Critical Thinking

As a child of the 80’s and 90’s school was beginning to stress critical thinking in education…. but as a teacher from 2002 on critical thinking has been one of the main focal points. But why?

I think one of my favorite memes that advocates for critical thinking is one where you have people trying to put a full size mattress inside a small car…. but what is critical thinking?

Critical thinking: the objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgement — if we break down the meaning of this definition… (using Webster’s online dictionary…)
– objective – dealing with facts, able to be verified true or false, not based on personal opinions
– analysis – detailed examination
–evaluation – to determine the value, nature, character, or quality of someone or something
–judgement – the process of forming an opinion or evaluation by discerning and comparing

So my personal definition: Critical Thinking – evaluating an event, problem, question by looking at all the information given, the ending goal in mind, and all different possible solutions. Next, attempt the possible solutions and evaluate effectiveness. Finally, draw a conclusion based on the results of the effectiveness of my solutions.

Problem	End Goal	Possible Solutions	Effectiveness
1000 piece puzzle	Completed puzzle	organize pieces on same table by color find all the edge pieces first and then work through bigger parts or specific colors first	Do I have a completed puzzle? (All put 2 pieces… not bad)
Taking a family member to chemo and teaching	Making sure I taught that day and making sure my family member wasn’t alone	Use computer in the car – need to connect to WiFi or Bluetooth – (Verizon gave extra data for this purpose) create a meeting time around the time I will be sitting in the car (corona no visitors) make videos to share on Teams	Was able to grade assignments from the day before on Teams Attended “meetings” with students Created individual video for specific students Fresh coffee was down the road
Nursing friends were struggling wearing masks for 12+ hours at a time – it was wearing on their ears	Something that will connect to their masks and take the pressure off their ears	Need an idea that will attach to both sides of the mask around the back of the head Scour the internet for ideas – found a boy scout’s idea and got the 3D print file, using the 3D printer at school to print	Was able to use the 3D printer from school to print over 600 mask extenders to give to our local hospitals

In the classroom, what is critical thinking? How can we teach it? In the past, critical thinking skills have been focused in the math classrooms. We’ve used words like higher order thinking skills or multi-step problems. We teach the scientific method and the engineering process. (I attached the links from the Science Buddies website that is a great tool – I use it in a middle school classroom). All of these methods could be focused into a few steps:
1. What is the problem? What is my end goal?
2. What information have I been given?
3. Possible solutions?
4. Did it work? No – go back to step 3 and repeat, Yes – write out your conclusions

I think these steps can be adapted into all core subjects. I think this is where STEAM/STEM comes in. These lessons are using knowledge and ideas from more than one core subject. Teachers are limited to their core subject. I know that there have been times that I did not want to step on the toes of another teacher by overlapping what we are teaching. However, some of our best lessons came when we both overlapped. We are teaching by allowing students to do, to experience, to create and that failure doesn’t mean we quit, it means to refocus and retry.

• Using math to teach the metric system and science to apply it to planetary distances and space travel
• Using the 3D printer to show the topography of a map of Texas
• Field trip to the swamp in our local area to study animals and play in the mud and go on a boat ride to better understand our ecosystem
• Using the 3D printer to create an original family crest, after learning about the Holy Roman Empire in history or even reading William Shakespeare
• Creating a parody that teaches a math lesson
• Dressing up as a character when telling about their life
• Designing a license plate or bumper sticker to represent a town, state, country,…
• Investigate your future career, find your ideal job location, create a budget – based on location and career, have expenses, have surprise expenditures (good and bad). See if those kids can make it as adults??
• Create a resume to present at the mock interviews for the future careers. Other students can be a part of the “interview panel”
• Look up contests such as the Verizon App Challenge where your students are challenged to create an original app with a purpose and design ( Mine participated in 2017, it was a unique experience)

While I was in college, I enjoyed the opportunities to learn about interdisciplinary skills (totally hated writing the word – misspelled all the time!) but the idea that learning is best when experienced, especially when those experiences overlap. I think we can all agree some of the lessons we remember in school were the ones that used skills from more than one subject. Creating a rap to teach the other students a math lesson, creating a parody of Pink by Aerosmith to remember notes for titrations. These projects/ideas/lessons allowed me to come up with a solution, it allowed me to look at things differently, to come up with a unique solution. When working with different people I would get different results, not because we weren’t working, or one person was doing all the work, it was because we brought unique thoughts and ideas into the solutions. This is what our kids need to learn, start by looking at the goal. My drafting teacher in high school taught us to draw straight lines without rulers by putting your pencil at the start and keeping your eyes on the end.

Because after all, life overlaps, life is one giant mess of an interdisciplinary skills. Married life – math = budgets, history = learning from your mistakes, science = what lives in the back of the fridge and doctor visits, ELA = communicating with each other. I’ve been flooded by 2 hurricanes in 2 years (science and history), I’ve used math 60 inches of rain in 4 days = 28 inches of water inside, 48 inches of rain in 24 hours = 15 inches of water inside. Plumbing, Sheetrock, flooring, paint = budgets. I have used writing skills from ELA to write insurance companies, FEMA, and county officials. I used the arts to help redecorate. And having children… tons of lessons there.