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11 Ways To Frame Content: A Depth, Complexity & Content Imperatives Chart

by Terry Heick

Framing content is among the most powerful strategies teachers have to engage students and promote deep understanding of content.

One example is project-based learning, which is both an instructional design tool for teachers, as well as a (potentially) engaging ways for learners to approach content. This stands in contrast to other learning trends-self-directed learning, for example-that don't frame or "suggest" content pathways at all, but rather describe another characteristic-who "directs" the learning, for example.

The Common Core standards, on the other hand, do in fact suggest content. In fact, they state explicitly exactly what a student is to learn. In that way, they take a content area-Math, for example-and says "Students 'learning' math should learn this, this, and this." The advantage here is that it takes the guesswork out of who's learning what.

The downside? Though the Common Core Standards are thought of as more complex compared to state standards in many areas of the United States, to say that they are the only-or even the best-ways to frame content areas and promote complex and critical inquiry of important academic literacies is not true.

Which is where the following chart from Dr. Sandra Kaplan comes in.
11 Brilliant Ways To Frame Critical Content: A Complexities Chart
This complexities chart is somewhat reminiscent of 27 Actions That Promote Self-Directed Learning, where we focused strictly on the "cognitive action," and made the academic standard or content secondary.

Take the idea of "theme" in English-Language Arts, framed by any of the following areas.

1. Language of the Discipline: What academic and non-academic language is used to discuss, explore, or understand theme both in the classroom and the real world?

2. Details: What are the "parts" of theme? What is its definition? How is its meaning related to the meaning of tangent academic language?

3. Patterns: What sort of patterns emerge through investigations of literary themes, within texts, digital media, or the discussion of those texts and digital media in an academic setting?

4. Unanswered Questions: What questions are still unanswered or beyond the "reach" of theme? Does it seem like there may eventually be progress there? What would have to happen for that progress to occur?

5. Rules: What are the rules for using, analyzing, and applying themes?

6. Trends: What cultural trends exist in regards to thematic patterns over the last 250 years? Or 250 days on the internet-memes, for example?

7. Ethics: How do themes inform ethics-and vice-versa?

8. Big Ideas: What are the big ideas in this content "niche" that resurface over and over again? And what is your hunch why that might be?

9. Across the Disciplines: How does the study of theme in ELA relate to Push/Pull factors in immigration, war, or the scientific process?

10. Changes Over Time: How has our use-and understanding of-theme changed over time? Has it gotten more or less complex? How has music changed how we understand theme?

11. Different Perspectives: How do competing analyses of theme serve deep understanding of text or digital media?

Brilliant, eh? Our forthcoming self-directed learning framework (I promise, it's coming) will dovetail nicely behind this. Whether you want to use it for unit essential questions, to guide Socratic discussions, create writing prompts, or frame lessons and assessments, this is an interesting way to consistently promote complex and in-depth analysis of academic and non-academic content.

Would love to hear how you might use it in your classroom in the comments below.

Note: Note that this isn't an either/or proposition. You can use the Common Core Standards and a chart like this. In that case, you'd take a standard-or concept behind a standard-and "refract" it through whichever of the following Depth or Complexity made the most sense according to that student's knowledge-level.
11 Ways To Frame Content: A Depth, Complexity & Content Imperatives Chart
11 Ways To Frame Content: A Depth, Complexity & Content Imperatives Chart

by Terry Heick

Framing content is among the most powerful strategies teachers have to engage students and promote deep understanding of content.

One example is project-based learning, which is both an instructional design tool for teachers, as well as a (potentially) engaging ways for learners to approach content. This stands in contrast to other learning trends-self-directed learning, for example-that don't frame or "suggest" content pathways at all, but rather describe another characteristic-who "directs" the learning, for example.

The Common Core standards, on the other hand, do in fact suggest content. In fact, they state explicitly exactly what a student is to learn. In that way, they take a content area-Math, for example-and says "Students 'learning' math should learn this, this, and this." The advantage here is that it takes the guesswork out of who's learning what.

The downside? Though the Common Core Standards are thought of as more complex compared to state standards in many areas of the United States, to say that they are the only-or even the best-ways to frame content areas and promote complex and critical inquiry of important academic literacies is not true.

Which is where the following chart from Dr. Sandra Kaplan comes in.
11 Brilliant Ways To Frame Critical Content: A Complexities Chart
This complexities chart is somewhat reminiscent of 27 Actions That Promote Self-Directed Learning, where we focused strictly on the "cognitive action," and made the academic standard or content secondary.

Take the idea of "theme" in English-Language Arts, framed by any of the following areas.

1. Language of the Discipline: What academic and non-academic language is used to discuss, explore, or understand theme both in the classroom and the real world?

2. Details: What are the "parts" of theme? What is its definition? How is its meaning related to the meaning of tangent academic language?

3. Patterns: What sort of patterns emerge through investigations of literary themes, within texts, digital media, or the discussion of those texts and digital media in an academic setting?

4. Unanswered Questions: What questions are still unanswered or beyond the "reach" of theme? Does it seem like there may eventually be progress there? What would have to happen for that progress to occur?

5. Rules: What are the rules for using, analyzing, and applying themes?

6. Trends: What cultural trends exist in regards to thematic patterns over the last 250 years? Or 250 days on the internet-memes, for example?

7. Ethics: How do themes inform ethics-and vice-versa?

8. Big Ideas: What are the big ideas in this content "niche" that resurface over and over again? And what is your hunch why that might be?

9. Across the Disciplines: How does the study of theme in ELA relate to Push/Pull factors in immigration, war, or the scientific process?

10. Changes Over Time: How has our use-and understanding of-theme changed over time? Has it gotten more or less complex? How has music changed how we understand theme?

11. Different Perspectives: How do competing analyses of theme serve deep understanding of text or digital media?

Brilliant, eh? Our forthcoming self-directed learning framework (I promise, it's coming) will dovetail nicely behind this. Whether you want to use it for unit essential questions, to guide Socratic discussions, create writing prompts, or frame lessons and assessments, this is an interesting way to consistently promote complex and in-depth analysis of academic and non-academic content.

Would love to hear how you might use it in your classroom in the comments below.

