lesson plan for critical thinking skills

Multiple Perspectives: Building Critical Thinking Skills

• Resources & Preparation
• Instructional Plan
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This lesson develops students' critical thinking skills through reading and interacting with multiple-perspectives texts. Students analyze selected texts, using metacognitive strategies such as visualizing, synthesizing, and making connections, to learn about multiple points of view. By studying Doreen Cronin's Diary of a Spider/ Worm/ Fly books, students develop a model for an original diary based on an animal of their choosing. Students conduct online research on their chosen animal and use the information gathered to create several diary entries from the perspective of that animal. Students' completed diaries are shared with the class and the larger school community.

Featured Resources

• Fish Is Fish : This Leo Lionni book encourages students to use their skills in thinking from different perspectives.
• Fish Is Fish Script: The script, written by the lesson author, contains original text from the book as well as some new additional text.
• Doreen Cronin as Our Mentor: This printout summarizes the types of entries Doreen Cronin uses in her Diary of a Spider/Worm/Fly books and provides students with ideas and starting points for their own diary entries.
• Websites for Research: A list of excellent, easy-to-navigate student-oriented websites that provide facts on all types of animals.

From Theory to Practice

• As a result of state standards that require students to engage in critical and analytical thinking related to texts, teachers have been turning toward the notion of critical literacy to address such requirements. Though it is an educational buzz word, there is no clear definition of critical literacy, which creates difficulties for teachers who attempt to incorporate deep, critical thinking into their instruction but do not get much guidance from state standards as to how to design instruction.
• Clarke and Whitney provide a three-part framework for incorporating critical literacy into the classroom: (1) Students start by digging beyond the surface of a text, deconstructing it, and then analyzing and interrogating the layers of meaning; (2) students take what they have learned from analyzing the text to reconstruct it and create new ways of thinking; and (3) by taking what they have learned from deconstructing and reconstructing the text, the students can connect to the larger world and even take social action.
• Multiple-perspective books, which intentionally emphasize different viewpoints, help students develop critical thinking skills and learn how to see beyond their own lives to the world outside. Such books, coupled with Clarke and Whitney’s framework, help students to understand, visualize, and empathize with someone else’s struggles.

Common Core Standards

This resource has been aligned to the Common Core State Standards for states in which they have been adopted. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, CCSS alignments are forthcoming.

State Standards

This lesson has been aligned to standards in the following states. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, standard alignments are not currently available for that state.

NCTE/IRA National Standards for the English Language Arts

• 1. Students read a wide range of print and nonprint texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works.
• 3. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).
• 4. Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.
• 5. Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.
• 7. Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and nonprint texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.
• 8. Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.
• 11. Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of literacy communities.
• 12. Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).

Materials and Technology

• Computers with Internet access (one computer per student, if possible)
• Pencils, crayons, markers, colored pencils, erasers
• Construction paper for cover of diary (one piece for each student or student pair)
• Seven Blind Mice by Ed Young (Philomel, 1992)
• Fish Is Fish by Leo Lionni (Random House, 1998)
• Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin (HarperCollins, 2003)
• Diary of a Spider by Doreen Cronin (HarperCollins, 2005)
• Diary of a Fly by Doreen Cronin (HarperCollins, 2007)
• Assorted Zoobooks or Ranger Rick magazines
• Baseball caps labeled Fish and Frog (optional)
• Fish Is Fish Script
• Diary Entry Template
• Doreen Cronin as Our Mentor
• Diary Planning Sheet
• Research Notes
• Can I See Different Perspectives?
• Partnership Reflection Form
• Self-Assessment: What Did I Learn?
• Sketch to Stretch
• Fish Is Fish Venn Diagram
• Websites for Research
• Teacher Rubric: Student Diary Entries
• Teacher Rating Form: Sketch to Stretch
• Teacher Rubric: Fish Is Fish
• Red-Eyed Tree Frog

Preparation

• Print out several copies of the Red-Eyed Tree Frog photograph (enough for a small group of students to share) and cut each photograph into several pieces.
• Make one copy for each student of Sketch to Stretch , Can I See Different Perspectives? , Fish Is Fish Script , Fish Is Fish Venn Diagram , Doreen Cronin as Our Mentor , Diary Planning Sheet , Research Notes , and Self-Assessment: What Did I Learn?
• Make three copies for each student of the Partnership Reflection Form .
• Make five copies for each student of the Diary Entry Template .
• Bookmark Websites for Research on classroom computers or bookmark each of the websites on the list.
• Print one copy each of the Teacher Rubric: Student Diary Entries , Teacher Rating Form: Sketch to Stretch and Teacher Rubric: Fish Is Fish .
• Obtain one copy of Seven Blind Mice by Ed Young and practice reading aloud.
• Obtain one copy of Fish Is Fish by Leo Lionni for teacher reference.
• Obtain multiple copies of Diary of a Worm , Diary of a Spider , and Diary of a Fly by Doreen Cronin.
• Obtain an assortment of Zoobooks and or Ranger Rick magazines for initial research.
• Reserve time in the computer lab for Session 5, if necessary.
• Familiarize yourself with all of the Websites for Research so you can assist students in navigating and searching these sites.
• If desired, have students bring in baseball caps prior to Session 3 and label each cap with either Fish or Frog . Each student needs a baseball cap, and because students will be working in partners, one student will receive the “Fish” label and the other student will receive the “Frog” label.

Student Objectives

Students will

• Develop a basic understanding of narrative perspective
• Become aware of the presence—and the value—of including different voices in a text; and understand how presenting an issue from various vantage points adds multiple layers of meaning
• Practice research skills by using both print and online sources
• Organize and synthesize facts from research
• Use critical literacy skills to view life from the perspective of a selected animal
• Practice writing factual information from a specific point of view, in a diary format
• Develop teamwork skills through working with a partner and sharing the responsibilities of research, planning, writing, and creating the final diary from the chosen animal’s perspective

Session 1: An Introduction to Multiple Perspectives

• To begin the exploration of perspective, explain to students that you are going to give them a small piece of a larger picture, which has been cut into pieces.
• Model how to create a picture based on a small part of the photograph.
• Organize students into small groups of 3–4 students. After groups have been formed, distribute pieces of the photograph to the members of each group. Have students draw what they think the rest of the photo might look like, without looking at the other pieces. (Remind them to focus on their part only.)
• Have the members of each group share their illustrations with one another. Engage students in discussion about the similarities and differences of their illustrations. Ask them to predict what the entire picture might be.
• Assemble all of the pieces of the picture to reveal the entire image.
• Connect to photograph activity, where each student formed a different idea of the original photograph because each was seeing it from a different perspective.
• Point out that there are always at least two sides to every story, which is why people go to court and why teachers ask each student involved in a disagreement to tell his or her side of a story.
• Explain that we come to understand a character’s perspective by creating mental images.
• When we pay attention to a character’s perspective (or all of the characters’ perspectives), we are engaging in critical thinking , and this kind of thinking helps us be better readers.
• Sum up the explanation of perspective with the analogy of “walking in someone else’s shoes.” In the case of reading, you are taking off your own shoes and putting on the narrator’s shoes to walk through the story.

Session 2: <em>Seven Blind Mice</em>

• Introduce the book Seven Blind Mice by telling students that it shows the perspective of seven different characters. Explain that they will first take apart (deconstruct) the story and sketch it from each character’s perspective and then put together all of their images and see if they can get an idea of the entire picture.
• Distribute a copy of the Sketch to Stretch sheet to each student and explain that each block is to be used to depict the perspective of one of the mice in the story.
• Activate students’ schema by having them briefly discuss how a mouse’s perspective is different from a human’s. Before reading, have students pretend to take off their shoes and imagine that they are putting on a mouse’s shoes.
• Read aloud Seven Blind Mice . Stop after each mouse’s description of the object ( pillar , snake , spear , cliff , fan , rope ) and have students complete a box on their Sketch to Stretch sheet.
• Before reading the ending of the book, have the students try to put together the images from the different perspectives to infer what the entire picture might be. After this discussion, finish the book.
• To close the lesson, have the students complete the self-assessment form Can I See Different Perspectives?

Session 3: Walking in a Character’s Shoes

• Introduce the book Fish Is Fish and ask students to predict what the book might be about. Also encourage them to ask questions about the book and think about what kinds of pictures they might see in the book. Encourage students to explain their thoughts as they discuss.
• Review the idea of perspective and connect it to Fish Is Fish . Ask students whose perspective they think Fish Is Fish will be told from and why. Then explain to the students that Fish Is Fish is told from the very different perspectives of a fish and of a tadpole that turns into a frog.
• Create student partnerships (2 students—if an odd number of students, one group of 3 and modify the activities as necessary). Students will complete the remaining sessions and activities with this partner.
• Distribute copies of the Fish Is Fish Venn Diagram and explain how students will fill in the characteristics of Fish and Tadpole/Frog in the appropriate spaces as they read.
• Distribute copies of the Fish Is Fish Script . The students will verbally read aloud the script with their partners. Note to students that whoever reads Fish’s part also must read as Narrator 1 and the partner who reads Frog’s part must also read Narrator 2. Provide students with the appropriate labels for their baseball caps (optional).
• Circulate and observe as students read through script with their partners.
• When students have read through about half of the script (about the halfway mark where Fish and Frog say good night), ask them to stop and jot down their thoughts about each character’s perspective. After they finish the book, they will complete the Fish Is Fish Venn Diagram and discuss as a pair.
• Have students discuss in their pairs which character (Fish or Frog) had a more positive perspective of life and why. Then, share thoughts as a class.
• To close the lesson, ask students whether playing the part of the fish and the frog after learning about perspective helped them feel as though they were thinking like the fish or frog.

Session 4: Using an Author as a Mentor

• Tell students that during the next two lessons they will complete a project using their skills of thinking from the perspective of someone or something else.
• Introduce Diary of a Spider , Diary of a Worm , and Diary of a Fly , and ask students how the books are similar. (Make sure students’ response is that they are all the diary of something.) Also ask students to predict what kind of project they think they will be working on (creating a diary from the perspective of an insect/animal).
• Tell students that they will be writing a diary from the perspective of an animal of their choosing. Students will be working with the partners they read with during the last session to create this diary. At this time, students can just begin to think about which animal they would like to “become.” A final decision does not need to be made at this point in time.
• Ask students how they think they could learn about the perspective of a particular animal (researching, asking questions, reading about the animal).
• Tell students that similarities among an author’s books can be used to form a “recipe” for another story. Distribute one copy of each book to each set of partners. If there aren’t enough copies, give each partnership one book and allow students to skim for about three minutes and then rotate with another group. After students have looked through the books, ask students what similarities they notice among the Diary of a Spider/Worm/Fly books. What is similar in the story lines? The entries?
• Distribute copies of Doreen Cronin as Our Mentor . Read through the list of “ingredients,” and have each student identify at least four entries they would like to emulate in their diary. You may want to require that all diaries follow Cronin’s formulas for beginning and ending but that the fifth entry of each student will be either the beginning or the ending. Encourage students to use different diary entry ideas within their pairs and to choose different items to emulate, as they will be writing the diary together.
• Distribute a copy of the Research Notes worksheet to each student, and have students go over the different types of facts they should look for about the animal.
• Provide students with time to discuss with their partners what animal they will research. You may want to go through your magazines ahead of time so you know which animals you have information for. Different partnerships may choose the same animal as long as information sources are available for each partnership.
• Bring students back together for short whole-class instruction. Model how to form additional questions students will need to answer to complete their animal diaries. For example, for a diary entry about the animal at school, you might think aloud, “Hmmm, we learn things in school. What might this animal need to learn when it is young or at some point during its lifetime?” For a diary entry about a nightmare the animal might have, you could think aloud: “Well, when I have nightmares they are always about something I am afraid of, so what might this animal be afraid of—afraid enough to have a nightmare?”
• Guide students to begin skimming through the Zoobooks or Ranger Rick magazines to gather some information about animals. Quickly review how the headings on each page can guide the reader to particular information.
• To close the session, have two sets of partners meet and share information about what they have found.

