Critical Thinking/Problem Solving

1. Critical Thinking/Problem Solving Tammy LeJune

2. Critical Thinking/Problem Solving

3. How to Incorporate Critical Thinking Skills in the Classroom Teaching Grammar Traditionally: This pattern is based upon a format which explains the lesson, gives examples, and then provides drills for students on such topics as parts of speech, verb tenses, active vs. passive verbs, dependent and independent clauses, and punctuation. The simplicity or complexity of the lesson depends upon the grade level of the text.

4. ...the ability to analyze facts, generate and organize ideas, defend opinions, make comparisons, draw inferences, evaluate arguments and solve problems (Chance,1986, p. 6); • ...a way of reasoning that demands adequate support for one's beliefs and an unwillingness to be persuaded unless support is forthcoming (Tama, 1989, p. 64); • ...involving analytical thinking for the purpose of evaluating what is read (Hickey, 1990, p. 175); • ...a conscious and deliberate process which is used to interpret or evaluate information and experiences with a set of reflective attitudes and abilities that guide thoughtful beliefs and actions (Mertes,1991, p.24); • ...active, systematic process of understanding and evaluating arguments. An argument provides an assertion about the properties of some object or the relationship between two or more objects and evidence to support or refute the assertion. Critical thinkers acknowledge that there is no single correct way to understand and evaluate arguments and that all attempts are not necessarily successful (Mayer & Goodchild, 1990, p. 4); • ...the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action (Scriven & Paul, 1992); • reasonable reflective thinking focused on deciding what to believe or do (Ennis, 1992).

5. Now, Teaching Students to Think Critically: First, choose a short passage that is exceptionally descriptive, exciting or well written. Then ask students to write down the passage while you dictate it. This improves their listening and note-taking skills. Students could later compare different ways of using punctuation to write the passage. The following passage is from John Steinbeck's The Pearl: • The scorpion moved delicately down the rope toward the box. Under her breath Juana repeated an ancient magic to guard against such evil, and on top of that she muttered a Hail Mary between clenched teeth. But Kino was in motion. His body glided quietly across the room, noiselessly and smoothly. His hands were in front of him, palms down, and his eyes were on the scorpion. Beneath it in the hanging box Coyotito laughed and reached up his hand toward it. It sensed danger when Kino was almost within reach of it. It stopped and its tail rose up over its back in little jerks and the curved thorn on the tail's end glistened. Because students have written the passage, they are more prepared for the analysis you will ask them to do. Place them in groups to work on the following questions: List some things that you notice about the writing style of this author. Go through the passage and write down some verbs that worked especially well. Go through the passage and write down some nouns with their adjectives that made the passage more vivid. How do the adverbs contribute to the passage? List some positive and negative criticism you have of this author's writing style. This lesson will have students thinking about the way the grammar works in the passage. Students will develop a sense of what is powerful in writing and be able to generalize rules that will improve their own work. As a closing exercise, ask students to write a paragraph in which they imitate Steinbeck's style. They should be encouraged to invent their own fiction and not write a passage about a scorpion. These models of Steinbeck's style can be shared with the class and analyzed for points of comparison.

6. An Example for the Language Arts Classroom Journal Writing: The standard approach that teachers use to incorporate journals in the language arts classroom is to have prompts displayed and the student uses these prompts to make daily entrees into their journals. Examples: I would like to change… What you wish…

7. How to Change Personal Journal Writing to Critical Journal Writing: In order to shift to to critical journal writing, teachers rewrite existing prompts to include specific questions which will enable students to respond thoughtfully, or teachers rewrite journal prompts which explore concepts in a critical way. Examples: What you wish… If the student is given the above prompt, they will write down specific materially things such as a new ipod, cell phone, clothes, Mark/Mary’s love, etc. However, if the prompt is expanded to include: What areas in people's lives are within their control? What areas in their lives are they powerless to control? How do decisions made when people are young affect their lives later on? When should you set future goals? What different types of goals do you have for yourself? Which are most important to you? How would you go about attaining them? Which depend on you alone, and which on others? How many of the goals that you set are material goals? Do you think young people of other countries have different goals? How do they differ? Why do they differ? The above prompt is intentionally long, but will produce journal entries which are a significant improvement on the laundry wish list.