Thinking Skills

1. Thinking Skills TCH 347 Social Studies in the Elementary School Department of Teacher Education Shippensburg University Han Liu, Ph.D.

2. List of Thinking Skills • Critical thinking • Creative thinking • Decision making • Problem solving • Analytical Thinking vs. Synthesizing thinking • Inductive thinking vs. Deductive thinking • Generalizing thinking vs. particularizing thinking • Sequential thinking vs. Parallel thinking • Comparative thinking • Inferring/Predicting/Hypothesizing/Interpreting thinking • Affective thinking/ Moral reasoning thinking • Evaluating thinking

3. Critical Thinking • A person choose criteria or standard to use in analyzing, evaluating, or judging a statement, an idea, a point of view, an action, a behavior, the quality of a group discussion, etc. • Five steps

4. Five steps for Critical Thinking • Define what is to be judged, analyzed, or evaluated. • Clarify the criteria that will be used. • Gather accurate, relevant data about the issue or topic. • Evaluate the data for bias, inconsistency, fallacies in reasoning, or persuasive techniques such as emotional appeals,. Distinguish fact from opinions • Complete the judgment, analysis, or evaluation based on evidence and reasons related to the criteria.

5. Questions for Critical Thinking • Why did some settler remain loyal to Britain during the American Revolution? What reasons were given for being a loyalist? A patriot? • To what extent should immigrants keep their ethic and cultural heritage? To what extent should they be Americanized? • Was this book helpful to your study of Pennsylvania history? What were its strengths” its weaknesses?

6. Creative Thinking • Creative thinking is the sources of originality, divergent thinking, and new ideas. Teachers may stimulate creative thinking in social studies by encouraging students to suggest new ways of doing things.

7. Projects/Activities for Creative Thinking • Let students design projects by themselves • Organize activities for competition • Encourage different ways of completing the same goal

8. Decision Making • Students make intelligent choices by identifying objectives and alternative ways of achieving them.

9. Steps for Decision Making • Define the issue or situation that requires a decision • Set decision-making goals, and clarify the values and support the chosen values • Evaluate each alternative and its consequences in terms of goals and values • Rank the alternatives based on positive and negative consequences • Decide on the best alternative, and take the action it requires • Evaluate the decision making process, the final decision, and the way it has been carried out

10. Decision Making Problems • To whom and how to report the campus safety problems? • Everyone in the class gives the dog a different name, how to decide the final name for the dog? • Policy decision: drill oil in Alaska or develop nuclear power?

11. Problem Solving and Inquiry • These thinking processes involve the rational and objective study of questions, issues, problems ranging from investigating ways of living in families, communities, and culture around the world to studying contemporary issues and global problems. Students try to understand, explain, and predict human behavior. Creative thinking and critical thinking are involved in problem solving and inquiry.

12. Steps for Problem Solving • Identify and define the problem • If helpful, break the problem into parts • State questions, hypotheses, or hunches to guide the process. • Determine what is already known, and what information needs to be gathered • Choose procedures to gather information and the sources to be used • Analyze data and decide which information is relevant and reliable • Use data to test the hypotheses • Synthesize the information and draw a conclusion • Develop an action plan

13. Analytical thinking vs. Synthesizing Thinking • Analytical thinking: From whole to parts • Synthesizing thinking: From parts to whole

14. Inductive Thinking vs. Deductive Thinking • Inductive Process: Draw general conclusion based on analysis of particular cases that share common characteristics • Deductive process: Apply generalization to individual cases.

15. Inductive Process • Collect, organize, and examine data • Identify common elements and what is generally true for the data • State a generalization based on common or general elements • Check the generalization against all data to make sure that it is sound

16. Deductive Process • Present the generalization to the group • Present supporting data, cases, or evidence • Refer students to additional sources of data, and ask them to find more support • Test the generalization against all data gathered

17. Sequential Thinking vs. Parallel Thinking • Sequential Thinking: Think following a linear logical order • Parallel thinking: Think in parallel manner about several issue simultaneously

18. Generalizing Thinking vs. Particularizing Thinking • Generalizing is summarizing common features of things or concepts • Population growth, industrialization, and urbanization must be controlled if the environment is to be improved. • Particularizing means to single out something special, outstanding among a group of things or concepts • Nile is the longest river in the world.

19. Comparative Thinking • Think by comparing two or more similar/different factors at the same time

20. Inferring/Predicting/Hypothesizing/Interpreting Thinking • Inferring: To draw a possible consequence, conclusion, or implication from a set of fact or premises • Predicting: To forecast or anticipate what may happen under certain conditions • Hypothesizing: Is more general than inference and prediction and should apply to all similar cases. It should be testable. • Interpreting: Same mean manifested in different forms

21. Affective Thinking/Moral Reasoning • Think with emotions, feeling, or values involved.

22. Evaluating Thinking • Evaluating is an ongoing process that continues from the beginning of an activity through its culmination. How well am I doing?