Note: Note that this isn't an either/or proposition. You can use the Common Core Standards and a chart like this. In that case, you'd take a standard-or concept behind a standard-and "refract" it through whichever of the following Depth or Complexity made the most sense according to that student's knowledge-level.
11 Ways To Frame Content: A Depth, Complexity & Content Imperatives Chart

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11 Brilliant Ways To Frame Critical Content: A Complexities Chart

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11 Ways To Frame Content: A Depth, Complexity & Content Imperatives Chart by Terry Heick Framing content is among the most powerful strategies teachers have to engage students and promote deep understanding of content. One example is project-based learning, which is both an instructional design tool for teachers, as well as a (potentially) engaging ways for learners to approach content.

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In an activity based on the Think, Pair, Share strategy, students write and discuss their ideas with a partner before sharing them with the larger group. This format gives students the opportunity to thoughtfully respond to questions in written form and to engage in meaningful dialogue with other students about these issues. It is a helpful way to give students time to compose their ideas before sharing with them with the class. The Think, Pair, Share strategy helps students build confidence, encourages greater participation, and often results in more thoughtful discussions.

1. Think
Have students reflect on a given question or write a response in their journals.

2. Pair
Have students pair up and share their responses.

3. Share
When the larger group reconvenes, ask pairs to report back on their conversations. Alternatively, you could ask students to share what their partner said. In this way, the strategy focuses on students' skills as careful listeners.

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In an activity based on the Think, Pair, Share strategy, students write and discuss their ideas with a partner before sharing them with the larger group. This format gives students the opportunity to thoughtfully respond to questions in written form and to engage in meaningful dialogue with other students about these issues.

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What do you need to do to quickly develop critical thinking? What teaching methods to use? These questions will appear in the head after the desire to improve the quality of decisions made. The approach to training your thinking is complex and time-consuming. For this reason, many give up halfway. All because the wrong training method was chosen.

What exercises will help develop critical thinking skills?

Let's think of a question that we will answer. For instance: "Is nuclear energy the energy of the future?"

Exercise 1:

Let's make a table that consists of:

We analyze the advantages and disadvantages of using nuclear energy and enter them in the appropriate columns. Nevertheless, these data are insufficient for us to draw an accurate conclusion, so in the third column, we write questions, the answers to which we must find ourselves. For example, it can be statistics: how many nuclear power plants are there in the world, how much energy they produce and at what cost, how many accidents have happened over the entire time, etc. After collecting all the data, the items in the first and second columns of our table may change if new information led to new conclusions. Thus, we have learned to collect, check, and analyze input data to solve the problem.

Exercise 2:

Before searching for the information you need, try to answer the question in a meaningful way. Be sure to include arguments. For example, the question: "Is nuclear energy really the cheapest?" Answer: "No, because, firstly, building a nuclear power plant is expensive, and secondly, solar energy is cheaper based on ... data." Thanks to this exercise, we will learn how to argue our opinion based on the information that we have at a given time.

Exercise 3:

Compare alternative options with yours. To do this, first, determine the indicators that you will compare. In our case, we need nuclear, solar, water, and thermal. Indicators: the cost of one unit of energy produced, the cost of maintenance and building the station, and the impact on the environment. Find statistical information on the Internet from a trusted source and determine which type of energy will be cheaper.

Exercise 4:

Discussion is a great way to find the best solution to a problem. Based on the data from the last exercise, we found that nuclear energy is on average better than thermal energy but worse than solar energy. Suppose another student disagrees and thinks that solar energy is inferior to nuclear energy. Lead the discussion, having previously prepared arguments in favor of your opinion. This way, your team can look at the issue from different angles and choose the right decision based on the facts collected.

Train your thinking every day with these exercises, and in the future, you will be able to automatically perform all the necessary actions to make better solutions to problems. Be patient, and everything will work out!

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Great Critical Thinking Activities That Engage Your Students

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What do you need to do to quickly develop critical thinking? What teaching methods to use? These questions will appear in the head after the desire to improve the quality of decisions made. The approach to training your thinking is complex and time-consuming. For this reason, many give up halfway.

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We talk to many educators in our travels. Everywhere we go, we ask what they feel are the most important skills for modern learners. Teachers, school leaders, and educators of all kinds have many shared goals. No matter where they hail from, one of the most common among them is effectively developing critical thinking skills.

Thinking critically is the pinnacle of the accumulation of knowledge and experience. How can we start developing our learners' critical thinking skills rather than teaching to the test? What strategies will bring out the critical thinkers inside all our learners?

Strategies for Developing Critical Thinking Skills

Below is a list of some of the ways we have of developing critical thinking skills the right way for our learners. Ultimately this is as much about how teachers teach as it is about how learners learn. Developing critical thinking skills must be embraced and incorporated at the team level. If we start by trusting our teachers to think and speak openly, we can set an example to them to also trust in the goodness of their learners. This encourages kids to step up when fully engaged in meaningful projects.

1. The Freedom to Learn

In short, this means to give to the testers what is theirs but give the freedom to think back to our learners. In an article for The Guardian, Matthew Bebbington talks about a strategy used by companies like Google for increasing employee engagement. They allow workers a certain "freedom" for focusing on personalized approaches to working on problems.

Essentially, they have carte blanche to work on whatever they wish with whoever they wish. The result is a heightened sense of ownership of the problem, and a creative approach to solutions. Of course, this elevates critical thinking capacity as well. There's no reason why the same thing couldn't work in a classroom.

2. E ncourage Project-Based Learning

Solving real-world problems gets kids out of the classroom and into the real world. Again, this is a skill that's paramount to success in life beyond school. Developing critical thinking skills and HOTS comes to the forefront here.

A great place to do this is the Solution Fluency Activity Planner. It takes you step-by-step through planning incredible project-based learning and inquiry units for your students. Play with it and plan your own professional development with it. (Pass it on to your admins that you can get 50% of a whole-school plan now when you start a FREE 30-day trial.)

3. Encourage Collaboration

Bring teamwork and peer collaboration into the mix and you're sure to engage critical thinking skills. This applies not only in your classroom with other students, but also beyond the classroom walls into broader areas. It can involve the community and all the interesting professionals that are part of it.