Session 5: Gathering the Ingredients

• When we read a story we see it from the perspective, or point of view, of the narrator, who may also be a character in the story.
• Different characters in the story have different perspectives on the events.
• Awareness of different perspectives is a type of critical thinking.
• Remind students that they will be working to write a diary from the perspective of a chosen animal. If necessary, review research and note-taking techniques.
• Have students review the preliminary research they conducted with Zoobooks or Ranger Rick magazines during the last lesson, and formulate some additional questions they would like to answer through their research.
• In the computer lab or on classroom computers, have students open the Websites for Research . Explain that students should use these sites to find information about their chosen animals and answer as many questions as possible on the Research Notes worksheet. Assist students in navigating the sites and finding the needed information. Partners can work together to gather the information, or each partner can work separately and compare and combine information in the end.

Session 6: Planning for the Diary

• Have students review their Research Notes from the previous session and select interesting facts to include in their animal diaries.
• Decides who will write the opening entry and who will write the closing entry
• Decides on dates for entries 1–10 ahead of time so that the entries are in consecutive order when written and then combined to form the diary
• As students finish planning, provide each student with five copies of the Diary Entry Template . Students can begin working on their entries today and complete them in Sessions 7 and 8.

Sessions 7 and 8: Writing From a Different Perspective

• If not distributed during the last session, provide each student with five copies of the Diary Entry Template . Allow students 30–40 minutes to work on constructing journal entries from their animal’s perspective. Encourage them to use their skills in thinking from another’s perspective while creating journal entries. Guide and assist students as needed while they create their journal entries.
• After students have written all of their entries, they should illustrate the various entries.
• Have students create a diary cover including the title ( Diary of a ______) and the name(s) of the author(s). Assist students in assembling their diaries, alternating pages by student.

Session 9: Sharing Our Learning

Set aside a class session for partner sets to share their diaries with the class orally. Since students worked in pairs, photocopy the diaries so that each partner has a copy. After sharing, make sure to distribute Self-Assessment: What Did I Learn? form for each student to complete independently.

• Have students use Microsoft PowerPoint or Smart Notebook software to create a digital version of their diaries. Assist them in adding a soundtrack of themselves reading the diary aloud if desired. Upload to the school website to share with students’ families, other classes, and the community.
• Have students visit younger classes and share their diaries as read-alouds or in a Readers Theatre format.
• To continue their study of multiple perspectives, have students read The Big Orange Splot by Daniel Pinkwater and rewrite the text as a script for Readers Theatre.
• Have students shadow another person—mother, father, teacher, sibling, or even a pet—for several days, taking notes and, if possible, interviewing the subject. Students could then write a diary from the perspective of the person they “shadowed,” using Doreen Cronin’s entries as models.
• Students can use Fish Is Fish Script for a Readers Theatre performance.
• Students can visit the Diary of a Fly website to remind them of their project and connect their learning to technology.

Student Assessment / Reflections

• At the end of Session 1, have students assess their ability to understand characters’ perspectives using the self assessment Can I See Different Perspectives?
• Use the Teacher Rating Form: Sketch to Stretch to reflect upon the students’ success with the Sketch to Stretch activity in Session 2.
• Use the Teacher Rubric: Fish Is Fish to assess students’ success with using critical thinking skills to think from different perspectives.
• Observe as the students discuss the similarities between Doreen Cronin’s books, as well as the entries they are interested in. Are students noticing similarities? Are they focusing on a particular subject that they find interesting?
• Observe students as they formulate additional questions for research. Are their questions appropriate for finding the information needed for their diary entries? Are students formulating questions with ease or do they require assistance in formulating questions?
• Observe students as they engage in research on the web. Are students locating information with ease? Are they using their worksheets to record and organize information?
• Assess students’ writing, research, and critical thinking skills through the use of the Teacher Rubric: Student Diary Entries .
• Students will reflect on their work by completing an end-of-unit Self-Assessment: What Did I Learn?
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Teaching Critical Thinking

Help your students develop their critical thinking skills with these lesson plans. “Could Lincoln Be Elected Today?” is a resource developed from a Annenberg Public Policy Center political literacy project called FlackCheck. All the other critical thinking lessons were produced by the FactCheck.org education project called FactCheckEd.

Could Lincoln Be Re-elected Today?

FlackCheck.org, a political literacy project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, compares ads from the 2020 presidential election to a series of ads that it created using modern-day tactics for the 1864 Lincoln vs. McClellan race to help students recognize patterns of deception and develop critical thinking skills.

“Could Lincoln Be Elected Today?”

This lesson uses a series of ads that were created using modern-day tactics for the 1864 Lincoln vs. McClellan race. Students will learn to recognize flaws in arguments in general and political ads in particular and to examine the criteria for evaluating candidates, past and present, for the presidency.

Background Beliefs

We’ve all had that experience, the one where we start arguing with someone and find that we disagree about pretty much everything. When two people have radically different background beliefs (or worldviews), they often have difficulty finding any sort of common ground. In this lesson, students will learn to distinguish between the two different types of background beliefs: beliefs about matters of fact and beliefs about values. They will then go on to consider their most deeply held background beliefs, those that constitute their worldview. Students will work to go beyond specific arguments to consider the worldviews that might underlie different types of arguments.

Building a Better Argument

Whether it’s an ad for burger chains, the closing scene of a “Law & Order” spin-off, a discussion with the parents about your social life or a coach disputing a close call, arguments are an inescapable part of our lives. In this lesson, students will learn to create good arguments by getting a handle on the basic structure. The lesson will provide useful tips for picking out premises and conclusions and for analyzing the effectiveness of arguments.

Language of Deception

It’s a phased withdrawal, not a retreat. Except that the terms actually mean the same thing. But “retreat” sounds much worse, so savvy politicians avoid using it. That’s because they understand that there is a difference between the cognitive (or literal) meaning and the emotive meaning of a word. This lesson examines the ways in which terms that pack an emotional punch can add power to a statement – and also ways in which emotive meanings can be used to mislead, either by doing the reader’s thinking for him or by blinding her to the real nature of the issue.

Everything You Know Is Wrong 1: Us and Them

Good reasoning doesn’t come naturally. In fact, humans are instinctively terrible reasoners. Most of the time, the way our brains work isn’t rational at all. Even with exceptional training in analytical thinking, we still have to overcome instincts to think simplistically and nonanalytically. In this lesson, students explore some of the irrational ways in which humans think, and learn to recognize and overcome the habits of mind that can get in the way of good reasoning. Here we focus on the ways that people define themselves and others — how we develop our personal and group identities, how we treat people whose identities are similar or different, and how this affects our perceptions and our ability to reason.

Everything You Know Is Wrong 2: Beliefs and Behavior

Good reasoning doesn’t come naturally. In fact, humans are instinctively terrible reasoners — most of the time, the way our brains work isn’t rational at all. Even with exceptional training in reasoning skills, we still have to overcome instincts to think simplistically and non-analytically. This is the second of two lessons focusing on the instincts and habits of mind that keep us from thinking logically. In the first one, we looked at how people define themselves, alone and in groups, and how this affects behavior. This time around, we will focus on how people reconcile their beliefs with the world around them, even when the evidence doesn’t seem to agree with those beliefs.

Monty Python and the Quest for the Perfect Fallacy

If you weigh the same as a duck, then, logically, you’re made of wood and must be a witch. Or so goes the reasoning of Monty Python’s Sir Bedevere. Obviously, something has gone wrong with the knight’s reasoning – and by the end of this lesson, you’ll know exactly what that is. This lesson will focus on 10 fallacies that represent the most common types of mistakes in reasoning.

Oil Exaggerations

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The Credibility Challenge

The Internet can be a rich and valuable source of information – and an even richer source of misinformation. Sorting out the valuable claims from the worthless ones is tricky, since at first glance a Web site written by an expert can look a lot like one written by your next-door neighbor. This lesson offers students background and practice in determining authority on the Internet – how to tell whether an author has expertise or not, and whether you’re getting the straight story.

Peta Pressure

Persuading an audience requires intensive research and scrupulous fact-checking – or, you could just figure out what your audience wants to hear and tell them that. Politicians, advertisers and others with something to sell choose words and images that will appeal to their target audience, enticing them to accept claims unquestioningly. Some of these manipulators, like the animal activism site peta2.com, focus their attentions on teenagers and young adults. In this lesson, students won’t check peta2’s factual accuracy, but will learn to spot their manipulative tactics and why they should be skeptical about them.

The Battle of the Experts

When we hear a piece of information that surprises us, we often react by saying, “Where’d you hear that?” It’s a good question, and one we should ask more often, because some sources are better – sometimes much better – than others. In this lesson, students will learn to distinguish between credible and not-so-credible types of sources. They’ll explore the biases of different sources and develop tools for detecting bias. In their effort to get to facts that are as objective as possible, students will examine the differences between primary and secondary sources, check the track records of different sources, and practice looking for broad consensus from a range of disinterested experts.

U.S. Generals…Support the Draft

Being drafted hasn’t been much of a concern for anyone born on this side of the Age of Aquarius. But rumors of the return of the draft abound. Those rumors are especially scary when they seem to originate from U.S. military commanders. This lesson examines an anti-war advertisement sponsored by Americans Against Escalation in Iraq asserting that military officials plan to continue the war in Iraq for an additional 10 years and that that plan will require reinstating the draft. Students will examine whether quotations from Gen. David Petraeus and Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute really do support AAEI’s claims.

In the good old days, back in January 2007, gas cost just $2.20 per gallon. Your parents might even remember those four months in 1998–1999 when it dropped below $1 per gallon. And your grandparents can likely tell you stories about filling the tank for $5 — or about the cost per gallon in some parts of the U.S. in July 2008. That’s when presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain ran an ad promoting his plan for bringing down the cost of gas. According to McCain, gas prices were high because some politicians still opposed lifting a ban on offshore oil drilling. But McCain’s ad left out some basic facts about offshore drilling. In this lesson, students will examine the facts behind McCain’s false connections. This lesson comes in a basic version, for classrooms without internet access and/or students at the 8th-9th grade level, and a more advanced version, which does require internet access and is aimed at students at higher grade levels.

Olly Olly Oxen Free

You find the perfect hiding spot and you wait, hoping to hear that magical sound, to hear whoever is “it” call out in frustration, “Olly Olly Oxen Free!” You know that you’re safe, that your hiding spot – your sanctuary – can be used again the next time you play. But in debates about people who are in the U.S. illegally, the concept of sanctuary is considerably more controversial. In fact, some argue that providing sanctuary to people who are in the country illegally is decidedly wrong. This lesson focuses on an argument between former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani over New York’s  alleged  status as a sanctuary city for illegal immigrants. Students will explore the meaning of the term “sanctuary city” and determine for themselves whether New York City ought to be designated a sanctuary city.

Made in the U.S.A.

It seems as if fewer and fewer things bear that label anymore. In 2007, Toyota  outsold  two of Detroit’s big three automakers. Our televisions and DVD players are mostly made elsewhere. And Walmart  imports  about 50,000 pounds of merchandise every 45 seconds. As if that’s not bad enough, American companies are shipping many jobs overseas. Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards wanted to stop U.S. companies from moving jobs offshore, and a group called Working 4 Working Americans ran an ad in support of his plan. But the story the ad tells doesn’t quite give the whole picture. In this lesson, students will examine the facts behind this potentially misleading ad. This lesson comes in a basic version, for classrooms without internet access and/or students at the 8th-9th grade level, and a more advanced version, which does require internet access and is aimed at students at higher grade levels.

