Critical Thinking

            I don't know about all of you, but a lack of critical thinking seems prevalent in many areas of our society today, particularly when it comes to the 2016 presidential campaigns. I couldn't help but think about that as I was reading on the topic of higher level thinking this week in my Instructional Applications of the Internet class. One of the biggest challenges we face as a population is getting people to question ideas and to thoughtfully evaluate the information they see or hear. For instance, not to get too political here, but is it rational to hope for a leader that openly offends women? Would critical thought really tell us that makes sense? I think that Daniel T. Willingham addresses this issue in his book: "When Can You Trust the Experts?" Although the book is primarily focused on using good judgment when choosing an educational program for your school, I think his arguments are much more far reaching than that. At one point in the book he talks about something known as "social proof," which is when people come to believe something simply because other people do or because it is familiar. He writes: "Social proof can become a real problem if an inaccurate belief becomes widely accepted."So how do we combat this situation? Is it even possible?

            I think that it is, and I believe that it starts in our classrooms. We have to encourage students to think for themselves, construct their own knowledge, read, research, question, create, and analyze, and we need to have them doing those things on a very regular basis. We need to talk to them about how to find accurate resources and how to cross-check information amongst several different sources. I had a student last year doing her biography project on Sacajawea. There was conflicting information amongst two of the books she had read about Sacajawea's early life, so I had this student look for at least two other resources and go with the information that came up most often. Cross checking facts is time consuming. Critical thinking can be a challenge. Isn't it easier to just turn on CNN or FoxNews and believe everything they say? Or to tell students to believe every word of their teachers as truth? I am not suggesting that all of the information reported on major news networks is wrong or that everything teachers say is invalid, but rather that listeners and viewers need to actively process and evaluate the information they are given and understand that there could be inaccuracies or biases. We need citizens to formulate their own thoughts. The future of our society depends on it. 

            In one of the articles I read this week, the author suggested that a way teachers can help students learn how to think critically is by having them actually think about their own thoughts. In my classroom, we always referred to this as synthesis. Disney Pixar's latest production, "Inside Out," would be an excellent way to get students to acknowledge those little "voices" in their heads. Although the film focuses primarily on the emotions that drive us, viewers definitely get an opportunity to view the brain as a complex place. It gives us the ability to process our feelings, but the brain also stores our memories, drives our interests, and lets us think in depth about an endless number of topics. I would show snippets of the movie to students at the beginning of the year in order to introduce the complexity of the brain to them in a child-friendly manner. This would provide an illustration that we could refer back to throughout the year. In order for students to think critically, they have to consider what they know, don't know, have forgotten, want to know, and so forth. You could figure out a way to do this at any grade level, but my suggestion is for elementary-aged students. There are short clips from the film online you can use or you could wait for the DVD, which is slated to be released on November 3rd. 

          After sharing some clips from "Inside Out," I would have the students participate in a collaborative critical thinking activity. One of my favorites is called: "Saving Sammy." The children absolutely love it, and the lesson requires both critical thought and problem solving skills. The students are given a scenario in which a character named Sammy (a gummy worm) has had his boat capsize and cannot swim. He needs to get to his life preserver (a gummy Life Saver) in order to float safely to shore. Each student in the group can only use one paperclip as a tool to accomplish the task. There are different ways that students figure out how to successfully complete the mission. For photos and full instructions, visit: http://www.biologycorner.com/worksheets/saving_sam.html. I hope these ideas might be useful to you as you kick off the process of critical thinking in your classroom. Even though we are a few weeks into the school year, it's never too late to start! Until next time...

Reference:
Willingham, D.T. (2012). When can you trust the experts? San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.