Think about collaboration along the lines of using technology to reach out to the global community. Don't just invest in technology. The end goal is students collaborating, thinking critically, and solving problems relevant to their world.

4. Include Professional Development

Make workshops and in-services incorporate the highest critical thinking component among teachers. This a real boon for administrators, and here's why: what goes around comes around.

The most effective professional development incorporates teachers being engaged and taking ownership of the material. Through this example, teachers will take this back to their students.

If you don't want your teachers to purely lecture, don't hire someone to come in and lecture. Your presenters must be the highest examples of what you want your teachers to be. In other words, teach your teachers the same way you want your students to be taught.

5. Teach the 6D's of Solution Fluency

Solution Fluency is a process for working through any problem no matter how big or small. It doesn't matter if you're writing a shopping list or redesigning the universe; the 6Ds are foolproof and fail-safe. They're also the perfect system for developing critical thinking skills. The 6D process is as follows:

Define the driving question. Ask questions to clarify, focus and understand what the problem is.

Discover all aspects of the problem. What's being done currently? What exactly is the nature of the problem? Be observant.

Dream and brainstorm directions to approach the solution. Imagine the problem solved in the best way, no matter how seemingly impossible some of the solutions may be. Think without borders.

Design the product. Create a blueprint of the ideas and workshop them thoroughly.

Deliver the goods and put the solution to work in a practical application. Generate the product and test it out against the problem.

Debrief and review the process and look realistically on the product or solution.

There are plenty of tools to help you bring this unique critical thinking process into your classroom teaching, as we have with thousands of educators all over the world. Begin with the Solution Fluency Quickstart Guide or the Fluency Posters, which are free resources for developing understanding.

If you're ready for more tools and tricks, you can move on to the more advanced Solution Fluency Teacher's Companion. There you'll find classroom instruction ideas, PBL scenarios, frameworks for assessment, and more.

6. Teach Design Thinking

This is another angle very similar to Solution Fluency. In any design approach, nothing is linear. There is always a never-ending cycle of revisitation and revision. When processes are kept linear, possibilities become limited. Possibilities are what both Solution Fluency and design thinking are intended to generate by working cyclically. With them, there are no limits.

This simple infographic creates a side-by-side comparison of the stages of both Solution Fluency and design thinking. It's intended to display the striking similarities between the two. Hopefully, this comparison will demonstrate a bit more of the remarkable versatility of Solution Fluency. It truly is a process for both living and learning, and for assisting one in developing critical thinking skills.

7. Make a Mess

Messy learning is unguided and encourages learners to draw conclusions on their own. It also requires support from the teacher in the form of structure, templates, guiding questions, scaffolded skills, and the like. Nevertheless, it is the honoring of the critical thinking process of which teachers need be aware.

That's because you can't see it sometimes. It's virtually invisible. Like the dark matter of the universe, messy learning can be seen only by its effects upon the things around it. Perhaps the biggest proponents of messy learning are schools that know the value of play in a child's learning. Schools like those featured here on Getting Smart can provide a safe place for messy, sticky learning.

What other ways are you developing critical thinking skills with your learners?

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7 Actively Engaging Ways of Developing Critical Thinking Skills

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We talk to many educators in our travels. Everywhere we go, we ask what they feel are the most important skills for modern learners. Teachers, school leaders, and educators of all kinds have many shared goals. No matter where they hail from, one of the most common among them is effectively developing critical thinking skills.

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Reading and Critical Thinking Skills in ELT in Turkey

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I joined in yesterday in the Macmillan Education online conference and Ed Newbon's webinar in particular on Critical Thinking Skills really got me, well...thinking.
He argued that our role as teachers is changing, that nowadays it is not enough for students to only speak English, they need to have transferable skills for work, studies etc. Critical thinking is one of the skills that we can incorporate into the ELT classroom which can help students perform in the outside world.

So what is critical thinking?

Newbon gave several examples but in a nutshell, it is seen as higher level thinking: problem solving, making judgements, evaluation and reflection. So as teachers it would mean not just focussing on right/wrong answers from a student, not just going through exercises and asking comprehension questions but getting students involved. Get them to problem solve, evaluate and justify their answers.The process of critical thinking is often linked to Bloom's Taxonomy pyramid.

Do you already incorporate critical thinking into your classes?

Is there time in amongst all the learning outcomes, aims and syllabus requirements to even squeeze this into a lesson? Although critical thinking is important, equipping students with life skills is not something that is paramount to me when planning a lesson. Perhaps I should think about planning for it more as I do think it is a valuable tool for getting the most out of an exercise. Through problem solving, evaluating and justifying students will have the opportunity to use and be exposed to a much wider range of vocabulary and grammatical structures than they would by simply doing a traditional lower level thinking activity. Of course many of us already do critical thinking activities instinctively in speaking exercises but using it in reading, listening and writing tasks is a new concept for a lot of us.

Practical Ideas to use in class

Whilst doing a reading in class, in addition to the traditional course book T/F factual, comprehension questions (lower level thinking), ask the students to imagine and describe the people talked about in the text, who do they think wrote it, what is the justification for their answers (higher level thinking).

When using pictures in class, rather than asking a student to describe the picture. Give some context to the picture. In the webinar Newborn used a similar picture to this and asked people to describe it as someone who hated hot weather. This throws up a lot more vocabulary than the standard exercise.

Lindsay Clandfield suggested taking quotes and deleting the last line. Ask students to predict what the final line would be rather than simply doing a matching activity.

Another activity would be to give students a list of 4 or 5 words and ask which one does not belong. There is no right or wrong answer, what is important is that they justify their choice.

Do students want this style of teaching in class?

Traditionally students look to the teacher for the 'correct' answer. Open ended questions and undefined answers may frustrate some students who want to be tested and given the right answer. Critical thinking skills in class may take time to get used to but I think that taking a moment as teachers to tweak course book activities to involve critical thinking will definitely give more opportunities in class to work with the language. If it helps students to equip themselves with life skills along the way, all the better. As Benjamin Franklin put it ' Tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I learn '

Over to you

If you missed any of the Macmillan Webinars this week, they will be available shortly on the youtube channel. There is also a lot of useful resources and links to life skills here.Check it out!