Health Care Hooey

“Candidate X will raise your taxes!” “Candidate Y will take away your health care!” In the hotly contested 2008 presidential election, one ad from Democrat Barack Obama created the perfect storm of election themes, accusing Republican John McCain of planning to increase taxes on your health care. But the ad used outdated sources to justify its claims. In this lesson, students will draw on  independent  experts to determine the accuracy of Sen. Obama’s charge. This lesson comes in a basic version, for classrooms without internet access and/or students at the 8th-9th grade level, and a more advanced version, which does require internet access and is aimed at students at higher grade levels.

Combating the Culture of Corruption

It’s a classic American film: the young, idealistic new senator, Jefferson Smith, heads off to Washington where he finds that his boyhood hero, Sen. Joseph Paine, is accepting bribes. Worse still, Mr. Smith finds that none of the other senators really care all that much. In Hollywood, the solution is simple: Jimmy Stewart saves the day. Fast forward 60 years: The corruption is still around, and in a fundraising e-mail, the Democratic National  Committee  claims that presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain is more Joseph Paine than Jefferson Smith. That charge has little basis in reality. In this lesson students will dig into a bribery scandal to assess John McCain’s real role in rooting out the culture of corruption.

Educircles.org

LOST AT SEA activity (FREE Critical Thinking Lesson Plans)

Lost at Sea Critical Thinking activity last updated Oct 7, 2021:

The Lost at Sea Activity is a fantastic team-building activity. 

Lost at Sea is a classic activity that can be found all across the Internet.

We’ve adapted it in our CRITICAL THINKING lesson plans to help teachers introduce the idea of criterion based decision making

Plus, we made the activity look visually appealing for school. Check it out!

Psst. it’s free 2 hours and 101 slides / pages of free content.

The original activity comes from PACE: Profession of Arms Centre of Excellence which is a dedicated champion to strengthening Air Force culture. 

• The Pace website provides a variety of tools on their teamwork page . 
• These include a series of TEAMBUILDER activities including the  original “Lost at Sea” activity

Information presented on AF.mil is considered public information.

AF.mil is provided as a public service by the Office of the Secretary of Air Force (Public Affairs). Information presented on AF.mil is considered public information and may be distributed or copied. Use of appropriate byline/photo/image credits is requested. SOURCE: https://www.af.mil/Disclaimer/

So, in this Educircles version of Lost at Sea, this activity has been adapted to highlight the importance of criteria based thinking (critical thinking), instead of relying solely on emotional intuitive responses.

In the original activity:

• Students are divided into groups. 
• They are given a hypothetical scenario where they are on a yacht in the middle of the ocean. 
• The yacht catches on fire and the students are given a list of 15 items that they need to rank in order of importance. 
• At the end, the answers are given. (Rankings provided by an expert, in this case, the US Coast Guard) 

The original goal according to PACEsetter is a tabletop scenario designed to 

• “help individuals work together in a time constrained environment, 
• collaborate on how a project should best be accomplished and 
• experience pressure to go along with the crowd and see the consequences.” 

Lost at Sea is also a fantastic opportunity to help us think more critically.

In this Educircles version, we suggest three strategies to help students think more critically:

Use criteria 

Be open-minded.

• Be full minded  (have lots of high quality information to help make an informed decision)

We have adapted the original activity for students as follows:

• We provide a high-interest, visually appealing slideshow to introduce and explain the activity, objects, and answers to students.
• We explain with images and words what each of the 15 items are.
• We provide student worksheet that allows students to record their ranking based on their individual thinking, group thinking  and  based on criteria.

At the end of the activity, we invite students to think about strategies that might help them to 

• trick other people, and 
• think about strategies that might help them to think more critically.

Ultimately, the goal is to begin a conversation about what critical thinking is, and what it is not.

Critical Thinking Strategies used in the Lost at Sea Activity

• After students have had an opportunity to rank the 15 items based on their individual ideas, and group ideas, students are then given the criteria that the experts used.
• Criteria are a set of rules that we can use to help us make decisions. 
• In this case, the criteria (according to the US Coast Guard) are to select objects that 1) attract attention to ourselves, and 2)help us to stay alive until we are rescued. 
• in any group scenario, team members can disagree because they’re coming from different perspectives. 
• In critical thinking, it’s important to be able to stay open-minded and accept that other people’s points of view might be equally valid and deserve careful consideration.
• In fact in this scenario, some objects can be used in different ways – and depending on how they are used, they might be rank higher or lower. 
• It’s up to the students to try to remain open-minded and consider opposing points of view. 
• For example, the oil and gas mixture could be used as fuel for an engine. However, the criteria is not to try to get the land, but to stay alive until we are rescued. So from that perspective the oil and gas mixture might not be very useful. 
• On the other hand, the oil and gas mixture can be lit and create a visible signal that can be seen from far away. In this case, this item becomes incredibly useful under the goal of attracting attention to ourselves.

Be full minded (have lots of high quality information to help you make an informed decision)

• One of the challenges of this activity is that students don’t always know what all the items are, or why they might be significant. 
• In our slideshow, we explain what each item is and we provide a little bit of background information to help students make an informed decision about how to use the item. 

LOST AT SEA ACTIVITY LESSON PLAN:

Note:  the slides from this Taste of Critical Thinking come from our larger “ Exploring the 6Cs – Chapter 6 Critical Thinking ” lesson package, specifically the following slides:  1-35, 36-80, 97-101

How to make informed decisions (Critical Thinking Lesson Plans)

Critical thinking lesson plans help students make informed decisions by using strategies: use criteria, be open minded, identify bias, etc. Learn More

LOST AT SEA – DAY/LESSON 1 – Introduction / Lost at Sea Activity (slides 1-35) – 45 MIN 

• Introduce concept of Critical Thinking (slides 1-7) – 5 min
• MINDS ON! Brainstorm strategies to trick people / think critically (slide 8) – 5 min
• Introduction of scenario (slides 9-17) – 5 minutes
• Explanation of handout / items (slides 18-33) – 5 min
• Independent work period (slide 34) – 5 min
• Step 2: IN GROUPS (slide 35) – 20 minutes

LOST AT SEA – DAY/LESSON 2 –  Lost at Sea Activity continued (slides 36-80) – 55 MIN

• Explain criteria (slides 36-39) – 5 min
• Review items (slides 40-54) – 5 min
• Work Period (slide 56) 10 min
• Instructions (slide 57-58)
• Answers with explanations (slides 59-73)
• Step 5: Calculate Individual Scores
• Step 6: Calculate Group Scores
• Step 7: Calculate Criteria Scores
• Discussion (slide 78-79) – 5 min
• Reflection: Brainstorm strategies to trick people / think critically (slide 80) – 5 minutes
• Discussion: Obstacles and strategies (slides 81-85) – 5 minutes

How do you do the Lost at Sea activity with your students?

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5 Critical Thinking Skills Every Kid Needs To Learn (And How To Teach Them)

Teach them to thoughtfully question the world around them.

Little kids love to ask questions. “Why is the sky blue?” “Where does the sun go at night?” Their innate curiosity helps them learn more about the world, and it’s key to their development. As they grow older, it’s important to encourage them to keep asking questions and to teach them the right kinds of questions to ask. We call these “critical thinking skills,” and they help kids become thoughtful adults who are able to make informed decisions as they grow older.

What is critical thinking?

Critical thinking allows us to examine a subject and develop an informed opinion about it. First, we need to be able to simply understand the information, then we build on that by analyzing, comparing, evaluating, reflecting, and more. Critical thinking is about asking questions, then looking closely at the answers to form conclusions that are backed by provable facts, not just “gut feelings” and opinion.

Critical thinkers tend to question everything, and that can drive teachers and parents a little crazy. The temptation to reply, “Because I said so!” is strong, but when you can, try to provide the reasons behind your answers. We want to raise children who take an active role in the world around them and who nurture curiosity throughout their entire lives.

Key Critical Thinking Skills

So, what are critical thinking skills? There’s no official list, but many people use Bloom’s Taxonomy to help lay out the skills kids should develop as they grow up.

Source: Vanderbilt University

Bloom’s Taxonomy is laid out as a pyramid, with foundational skills at the bottom providing a base for more advanced skills higher up. The lowest phase, “Remember,” doesn’t require much critical thinking. These are the skills kids use when they memorize math facts or world capitals or practice their spelling words. Critical thinking doesn’t begin to creep in until the next steps.

Understanding requires more than memorization. It’s the difference between a child reciting by rote “one times four is four, two times four is eight, three times four is twelve,” versus recognizing that multiplication is the same as adding a number to itself a certain number of times. Schools focus more these days on understanding concepts than they used to; pure memorization has its place, but when a student understands the concept behind something, they can then move on to the next phase.

Application opens up whole worlds to students. Once you realize you can use a concept you’ve already mastered and apply it to other examples, you’ve expanded your learning exponentially. It’s easy to see this in math or science, but it works in all subjects. Kids may memorize sight words to speed up their reading mastery, but it’s learning to apply phonics and other reading skills that allows them to tackle any new word that comes their way.

Analysis is the real leap into advanced critical thinking for most kids. When we analyze something, we don’t take it at face value. Analysis requires us to find facts that stand up to inquiry, even if we don’t like what those facts might mean. We put aside personal feelings or beliefs and explore, examine, research, compare and contrast, draw correlations, organize, experiment, and so much more. We learn to identify primary sources for information, and check into the validity of those sources. Analysis is a skill successful adults must use every day, so it’s something we must help kids learn as early as possible.

Almost at the top of Bloom’s pyramid, evaluation skills let us synthesize all the information we’ve learned, understood, applied, and analyzed, and to use it to support our opinions and decisions. Now we can reflect on the data we’ve gathered and use it to make choices, cast votes, or offer informed opinions. We can evaluate the statements of others too, using these same skills. True evaluation requires us to put aside our own biases and accept that there may be other valid points of view, even if we don’t necessarily agree with them.

In the final phase, we use every one of those previous skills to create something new. This could be a proposal, an essay, a theory, a plan—anything a person assembles that’s unique.

Note: Bloom’s original taxonomy included “synthesis” as opposed to “create,” and it was located between “apply” and “evaluate.” When you synthesize, you put various parts of different ideas together to form a new whole. In 2001, a group of cognitive psychologists removed that term from the taxonomy , replacing it with “create,” but it’s part of the same concept.

How To Teach Critical Thinking

Using critical thinking in your own life is vital, but passing it along to the next generation is just as important. Be sure to focus on analyzing and evaluating, two multifaceted sets of skills that take lots and lots of practice. Start with these 10 Tips for Teaching Kids To Be Awesome Critical Thinkers . Then try these critical thinking activities and games. Finally, try to incorporate some of these 100+ Critical Thinking Questions for Students into your lessons. They’ll help your students develop the skills they need to navigate a world full of conflicting facts and provocative opinions.

One of These Things Is Not Like the Other

This classic Sesame Street activity is terrific for introducing the ideas of classifying, sorting, and finding relationships. All you need are several different objects (or pictures of objects). Lay them out in front of students, and ask them to decide which one doesn’t belong to the group. Let them be creative: The answer they come up with might not be the one you envisioned, and that’s OK!

The Answer Is …

Post an “answer” and ask kids to come up with the question. For instance, if you’re reading the book Charlotte’s Web , the answer might be “Templeton.” Students could say, “Who helped save Wilbur even though he didn’t really like him?” or “What’s the name of the rat that lived in the barn?” Backwards thinking encourages creativity and requires a good understanding of the subject matter.

