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This collection of papers evaluates the goals of critical thinking and of life-long and life-wide learning, all of which appear frequently in the rhetoric of educational reform. It discusses what these concepts mean, and what societal, cultural and educational issues arise from them.
Although neuroscience has significantly advanced in the past three decades, this knowledge has not been translated to the classroom. Based on this premise, the author, a neuroscientist, shows that many of the current practices of teaching are not efficacious and thus discusses alternatives to enhance learning. This book also examines the main mechanisms of learning so the teacher will understand why current teaching methods may not be optimal and how to improve them. Also, by going into the neural mechanisms of learning, this book provides tools for the teachers to explore novel methods of learning using the new science of learning. This book will undoubtedly change some of the concepts about learning that we intuitively believe based on our observations. Readers will, therefore, be able to improve their teaching methods and learning of their students based on the non-intuitive new science of learning.
While notions of what constitutes critical thinking vary, educators, politicians, and employers all agree that critical thinking skills are necessary for well-educated citizens and a key capacity for successful employees. In Teaching for Critical Thinking, Stephen Brookfield explores how students learn to think critically and what methods teachers can use to help. In his engaging, conversational style, Brookfield establishes a basic protocol of critical thinking that focuses on students uncovering and checking assumptions, exploring alternative perspectives, and taking informed actions. The book fosters a shared understanding of critical thinking and helps all faculty adapt general principles to specific disciplinary contexts. Drawing on thousands of student testimonies, the book identifies the teaching methods and approaches that are most successful when teaching students to think, read, and write critically. Brookfield explains when to make critical thinking the classroom focus, how to encourage critical discussions, and ways to reach skeptical students. He outlines the basic components required when reviewing a text critically and shows how to give highly specific feedback. The book also addresses how to foster critical thinking across an institution, beginning with how it can be explained in syllabi and even integrated into strategic plans and institutional missions. Brookfield stresses the importance of teachers modeling critical thinking and demonstrates himself how to do this. Crammed with activities and techniques, this how-to guide is applicable in face-to-face, online, and hybrid classrooms of all sizes. Each exercise includes detailed instructions, examples from different academic disciplines, and guidance for when and how to best use each activity. Any reader will come away with a pedagogic tool kit of new ideas for classroom exercises, new approaches to designing course assignments, and new ways to assess students’ ability to practice critical analysis.
In this book, Jennifer Moon explores and clarifies critical thinking and provides practical guidance for improving student learning and supporting the teaching process. Key themes covered include: different views of and approaches to critical thinking with an emphasis on a practical basis that can be translated into use in the classroom. links between learning, thinking and writing the place of critical thinking alongside other academic activities such as reflective learning and argument critical thinking and assessment, class environments, staff knowledge and development, writing tasks and oral tasks. Teachers in all disciplines in post-compulsory education will find this approach to defining and improving students’ critical thinking skills invaluable.
Learning how to be critical and how to think for oneself are vital elements of becoming an independent learner. Critical thinking could be thought of as a tool box of skills which enables us to think more deeply, clearly and logically about our beliefs; providing a platform for making sound and valid decisions. Not only will this book help you to develop your students, but it will also further develop your own critical thinking. Each chapter contains an illustrative story to help apply the abstract ideas, such as rational thought and moral and ethical reflection, to concrete, everyday situations. There is also a complete children's story at the end of the book to help you introduce philosophy to children. This book explains the essential elements of critical thinking and why it is integral to the lifelong process of becoming educated.