Think about a few exercises you are going to teach in class this week. How could you incorporate critical thinking into them? Try it out and comment below with your ideas. If you had a great lesson, share it here. If it didn't work for you, let us know.

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Critical Thinking - Making the most of your coursebook - ELT Connect

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I joined in yesterday in the Macmillan Education online conference and Ed Newbon's webinar in particular on Critical Thinking Skills really got me, well...thinking. He argued that our role as teachers is changing, that nowadays it is not enough for students to only speak English, they need to have transferable skills for work, studies etc.

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World of Better Learning | Cambridge University Press

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In her previous posts, Unlock author Carolyn Westbrook introduced the basics of teaching Critical Thinking in ELT. Today, she explores Bloom's Taxonomy.
Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning Objectives classifies a number of skills which can be used to teach critical thinking. The six skills are often depicted as the triangle shows.

However, representing the skills like this gives the impression of a hierarchical approach to critical thinking. It seems to suggest that the Lower Order Thinking Skills (remember, understand and apply) must be acquired before the Higher Order Thinking Skills (analyze, evaluate and create) can be learnt.

This is not necessarily the case, however. The different skills can and should be used in a more integrated way. For this reason, it can be helpful to consider them as a circle, with no start or finish, and where the skills can be integrated in any order, as laid out on this useful poster from the More Than English blog.

But what do the six skills really mean?

Remember:

can students recall information they have read or heard?

Understand:

can students explain the ideas or concepts they have read or heard about?

Apply:

can students use the information in another context or a different situation or for a different task?

Analyse:

can students break the information down into its component parts?

Evaluate:

can students assess the value of the input information?

Create:

can students use the input to create something new?

As can be seen from the two diagrams, a number of verbs are associated with each of the six skills. These can be used by teachers as a guide when designing tasks to promote critical thinking. By using the verbs, we can take any kind of input - for example, a listening or reading text - and create critical thinking tasks around those verbs.

Furthermore, by taking a task-based approach to teaching critical thinking, we can design a range of integrated tasks which will enable students to do what is necessary to achieve the output. (One example of such an output might be a project analysing the use of public transport in a given city.) We just need to ask ourselves 'What do students need to do to produce this output?' Once we know which steps they need to go through to achieve the target, we can design a range of tasks for them which will address those steps. For instance:
1. The causes and solutions of the recent financial crisis

* list the main causes of the recent financial crisis;

* explain the causes of the recent financial crisis;

* prioritise the fiscal measures which should be taken to reduce the budget deficit;
2. The advantages and disadvantages of testing primary school children

categorise the arguments into advantages and disadvantages of testing primary school children;

compare the opinions of the two authors;

decide whether you are in favour of or against testing primary school children and why (based on the arguments provided);

tell your partner your opinion and justify your reasons.

3. The problem of obesity in developed and developing countries

name the countries presented in the text;

complete the table with the percentages of obese people in the different countries;

create a graph showing the percentage of obese people in the different countries;

compare the causes of obesity in developing and developed countries;

identify the solutions of obesity presented in the text;

recommend the measures which should be taken to reduce obesity in developed countries;

design an information leaflet for students / schoolchildren to encourage them to eat more healthily;

compose a poem about healthy eating;

By scaffolding critical thinking skills and at the same time informing students explicitly that these tasks are developing their critical thinking skills, we guide our students towards critical thinking. We do this with the intention that, in the longer term, this will enable them to develop their critical thinking skills beyond the length of the course, empowering them to think openly and critically in everything they do, not just English.
In the next post, we will look at using Bloom's Taxonomy to teach critical thinking in Unlock. We regret that Unlock is not available in North America.

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Teaching critical thinking using Bloom's Taxonomy | World of Better Learning | Cambridge University Press

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In her previous posts, Unlock author Carolyn Westbrook introduced the basics of teaching Critical Thinking in ELT. Today, she explores Bloom's Taxonomy. Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning Objectives classifies a number of skills which can be used to teach critical thinking. The six skills are often depicted as the triangle shows.

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Critical Thinking And English Language Teaching Pt. 1

Critical thinking has been a buzzword for some time now. In fact, judging by the research, it has been a buzzword for over a decade. The problem with buzz words is that, over time, they lose a lot of their original meaning and begin to stand for almost anything new or progressive. In addition, it has become an empty rallying cry ("We must teach critical thinking in English language teaching!") devoid of the very thinking it purports to support.

Why does hearing the cry above make people cringe? Why does reference to Bloom's taxonomy often cause negative reactions? One reason is because these terms are overused. But is there something more? Are people (rightly) skeptical of these concepts?

There is no doubt that "critical thinking" is buzzworthy. And, if it's buzzworthy, it must have some importance. So, what exactly is critical thinking and why is it important? I believe the answer to these questions can be framed through the arguments of those who are critical of critical thinking. This article will briefly consider the research on critical thinking and argue that critical thinking should play a central and explicit role in English language teaching.

Can Critical Thinking Be Defined?

There are those who feel that critical thinking can only be defined in broad, subjective terms that are too various to unify. How do you teach something if you can't even define it? The literature on critical thinking - coming from psychology, education, and philosophy, agrees somewhat with this point. It seems that critical thinking is not readily reducible. It is, rather, multidimensional, or, polysemous. Nevertheless, while the idea of critical thinking may be expressed in various ways, Moore found that these are typically well-articulated and clearly conveyed to students. Moore claims that the variety of meanings may be discipline-based, meaning that psychology prefers certain aspects of critical thinking more so than history, which prefers others. Still, Moore was able to identify some common features which can define the concept more clearly.

According to Moore's research, critical thinking is:

A judgement of whether something is good, bad, valid, or true

rational, or, reason-based

skeptical thinking

productive thinking - not only challenging ideas but producing them - coming to conclusions about issues

carefully reading beyond a text's literal meaning

awareness of the entire process

ethical or activist - in other words, not neutral

Although Moore is not the sole and final authority on what is means to be a critical thinker, it's clear that critical thinking can be somewhat defined as a concept, though we must accept that its meaning - like many other concepts - "is its use in the language" (Wittgenstein, cited in Moore, p. 508).