Forced Analogies

Practice making connections and seeing relationships with this fun game. Kids write four random words in the corners of a Frayer Model and one more in the middle. The challenge? To link the center word to one of the others by making an analogy. The more far out the analogies, the better!

Learn more: Forced Analogies at The Owl Teacher

Primary Sources

Tired of hearing “I found it on Wikipedia!” when you ask kids where they got their answer? It’s time to take a closer look at primary sources. Show students how to follow a fact back to its original source, whether online or in print. We’ve got 10 terrific American history–based primary source activities to try here.

Science Experiments

Hands-on science experiments and STEM challenges are a surefire way to engage students, and they involve all sorts of critical thinking skills. We’ve got hundreds of experiment ideas for all ages on our STEM pages , starting with 50 Stem Activities To Help Kids Think Outside the Box .

Not the Answer

Multiple-choice questions can be a great way to work on critical thinking. Turn the questions into discussions, asking kids to eliminate wrong answers one by one. This gives them practice analyzing and evaluating, allowing them to make considered choices.

Learn more: Teaching in the Fast Lane

Correlation Tic-Tac-Toe

Here’s a fun way to work on correlation, which is a part of analysis. Show kids a 3 x 3 grid with nine pictures, and ask them to find a way to link three in a row together to get tic-tac-toe. For instance, in the pictures above, you might link together the cracked ground, the landslide, and the tsunami as things that might happen after an earthquake. Take things a step further and discuss the fact that there are other ways those things might have happened (a landslide can be caused by heavy rain, for instance), so correlation doesn’t necessarily prove causation.

Learn more: Critical Thinking Tic-Tac-Toe at The Owl Teacher

Inventions That Changed the World

Explore the chain of cause and effect with this fun thought exercise. Start it off by asking one student to name an invention they believe changed the world. Each student then follows by explaining an effect that invention had on the world and their own lives. Challenge each student to come up with something different.

Learn more: Teaching With a Mountain View

Critical Thinking Games

There are so many board games that help kids learn to question, analyze, examine, make judgments, and more. In fact, pretty much any game that doesn’t leave things entirely up to chance (Sorry, Candy Land) requires players to use critical thinking skills. See one teacher’s favorites at the link below.

Learn more: Miss DeCarbo

This is one of those classic critical thinking activities that really prepares kids for the real world. Assign a topic (or let them choose one). Then give kids time to do some research to find good sources that support their point of view. Finally, let the debate begin! Check out 100 Middle School Debate Topics , 100 High School Debate Topics , and 60 Funny Debate Topics for Kids of All Ages .

How do you teach critical thinking skills in your classroom? Come share your ideas and ask for advice in the WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on Facebook .

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Teaching Critical Thinking Skills

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Classroom Q&A

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Integrating Critical Thinking Into the Classroom

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(This is the second post in a three-part series. You can see Part One here .)

The new question-of-the-week is:

What is critical thinking and how can we integrate it into the classroom?

Part One ‘s guests were Dara Laws Savage, Patrick Brown, Meg Riordan, Ph.D., and Dr. PJ Caposey. Dara, Patrick, and Meg were also guests on my 10-minute BAM! Radio Show . You can also find a list of, and links to, previous shows here.

Today, Dr. Kulvarn Atwal, Elena Quagliarello, Dr. Donna Wilson, and Diane Dahl share their recommendations.

‘Learning Conversations’

Dr. Kulvarn Atwal is currently the executive head teacher of two large primary schools in the London borough of Redbridge. Dr. Atwal is the author of The Thinking School: Developing a Dynamic Learning Community , published by John Catt Educational. Follow him on Twitter @Thinkingschool2 :

In many classrooms I visit, students’ primary focus is on what they are expected to do and how it will be measured. It seems that we are becoming successful at producing students who are able to jump through hoops and pass tests. But are we producing children that are positive about teaching and learning and can think critically and creatively? Consider your classroom environment and the extent to which you employ strategies that develop students’ critical-thinking skills and their self-esteem as learners.

Development of self-esteem

One of the most significant factors that impacts students’ engagement and achievement in learning in your classroom is their self-esteem. In this context, self-esteem can be viewed to be the difference between how they perceive themselves as a learner (perceived self) and what they consider to be the ideal learner (ideal self). This ideal self may reflect the child that is associated or seen to be the smartest in the class. Your aim must be to raise students’ self-esteem. To do this, you have to demonstrate that effort, not ability, leads to success. Your language and interactions in the classroom, therefore, have to be aspirational—that if children persist with something, they will achieve.

Use of evaluative praise

Ensure that when you are praising students, you are making explicit links to a child’s critical thinking and/or development. This will enable them to build their understanding of what factors are supporting them in their learning. For example, often when we give feedback to students, we may simply say, “Well done” or “Good answer.” However, are the students actually aware of what they did well or what was good about their answer? Make sure you make explicit what the student has done well and where that links to prior learning. How do you value students’ critical thinking—do you praise their thinking and demonstrate how it helps them improve their learning?

Learning conversations to encourage deeper thinking

We often feel as teachers that we have to provide feedback to every students’ response, but this can limit children’s thinking. Encourage students in your class to engage in learning conversations with each other. Give as many opportunities as possible to students to build on the responses of others. Facilitate chains of dialogue by inviting students to give feedback to each other. The teacher’s role is, therefore, to facilitate this dialogue and select each individual student to give feedback to others. It may also mean that you do not always need to respond at all to a student’s answer.

Teacher modelling own thinking

We cannot expect students to develop critical-thinking skills if we aren’t modeling those thinking skills for them. Share your creativity, imagination, and thinking skills with the students and you will nurture creative, imaginative critical thinkers. Model the language you want students to learn and think about. Share what you feel about the learning activities your students are participating in as well as the thinking you are engaging in. Your own thinking and learning will add to the discussions in the classroom and encourage students to share their own thinking.

Metacognitive questioning

Consider the extent to which your questioning encourages students to think about their thinking, and therefore, learn about learning! Through asking metacognitive questions, you will enable your students to have a better understanding of the learning process, as well as their own self-reflections as learners. Example questions may include:

• Why did you choose to do it that way?
• When you find something tricky, what helps you?
• How do you know when you have really learned something?

‘Adventures of Discovery’

Elena Quagliarello is the senior editor of education for Scholastic News , a current events magazine for students in grades 3–6. She graduated from Rutgers University, where she studied English and earned her master’s degree in elementary education. She is a certified K–12 teacher and previously taught middle school English/language arts for five years:

Critical thinking blasts through the surface level of a topic. It reaches beyond the who and the what and launches students on a learning journey that ultimately unlocks a deeper level of understanding. Teaching students how to think critically helps them turn information into knowledge and knowledge into wisdom. In the classroom, critical thinking teaches students how to ask and answer the questions needed to read the world. Whether it’s a story, news article, photo, video, advertisement, or another form of media, students can use the following critical-thinking strategies to dig beyond the surface and uncover a wealth of knowledge.

A Layered Learning Approach

Begin by having students read a story, article, or analyze a piece of media. Then have them excavate and explore its various layers of meaning. First, ask students to think about the literal meaning of what they just read. For example, if students read an article about the desegregation of public schools during the 1950s, they should be able to answer questions such as: Who was involved? What happened? Where did it happen? Which details are important? This is the first layer of critical thinking: reading comprehension. Do students understand the passage at its most basic level?

Ask the Tough Questions

The next layer delves deeper and starts to uncover the author’s purpose and craft. Teach students to ask the tough questions: What information is included? What or who is left out? How does word choice influence the reader? What perspective is represented? What values or people are marginalized? These questions force students to critically analyze the choices behind the final product. In today’s age of fast-paced, easily accessible information, it is essential to teach students how to critically examine the information they consume. The goal is to equip students with the mindset to ask these questions on their own.

Strike Gold

The deepest layer of critical thinking comes from having students take a step back to think about the big picture. This level of thinking is no longer focused on the text itself but rather its real-world implications. Students explore questions such as: Why does this matter? What lesson have I learned? How can this lesson be applied to other situations? Students truly engage in critical thinking when they are able to reflect on their thinking and apply their knowledge to a new situation. This step has the power to transform knowledge into wisdom.

Adventures of Discovery

There are vast ways to spark critical thinking in the classroom. Here are a few other ideas:

• Critical Expressionism: In this expanded response to reading from a critical stance, students are encouraged to respond through forms of artistic interpretations, dramatizations, singing, sketching, designing projects, or other multimodal responses. For example, students might read an article and then create a podcast about it or read a story and then act it out.
• Transmediations: This activity requires students to take an article or story and transform it into something new. For example, they might turn a news article into a cartoon or turn a story into a poem. Alternatively, students may rewrite a story by changing some of its elements, such as the setting or time period.
• Words Into Action: In this type of activity, students are encouraged to take action and bring about change. Students might read an article about endangered orangutans and the effects of habitat loss caused by deforestation and be inspired to check the labels on products for palm oil. They might then write a letter asking companies how they make sure the palm oil they use doesn’t hurt rain forests.
• Socratic Seminars: In this student-led discussion strategy, students pose thought-provoking questions to each other about a topic. They listen closely to each other’s comments and think critically about different perspectives.
• Classroom Debates: Aside from sparking a lively conversation, classroom debates naturally embed critical-thinking skills by asking students to formulate and support their own opinions and consider and respond to opposing viewpoints.

Critical thinking has the power to launch students on unforgettable learning experiences while helping them develop new habits of thought, reflection, and inquiry. Developing these skills prepares students to examine issues of power and promote transformative change in the world around them.

‘Quote Analysis’

Dr. Donna Wilson is a psychologist and the author of 20 books, including Developing Growth Mindsets , Teaching Students to Drive Their Brains , and Five Big Ideas for Effective Teaching (2 nd Edition). She is an international speaker who has worked in Asia, the Middle East, Australia, Europe, Jamaica, and throughout the U.S. and Canada. Dr. Wilson can be reached at [email protected] ; visit her website at www.brainsmart.org .

Diane Dahl has been a teacher for 13 years, having taught grades 2-4 throughout her career. Mrs. Dahl currently teaches 3rd and 4th grade GT-ELAR/SS in Lovejoy ISD in Fairview, Texas. Follow her on Twitter at @DahlD, and visit her website at www.fortheloveofteaching.net :

A growing body of research over the past several decades indicates that teaching students how to be better thinkers is a great way to support them to be more successful at school and beyond. In the book, Teaching Students to Drive Their Brains , Dr. Wilson shares research and many motivational strategies, activities, and lesson ideas that assist students to think at higher levels. Five key strategies from the book are as follows:

• Facilitate conversation about why it is important to think critically at school and in other contexts of life. Ideally, every student will have a contribution to make to the discussion over time.
• Begin teaching thinking skills early in the school year and as a daily part of class.
• As this instruction begins, introduce students to the concept of brain plasticity and how their brilliant brains change during thinking and learning. This can be highly motivational for students who do not yet believe they are good thinkers!
• Explicitly teach students how to use the thinking skills.
• Facilitate student understanding of how the thinking skills they are learning relate to their lives at school and in other contexts.

Below are two lessons that support critical thinking, which can be defined as the objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgment.

Mrs. Dahl prepares her 3rd and 4th grade classes for a year of critical thinking using quote analysis .

During Native American studies, her 4 th grade analyzes a Tuscarora quote: “Man has responsibility, not power.” Since students already know how the Native Americans’ land had been stolen, it doesn’t take much for them to make the logical leaps. Critical-thought prompts take their thinking even deeper, especially at the beginning of the year when many need scaffolding. Some prompts include:

• … from the point of view of the Native Americans?
• … from the point of view of the settlers?
• How do you think your life might change over time as a result?
• Can you relate this quote to anything else in history?

