The Global Digital Citizen Foundation has a page of resources on its website that includes the free Critical Thinking Cheatsheet. The downloadable PDF has excellent question stems that students can use when trying to analyze a topic more effectively. You can see a sampling of the Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How questions stems … Read more
Did you know the Great Wall of China is not visible from space, you can’t kill someone by dropping a penny from the Leaning Tower of Pisa (or any other building), and bananas don’t grow on trees? These are some of the “Common Mythconceptions” you can find on Information is Beautiful. The visualizations on this … Read more
I first read about “Integrative Thinking” in this article by Katrina Schwartz on Mindshift. The article outlines three thinking/problem-solving tools that are taught through the I-Think Initiative at University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management: Ladder of Inference, Pro/Pro, and Causal Models. Integrative Thinking involves using these tools and others to consider solutions for problems by … Read more
Decisions, decisions. Some are certainly easier to make than others, as many people are discovering on this 2016 Election Day in the United States… Kid President just released a timely video for the occasion. Happily, it doesn’t just apply to election decisions. In fact, my 2nd graders have been discussing “Thinking Hats,” and “Making Tough … Read more
Rachel Lynette, over at the “Minds in Bloom” blog, offers some fun Halloween activities for critical thinking. One of them is a Halloween-themed list of “Would You Rather?” questions. For these, I would recommend that you encourage your students to justify their answers, and possibly have a contest for who can give the most unusual … Read more
In my latest article for Fusion Yearbooks, I offer some practical ideas for encouraging questioning in the classroom. If we want future generations of students to be critical thinkers and problem solvers, they must learn the importance of questioning – which is sadly a skill often discouraged by educators. Here are links to some of my … Read more