Fostering Critical Thinking
- mmaloni
- Oct 29, 2016
- 3 min read
During my internship class I observed many concepts that we went over in my Learning & Development within the School Context class. The three concepts from out of the readings in class were questioning in class discussion, writing techniques, and hypothesis testing (Bohlin, Durwin, & Reese-Weber, 2012). All of these concepts I noticed during some Science lessons in the classroom. My internship class right now is learning about solids, liquids, and gases.
During a Science lesson I had to come up with some questions to start an in class discussion. One of the questions I asked the students was, “Could you give me two examples of solids, liquids, and gases?” That type of question is an example of questions of clarification (Bohlin, Durwin, & Reese-Weber, 2012). I wanted to make sure that the students understood the difference between a solid, liquid, and gas. So during this part of the class discussion it was more an exploratory discussion which is where, “…the teacher raises questions in order to assess students’ prior knowledge…” (Bohlin, Durwin, & Reese-Weber, 2012).
Another concept from this week’ readings that I see in my internship class are writing techniques. During the Science lesson on solids, liquids, and gases my CT has the class use different writing techniques. My CT had the class write in their Science notebooks during an experiment. The class had to make “oobleck” which is in the Dr. Seuss book Bartholomew and the Oobleck and it was this gooey green looking substance that fell from the sky (Dr. Seuss, 1949). My CT wanted the class to write down in their Science notebook if the “oobleck” would turn out to be a solid, liquid, or gas and why. My CT told the class that their answers were not going to be graded but she wanted to see their thinking process on paper. This writing technique that my CT did is helping the students transfer their reasoning and justification from oral to written text and they need the practice because it can be hard for students to do (Bohlin, Durwin, & Reese-Weber, 2012).
During the experiment when the students were using writing techniques they were also doing hypothesis testing. “Hypothesis testing involves examining research data and results to determine what conclusions reasonably can be drawn to support or refute a stated hypothesis.”(Bohlin, Durwin, & Reese-Weber, 2012). The students got to see what ingredients went into making the “oobleck” and then wrote their hypothesis down. Some students were hypothesizing that the “oobleck” was going to be both a solid and a liquid. Then after the students got to write down their hypothesis they started to make the “oobleck” and see what form it would take and if their answers came out to be right or wrong.
Those are the three key concepts that I saw when observing my internship class. Also there are some things to think about when thinking about these concepts and how they were used for the Science lessons I observed or any lessons in the future: Do you think it is important to foster critical thinking in a classroom? If yes, why and if no, why not? Out of the three concepts which one is the most important to use with the students? Or are all three concepts important in their own way? And why? These questions are something teachers should think about before teaching their students.
References:
Bohlin, L., Durwin, C. C., & Reese-Weber, M. (n.d.). EdPsych Modules (Second ed.). New
York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Seuss, D. (1949). Bartholomew and the Oobleck. Random House.
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