Analyzing a topic from occupational points of view is an incredibly powerful critical-thinking tool. After learning about the Mexican-American War, Mrs. Dahl’s students worked in groups to choose an occupation with which to analyze the war. The chosen occupations were: anthropologist, mathematician, historian, archaeologist, cartographer, and economist. Then each individual within each group chose a different critical-thinking skill to focus on. Finally, they worked together to decide how their occupation would view the war using each skill.

For example, here is what each student in the economist group wrote:

• When U.S.A. invaded Mexico for land and won, Mexico ended up losing income from the settlements of Jose de Escandon. The U.S.A. thought that they were gaining possible tradable land, while Mexico thought that they were losing precious land and resources.
• Whenever Texas joined the states, their GDP skyrocketed. Then they went to war and spent money on supplies. When the war was resolving, Texas sold some of their land to New Mexico for $10 million. This allowed Texas to pay off their debt to the U.S., improving their relationship.
• A detail that converged into the Mexican-American War was that Mexico and the U.S. disagreed on the Texas border. With the resulting treaty, Texas ended up gaining more land and economic resources.
• Texas gained land from Mexico since both countries disagreed on borders. Texas sold land to New Mexico, which made Texas more economically structured and allowed them to pay off their debt.

This was the first time that students had ever used the occupations technique. Mrs. Dahl was astonished at how many times the kids used these critical skills in other areas moving forward.

Thanks to Dr. Auwal, Elena, Dr. Wilson, and Diane for their contributions!

Please feel free to leave a comment with your reactions to the topic or directly to anything that has been said in this post.

Consider contributing a question to be answered in a future post. You can send one to me at [email protected] . When you send it in, let me know if I can use your real name if it’s selected or if you’d prefer remaining anonymous and have a pseudonym in mind.

You can also contact me on Twitter at @Larryferlazzo .

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Trauma-informed practices in schools, teacher well-being, cultivating diversity, equity, & inclusion, integrating technology in the classroom, social-emotional development, covid-19 resources, invest in resilience: summer toolkit, civics & resilience, all toolkits, degree programs, trauma-informed professional development, teacher licensure & certification, how to become - career information, classroom management, instructional design, lifestyle & self-care, online higher ed teaching, current events, critical thinking resources for high school teachers.

Developing critical thinking abilities is a necessary skill for all high school students but teaching these skills is not the easiest task for high school teachers. Fortunately, there is a wealth of information online to provide teachers the resources needed for creating critical thinking lesson plans.

These online resources provide lessons plans, videos, and small but helpful tips that can be used everyday in the classroom to reinforce lessons and ideas. Below are some of the top resources for teaching critical thinking to high school students.

A site devoted to all things related to critical thinking

The Critical Thinking Community, from the Center for Critical Thinking, provides one of the best sites for critical thinking resources and has a special section aimed at helping high school teachers prepare appropriate lesson plans: Critical Thinking Community for High School Teachers .

“Critical thinking is essential if we are to get to the root of our problems and develop reasonable solutions,” reads the site’s About Us page. “After all, the quality of everything we do is determined by the quality of our thinking.”

Therefore it’s no surprise that the site provides many free online resources for high school teachers, as well as other materials that can be ordered online for a small fee.

One example of an online resource for critical thinking for high school students is the article “How to Study and Learn (Part One)”. This introductory article lays the ground work for the importance of thinking critically, illustrated by the following passage:

“To study well and learn any subject is to learn how to think with discipline within that subject. It is to learn to think within its logic, to:

• raise vital questions and problems within it, formulating them clearly and precisely
• gather and assess information, using ideas to interpret that information insightfully
• come to well-reasoned conclusions and solutions, testing them against relevant criteria and standards
• adopt the point of view of the discipline, recognizing and assessing, as needs be, its assumptions, implications, and practical consequences
• communicate effectively with others using the language of the discipline and that of educated public discourse
• relate what one is learning in the subject to other subjects and to what is significant in human life”

State critical thinking resources

Additionally, many states offer free online critical thinking resources, such as the handbook compiled by faculty members of Prince George’s Community College and put on Maryland’s official website: Handbook of Critical Thinking Resources .

In addition to providing a wealth of outside information resources, the handbook details how thinking critically can help students while they are in high school and in the future:

“Improving students’ critical thinking skills will help students:

• improve their thinking about their course work
• use sound thinking on tests, assignments, and projects in their courses
• have the strategic, analytical, problem solving, and decision-making skills they need when they transfer to another college
• have the strategic, analytical, problem solving, and decision-making skills they need when they transition to the workplace”

Keeping up to date on current trends

Other sites, such as Edutopia.org, are constantly updated with new information to provide teachers with the most current information possible. The site, which is part of the George Lucas Educational Foundation, is divided by grade level and has a special section focused on producing critical thinking high school students: Grades 9-12 High School .

The site describes three fundamental skills it believes necessary for students to become lifelong learners in the 21 st Century:

• how to find information
• how to assess the quality of information
• how to creatively and effectively use information to accomplish a goal

The site combines original articles and instructional videos with other valuable critical thinking resources from around the globe. The site is set up like a blog and puts the most recent articles at the forefront, and also includes a community forum for both students and teachers to use.

You may also like to read

• Critical Thinking Resources for Middle School Teachers
• Online Resources for High School Calculus
• How Teachers Can Help Prevent High School Dropouts
• Classroom Management Strategies for High School Teachers
• Teachers: How to Strengthen High School Student Engagement
• 5 Tips for Teachers Assigning Essays to High School Students

Categorized as: Tips for Teachers and Classroom Resources

Tagged as: Engaging Activities ,  High School (Grades: 9-12)

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Save the Tree Octopus! Helping Students Develop Critical Thinking Skills

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“Wait a minute…” All heads turned as a student, who only moments before was silently typing away at her computer, slowly rose from her seat, eyes locked on the screen in front of her. After what seemed like an entire minute of silence, she looked straight at her teacher and said, “…this is all a lie!” 28 pairs of eyes slowly moved from her to her teacher, who sat smirking at the front of the room. “You are absolutely right,” the teacher replied, “ but can you prove it? ”

Students should not only be expected to find information online but, perhaps even more importantly, they also need to be taught how to be critical of the information they find there, and how to corroborate, analyze and judge it’s validity. Most teachers would identify this as an important 21st-century skill, but how do you teach it?

At Hill-Murray School outside of St. Paul, Minnesota, we decided that this skill was important enough to include into the digital literacy lessons our students complete every year as a way of helping them develop the skills they need to survive and thrive in a technology-rich learning environment. I was lucky enough to lead a collaborative team of teachers and counselors that planned and delivered lessons focused on topics like cyber safety, cyber bullying and effective digital communication, along with a particularly engaging lesson that focuses on information literacy.

Early on in the year, students learn about evaluating information with a fun and engaging lesson as part of our school’s digital citizenship curriculum. The lesson begins with some “invisible theater” where the teacher tells her students that they are going to be learning about online advocacy and provides them the link to a website as an example. As students open the link in their browsers, the teacher explains how websites can be used to advocate for a cause they believe in, even one that isn’t well known. The website discusses the plight of the Pacific Tree Octopus, an endangered species that most people have never heard of because corporate lumber interests have suppressed knowledge of its existence so they can continue to log in its habitat. This made the students upset, connecting with them emotionally and pulling them into the lesson. On the surface, the website looks very legitimate with all sorts of sources, updated news feeds and lots of illustrations and professional-looking artwork. The teacher tells the students to spend some time evaluating how a website like this one can help create concern for the tree octopus and what kinds of methods it uses to try to get the public to take action.

While the website may pass a cursory examination, it doesn’t generally take long for one inquisitive or detail-oriented student to begin to see the multitude of problems with the site. Clicking on links results in 404 errors. There is a suspicious absence of scientific attributions on the site. And many of the pictures of the endangered tree octopus are actually stuffed animals or plastic toys stuck in trees. After a few minutes, students begin to share their findings with each other and their curiosity quickly turns into skepticism, which is exactly the process we want our students to engage in when they approach any unknown or suspect source of online information. On the day I was helping to facilitate the lesson, it was at this point that our previously-mentioned rabblerouser stood up and decried the authenticity of the site in front of the entire class.

The introduction to the lesson couldn’t have gone better. With most of the students realizing that the site was a fake, it was time to tell them the truth. The lesson for the day wasn’t about online advocacy, it was about identifying fake information. But they hadn’t won yet. The students were told that while knowing the information isn’t accurate is a good start, being able to prove your position by backing it up with real facts and reliable evidence was what effective researchers do, and it’s what makes argument and positions strong.

The students were then given approximately ten minutes to try to come up with a list of reasons proving they knew that the Tree Octopus site was indeed fake. The students got to work together, sharing different ideas regarding ways that the site could be proven fake. Before long, they had created a giant class list of different approaches that could be used to debunk the fake site and that could be relied on in the future to argue against suspect information. The students came up with strategies like corroborating with trusted sources, looking for authenticity markers such as authors and external links, and cross-referencing the information that they find with classmates — strategies that are also recommended by academic experts. After the lesson, the class list was hung up on the wall and used as an Anchor Chart (a poster-sized visual reference tool) for the next research project they begin.

Even if students didn’t remember every strategy that was listed, the fact that they had experienced and participated in the debunking process themselves helped drive home the point that they needed to be more skeptical of the first thing they read online, and be more selective with the information they include in their research. After the lesson, teachers noticed that many of their students wouldn’t just immediately go with the first search result, but would look to others or try to run their research by fellow students to see if their findings lined up with what their partners also found. This use of higher-order critical thinking skills is not just important for success in school, but is also becoming more and more important in the ever-changing online environment of our information age. The skills that they learn from the Tree Octopus will serve them well in their future roles as college students and citizens, which is the definition of a truly authentic 21st-century education.

Editor’s Note:

If you want to learn more about evaluating online information in your classroom, take our free, online course  Finding & Evaluating Information  on  KQED Teach .

To learn more about how we use your information, please read our privacy policy.

Critical Thinking Skills

Looking for a fun and engaging lesson plan on critical thinking? Look no further! This exciting lesson plan will have your students using their critical thinking skills to solve real-life problems. They’ll learn how to apply critical thinking in multiple disciplines, and they’ll have a blast doing it!

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In this lesson, students will learn about the different components of critical thinking and how they can use these skills to problem-solve. They will also have the opportunity to practice their new skills by exploring different problems from different perspectives.

By the end of this lesson, your students will be well on their way to becoming critical thinkers!

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Creativity & Creative Thinking

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Lesson plans and activities for teaching about inventions by increasing creativity and creative thinking. The lesson plans are adaptable for grades K-12 and were designed to be done in sequence.

Teaching Creativity & Creative Thinking Skills

When a student is asked to "invent" a solution to a problem, the student must draw upon previous knowledge, skills, creativity, and experience. The student also recognizes areas where new learnings must be acquired in order to understand or address the problem. This information must then be applied, analyzed, synthesized, and evaluated. Through critical and creative thinking and problem-solving, ideas become reality as children create inventive solutions, illustrate their ideas, and make models of their inventions. Creative thinking lesson plans provide children with opportunities to develop and practice higher-order thinking skills.

Throughout the years, many creative thinking skills models and programs have been generated from educators, seeking to describe the essential elements of thinking and/or to develop a systematic approach to teaching thinking skills as part of the school curricula. Three models are illustrated below in this introduction. Although each uses different terminology, each model describes similar elements of either critical or creative thinking or both.

Models of Creative Thinking Skills

• Benjamin Bloom
• Calvin Taylor
• Isaksen and Treffinger

The models demonstrate how creative thinking lesson plans could provide an opportunity for students to "experience" most of the elements described in the models.

