities into everyday classroom activities. The goals of the presentation are to [1] raise awareness of the importance of critical thinking, [2] discuss why critical thinking is important for the future success of students, and [3] show teachers easy to implement classroom activities that can be used immediately. There are three major themes that the presentation will focus on in order to command the audiences' attention: [1] critical thinking can positively effect student scores on standardized, high-stakes tests, [2] critical thinking can have positive effects on a student's quality of life, [3] critical thinking skills are important to success in college and in the workplace. Focusing on the three goals and three themes will help ensure that teachers hear and understand the importance of the information being presented, and as a result take positive action to implement some of the suggested activities. The target audience for the presentation include teachers and administrators employed at K-12 schools in San Diego.
Presentation Format
The presentation will utilize presentation software (i.e. Microsoft PowerPoint) on a laptop computer, which will be connected to a computer projector. In addition to the presentation, attendees will receive a paper-base copy of the presentation, and the URL to dannyblas.com, which will provide links and resources on critical thinking and critical thinking activities.
Presentation
http://docs.google.com/Presentation?id=dgpw9zdh_57dm3gcphb
REFERENCES
Argue. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Retrieved February 29, 2008, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/argue
Carroll, K. (2008, February 7). How did your school score?; Education chief calls math gains impressive. The Record, p. A01. Retrieved February 11, 2008, from ProQuest Newsstand database. (Document ID: 1425251601).
Cognitive. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Retrieved February 29, 2008, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cognitive
Critical Thinking. (n.d.). Webster's New Millennium™ Dictionary of English, Preview Edition (v 0.9.7). Retrieved February 29, 2008, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Critical Thinking
Debate. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Retrieved February 29, 2008, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/debate
Dong, Y. (2006, Best of 2006-2007). Learning to think in english. Educational Leadership, Retrieved February 11, 2008, from MAS Ultra – School Edition database.
Fletcher, G. (2007, July). AN EYE ON THE FUTURE. T H E Journal, 34(7), 26-27. Retrieved February 11, 2008, from Business Source Premier database.
Friedman, T. L. (2007, October 10). Generation q. The New York Times, Retrieved February 18, 2008, from http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/10/opinion/10friedman.html
Gammill, D. M. (May 2006). Learning the write way: The writing-to-learn approach can be used across disciplines to foster critical thinking skills. The Reading Teacher, 59(8), pp. 754. Retrieved February 11, 2008, from Literature Resource Center database.
Hechinger, F. M. (1987, February 24). About education: Thinking critically. The New York Times. Retrieved February 7, 2008, from http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DEED61239F937A15751C0A961948260&scp=1&sq=About+education%3A+Thinking+critically&st=nyt
Higher-order thinking. (2007, August 4). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 20:21, February 29, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Higher-order_thinking&oldid=149061471
Khourey-Bowers, C., & Croley, C. (2007, May). Art detectives. Educational Leadership, 64(8), 51. Retrieved February 11, 2008, from MAS Ultra – School Edition database.
Krashen, S. (2005, October 23). [Krashen] nclb is not working. Retrieved March 1, 2008, from http://sdkrashen.com/pipermail/krashen_sdkrashen.com/2005-October/000312.html
Marcketti, S. (2007, December). Design piracy: Student perceptions of a constructive controversy activity. College Student Journal, 41(4), 1046-1054. Retrieved February 11, 2008, from MasterFILE Premier database.
Nazi Germany. (2008, February 20). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 18:45, February 20, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nazi_Germany&oldid=192704881
Osana, H. P., & Seymour, J. R. (2004). Critical thinking in preservice teachers: A rubric for evaluating argumentation and statistical reasoning. Educational Research and Evaluation, Vol. 10, Nos. 4-6, p. 473-498. Retrieved February 11, 2008, from Taylor & Francis database.
Paul, R., & Elder, L. (2007). The miniature guide to critical thinking: Concepts and tools. Dillon Beach, CA: The Foundation for Critical Thinking.
Paul, R., & Elder, L. (2007). A critical thinker's guide to educational fads: How to get beyond educational glitz and glitter. Dillon Beach, CA: The Foundation for Critical Thinking.
Pianta, R. (2007, November 7). Measure actual classroom teaching. Education Week, 27(11), 36-30. Retrieved February 11, 2008, from MasterFILE Premier database.
Popular culture. (2008, February 27). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 20:55, February 29, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Popular_culture&oldid=194471666
Problem-based learning. (2008, February 20). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 21:02, February 29, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Problem-based_learning&oldid=192790425
Quality of life. (2008, February 27). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 21:05, February 29, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Quality_of_life&oldid=194357190
Rockler, N. R. (2002). Overcoming it's just entertainment: Perspectives by incongruity as strategy for media literacy. Journal of Popular Film & Television, 30(1), p16. Retrieved February 11, 2008, from MasterFILE Premier database.
Schmoker, M.J. (2006). Results now: How we can achieve unprecedented improvements in teaching and learning. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Smith, C. B. (1990, November). Are reasoning and problem solving holistic events?. Reading Teacher,
44(3), 270. Retrieved February 11, 2008, from MasterFILE Premier database.
Suarez-Orozco, M. M., & Sattin, C. (2007, April). Wanted: global citizens. Educational Leadership, 64(7), 58. Retrieved February 11, 2008, from MAS Ultra-School Edition database.
Traub, J. (2007, September 30). No gr--du--te left behind. The New York Times Magazine, Retrieved February 11, 2008, from http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/30/magazine/30grading-t.html
Watergate scandal. (2008, February 20). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 18:42, February 20, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Watergate_scandal&oldid=192839107
Labels: critical thinking, education, education reform, masters, thesis
Bill Gates recently told a group of legislators that education is an industry least changed by technology. Gates also said that reducing class sizes isn't as important as placing a highly skilled teacher in every classroom.
