The main ideas of these chapters what the importance of
understanding one’s own thinking so that they can further develop and
excel. Metacognition is the processes of
thinking about one’s own thinking processes, memory capabilities, and the
ability to monitor your own learning.
It’s important to understand our own cognitive processes in order to
maximize learning. By looking at person,
task, and strategy knowledge we can better understand they way in, which we
think. It’s important for us to be able
to regulate our thinking by planning, monitoring, and evaluation. One important theory discussed in this module
was the Theory of Mind; it understands the “mental world.” This theory is characterized by four
characteristics: false-beliefs, appearance, visual perspective, and
introspection. Environmental and
biological differences affect metacognition. Teaching different thinking
dispositions are important, these dispositions include tendencies to explore,
inquire, seek clarity, and think critically.
A thinking disposition is considered a personal attribute while a
thinking skill is a cognitive strategy.
Critical thinking is an important concept that involves the process of
evaluating the accuracy and worth of information through reasoning. It’s important for students to understand
what critical thinking is, and how there own thinking processes work before
they can engage in critical thinking.
Problem solving is the means we use to reach a certain goal. There are well-defined problems, which can be
solved with an algorithm and have a definite answer and set of steps to be
solved. If the steps are followed
correctly, the answer can be found.
Ill-defined problems are problems where the desired goal is unclear and
there can be a variety of possible solutions.
Ill-defined problems can be solved through heuristics, which are a
general rule of thumb, educated guess, or common sense. Heuristics are just general guidelines to
help solve a problem, and may not always lead to a solution.
What are ways to teach critical thinking in a
classroom?
Lower-order thinking is the simplicity of just recalling
information with a routine of repeating past experiences. Higher-order thinking uses complex cognitive
strategies and integrates past experiences to apply our knowledge. It’s
important that not only high-achieving students practice high-order thinking,
but students of all achieving levels learn higher-order thinking. According to research from the book, students
of all levels can benefit from higher-order thinking.
Adolescent egocentrism is the difficulty differentiating
between our own thoughts and the thoughts of others. This is done through an imaginary audience in
which one believes he or she is the focus of attention without regards to the
thoughts of others. Another example is
personal fable in which adolescents believe they’re unique and no one else can
understand their situation or what they’re going through. These topics relate to Piaget’s theory of
cognitive development. Piaget suggests
these are negative consequences in development that come from an individual
moving into operational thinking. Others
disagree with Piaget and believe that these might not necessarily be negative
consequences but rather adaptive coping processes.
To facilitate critical thinking in my classroom I will first
have students explore there own thinking processes, and understand the concepts
that consist with critical thinking. I
can have the students engage in exploratory discussion where I’ll raise
questions to get the students thinking of prior knowledge and connect it with
their own beliefs and biases. It’s
important to use an appropriate wait-time when asking questions to give the
students a few seconds to think through the question, and it will provide for
better answers from students. By
breaking down complex issues into simpler parts I can more easily facilitate
the critical thinking steps so students can slowly find the big idea. After the discussion I can have students
write down a summary of our discussion, so they can record there thought
processes, and I can see if they in fact engaged in critical thinking.
Critical thinking can be used in the classroom by not asking for the answer but WHY and HOW it happened. As a teacher, if you post a question on the board that evolves not only what they know but why. For example, if learning history you could ask, "How would the United States be different today if the Native Americans were not forced out of their land."
ReplyDeleteI like your suggestions here. I think creating a good critical thinking disposition and expectations is definitely something you will need to do as a class. If you do these practices (above) each day, the students will become more and more comfortable with it.
ReplyDeleteCreating these expectations in the classroom is a good way to foster a disposition (to answer your question). Also, by asking questions that require critical thinking (compare, create, categorize, etc rather than list, remember, etc), you'll be encouraging it as well.