Can Critical Thinking Be Taught?

If critical thinking can be defined (as Moore and others have done), then can it be taught? Certainly, it's important to think critically. No one is arguing it is not. However, many claim that it must be organically developed, or it is a skill that can be encouraged but not learned. The literature, however, shows the opposite. Not only can critical thinking be taught, it can be practiced and refined!

First, we have to understand that critical thinking is hard. Experimental research by Kuhn (1991) shows that a majority of people cannot demonstrate critical reasoning skills. That is, they cannot often justify their beliefs and opinions with evidence.

Van Gelder and Mulnix, mulling over the question of how to teach critical thinking, found some practical advice, much of which is based in cognitive science.

Examples of critical thinking are not enough - students need to engage in critical thinking.

There needs to be deliberate practice to master the skill. This includes full concentration, exercises aimed at improving the skills, engaging in increasingly difficult exercises as easier ones are mastered, and guidance and feedback.

The practice must be repetitive throughout a course.

Students must practice transferring critical thinking skills to other contexts.

Students must eventually become aware of the actual idea of critical thinking, including its terminology.

Empirical research on critical thinking shows that it not only be taught but be taught. As teachers, we should develop exercises, strategies, and assessments that seek to improve this skill. Mulnix concludes rather poignantly, "To do any less is not only to let our students down, but it is to fail at that very skill we are trying to teach".

One exercise that has been shown to be effective is argument mapping, in which arguments (including claims, warrants, evidence, etc.) are visually displayed in a diagram. This makes it easy to understand, analyze, and evaluate arguments. Argument maps start with a central premise (i.e. thesis) at the top and include below it evidence or reasons, co-premises (co-reasons), counterarguments and rebuttals, with lines and arrows to show the connections between the ideas.

As a classroom activity, argument maps can first be given as templates that students fill in. Once familiar with argument mapping, they can then begin to construct their own based on analyzing textual sources (readings or lectures) or for forming their own logical conclusions (for discussions, debates, and presentations). By analyzing the arguments written, students can then begin evaluating reasons, evidence, and counterarguments. They can begin questioning the validity of these arguments and suggest their own conclusions or justification. In this way, they are deliberately engaging in critical thinking practice, which, as shown above, is key for developing good critical thinking skills.
Argument map examples:
Wait! What About Bloom's Taxonomy?

Bloom's taxonomy is perhaps the most well-known example of critical thinking. It is an orderly, visually-pleasing representation of, as we have seen, quite a large concept - and this is perhaps one reason why it has held educational weight since the late 50s. However, it has come under much scrutiny both for the way it has been organized and the way it has been employed. There is poor empirical basis for the organization of the hierarchy and its implications for task sequencing. "Lower order skills" are not necessarily easier than "higher order skills" and vice-versa. In addition, these "lower" skills are often used in conjunction or even after using the "higher order skills".

Nevertheless, Bloom's (revised) taxonomy is still quite common in the scientific literature. A search for "bloom's taxonomy" on Google Scholar reveals a great deal of peer-reviewed research which utilized Bloom's taxonomy. So, why the persistence? While the hierarchy may have its weaknesses and its organization may not always represent reality, the levels of the taxonomy do include most conceptions of what critical thinking is, and there is evidence from neuroscience that supports the taxonomy itself. In the video, " What can Neuroscience Research Teach Us about Teaching? ", neuroscientist Daniel Kaufer points to Bloom's taxonomy as an example of active learning in which, as one moves up the hierarchy, more and more areas of the brain become dynamically activated. In other words, when more areas of the brain "fire together" they typically "wire together" . So, working on higher order skills may not be more difficult than lower order skills, but it may lead to stronger reinforcement of learning.

One of the alternatives to the taxonomy Case proposes is very much aligned with what we have read above about the pedagogical ideas behind teaching critical thinking:

"Understand that inviting students to offer reasoned judgments is a more fruitful way of framing learning tasks than is the use of verbs clustered around levels of thinking that are removed from evaluative judgments".

Atkinson, D. (1997). A critical approach to critical thinking in TESOL. TESOL quarterly, 31(1), 71-94.

Case, R. (2013). The Unfortuate Consequences of Bloom's Taxonomy. Social Education, 77(4), 196-200.

Dalton, D. F. (2011, December). An investigation of an approach to teaching critical reading to native Arabic-speaking students. Arab World English Journal, 2(4),58-87.

Davidson, B. W. (1998). Comments on Dwight Atkinson's" A Critical Approach to Critical Thinking in TESOL": A case for critical thinking in the English language classroom. TESOL quarterly, 32(1), 119-123.

Hernandez, M. L., & Rodríguez, L. F. G. (2015). Transactional Reading in EFL Learning: A Path to Promote Critical Thinking through Urban Legends. Colombian Applied Linguistics Journal, 17(2), 229-245.

Halpern, D. F. (1998). Teaching critical thinking for transfer across domains: Disposition, skills, structure training, and metacognitive monitoring. American Psychologist, 53(4).

Moore, T. (2013). Critical thinking: seven definitions in search of a concept. Studies in Higher Education, 38(4), 506-522.

Mulnix, J. W. (2012). Thinking critically about critical thinking. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 44(5), 464-479.

Nezami, S. R. A. (2012). A critical study of comprehension strategies and general problems in reading faced by Arab EFL learners with special reference to Najran University in Saudi Arabia. International Journal of Social Sciences and Education, 2(3), 306-317.

Parrish, B., & Johnson, K. (2010, April). Promoting learner transitions to post-secondary education and work: Developing academic readiness from the beginning. CAELA

Network Briefs. Retrieved June 1, 2015 from http://www.cal.org/caelanetwork/resources/transitions.html

Ramanathan, V., & Kaplan, R. B. (1996). Some problematic" channels" in the teaching of critical thinking in current LI composition textbooks: Implications for L2 student-writers. Issues in Applied Linguistics, 7(2).

van Gelder, T. (2005). Teaching critical thinking: Some lessons from cognitive science. College teaching, 53(1), 41-48.