An insightful guide to the practice, teaching, and history of critical thinking—from Aristotle and Plato to Thomas Dewey—for teachers, students, and anyone looking to hone their critical thinking skills. Critical thinking is regularly cited as an essential 21st century skill, the key to success in school and work. Given the propensity to believe fake news, draw incorrect conclusions, and make decisions based on emotion rather than reason, it might even be said that critical thinking is vital to the survival of a democratic society. But what, exactly, is critical thinking? Jonathan Haber explains how the concept of critical thinking emerged, how it has been defined, and how critical thinking skills can be taught and assessed. Haber describes the term's origins in such disciplines as philosophy, psychology, and science. He examines the components of critical thinking, including • structured thinking • language skills • background knowledge • information literacy • intellectual humility • empathy and open-mindedness Haber argues that the most important critical thinking issue today is that not enough people are doing enough of it. Fortunately, critical thinking can be taught, practiced, and evaluated. This book offers a guide for teachers, students, and aspiring critical thinkers everywhere, including advice for educational leaders and policy makers on how to make the teaching and learning of critical thinking an educational priority and practical reality.
This introduction to critical thinking focuses on an integrated, universal concept of critical thinking that is both substantive and practical. It provides students with the basic intellectual skills they need to think through content in any class, subject, or discipline, and through any problems or issues they face. Now available from Rowman & Littlefield, Richard Paul and Linda Elder's Critical Thinking: Learn the Tools the Best Thinkers Use focuses on the most basic critical thinking concepts. It includes activities that allow readers to apply these concepts within disciplines and to life. An added feature to this brief book is a focus on close reading and substantive writing. Content highlights include: Think for Yourself activities Discovering the parts of thinking and the standards for thinking Learning to formulate clear and substantive questions Making the design of a course work for you Close reading and substantive writing Becoming a fairminded thinker
The editors of this book employ social, cognitive, linguistic, and political theoretical innovations to develop a new conception of critical thinking. They examine how such a construct might be taught in a variety of social settings and disciplines. Using a host of previously neglected perspectives—sociocognition, issues of political economy, complexity theory, and critical theoretical notions of epistemology and power theory—the editors and authors present a conceptually sophisticated yet accessible compendium on critical thinking. The introduction guides readers through the reconceptualization process. Specific entries focus on particular dimensions of the challenges to old-style critical thinking. In this context, readers can choose entries that discuss various means of engaging students in the critical complex perspective of critical thinking. The encyclopedia is aware of both theoretical concerns and the everyday realities of schooling in the 21st century. As such, it rounded in a respectful view of teachers that assumes they are capable of levels of expertise unacknowledged by many contemporary articulations of school reform. The educational, cognitive, and professional vision developed in the encyclopedia offers a profound alternative to the top-down impositional models now sweeping the nation's school districts.
This book presents an innovative teaching experiment and an analytical study of critical thinking and the sociocultural theory of learning to illustrate the cognitive learning development mechanisms. It addresses the issues in developing critical thinking, including the controversy surrounding the definition, measurement and teaching of critical thinking, particularly in the L2 context. The book explains how infusion-thinking lessons can be structured to help students develop critical thinking along with language learning. Further, it uses a case study as a real-world example to examine the applicability and feasibility of infusion-thinking lessons in the EFL context and their effectiveness in developing students’ critical thinking and language learning. Packed with thinking activities and techniques, this practical, hands-on manual provides original ideas and empirical data, giving teachers everything they need to plan their lessons to improve students’ critical thinking within language courses and evaluate their teaching.
Widely sought as professional development leaders, Paul and Elder have conducted hundreds of workshops for university faculty all over the world. Their work speaks to the universal need to develop a sharp, open, and analytical mind. Tools that enable us to take charge of our learning and our lives are the very same tools that can help us all do more than merely survive in an economically and socially deprived environment. With them we can work independently or with others to produce positive changes. "Critical Thinking: Tools for Taking Charge of Your Learning and Your Life" provides a holistic theme, approaching critical thinking as a process for taking charge of and responsibility for one's thinking. Designed to foster the development of critical thinking skills and abilities, fair-mindedness, intellectual humility, and intellectual integrity, the approach is an eminently practical one. Numerous meaningful, yet common examples coupled with related activities allow the reader to examine and chronicle his/her own understanding and growth, providing the foundation for the lifelong application of critical thinking skills. A companion web site (www.prenhall.com/paul) provides students with valuable resources to enhance their pursuit to be critical thinkers.
