Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
Clinic Sessions – Examples of Practice
Cheryl Lemke
Metiri Group
Critical Thinking & Problem Solving
TODAY
• What is it?
• Why is it
important?
TOMORROW
•How can you
develop it in
students, teachers,
administrators,
community?
The WHAT…the WHY…
ELEVATOR SPEECHES?
Critical Thinking
…the use of those cognitive skills or
strategies that increase the
probability of a desirable outcome.
…bewildered by difficult ideas…
“subjunctive tenses in English, Hamlet’ indecision,
Archimedes’ principle of displacement, why it’s hotter
in the summer, how slavery could have taken such a
strong hold in the South.”
Our most important choice is what we try to teach,
not how we teach it.”
- David Perkins, Harvard University
The Solution…
Empowering re engagement of
students in learning through a
combination of critical thinking,
multimodal learning, relevancy,
student-centered learning.
Balance focus on HOTS and Basics
Cued Text/Sound Memories
Text/Sounds
Sights
&
Sounds
Attention
Visuals
Working
Memory
Integrative
Integrative
Thinking
Thinking
New
New
Understanding
Understanding
Long
Term
Memory
Cued Visual Memories
Dual Memory Channels
Based on Models of Working Memory
By Myake and Shah (1999)
Intelligence and critical thinking can be developed
Neural
Intelligence
Experiential
Intelligence
•Fields
•Situations
•Contexts
•Tools
•Techniques
Intelligence
Reflective
Intelligence
• Dispositions
• Challenges
• Technical
Key Models
• Diane Halpern
• Tishman and Perkins
• deBono’s CoRT
Diane Halpern
1.What
is the
Goal?
Dispositions
2. What is
Known?
Challenges
No
4. Have You
Reached
Your Goal?
Yes
Success
Reflection
3. Which Thinking
Skills Will Get You
To Your Goal?
•Deductive
Reasoning
•Argument Analysis
•Hypothesis Testing
•Uses of Probability
•Decision Making
•Problem Solving
•Creative Thinking
Smart Schools (Perkins)
1.“Theory One.” Principles of teaching and learning.
2. Pedagogy of Understanding. Generative content.
3. The metacurriculum. HOTS, transfer, intellectual passion.
4. Distributed intelligence. Collaboration. Tools extentions.
5. Cognitive Economy. Hot cognitive economies.
Critical Thinking in Practice…
Teaching for Understanding
Teaching for Understanding
QuickTime™ and a
Sorenson Video decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Video:
http://www.ncrel.org/engauge/framewk/efp/align/efpalisu.htm
Critical Thinking: Grades 1-2
International Projects
http://www.iearn.org
Remember your algebra teacher…
IMMEX
Rights to publish Movie not available
IMMEX
•
•
•
Online problem sets - (9)
mathematics
Problem sets consist of a number of
cases that students solve
The step-by-step decisions that
each student or group makes while
problem-solving are tracked in a
search-path map
http://immex.ucla.edu
WISE
Web-based Integrated Science Environment
QuickTime™ and a
Sorenson Video decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
http://wise.berkeley.edu
• How far does light go?
• How safe are airbags?
• Should you eat
genetically modified
food?
• Why are frogs showing
up deformed all over the
world?
Web-based Integrated Science Environment
http://wise.berkeley.com
SimCalc
http://www.simcalc.umassd.edu/
SimCalc
http://www.simcalc.umassd.edu/software/
Diane Halpern
1.What
is the
Goal?
Dispositions
2. What is
Known?
Challenges
No
4. Have You
Reached
Your Goal?
Yes
Success
Reflection
3. Which Thinking
Skills Will Get You
To Your Goal?
•Deductive
Reasoning
•Argument Analysis
•Hypothesis Testing
•Uses of Probability
•Decision Making
•Problem Solving
•Creative Thinking
You Make the Call
http://library.thinkquest.org/J001709/thinkquest_values/make_call/start.html
Vocabulary Words
http://annesmith9h.blogspot.com/2006/10/wonder-woman-gone-country.html
Making Thinking Visible
Level of Power
Jack and Ralph's Power Struggle Throughout Lord
of the Flies
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Ralph
Jack
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Chapter
8
9
10
11 12
You Decide…
Has she
convinced you to
stop buying items
produced in
sweatshops?
What other
options might you
consider to impact
this situation?
(Sweatshop Video)
http://www.sfett.com/home.php?id=iCan2
Assign Intellectually
Stimulating Work
•Relevance Beyond School
•Disciplined Inquiry
•Knowledge Construction
Quality of Assignments Counts
Students Learn More in Classrooms with High Quality
Assignments: Effects on On-Year ITBS Gains
ITBS Math
Classrooms with highquality assignments
Classrooms with lowquality assignments
ITBS Reading
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
Source: Improving Chicago’s Schools, Fred Newman 2001
Nested Approach
Thinking
Concepts: Skills:
Content Activities
Habits
of Mind:
•Systems
•Inferring
•Attending
•Cycles
•Sequencing
•Risk Taking
•Relationship
•Comparing
•Persistence
•Contrasting
•etc
•PSing
Outcomes
www.metiri.com
See Presentations Page