Wong, B. L. (2016). Using Critical-Thinking Strategies To Develop Academic Reading Skills Among Saudi Iep Students.

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Anthony Schmidt is a language instructor at the English Language Institute, University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He holds a Master's degree in language education and TESOL and has almost ten years of teaching experience, including seven years teaching in Asia. He is interested in evidence-based pedagogy, applied linguistics, and international education. Anthony is also an active blogger, writing about many of his interests on his blog www.anthonyteacher.com.

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Critical Thinking And English Language Teaching Pt. 1 - EFL Magazine

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Critical Thinking And English Language Teaching Pt. 1 Critical thinking has been a buzzword for some time now. In fact, judging by the research, it has been a buzzword for over a decade. The problem with buzz words is that, over time, they lose a lot of their original meaning and begin to stand for almost anything new or progressive.

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There is no shortage of Bloom's Taxonomy infographics online for every teacher. We've got some favorites of our own, too. So we decided to do some digging for some of the best Bloom's Taxonomy infographics out there, and bring 20 of them to you in this post.

If you're like us, you enjoy experiencing other creative viewpoints and sharing them with those that you feel may benefit from them. No matter what your needs are, the Bloom's graphics below have got something for everyone. We are inherently visual learners, and learning about Bloom's Taxonomy in this manner is powerful and engaging for everyone.

Maybe you're interested in descriptive verbs, or essential questions for each stage of the taxonomy. Perhaps you're interested in seeing how Bloom's Taxonomy compliments other learning processes. You might even be interested in specific digital apps or online programs that can be connected to each of its stages.

You can get it all here. These great tools have been sourced from educational heavyweights such as TeachThought, Fractus Learning, Educator's technology, and more.

20 Creative Bloom's Taxonomy Infographics

We'll begin with our very own Bloom's Digital Taxonomy Verbs poster, one of our most popular resources. After that, peruse all the other Bloom's Taxonomy infographics collected from around the Web. You're sure to find a few to fit your teaching needs.

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20 Creative Bloom's Taxonomy Infographics Everybody Loves Using

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There is no shortage of Bloom's Taxonomy infographics online for every teacher. We've got some favorites of our own, too. So we decided to do some digging for some of the best Bloom's Taxonomy infographics out there, and bring 20 of them to you in this post.

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A Bloom's Digital Taxonomy For Evaluating Digital Tasks
by TeachThought Staff

What makes Bloom's Taxonomy such a power tool is its flexibility in framing almost anything-which is why you've been seeing a lot of it around lately, and will likely continue to.

Whether you're creating a checklist for instructional design, evaluating an assessment, skimming a favorite unit of yours, or using it as a walk-through instrument to get a feel for the level of student thinking in a classroom, Bloom's Taxonomy is a powerful tool for any educator at any level.
See Also: Bloom's Taxonomy (New Edition) Digital Planning Verbs & Cards
So the following Bloom's Digital Taxonomy was was especially interesting in how it mashes digital tasks-podcasting, blogging, networking, hacking, bookmarking, social media sharing, and so on, with the stalwart learning tool so graciously delivered by Benjamin Bloom.

The result is Bloom's Digital Taxonomy, from edorigami's excellent wikispaces site.
One Takeaway
Thematically, this is a chart version promoting technology in learning-or rather technology-infused learning. It clearly suggests the cognitive burden so many common "internet" activities require, helping to visualize what these activities are asking our brain's to do when we do them.

The "Communication Spectrum" to the right lists the most common digital communication channels, though it's either a tad vague or outdated considering the limited discussion of specific social media platforms. Each platform-from facebook to pinterest, twitter to Google+ and everything in between has subtle differences between them that bear analysis when looking at exactly how we communicate.

While some of the activities could be placed in other categories-hacking, for example, could be in evaluating and creating-the end result is a well-laid out chart that helps demonstrate the potential of properly-designed technology-based learning activities.

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A Bloom's Digital Taxonomy For Evaluating Digital Tasks

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A Bloom's Digital Taxonomy For Evaluating Digital Tasks by TeachThought Staff What makes Bloom's Taxonomy such a power tool is its flexibility in framing almost anything-which is why you've been seeing a lot of it around lately, and will likely continue to.

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The First Step In Teaching Students To Think For Themselves
by Terry Heick

The first step in helping students think for themselves just might be to help them see who they are and where they are.

If we truly want students to adapt their thinking, design their thinking, and diverge their thinking, it (the thinking) has to start and stop somewhere.

Generally, this means beginning with the learning target a teacher establishes and ending with an evaluation of how the student "did." But thinking has nothing to do with content. Thinking is a strategy to learn content, but they are otherwise distinct. This process, then, is about thought and learning rather than content and mastery.
Examining A Self-Directed Learning Framework
In 2013, we created a framework to guide students in self-directed learning. The idea was/is for each student to truly think for themselves. There are two theories that underpin this concept of students being able to create and navigate their own learning pathways:

1. Wisdom (e.g., knowing what's worth understanding) is more important than content (e.g., mastery of academic standards).

2. Advances in technology have created an ecology that can support the pursuit of wisdom and content mastery (in that order)

These theories don't sound outrageous, but compared to existing educational forms they really are different. How we plan, how we determine success, how we offer feedback, and even how our schools are physically arranged all reflect a way of thinking that places priority on the student's ability to constantly prove mastery of content delivered to them.

By now this is a tired argument, but one theory is that modern education can be characterized by its industrial form and its managerial tone. Its primary movers are standards, policies, and teachers rather than content, relationships, and creativity. Its outcomes are universal and impersonal, which is fine for skills but fails to resonate much further.

One response is to support students in designing their own learning pathways, in terms of content (what's studied), form (how it's studied), and most critically, purpose (why it's studied). The end result is, ideally, students who can "think for themselves."
Teaching Students To Think For Themselves: Examining A Self-Directed Learning Framework
Big Idea: Promote self-directed & critical learning

There are 6 areas in the self-directed learning framework:

1. Self: (e.g., What citizenships am I a member of, and what does that suggest that I understand?)

2. Context: (e.g., What are the contexts of this topic or idea?)

3. Activate: (e.g., What do I or others know about this topic or idea?)

4. Pathway: (e.g., What resources or thinking strategy make sense for me to use?)

5. Clarify: (e.g., Based on what I've learned so far, how should I revise my intended pathway?)

6, Apply: (e.g., What changes in myself should I see as a result of new understanding?)
Self-Knowledge As A Starting Point 1. What's worth understanding?
Out of all of the ideas and circumstances you encounter on a daily basis, what's worth understanding? What knowledge or skills or in-depth understandings would support you on a moment-by-moment basis? What's the difference between recreation, interest, curiosity, and passion?

