Critical Thinking Skills and Problem Solving Essential skills in learning

Variation in Brain Development and Functioning gender differences females better at fine motor and verbal memory tasks males better at gross motor and math reasoning tasks disorders students may need more repetition and explicit instruction cultural experiences consider age and maturation

Problem Solving/Critical Thinking Skills Have to be taught – not inherent or automatic motivation modeling explicit instruction or application opportunities practice in multiple contexts age-appropriate time intervals of learning new thinking skills – don’t overwhelm them! highly contextual – need to facilitate transfer real world contexts important! specific skill – generalizations - real world

Higher-Order Thinking Skills and Bloom’s Taxonomy Understanding/Comprehension summarizing Application nonlinguistic representations (graphic organizers, maps) Analyzing similarities and differences, ordering, recognizing relationships generating and testing hypotheses Evaluating debating, defending an argument fact vs. opinion determining validity of sources Synthesizing/Creating What if...? developing designs, plans, products creative thinking – generating ideas Strategies higher level questioning Socratic questioning problem-based/project-based learning Lateral thinking exercises – creative thinking encouraging a shift in perceptions or traditional ways of thinking