After teachers have reviewed the creative thinking skills models listed above, they will see the critical and creative thinking and problem-solving skills and talents that can be applied to the activity of inventing. The creative thinking lesson plans that follow can be used across all disciplines and grade levels and with all children. It can be integrated with all curricular areas and used as a means of applying the concepts or elements of any thinking skills program that may be in use.

Children of all ages are talented and creative. This project will give them an opportunity to develop their creative potential and synthesize and apply knowledge and skills by creating an invention or innovation to solve a problem, just as a "real" inventor would.

Creative Thinking - List of Activities

• Introducing Creative Thinking
• Practicing Creativity with the Class
• Practicing Creative Thinking with the Class
• Developing an Invention Idea
• Brainstorming for Creative Solutions
• Practicing the Critical Parts of Creative Thinking
• Completing the Invention
• Naming the Invention
• Optional Marketing Activities
• Parent Involvement
• Young Inventors' Day

"Imagination is more important than knowledge, for imagination embraces the world." -  Albert Einstein

Activity 1: Introducing Inventive Thinking and Brainstorming

Read about the Lives of Great Inventors Read the  stories  about great inventors in class or let students read themselves. Ask students, "How did these inventors get their ideas? How did they make their ideas a reality?" Locate books in your library about inventors, invention, and creativity. Older students can locate these references themselves. Also, visit the  Inventive Thinking and Creativity Gallery

Talk to a Real Inventor Invite a local inventor to speak to the class. Since local inventors are not usually listed in the phone book under "inventors", you can find them by calling a  local patent attorney  or your  local intellectual property law association . Your community may also have a  Patent and Trademark Depository Library  or an  inventor's society  that you may contact or post a request. If not, most of your major companies have a research and development department made up of people who think inventively for a living.

Examine Inventions Next, ask the students to look at the things in the classroom that are inventions. All the inventions in the classroom that have a U.S. patent will have a  patent number . One such item is probably  the pencil sharpener . Tell them to check out their house for patented items. Let the students brainstorm a list all of the inventions they discover. What would improve these inventions?

Discussion In order to guide your students through the inventive process, a few preliminary lessons dealing with creative thinking will help set the mood. Begin with a brief explanation of brainstorming and a discussion on the rules of brainstorming.

What is Brainstorming? Brainstorming is a process of spontaneous thinking used by an individual or by a group of people to generate numerous alternative ideas while deferring judgment. Introduced by Alex Osborn in his book " Applied Imagination ", brainstorming is the crux of each of the stages of all problem-solving methods.

Rules for Brainstorming

• No Criticism Allowed People tend to automatically evaluate each suggested idea--their own as well as others. Both internal and external criticism is to be avoided while brainstorming. Neither positive nor negative comments are allowed. Either type inhibits the free flow of thought and requires time which interferes with the next rule. Write each spoken idea down as it is given and move on.
• Work for Quantity Alex Osborn stated that "Quantity breeds quality." People must experience a "brain drain" (get all the common responses out of the way) before the innovative, creative ideas can surface; therefore, the more ideas, the more likely they are to be quality ideas.
• Hitchhiking Welcome Hitchhiking occurs when one member's idea produces a similar idea or an enhanced idea in another member. All ideas should be recorded.
• Freewheeling Encouraged Outrageous, humorous, and seemingly unimportant ideas should be recorded. It is not uncommon for the most off-the-wall idea to be the best.

Activity 2: Practicing Creativity with the Class

Step 1:  Cultivate the following creative thinking processes described by Paul Torrance and discussed in "The Search for Satori and Creativity" (1979):

• Fluency the production of a great number of ideas.
• Flexibility the production of ideas or products that show a variety of possibilities or realms of thought.
• Originality the production of ideas that are unique or unusual.
• Elaboration the production of ideas that display intensive detail or enrichment.

For practice in elaboration, have pairs or small groups of students choose a particular idea from the brainstorming list of invention ideas and add the flourishes and details that would develop the idea more fully.

Allow the students to share their innovative and  inventive ideas .

Step 2:  Once your students have become familiar with the rules of brainstorming and the creative thinking processes, Bob Eberle's  Scamper  technique for brainstorming could be introduced.

• S ubstitute What else instead? Who else instead? Other ingredients? Other material? Other power? Another place?
• C ombine How about a blend, an alloy, an ensemble? Combine purposes? Combine appeals?
• A dapt What else is like this? What other idea does this suggest? Does past offer parallel? What could I copy?
• M inify Order, form, shape? What to add? More time?
• M agnify Greater frequency? Higher? Longer? Thicker?
• P ut to other uses New ways to use as is? Other uses I modified? Other places to use? Other people, to reach?
• E liminate What to subtract? Smaller? Condensed? Miniature? Lower? Shorter? Lighter? Omit? Streamline? Understate?
• R everse Interchange components? Another pattern?
• R earrange another layout? Another sequence? Transpose cause and effect? Change pace? Transpose positive and negative? How about opposites? Turn it backward? Turn it upside-down? Reverse roles?

Step 3:  Bring in any object or use objects around the classroom to do the following exercise. Ask the students to list many new uses for a familiar object by using the Scamper technique with regard to the object. You could use a paper plate, to begin with, and see how many new things the students will discover. Make sure to follow the rules for brainstorming in Activity 1.

Step 4:  Using literature, ask your students to create a new ending to a story, change a character or situation within a story, or create a new beginning for the story that would result in the same ending.

Step 5:  Put a list of objects on the chalkboard. Ask your students to combine them in different ways to create a new product.

Let the students make their own list of objects. Once they combine several of them, ask them to illustrate the new product and explain why it might be useful.

Activity 3: Practicing Inventive Thinking with the Class

Before your students begin to find their own problems and create unique inventions or innovations to solve them, you can assist them by taking them through some of the steps as a group.

Finding the Problem

Let the class list problems in their own classroom that need solving. Use the "brainstorming" technique from Activity 1. Perhaps your students never have a pencil ready, as it is either missing or broken when it is time to do an assignment (a great brainstorming project would be to solve that problem). Select one problem for the class to solve using the following steps:

• Find several problems.
• Select one to work on.
• Analyze the situation.
• Think of many, varied, and unusual ways of solving the problem.

List the possibilities. Be sure to allow even the silliest possible solution, as creative thinking must have a positive, accepting environment in order to flourish.

Finding a Solution

• Select one or more possible solutions to work on. You may want to divide into groups if the class elects to work on several of the ideas.
• Improve and refine the idea(s).
• Share the class or individual solution(s)/invention(s) for solving the class problem.

Solving a "class" problem and creating a "class" invention will help students learn the process and make it easier for them to work on their own invention projects.

Activity 4: Developing an Invention Idea

Now that your students have had an introduction to the inventive process, it is time for them to find a problem and create their own invention to solve it.

Step One:  Begin by asking your students to conduct a survey. Tell them to interview everyone that they can think of to find out what problems need solutions. What kind of invention, tool, game, device, or idea would be helpful at home, work, or during leisure time? (You can use an Invention Idea Survey)

Step Two:  Ask the students to list the problems that need to be solved.

Step Three:  comes the decision-making process. Using the list of problems, ask the students to think about which problems would be possible for them to work on. They can do this by listing the pros and cons for each possibility. Predict the outcome or possible solution(s) for each problem. Make a decision by selecting one or two problems that provide the best options for an inventive solution. (Duplicate the Planning and Decision-Making Framework)

Step Four:  Begin an  Inventor's Log  or Journal. A record of your ideas and work will help you develop your invention and protect it when completed. Use Activity Form - Young Inventor's Log to help students understand what can be included on every page.

General Rules For Authentic Journal Keeping

• Using a  bound notebook , make notes each day about the things you do and learn while working on your invention.
• Record your idea and how you got it.
• Write about problems you have and how you solve them.
• Write in ink and do not erase.
• Add sketches and drawings to make things clear.
• List all parts, sources, and costs of materials.
• Sign and date all entries at the time they are made and have them witnessed.

Step Five:  To illustrate why record-keeping is important, read the following story about Daniel Drawbaugh who said that he invented the telephone, but didn't have one single paper or record to prove it.

Long before  Alexander Graham Bell  filed a patent application in 1875, Daniel Drawbaugh claimed to have invented the telephone. But since he had no journal or record, the  Supreme Court  rejected his claims by four votes to three. Alexander Graham Bell had excellent records and was awarded the patent for the telephone.

Activity 5: Brainstorming for Creative Solutions

Now that the students have one or two problems to work on, they must take the same steps that they did in solving the class problem in Activity Three. These steps could be listed on the chalkboard or a chart.

• Analyze the problem(s). Select one to work on.
• Think of many, varied, and unusual ways of solving the problem. List all of the possibilities. Be non-judgmental. (See Brainstorming in Activity 1 and SCAMPER in Activity 2.)
• Select one or more possible solutions to work on.
• Improve and refine your ideas.

Now that your students have some exciting possibilities for their invention projects, they will need to use their critical thinking skills to narrow down the possible solutions. They can do this by asking themselves the questions in the next activity about their inventive idea.

Activity 6: Practicing the Critical Parts of Inventive Thinking

• Is my idea practical?
• Can it be made easily?
• Is it as simple as possible?
• Is it safe?
• Will it cost too much to make or use?
• Is my idea really new?
• Will it withstand use, or will it break easily?
• Is my idea similar to something else?
• Will people really use my invention? (Survey your classmates or the people in your neighborhood to document the need or usefulness of your idea - adapt the invention idea survey.)

Activity 7: Completing the Invention

When students have an idea that meets most of the above qualifications in Activity 6, they need to plan how they are going to complete their project. The following planning technique will save them a great deal of time and effort:

• Identify the problem and a possible solution. Give your invention a name.
• List the materials needed to illustrate your invention and to make a model of it. You will need paper, pencil, and crayons or markers to draw your invention. You might use cardboard, paper, clay, wood, plastic, yarn, paper clips, and so forth to make a model. You might also want to use an art book or a book on model-making from your school library.
• List, in order, the steps for completing your invention.
• Think of the possible problems that might occur. How would you solve them?
• Complete your invention. Ask your parents and teacher to help with the model.

In Summary What - describe the problem. Materials - list the materials needed. Steps - list the steps to complete your invention. Problems - predict the problems that could occur.

Activity 8: Naming the Invention

An invention can be named in one of the following ways:

• Using the inventor's  name: Levi Strauss  = LEVI'S® jeansLouis Braille = Alphabet System
• Using the components or ingredients of the invention: Root Beer Peanut Butter
• With initials or acronyms: IBM ® S.C.U.B.A.®
• Using word  combinations (notice repeated  consonant sounds  and rhyming words):KIT KAT ® HULA HOOP  ® PUDDING POPS ® CAP'N CRUNCH ®
• Using the product's function: SUPERSEAL ® DUSTBUSTER ® vacuum cleaner hairbrush earmuffs 

Activity Nine: Optional Marketing Activities

Students can be very fluent when it comes to listing ingenious names of products out on the market. Solicit their suggestions and have them explain what makes each name effective. Each student should generate names for his/her own invention.

Developing a Slogan or Jingle Have the students define the terms "slogan" and "jingle." Discuss the purpose of having a slogan. Sample slogans and jingles:

• Things go better with Coke.
• COKE IS IT! ®
• TRIX ARE FOR KIDS ®
• OH THANK HEAVEN FOR 7-ELEVEN ®
• TWOALLBEEFPATTIES...
• GE: WE BRING GOOD THINGS TO LIFE! ®

Your students will be able to recall many  slogans  and jingles! When a slogan is named, discuss the reasons for its effectiveness. Allow time for thought in which the students can create jingles for their inventions.