This even can be overtly academic. For example:

In math, what's valuable? What can math do for you?

What can rich literature enable you to see?

What perspective can a study of history provide?

What mistakes can a scientific approach to things prevent?
2. What problems or opportunities are within my reach?
It sounds noble to want to solve world hunger or play a violin at Carnegie Hall, but that may or may not be in your immediate reach. Right here, right now, what can you do to get there?
3. What important problems & solutions have others before me created?
Interdependence-realizing where we, as a family, neighborhood, state, nation, species, etc. have been, and what trends and patterns emerge under study that we can use to make sense of where we're going?

What are our collective achievements-poetry, space travel, human rights, etc.?

What are our collective failures-poverty, racism, ecological damage, etc.?

And with this in mind, how should I respond?
4. What citizenships and legacies am I a part of & what do those memberships suggest that I understand?
This is kind of the ultimate question for the first step of the SDL model, and the final step: To "what" do I belong, and how can I care-take that membership through my understanding and behavior?

Below are some hypothetical examples of student responses.

I belong to the "Miller" family, a family long-involved in photography and art. So how should I respond?

I live in an area that used to be "nice," but has recently devolved through a lack of civic voice and action. So how should I respond?

I love hip-hop but am concerned with recent trends that are blending it together with pop music until the two are indistinguishable. So how should I respond?

I'm an American, a Nigerian, a Canadian. So how should I respond?

I love books, I love fashion, I love clean water. So how should I respond?

My parents were divorced, and their parents were divorced. So how should I respond?

I am poor. I am rich. I am anxious. I am curious. How should I respond?
The First Step In Helping Students Think For Themselves; image attribution flick user flickeringbrad; Teaching Students To Think For Themselves

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The First Step In Teaching Students To Think For Themselves

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The First Step In Teaching Students To Think For Themselves by Terry Heick The first step in helping students think for themselves just might be to help them see who they are and where they are. If we truly want students to adapt their thinking, design their thinking, and diverge their thinking, it (the thinking) has to start and stop somewhere.

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by TeachThought Staff
This post was promoted by Noet Scholarly Tools who are offering TeachThought readers 20% off their entire order at Noet.com with coupon code TEACHTHOUGHT (enter the coupon code after you've signed in)! Get started with their Harvard Fiction Classics or introductory packages on Greek and Latin classics. Noet asked us to write about inquiry because they believe it's important, and relates to their free research app for the classics.
This is part 1 of a 2-part series on questioning in the classroom. Part 1 focuses on questions in general-their function, purpose, forms, their relationship with cognitive dissonance, as well as a quick overview of essential questions. Part 2 of the Guide To Questioning In The Classroom (publishing 4/14/2015) will focus on question strategies, especially those that help students learn to ask their own questions in an inquiry-process.

Something we've become known for is our focus on thought, inquiry, and understanding, and questions are a big part of that. We've done questions that students should ask, parents should ask, students should and shouldn't answer, questions that promote and stifle inquiry, question that reveal self-knowledge and wisdom, and more.

If the ultimate goal of education is for students to be able to effectively answer questions, then focusing on content and response strategies makes sense. If the ultimate goal of education is to teach students to think, then focusing on how we can help students ask better questions themselves might make sense, no?
Why Questions Are More Important Than Answers
The ability to ask the right question at the right time is a powerful indicator of authentic understanding. Asking a question that pierces the veil in any given situation is itself an artifact of the critical thinking teachers so desperately seek in students, if for no other reason than it shows what the student know, and then implies the desire to know more.

Asking a question is a sign of understanding, not ignorance; it requires both knowledge and then-critically-the ability to see what else you're missing.

Questions are more important than answers because they reflect both understanding and curiosity in equal portions. To ask a question is to see both backward and forward-to make sense of a thing and what you know about it, and then extend outward in space and time to imagine what else can be known, or what others might know. To ask a great question is to see the conceptual ecology of the thing.

In a classroom, a student can see a drop of water, a literary device, a historical figure, or a math theorem, but these are just fragments that are worthless in and of themselves. A student in biology studying a drop of water must see the water as infinitely plural-as something that holds life and something that gives life.

As a marker of life, and an icon of health.

It is a tool, a miracle, a symbol, and a matter of science.

They must know what's potentially inside of a drop of water, and then how to find out what's actually inside that drop of water.

They must know what others have found studying water, as well as what that drop of water means within the field of science, and beyond it.

They must know that water is never really just water.
Teacher Questions vs Student Questions
When teachers try to untangle this cognitive mess, they sacrifice personalization for efficiency. There are simply too many students, and too much content to cover, so they cut to the chase.

Which means then tend towards the universal over the individual-broad, sweeping questions intermingling with sharper, more concise questions that hopefully shed some light and cause some curiosity. In a class of 30 with an aggressively-paced curriculum map and the expectation that every student master the content regardless of background knowledge, literacy level, or interest in the material, this is the best most teachers can do.

This only a bottleneck, though, when the teacher asks the questions. When the student asks the question, the pattern is reversed. The individual student has little regard for the welfare of the class, especially when they're forming questions. They're on the clock to say something, anything. Which is great, because questions-when they're authentic-are automatically personal because they came up with them. They're not tricks, or guess-what-the-teacher's-thinking.

A student couldn't possibly capture the scale of confusion or curiosity of 30 other people; instead, they survey their own thinking, spot both gaps and fascinations, and form a question. This is the spring-loading of a Venus flytrap. The topic crawls around in the mind of the student innocently enough, and when the time is right-and the student is confident-the flower snaps shut. Once a student starts asking questions, that magic of learning can begin.

