Critical Thinking In The Elementary Classroom

Even young students can develop vital critical thinking skills when they have access to rich content, meaningful opportunities to practice, and guided instruction. Critical thinking—evaluating and analyzing data to make informed judgments—is essential in both the classroom and everyday life. Teaching critical thinking skills in the elementary grades is often an afterthought—if it's a thought at all. Veteran primary teacher and instructional leader Erin Shadowens proposes that students of all ages benefit when teachers expand the definition of what is possible by engaging young learners with real challenges and supportive, accessible learning environments. In Critical Thinking in the Elementary Classroom, Shadowens * Explores the concept of critical thinking, clarifies misunderstandings, and delves into relevant research. * Introduces the Critical Thinking Framework to help nurture deep thinking in the context of content-focused lessons. * Presents case studies of the framework in action. * Shows how to apply the framework at the unit and lesson levels, addressing common instructional pitfalls along the way. * Describes how a "virtuous cycle" of assessment and feedback promotes academic achievement and critical thinking. * Illustrates how to foster an intellectual community with young learners. Ultimately, this book guides elementary teachers in supporting students to think deeply about rich content, make insightful connections, and address issues in broader, more meaningful ways, both in and outside of school.

This practical, very effective resource helps elementary school teachers and curriculum leaders develop the skills to design instructional tasks and assessments that engage students in higher-level critical thinking, as recommended by the Common Core State Standards. Real examples of formative and summative assessments from a variety of content areas are included and demonstrate how to successfully increase the level of critical thinking in every elementary classroom! This book is also an excellent resource for higher education faculty to use in undergraduate and graduate courses on assessment and lesson planning.

Help children of all learning styles and strengths improve their critical thinking skills with these creative, cross-curricular activities. Each engaging activity focuses on skills such as recognizing and recalling, evaluating, and analyzing.

Critical Thinking: From Theory to Classroom Practice invites readers to revisit their pedagogy to promote this type of inquiry. Scholars and practitioners from several content areas introduce several examples of instructional strategies, classroom practices, and projects at multiple grade levels. Their experiences come together to highlight practical ways to foster students’ critical thinking skills and encourage them to engage in learning in new ways.

Creativity and critical thinking are key skills for complex, globalised and increasingly digitalised economies and societies. While teachers and education policy makers consider creativity and critical thinking as important learning goals, it is still unclear to many what it means to develop these skills in a school setting. To make it more visible and tangible to practitioners, the OECD worked with networks of schools and teachers in 11 countries to develop and trial a set of pedagogical resources that exemplify what it means to teach, learn and make progress in creativity and critical thinking in primary and secondary education.

Foster your child's critical thinking skills and see confidence soar! The variety of fun and creative activities in this engaging full-color workbook helps your child develop critical thinking skills and become a better learner. Ideal for classroom and home use.

Critical thinking is the essential tool for ensuring that students fulfill their promise. But, in reality, critical thinking is still a luxury good, and students with the greatest potential are too often challenged the least. Thinking Like a Lawyer: Introduces a powerful but practical framework to close the critical thinking gap. Gives teachers the tools and knowledge to teach critical thinking to all students. Helps students adopt the skills, habits, and mindsets of lawyers. Empowers students to tackle 21st-century problems. Teaches students how to compete in a rapidly changing global marketplace. Colin Seale, a teacher-turned-attorney-turned-education-innovator and founder of thinkLaw, uses his unique experience to introduce a wide variety of concrete instructional strategies and examples that teachers can use in all grade levels and subject areas. Individual chapters address underachievement, the value of nuance, evidence-based reasoning, social-emotional learning, equitable education, and leveraging families to close the critical thinking gap.