Promoting Self-Assessment: When students explain their approaches, they evaluate their own understanding, helping them recognize and address gaps or misconceptions in their thinking.Organizing and Clarifying Thought Processes: Requiring students to articulate their strategies enables them to break down complex ideas into simpler components, fostering enhanced critical thinking skills.Even if the question is not a higher level question, we can potentially increase it by having students be in the habit of adding “because.” Key Benefits of Encouraging Students to Explain Their Strategies I tell students that “because” is my favorite word. I teach students about Depth of Knowledge (DOK) the first week of school and it is an ongoing conversation all year. My goal is that students naturally respond to questions with a critique, analyse, or strategy. This approach pushes students to analyze their thought processes, evaluate different perspectives, and refine their understanding of complex concepts. One effective way to cultivate critical thinking abilities in the classroom is by encouraging students to explain their strategies when solving problems or working on projects. Make “What is Your Strategy” Standard in Your ClassĬritical thinking is an essential skill for students to develop, as it prepares them for success in academics and beyond. Have students play in small groups, taking turns, and ask them to share their reasoning with the group for each move. One game I use for this is “Farkle.” Farkle is a dice game that uses 6 dice. Playing games that involve strategy can be a great way to engage students and to help students to practice communicating their strategy and thinking. The book Building Thinking Classrooms is an excellent read for any teacher (it says math, but the pedagogy strategies are good for any grade level or subject) who is trying to have their students do more thinking. Increasing critical thinking in a class should be a goal of all teachers.
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