And the best part for a teacher? Questions reveal far more than answers ever might.
The Purpose of Questions
Thought of roughly as a kind of spectrum, four purposes of questions might stand out, from more "traditional" to more "progressive."
(More Traditional) Academic View
In a traditional academic setting, the purpose of a question is to elicit a response that can be assessed (i.e., answer this question so I can see what you know).
(Less Traditional) Curriculum-Centered View
Here, a "good question" matters more than a good answer, as it demonstrates the complexity of student understanding of a given curriculum.
(More Progressive) Inquiry View
As confusion or curiosity markers that suggest a path forward for inquiry, and then are iterated and improved based on learning. (Also known as question-based learning.)
(More Progressive Still) Self-Directed View
In a student-centered circumstance, a question illuminates possible learning pathways forward irrespective of curriculum demands. The student's own knowledge demands-and their uncovering-center and catalyze the learning experience.
The Relative Strengths of Questions

Good questions can reveal subtle shades of understanding-what this student knows about this topic in this context

Questions promote inquiry and learning how to learn over proving what you know

Questions fit in well with the modern "Google" mindset

Used well, questions can promote personalized learning as teachers can change question on fly to meet student needs

The Relative Weaknesses of Questions

Questions depend on language, which means literacy, jargon, confusing syntax, academic diction, and more can all obscure the learning process

Questions can imply answers, which imply stopping points and "finishing" over inquiry and wisdom (See questions that promote inquiry-based learning.)

Accuracy of answers can be overvalued, which makes the confidence of the answerer impact the quality of the response significantly

"Bad questions" are easy to write and deeply confusing, which can accumulate to harm a student's sense of self-efficacy, as well as their own tendency to ask them on their own

7 Common Written Assessment Question Forms
Questions as written assessment (as opposed to questions as inquiry, questions to guide self-directed learning, or questions to demonstrate understanding) most commonly take the following forms in writing:
Questioning & Self-Directed Learning
For years in classrooms, questions have guided teachers in the design of units and lessons, often through the development of essential questions that all students should be able to reasonably respond to, and that can guide their learning of existing and pre-mapped content.

In the TeachThought Self-Directed Learning Model, learners are required to create their own curriculum through a series of questions that emphasize self-knowledge, citizenship, and communal and human interdependence. In this model, existing questions act as a template to uncover potential learning pathways.
Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance is the cognitively-uncomfortable act of holding two seemingly competing beliefs at the same time. If you believe that Freedom of Speech is the foundation of democracy, but then are presented with a perspective (through Socratic-style questioning from the teacher, for example), you arrive (or the student does) at a crossroads where they have to adjust something-either their belief, or their judgment about the validity of the question itself.

In this way, questions can promote Cognitive Dissonance-which means a good question can change a student's mind, beliefs, or tendency to examine their own beliefs. Questions, cognitive, and self-reflection go hand-in-hand.
Role of "Lower-Level" Questions
Lower-level questions are questions that inquire at "lower levels" of various learning taxonomies.

These are often "recall," questions that are based in fact-definitions, dates, names, biographical details, etc. Education is thought to have focused (without having been there, who knows for sure?) on these lower levels, and "low" is bad in academics, right? "Lower-level" thinking implies a lack of "higher level" thinking, so instead of analyzing, interpreting, evaluating, and creating, students are defining, recalling, and memorizing, the former of which make for artists and designers and innovators, and the latter of which make for factory workers.

And that part, at least, is (mostly) true. Recall and memorization aren't the stuff of understanding, much less creativity and wisdom, except that they are. Bloom's Taxonomy was not created to segregate "good thinking" from "bad thinking." In their words, "Our attempt to arrange educational behaviors from simple to complex was based on the idea that a particular simple behavior may become integrated with other equally simple behaviors to form a more complex behavior." In this way, the taxonomy is simply one way of separating the strands of thinking like different colored yarn-a kind of visual scheme to see the pattern, contrasts, and even sequence of cognitive actions.

Nowhere does it say that definitions and names and labels and categories are bad-and if it did, we'd have to wonder about the taxonomy rather than assuming that they were. It doesn't take much imagination to see that if a student doesn't know there was a war, and that it was fought in the United States in the 1800s, and that it was purportedly over states' rights, and that both culture, industry, and agriculture all impacted the hows, whens, and whys of the war, that "higher-level thinking strategies" aren't going to be very useful.

In short, lower-level questions can both illuminate and establish foundational knowledge on which to build more complex and nuanced understanding of content. They provide a foothold for thinking. To further the point, in 5 Common Misconceptions About Bloom's Taxonomy, Grant Wiggins explains that the phrases "higher-order" and "lower-order" don't appear anywhere in the taxonomy.
Essential Questions
On his website, Grant Wiggins defines an essential questions as those that are "broad in scope and timeless by nature. They are perpetually arguable."
Examples of Essential Questions

What is justice?

Is art a matter of taste or principles?

How far should we tamper with our own biology and chemistry?

Is science compatible with religion?

Is an author's view privileged in determining the meaning of a text?

A question is essential when it:

causes genuine and relevant inquiry into the big ideas and core content;

provokes deep thought, lively discussion, sustained inquiry, and new understanding as well as more questions;

requires students to consider alternatives, weigh evidence, support their ideas, and justify their answers;

stimulates vital, on-going rethinking of big ideas, assumptions, and prior lessons;

sparks meaningful connections with prior learning and personal experiences;

naturally recurs, creating opportunities for transfer to other situations and subjects.

You can see more examples of essential questions here.

On Tuesday, we'll help you take this background information and channel into specific question strategies that you can use to help students learn to create their own questions.
A Guide To Questioning In The Classroom; image attribution flickr user flickeringbrad

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by TeachThought Staff This post was promoted by Noet Scholarly Tools who are offering TeachThought readers 20% off their entire order at Noet.com with coupon code TEACHTHOUGHT (enter the coupon code after you've signed in)! Get started with their Harvard Fiction Classics or introductory packages on Greek and Latin classics.

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Critical Thinking With TeachThought: Grow Your Teaching

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As a teacher, you know that critical thinking is central to a student's lifelong success in the classroom & beyond. But how do you teach it?