Creating an Advertisement For a crash course in advertising, discuss the visual effect created by a television commercial, magazine, or newspaper advertisement. Collect magazine or newspaper ads that are eye-catching--some of the ads might be dominated by words and others by pictures that "say it all." Students might enjoy exploring newspapers and magazines for outstanding advertisements. Have students create magazine ads to promote their inventions. (For more advanced students, further lessons on advertising techniques would be appropriate at this point.)

Recording a Radio Promo A radio promo could be the icing on a student's advertising campaign! A promo might include facts about the usefulness of the invention, a clever jingle or song, sound effects, humor... the possibilities are endless. Students may choose to tape record their promos for use during the Invention Convention.

Advertising Activity Collect 5 - 6 objects and give them new uses. For instance, a toy hoop could be a waist-reducer, and some strange looking kitchen gadget might be a new type of mosquito catcher. Use your imagination! Search everywhere--from the tools in the garage to the kitchen drawer--for fun objects. Divide the class into small groups, and give each group one of the objects to work with. The group is to give the object a catchy name, write a slogan, draw an ad, and record a radio promo. Stand back and watch the creative juices flow. Variation: Collect magazine ads and have the students create new advertising campaigns using a different marketing angle.

Activity Ten: Parent Involvement

Few, if any, projects are successful unless the child is encouraged by the parents and other caring adults. Once the children have developed their own, original ideas, they should discuss them with their parents. Together, they can work to make the child's idea come to life by making a model. Although the making of a model is not necessary, it makes the project more interesting and adds another dimension to the project. You can involve parents by simply sending a letter home to explain the project and let them know how they may participate. One of your parents may have invented something that they can share with the class. 

Activity Eleven: Young Inventors' Day

Plan a Young Inventors' Day so that your students can be recognized for their  inventive thinking . This day should provide opportunities for the children to display their inventions and tell the story of how they got their idea and how it works. They can share with other students, their parents, and others.

When a child successfully completes a task, it is important that (s)he be recognized for the effort. All children who participate in the Inventive Thinking Lesson Plans are winners.

We have prepared a certificate that can be copied and given to all children who participate and use their inventive thinking skills to create an invention or innovation.

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Grammar - conjunctions

This is a standalone lesson but it can also be used as part of the set titled:

• Forming logical arguments

LESSON OVERVIEW

With this lesson plan, students evaluate the validity of arguments using the information from a video about logical fallacies. They also practise conjunctions and do a Cambridge CAE Speaking Part 3 activity. 

VOCABULARY & VIDEO

At the beginning of the lesson, students discuss what critical thinking is. They will use the ideas from the discussion to do the CAE Speaking Part 3 activity in the last part of the lesson. Then, students replace seven words in context with their synonyms. The words are related to critical thinking and arguments (e.g. faulty – flawed, refute – counter ). Students also share their thoughts about two of the statements which they agree with or relate to personally. Next, students read six arguments and decide what makes them faulty and how they would refute them. After that, they watch the first part of the video and explain what a logical fallacy is. After watching the second part, students discuss the logical fallacies from the video . They also look at the arguments from the beginning of the lesson and decide which logical fallacies they exemplify. Students watch the second part of the video again to check their answers.

CONJUNCTIONS & CAE SPEAKING PART 3

In the activity, students read nine sentences and choose the correct conjunctions (e.g. whereas, since, and yet ). Then,  they need to rewrite arguments using the words in brackets and make any necessary changes to the statements. After that, students need to evaluate the validity of the arguments they transformed and decide whether they display any logical fallacies. Finally, students do a Cambridge CAE Speaking Part 3 task. They need to talk about the importance of critical thinking in some professions, and then decide which of them least requires the skill of critical thinking. While doing the task, students need to use at least three conjunctions practised in the lesson. The worksheet also contains two more CAE Speaking Part 3 tasks which the teacher might decide to do at the end of the lesson or at the beginning of the next one. 

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Such a great lesson!

Wow!! What an inspiring & thought-provoking lesson!! Thank you!!

Thank you, Irina!

ESL Brains, thank you for all your lessons! They’re just the best!

We’re really happy to hear that! Thanks 🙂

Great lesson, my student loves it! However, the last 2 slides with CAE Speaking activities are hidden during the presentation. Could you unhide them and make them appear, please? Peter

Thanks for the comment! We purposefully set these slides to skip because these are extra tasks. There are two ways out of this: make your own copy of the e-lesson plan and unclick the skip option OR exit the presentation mode on slide 36, go to slide 37 and start the Present mode again. In such a case, when you press space or click the mouse button, you will get to the other skipped slide before the thank you page appears.

This is phenomenal!

Thanks, Liam!

👏👏👏👏 Great lesson!

👏👏👏👏 A really fun and beneficial lesson.

Thanks! I’m really happy you find it useful 🙂

This lesson is just immaculate!

Thank you, Vadim 🙂

An excellent lesson about critical thinking!!! Well paced and developed and so interesting for our students these days!!! Thank you!

Thank you! I’m glad you like the lesson 🙂

Ewa, your lessons are flawless. I simply loved this one.

That was superb!!

Awesome, thanks!

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1 Introduction to Critical Thinking

I. what is c ritical t hinking [1].

Critical thinking is the ability to think clearly and rationally about what to do or what to believe.  It includes the ability to engage in reflective and independent thinking. Someone with critical thinking skills is able to do the following:

• Understand the logical connections between ideas.
• Identify, construct, and evaluate arguments.
• Detect inconsistencies and common mistakes in reasoning.
• Solve problems systematically.
• Identify the relevance and importance of ideas.
• Reflect on the justification of one’s own beliefs and values.

Critical thinking is not simply a matter of accumulating information. A person with a good memory and who knows a lot of facts is not necessarily good at critical thinking. Critical thinkers are able to deduce consequences from what they know, make use of information to solve problems, and to seek relevant sources of information to inform themselves.

Critical thinking should not be confused with being argumentative or being critical of other people. Although critical thinking skills can be used in exposing fallacies and bad reasoning, critical thinking can also play an important role in cooperative reasoning and constructive tasks. Critical thinking can help us acquire knowledge, improve our theories, and strengthen arguments. We can also use critical thinking to enhance work processes and improve social institutions.

Some people believe that critical thinking hinders creativity because critical thinking requires following the rules of logic and rationality, whereas creativity might require breaking those rules. This is a misconception. Critical thinking is quite compatible with thinking “out-of-the-box,” challenging consensus views, and pursuing less popular approaches. If anything, critical thinking is an essential part of creativity because we need critical thinking to evaluate and improve our creative ideas.

II. The I mportance of C ritical T hinking

Critical thinking is a domain-general thinking skill. The ability to think clearly and rationally is important whatever we choose to do. If you work in education, research, finance, management or the legal profession, then critical thinking is obviously important. But critical thinking skills are not restricted to a particular subject area. Being able to think well and solve problems systematically is an asset for any career.

Critical thinking is very important in the new knowledge economy.  The global knowledge economy is driven by information and technology. One has to be able to deal with changes quickly and effectively. The new economy places increasing demands on flexible intellectual skills, and the ability to analyze information and integrate diverse sources of knowledge in solving problems. Good critical thinking promotes such thinking skills, and is very important in the fast-changing workplace.

Critical thinking enhances language and presentation skills. Thinking clearly and systematically can improve the way we express our ideas. In learning how to analyze the logical structure of texts, critical thinking also improves comprehension abilities.

Critical thinking promotes creativity. To come up with a creative solution to a problem involves not just having new ideas. It must also be the case that the new ideas being generated are useful and relevant to the task at hand. Critical thinking plays a crucial role in evaluating new ideas, selecting the best ones and modifying them if necessary.

Critical thinking is crucial for self-reflection. In order to live a meaningful life and to structure our lives accordingly, we need to justify and reflect on our values and decisions. Critical thinking provides the tools for this process of self-evaluation.

Good critical thinking is the foundation of science and democracy. Science requires the critical use of reason in experimentation and theory confirmation. The proper functioning of a liberal democracy requires citizens who can think critically about social issues to inform their judgments about proper governance and to overcome biases and prejudice.

Critical thinking is a   metacognitive skill . What this means is that it is a higher-level cognitive skill that involves thinking about thinking. We have to be aware of the good principles of reasoning, and be reflective about our own reasoning. In addition, we often need to make a conscious effort to improve ourselves, avoid biases, and maintain objectivity. This is notoriously hard to do. We are all able to think but to think well often requires a long period of training. The mastery of critical thinking is similar to the mastery of many other skills. There are three important components: theory, practice, and attitude.

III. Improv ing O ur T hinking S kills

If we want to think correctly, we need to follow the correct rules of reasoning. Knowledge of theory includes knowledge of these rules. These are the basic principles of critical thinking, such as the laws of logic, and the methods of scientific reasoning, etc.

Also, it would be useful to know something about what not to do if we want to reason correctly. This means we should have some basic knowledge of the mistakes that people make. First, this requires some knowledge of typical fallacies. Second, psychologists have discovered persistent biases and limitations in human reasoning. An awareness of these empirical findings will alert us to potential problems.

However, merely knowing the principles that distinguish good and bad reasoning is not enough. We might study in the classroom about how to swim, and learn about the basic theory, such as the fact that one should not breathe underwater. But unless we can apply such theoretical knowledge through constant practice, we might not actually be able to swim.

Similarly, to be good at critical thinking skills it is necessary to internalize the theoretical principles so that we can actually apply them in daily life. There are at least two ways to do this. One is to perform lots of quality exercises. These exercises don’t just include practicing in the classroom or receiving tutorials; they also include engaging in discussions and debates with other people in our daily lives, where the principles of critical thinking can be applied. The second method is to think more deeply about the principles that we have acquired. In the human mind, memory and understanding are acquired through making connections between ideas.

Good critical thinking skills require more than just knowledge and practice. Persistent practice can bring about improvements only if one has the right kind of motivation and attitude. The following attitudes are not uncommon, but they are obstacles to critical thinking:

• I prefer being given the correct answers rather than figuring them out myself.
• I don’t like to think a lot about my decisions as I rely only on gut feelings.
• I don’t usually review the mistakes I have made.
• I don’t like to be criticized.

To improve our thinking we have to recognize the importance of reflecting on the reasons for belief and action. We should also be willing to engage in debate, break old habits, and deal with linguistic complexities and abstract concepts.

The  California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory  is a psychological test that is used to measure whether people are disposed to think critically. It measures the seven different thinking habits listed below, and it is useful to ask ourselves to what extent they describe the way we think:

• Truth-Seeking—Do you try to understand how things really are? Are you interested in finding out the truth?
• Open-Mindedness—How receptive are you to new ideas, even when you do not intuitively agree with them? Do you give new concepts a fair hearing?
• Analyticity—Do you try to understand the reasons behind things? Do you act impulsively or do you evaluate the pros and cons of your decisions?
• Systematicity—Are you systematic in your thinking? Do you break down a complex problem into parts?
• Confidence in Reasoning—Do you always defer to other people? How confident are you in your own judgment? Do you have reasons for your confidence? Do you have a way to evaluate your own thinking?
• Inquisitiveness—Are you curious about unfamiliar topics and resolving complicated problems? Will you chase down an answer until you find it?
• Maturity of Judgment—Do you jump to conclusions? Do you try to see things from different perspectives? Do you take other people’s experiences into account?

Finally, as mentioned earlier, psychologists have discovered over the years that human reasoning can be easily affected by a variety of cognitive biases. For example, people tend to be over-confident of their abilities and focus too much on evidence that supports their pre-existing opinions. We should be alert to these biases in our attitudes towards our own thinking.

IV. Defining Critical Thinking

There are many different definitions of critical thinking. Here we list some of the well-known ones. You might notice that they all emphasize the importance of clarity and rationality. Here we will look at some well-known definitions in chronological order.

