Supporting Student Critical Thinking

Egbert,J.(2007). Supporting learning with technology: essentials of classroom practice. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson.

Chapter four, Egbert(2007)discusses critical thinking skills of students. Characteristics of critical thinking tasks (p.104) are listed: environment supports questioning and reasoning, issues do not have simple answers, no rote learning, alternatives for solutions, students make decisions, tools and resources are provided, students examine resoning processes. The benefits of critical thinking were discussed (p. 104-105). The author says that critical thinking promotes better grades, independence, and decision making skills. She also stated that reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills are enhanced. The critical thinking process has four parts (p. 105). The parts are review, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate. The author says that students can benefit from using these steps in finding what helps them make rational decisions.
I like this chapter because I my students to think. I want to provide as environment that is conducive to thinking. Egbert (2007) lists some techniques for the teacher to support critcal thinking. She says (p. 106) that teachers should encourage students in find various sources before making decisions and supply sources to help students with structuring the information the students find. Teachers are encouraged to hold student debates and allow students time to reflect on learning. Egbert (2007) also supports creating and questioning assessments.
Egbert(2007) gives guidelines to follow in order to design critical thinking opportunities (p. 107). The first guideline is to ask the right questions that causes the students to think. The second guideline is to provide appropriate levels of challenge to make sure all students needs are met. The third guideline is to teach strategies by modeling, asking questions, and teach metacognitive strategies. The fourth guideline tells the teacher to encourage curiosity (p. 108).