What is Critical Thinking?

Written by Darla Milford, Instructional Coach after Action Research on Critical Thinking

What is Critical Thinking?

Critical Thinking defined by Alberta Education involves using reasoning and criteria to conceptualize
and evaluate or synthesize ideas. Students reflect on their thinking to improve it, they challenge
assumptions behind thoughts, beliefs or actions.  Students value honesty, fairness, and open
mindedness.

According to Alberta Education, “Students are the artists, scientists, thinkers, innovators and leaders
of the future. They will be tasked with solving the problems of today, while imagining and creating
a new tomorrow.  Critical thinking is foundational for equipping students with the knowledge, skills
and attitudes that they will need to successfully navigate their personal journeys in learning, living
and working “Ministerial Order on Student Learning (#001/2013).”

Why Critical Thinking?

History helps us to answer questions about the past. It helps us to see how some things have stayed
the same and how some things have changed.  Schools have changed drastically in their approach
and pedagogy. Using critical thinking as a platform for digging deeper in order to transfer learning
is one of these ways.  Teachers and educators have been tasked with finding ways to excite and
engage students in their learning, as well as giving them the necessary skills and abilities to function
in an ever changing world.  To be a critical thinker means to have the ability to reason, evaluate and
synthesize the ideas around you. So, how as educators do we go about doing this?

How as educators do we go about doing this? What resources are available?
There are many resources available for educators to create tasks which are intellectually engaging and embed critical thinking.  Below is a comprehensive list of some of the resources we use at Foothills School Division:

• Ron Ritchhart, Mark Church and Karin Morrison Making Thinking Visible Resource - how to promote engagement, understanding and independence for ALL learners
• Online purchase    http://amzn.to/2oL4eyC

Thinking routines form the core of the Visible Thinking program. These routines work to promote the development of students’ thinking and the classroom culture.   Examples of some routines used in FSD include:

• Think Puzzle Explore
• See Think Wonder
• CSI - Color, Symbol, Image
• I Used to Think But Now I Think
• Compass Points
• What Makes You Say That

And many, many more!

Making Thinking Visible - online resource of graphic organizers and explanations http://bit.ly/VTRFSD

Visible Thinking makes extensive use of learning routines that are thinking rich. These routines are simple for example a set of questions or a short sequence of steps, that can be used across various grade levels and content. What makes them routines, is that they get used over and over again in the classroom so that they become part of the classrooms’ culture.

Alberta Assessment Consortium - https://aac.ab.ca/learn/big-ideas/

To access this resource, you require a login for employees at Foothills School Division.  Please contact your admin or Instructional Coach for details!

This new AAC resource has been ‘made for Alberta’. It is a practical resource that every system leader,
school leader and teacher can turn to for background information, answers to assessment questions,
and ideas for moving assessment practice forward in classrooms, schools and jurisdictions.

TC2 - The Critical Thinking Consortium -https://tc2.ca/

Again, as above, to access this resource, you require a login for employees at Foothills School
Division.  Please contact your admin or Instructional Coach for details!  The Consortium’s aim
is to work in sound, sustained ways with educators and related organizations to inspire, support
and advocate for the use of critical, creative and collaborative thinking as an educational goal and
as a method of teaching and learning.

Wide Awake and Free Indigenous Films Available through NFB

Hi all,

Many of us have been exploring First Nations issues and connecting them to our classrooms. The National Film Board have produced a number of powerful resources available for free in conjunction with the release and tour of "Wide Awake". I had the privilege to see “Wide Awake" at the Calgary International Film Festival this year. It was an intensely powerful and hopeful look at indigenous music and its influence on communities across Canada. If you would like to find a screening, or arrange a screening yourself you can do so at the link below.

https://www.nfb.ca/wideawake/

If you would like to play some of the other indigenous films available to stream for free you can find them at:

• 
  

  Indigenous Cinema in the Classroom Professional Learning for Educators
  

  These are films for educators and parents wanting to learn more about the lives and histories of Indigenous people. Powerful, political, and...
• 
  

  Indigenous Cinema in the Classroom Ages 12–14
  

  These films for middle-school learners feature stories from acclaimed filmmakers Thérèse Ottawa, Gil Cardinal, Caroline Monnet, and others from across...
• 
  

  Indigenous Cinema in the Classroom Ages 6–11
  

  These short films for younger learners are by Indigenous filmmakers from across Canada and include titles from the Nunavut Animation Lab and the Talespinners, Vistas and Stories...
• 
  

  Indigenous Cinema in the Classroom Ages 15–18
  

  These films for high-school learners include stories from directors Christine Welsh, Alanis Obomsawin, Dennis Allen, Tasha Hubbard, Sara Roque, and Bobby Kenuajuak, as...

Let's Get Critical

By Lindsay Brooks, Instructional Coach

    crit·i·cal think·ing

                 noun

Using reasoning and criteria to:
           conceptualize
              evaluate
                           or
        make judgments

Someone with critical thinking skills can do the following:

•  Understand/see/make logical connections between ideas.

•  Identify, construct and evaluate arguments.

•   Defend judgments with reasoning.

•  Solve problems

•  Identify the relevance and importance of ideas

The Critical Thinking Consortium

https://tc2.ca has amazing resources to inspire, support and advocate for the infusion of critical, creative and collaborative thinking.

These resources support educators in deepening their understanding and enriching their teaching of critical thinking.  I took the opportunity to try out an online resource called THOUGHTFUL BOOKS. Each resource in the thoughtful book series features specific tools supporting literacy development and encouraging the deliberation of ethical considerations. The suggested activities help teachers introduce the tools and encourage young children to apply them in a variety of situations over time.

Thoughtful Books

https://tc2.ca/en/creative-collaborative-critical-thinking/resources/thoughtful-books/

From here:

Click your chosen book title and download the teacher’s guide which has “Critical questions” built in. It is also set up to give you the suggested grade level.
The guide outlines “Reading as Thinking” and the idea that reading is more than decoding words. It is the active process of constructing meaning. Readers engage with text, create meaning from text, and extend their thinking beyond text. The activities that go with each thoughtful book help develop literacy by:

·      Accessing background knowledge

·      Reading with a purpose

·      Inferring

·      Synthesizing ideas

I had the opportunity to try out the Story of Ferdinand.

FERDINAND

In this familiar classic, five men misinterpret the actions of Ferdinand the bull and select him as an ideal candidate to take part in the bullfights of Madrid. Students examine the story, identify the mistakes made by the five men, and provide advice to help them avoid making the same mistakes in the future.

The students absolutely LOVED this and the learning environment became one fostering Critical Thinking. Students were making reasoned decisions about a problematic situation. Students demonstrated an enhanced sense of purpose and renewed excitement about learning when they were invited to think for themselves as they considered plausible alternatives and made choices based on clear criteria.

Next Step… TRY ONE OUT

https://tc2.ca/en/creative-collaborative-critical-thinking/resources/thoughtful-books/