1) Many people trace the importance of critical thinking in education to the early twentieth-century American philosopher John Dewey. But Dewey did not make very extensive use of the term “critical thinking.” Instead, in his book  How We Think (1910), he argued for the importance of what he called “reflective thinking”:

…[when] the ground or basis for a belief is deliberately sought and its adequacy to support the belief examined. This process is called reflective thought; it alone is truly educative in value…

Active, persistent and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in light of the grounds that support it, and the further conclusions to which it tends, constitutes reflective thought.

There is however one passage from How We Think where Dewey explicitly uses the term “critical thinking”:

The essence of critical thinking is suspended judgment; and the essence of this suspense is inquiry to determine the nature of the problem before proceeding to attempts at its solution. This, more than any other thing, transforms mere inference into tested inference, suggested conclusions into proof.

2) The  Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal  (1980) is a well-known psychological test of critical thinking ability. The authors of this test define critical thinking as:

…a composite of attitudes, knowledge and skills. This composite includes: (1) attitudes of inquiry that involve an ability to recognize the existence of problems and an acceptance of the general need for evidence in support of what is asserted to be true; (2) knowledge of the nature of valid inferences, abstractions, and generalizations in which the weight or accuracy of different kinds of evidence are logically determined; and (3) skills in employing and applying the above attitudes and knowledge.

3) A very well-known and influential definition of critical thinking comes from philosopher and professor Robert Ennis in his work “A Taxonomy of Critical Thinking Dispositions and Abilities” (1987):

Critical thinking is reasonable reflective thinking that is focused on deciding what to believe or do.

4) The following definition comes from a statement written in 1987 by the philosophers Michael Scriven and Richard Paul for the  National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking (link), an organization promoting critical thinking in the US:

Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action. In its exemplary form, it is based on universal intellectual values that transcend subject matter divisions: clarity, accuracy, precision, consistency, relevance, sound evidence, good reasons, depth, breadth, and fairness. It entails the examination of those structures or elements of thought implicit in all reasoning: purpose, problem, or question-at-issue, assumptions, concepts, empirical grounding; reasoning leading to conclusions, implications and consequences, objections from alternative viewpoints, and frame of reference.

The following excerpt from Peter A. Facione’s “Critical Thinking: A Statement of Expert Consensus for Purposes of Educational Assessment and Instruction” (1990) is quoted from a report written for the American Philosophical Association:

We understand critical thinking to be purposeful, self-regulatory judgment which results in interpretation, analysis, evaluation, and inference, as well as explanation of the evidential, conceptual, methodological, criteriological, or contextual considerations upon which that judgment is based. CT is essential as a tool of inquiry. As such, CT is a liberating force in education and a powerful resource in one’s personal and civic life. While not synonymous with good thinking, CT is a pervasive and self-rectifying human phenomenon. The ideal critical thinker is habitually inquisitive, well-informed, trustful of reason, open-minded, flexible, fairminded in evaluation, honest in facing personal biases, prudent in making judgments, willing to reconsider, clear about issues, orderly in complex matters, diligent in seeking relevant information, reasonable in the selection of criteria, focused in inquiry, and persistent in seeking results which are as precise as the subject and the circumstances of inquiry permit. Thus, educating good critical thinkers means working toward this ideal. It combines developing CT skills with nurturing those dispositions which consistently yield useful insights and which are the basis of a rational and democratic society.

V. Two F eatures of C ritical T hinking

A. how not what .

Critical thinking is concerned not with what you believe, but rather how or why you believe it. Most classes, such as those on biology or chemistry, teach you what to believe about a subject matter. In contrast, critical thinking is not particularly interested in what the world is, in fact, like. Rather, critical thinking will teach you how to form beliefs and how to think. It is interested in the type of reasoning you use when you form your beliefs, and concerns itself with whether you have good reasons to believe what you believe. Therefore, this class isn’t a class on the psychology of reasoning, which brings us to the second important feature of critical thinking.

B. Ought N ot Is ( or Normative N ot Descriptive )

There is a difference between normative and descriptive theories. Descriptive theories, such as those provided by physics, provide a picture of how the world factually behaves and operates. In contrast, normative theories, such as those provided by ethics or political philosophy, provide a picture of how the world should be. Rather than ask question such as why something is the way it is, normative theories ask how something should be. In this course, we will be interested in normative theories that govern our thinking and reasoning. Therefore, we will not be interested in how we actually reason, but rather focus on how we ought to reason.

In the introduction to this course we considered a selection task with cards that must be flipped in order to check the validity of a rule. We noted that many people fail to identify all the cards required to check the rule. This is how people do in fact reason (descriptive). We then noted that you must flip over two cards. This is how people ought to reason (normative).

• Section I-IV are taken from http://philosophy.hku.hk/think/ and are in use under the creative commons license. Some modifications have been made to the original content. ↵

Critical Thinking Copyright © 2019 by Brian Kim is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Kindergarten Math Problems, Worksheets & Games

These kindergarten math problems will help you teach early math skills in a fun, interactive way! In this blog post, you'll find printable worksheets, task cards, and games to make math hands-on and engaging.

Kindergarten is one of the most critical years for young learners. This is where we build a strong foundation in number sense, teach the most basic operations, and give names to the shapes in the world around us.

Because this time is so important, we must use evidence-based instructional practices that genuinely support our students' growth while also providing them with exciting, engaging activities to get them thinking and moving! These kindergarten math problems and resources were designed to be easy for you to prepare, developmentally appropriate and engaging for kids, and aligned with your state or national instructional goals.

Although many of the resources are available in my shop or Freebee Library, they are all included as part of The Hive!  The Hive  is an all-in-one digital teacher planner with thousands of printable resources, videos, and interactive digital learning tools which you can schedule into your day or pull up at a moment's notice. It's teaching smarter, not harder!

If you're teaching primary math this year, you'll also love the mathematics learning programs we have created for K-2! You'll find carefully designed lesson plans with differentiation strategies, matching resources, and activities. Just log in, search for the skill you're covering, and use it instantly!

Sound dreamy? Try it for free today with our 7 day free trial!

Printable Kindergarten Math Problems & Activities

Our kindergarten kids have a lot of learning to do this year. These printable and interactive resources are the perfect tools to support them in that process.

Number Recognition

This is where it all starts! One of our first steps is to help our kindergarten students understand that each numeral represents a specific number of units. I recommend leaning heavily on manipulatives, like dominoes, bear counters, the place value chart, ten frames, dice, and more. 

The more representations, the more deeply your students will understand how numbers work. The following printable kindergarten math worksheets are a great place to start!

Number Printable Worksheets - These print-and-go worksheets are perfect for kindergarten!

There are several different levels, so you can make them more complex as students learn. They can even be used as play dough mats or tracing pages!

Number Match - There are four spaces on each numbered mat, and students find images matching each number from a bank of cards. I love these for small groups or independent practice!

Number Hexagons - These task cards are perfect for a math center or maths rotations! Just match the numeral with the corresponding image.

Number Match Ice Cream Game - In this game, the cones show the number, and students must find that number of scoops with different representations of the number. It's so helpful for consolidating both number identification skills and counting skills at the same time!

Swat the Fly Number Templates - This freebie is a fun, hands-on way to help students practice identifying numerals. I like to print these out and place them around the room, and have students say the name of the number as they swat it.

Get even more kindergarten number writing practice with these templates and activities! They're great for preschool, too.

One of the most important concepts young students learn is the idea of place value, which requires plenty of meaningful opportunities with number recognition and counting. Although many of the activities above can be used for counting, too, these ones focus on this specific skill.

Disappearing Digits - Kids fill in the missing numbers on these math charts. I like to put these in pocket sleeves to use them again and again!  

Monster Eyes Counting - These free kindergarten math worksheets so much fun! Have your kids add the correct number of googly eyes to the monster bodies. They'll love arranging the eyes in different ways, which is a great way to practise those fine motor skills, too!

Build a Fence - Students line up the popsicle sticks in number order to complete the fence. It's simple, but it works!

I Spy & Count   - Students will love playing I Spy and consolidating their early number skills with these I Spy and Count Mats!

Numbers Before & After   - This open-ended activity can be used to consolidate early number and counting skills, as students identify the number/s after a given number. Students roll a dice and write the 4 numbers that come after. You can further differentiate by the number of dice used, or the number of sides on the dice. 

Simple Addition

We spend a lot of time focusing on addition skills in the early years, as this concept is the foundation of subtraction and multiplication in later years.

We have created units for every element of K-2 math in The Hive, so you can easily pull up any of the lesson plans, slides, games, videos, and printables to support your instruction any time you need them! There are also loads of digital learning tools for your maths lessons, such as digital counters, manipulatives, ten frames, place value charts and more.

The following activities are just some of the hundreds of activities included in The Hive's K-2 mathematics units.

Finger Addition 1-10 - The kindergarten worksheets are a great bridge between finger counting and using symbolic representations! They can even count along with their own hands.

Counting On Task Cards - These cards make it easy to practise counting on, which is one of many addition strategies which we teach to our kindergarten students.

Addition Towers - Give your students a pile of unifix cubes to solve each of the math problems. Since this task is open-ended, they'll naturally find several different ways to solve each problem. These would be wonderful for math talks!

Number Line Addition Task Cards - The number line is such a useful concept to teach early on, especially as it connects to telling time and measurement later on. These free task cards use the jump strategy to practise addition up to 20.

Our Hive members can also use our digital number line to explicitly teach this concept too!

Addition Stories - These open-ended worksheets are one of my favourite activities! Kids can use these kindergarten worksheets as a backdrop to create their own story problems or you can fill out the sheet yourself and see how many different word problems your students can come up with based on the image.

This would be great for a daily math discussion! You can even  have your student of the day create their own custom scene.

Part Part Whole Activities  

Students create different totals using the legs of characters from the book. See if they can find different ways to make the same total!  Print multiple sets of the picture cards for students to combine to create different totals:

Number Bond Activities  

Students can demonstrate their understanding of number bonds to 5, 10 and 20 with these differentiated number bond task cards.

Simple Subtraction

Once students understand addition as combining parts to find the whole, they're ready for subtraction. These highly visual examples will give them great practice!

Takeaway Trash - This game highlights the idea that subtraction is about taking numbers apart. Students must "sweep" the subtracted part into the recycling bin to see what's left. Great for stations!  

Finger Subtraction Templates - These templates are much cleaner than colouring on your fingers but achieve the same effect. 

Hungry Shark Subtraction Mats - I love that these sheets model how to complete subtraction word problems and use the horizontal form at the same time. The repetition will really help reinforce these skills!

Counter Subtraction - The counters are a great next step after counting with fingers. The counters are still visual, but they're a little more abstract. Since these worksheets are open-ended, they can be used over and over with different numbers. 

For more subtraction resources, check out these posts:

• 10 Fun Subcraction Worksheets for Kindergarten
• Best 2nd Grade Math Subtraction Worksheets & Activities .  Although this one is written for older kids, there are resources to cover a variety of strategies that are also covered in kindergarten and first grade!

In kindergarten, our young learners are expected to learn how to recognize basic 2D and 3D shapes. I've prepared a whole host of geometry resources on The Hive, including 3 weeks' worth of digital lesson plans, digital slides, task cards, tracing mats, printable worksheets, and more!

There are so many shapes activities on The Hive that I wrote an entire blog post about it. Visit 20+ Printable Kindergarten Shapes Worksheets & Activities here.

Looking for more?

This is just the start! There are so many more resources available in my shop, but to really level-up your mathematics instruction, I recommend joining The Hive.

You will have instant access to these educational materials and so much more! Every activity is designed using evidence-based methods so you can trust they're truly effective. 

Plus, you'll LOVE our interactive digital learning tools. Here are just a few examples!

​Start your free 7-day trial of The Hive and check them out!