Wednesday, October 10, 2012

metacognition/ critical thinking


The modules primary have to do with high order thinking skills. It is important to recognize the different levels to further the development on critical thinking. Metacognition is the ability to think about your own thinking and being in control of both emotions and morals. Metacognition can be put in three different categories, personal knowledge, task knowledge, and strategy knowledge. It further discusses how we use each of these at different ages in every day life. Critical thinking is the ability to retain and analyze information to draw connections. Higher order thinking builds on lower order thinking and has the ability to understand and create something to further the analyzes. I would suggest to use higher order and lower order achieving students together in a heterogeneous group to further the understanding of both parties. Would it be hurtful in lower order thinking students not be mixed in students that excel?

Lower order thinking requires students to duplicate information that they have learned. Metacognition or critical thinking skills are not prevalent in lower order thinking. Though higher order thinking requires students not only remember and retain the information but also to create something out of the skills they have developed. Students that are using higher order thinking must analyze, apply, or evaluate along with lower order retaining and replicating.

This reading connects with Piaget’s theory of development. He says that biological maturation regulates development. Though now what I know about lower and higher thinking levels, it is evident that biology is prevalent with aging and the development of higher levels of thinking.

In my classroom, I would give different tasks for students to do in clusters that build up lower to higher order thought. I would provide a journal for my students and have them practice writing not only their thoughts, but I would provide questions to think about regards to learning.

3 comments:

  1. I do not think it would hurt students with lower order thinking capabilities to be on their own as long as they were able to ask the teacher what they mean by a certain question or ask a parent for help. In this way they can still build their thinking and maybe start doing it on their own.

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  2. I don't think that this would be harmful for lower order students becuase they are still being exposed to different ideas and getting different opinions from other students and they would be able to understand these ideas more because these other students have a similar intelligence level. I think that if they were mixed with higher order students they may be embarrassed if they didn't have anything to contribute or if they didn't understand something that everyone else did. I think it is important for students to be in groups where the levels are all similar.

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  3. I like your suggestion about journaling, but depending on students' ages, they might be much more comfortable expressing themselves through speech rather than through writing. Talk/think aloud strategies might be more effective for them.

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