Critical Thinking Readings & GWAP

I thought I knew a lot about critical thinking skills but that was put to the test with the video we watched. I definitely didn’t know much about critical thinking “strategies”, if anything at all. I knew critical thinking was an advanced way of learning and thinking that evolves in the brain and younger children usually don’t have this skill, it’s developed over time. My definition of critical thinking would have been for me the ability to analyze information or “data” and then apply the relevant information, in a reasoned manner. Or simply put, using our brains to sift and organize information in order to best recall relevant information; higher-ordered thinking. As for strategies, I hadn’t really even given it much thought. I just assumed that the further I pushed along in age and education it was a natural evolution of our brains.

As an educator, I want to know more about what the critical thinking strategies are exactly? When I get a grip on that I would like to know how exactly one might impart those strategies to myself and to my students in order to be become better learners. One’s who are open to new ideas and not so blinded by biases that we shut out what the real facts or truths may be. Not to be so overcome by emotion as so many from both extremes in our society are today in order not to fall into the “false dichotomy” that leads to “false conclusion” or solutions as the video stated. I want to know how to flush out this kind of “black and white” thinking, which leads to sabotaging critical thinking skills that could really bring about big changes in our not so civil society as well as logic to rash judgments and conclusions in our political, educational and all institutions of our country. Just a side note here: I loved the quote that “arguing with reason is cutting off the branch in which we sit”, temporary new favorite!

I’m still not sure what a critical thinking skill set would look like as far as being able to teach it like material from a text? I do have a much better handle on exactly what critical thinking is and what helps and hinders it. So, with this knowledge base a few ideas about how to apply this in lesson plans without specifics would have to be the following. First, learn what biases students are bringing to the table, whether good or bad; it goes back to the idea of pre-existing knowledge and how that can wreak havoc on what and how students are learning and retaining from your lesson depending on their knowledge base. Next, I would try to design plans that make students think outside the box, with less restraint on the course of parts of the activities. This would give them chances to try and fail which I just thought of as I write may be a good way to practice critical thinking. I know failing at times works in the “real world” as long as you get back up and try again. Maybe having well thought-out group projects to encourage differing views having to work to come to a consensus would be good. Plus having the plans or just part of the learning process in general include lots of student feedback and healthy discussion and debate in order to reach the facts. I know we need to have discipline, clear expression of ideas and take person responsibility for our own thinking for good critical thinking skills so hopefully some of these thoughts head in that direction. Interested to see what others have come up with for their classrooms or lesson plans!

The GWAP games to me were like simple but more demanding forms of the game “charades”. I think they support sharing by the interactions that are necessary for both people to score and win quickly. You definitely need to think faster than charades so that may go to the action point. I did notice that the more I played them, I fairly rapidly got better and faster. You must collaborate in order to solve each section as fast as possible and gain as many points as possible by adjusting thought processes real quick and try to match each others styles for each game; if that makes any sense. Communication while not face-to-face and learning how the other is choosing to play the game or thinking was challenging. After a few segments you could almost see the non-verbal communication of the games. Not sure how to use the games in a10^th grade biology class because of the reality that every desk doesn’t have a computer, etc. Having said that I think they would be good even as extra credit to stretch young brains like we think of how crossword puzzles do this for us. One way I thought of was to bring it to class as a class activity where teams would be set up or the class divided in two. One side of the class shown a card with a name pertaining to the material on it and the other shown a different card. The names on the card may be the same or may be different but by writing one word per side at a time until each team locks in an answer on whether their cards are the team who choose right get points and the first team to decide right gets extra points. Maybe taking these computer models of the game to a non-digital level based on what the class is learning could be a way to go? Again, interested to hear what others come up with!