We expect our students to use higher level thinking, but too often we don’t explain to them what that means. Showing them how easy it is to use critical thinking skills will help them use those skills throughout the year.
1. Analysis: separation of a whole into its component parts
Material analysis asks students to break information into parts to better understand the overall meaning. To show them the importance of understanding the parts to explain the whole, take apart a spring-loaded pen and ask them the purpose of each of the components so that the pen writes correctly. Then give them a summary of each stanza of the poem and use them to analyze the meaning of the poem as a whole.
2. Interpretation: to explain or tell the meaning of
Bringing out the true meaning of a resource implies a deeper explanation than the definition indicates. If a student is asked to interpret a map of the Atlantic slave trade, he or she can simply explain that it is a map showing the Atlantic Ocean and four continents. But a true interpretation of that map would connect the role of each continent in trade.
3. Description: speech intended to give a mental image of something experienced
Description is not generally considered a higher-level thinking skill, but many students lack the ability to use details correctly. Giving an adequate mental image, as the definition suggests, requires descriptors such as emotions, sights, sounds, smells, and the judicious use of adjectives. Ask your students to describe the atmosphere of the school cafeteria and the quality of the food, and notice how the description flows. Ask them to describe the Normandy invasion scene from Saving Private Ryan. Then ask them to describe a printed document. The skill of description can be perfected, but first you have to see the simplicity in it.
4. Infer: derive as a conclusion from facts or premises.
Students often lose context clues in a reading and get bogged down in minutiae unimportant to understanding the document. I sometimes use children’s books (my favorite is “It Looked Like Spilled Milk” by Charles G. Shaw) as a way to show how you can make an educated guess about what you’re reading without having all the information you think you need. to fully understand it. Give them a written prelude to a major historical event and ask what they think happens next and why so they don’t just make an inference, but explain what events led them to that conclusion.
5. Evaluate: to determine the importance, value or condition of
In their real life, students deal a lot in a black and white world, but in their academic studies they love to hedge their bets. If asked to evaluate something, students will inevitably ask, “Can I say it was good AND bad?” Taking a position is a difficult proposition for them, mainly because they fear being wrong or not having enough to say on an issue. But once they understand the simple principles of critical thinking outlined above, opinions need to be strong and explanations need to be extensive. Always start with a simple evaluation that has more weight in your private life (Explain the importance of Facebook in the social life of adolescents).
The best part about spending valuable class time teaching critical thinking is that it will always be a part of your lessons throughout the year. You teach the skill in September and reinforce it every day until June.
They will be better students for it, and you may even enjoy reading their work. (No, I don’t think so either, but at least it will be better than before!)
Definitions courtesy of www.merriam-webster.com