Critical thinking is a term that is given much discussion
without much action. K-12 educators and
administrators are pushed to teach the necessities as dictated by the
standardized assessments in order to catch up the students to students of other
countries. In this push for better test
scores, many students are leaving the K-12 education system lacking the
critical thinking skills that are necessary to succeed in higher education or
in the workplace.
There are several reasons that critical thinking is not being
focused on, and the need to have better scores on assessments is just one of
them. Issues such as how to define
critical thinking, how to teach critical thinking, and whether critical
thinking should be taught or learned through social interaction plague
educators who think about enhancing the critical thinking skills of their
students.
“In order
to engage students in critical thinking, the educator needs to act as a
facilitator to allow for discussion and encourage a freer thought process … “
Critical thinking can be infused in lessons throughout all
disciplines by utilizing in depth questioning and evaluation of both data and
sources. Having students track patterns
in information forces them to look at the information as a process instead of
simply information to be memorized and helps them develop skills of recognition
and prediction.
Enjoy,
Ms. Nora Sierra
EC Assistant Principal
Discovery School
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