Appeal to Teachers! Do not bury the Critical Thinking of Our Kids!

Teacher Research, May 11th, 2011Amjaad Mujallid

Language, Reading & Culture MA ProgramDepartment of Teaching, Learning & Sociocultural Studies

The University of Arizona

Before the trip

Attending a class

Reading a book

Joining an activity

Writing something on the board

The same moment repeated many times

Same reaction

SurprisedConfused

Made efforts to achieve the deep thinking

The trip’s luggage

What are the strategies that teachers should apply them to increase the critical thinking of elementary school students?

What are the factors make students different from each other in their critical thinking?

How we can define the critical thinker?

What are the class activities that help students to think more critically?

Driving the ship The place: a bilingual elementary school in

Tucson, AZ.

Participants : 4th graders and their teacher.

Methods : interviews, observations, a survey, and a focus group.

Linda Elder

Richard Paul

Theorists Led the trip:

Facing storm waves during the trip

The teacher interview

Permission forms

The focus group

The Safety ShoreCategories:• student’s questions(critical ,expected).• student’s answers (critical , expected).• class activities.• student’s reaction to the teacher questions (welling to answer or confused).• student’s interaction with the teacher and the opposite.• students’ interaction with each other.• students’ interaction with me.

The Universal Intellectual Standards:1- Clarity (e.g. could you give me an example?) 2- Accuracy (e.g. How we could find out if that is true?) 3- Precision (e.g. could you be more specific?) 4- Relevance (e.g. how does that relate to the problem?) 5- Depth (e.g. what factors make this a difficult problem?) 6- Breadth (e.g. do we need to look at this in other ways?) 7- Logic (e.g. does all this make sense together?) 8- Significance (e.g. which of these facts are most important?) 9- Fairness (e.g. do you have any vested interest in this issue?). (Paul & Elder, p.12)

The Safety Shore (cont)Who is the critical thinker?

• “Someone who does not just accept things as they first appear,” but he is searching for the root of the truth by himself. (A. Mujallid, 12 Apr, 2011).

• My definition: the one who has curiosity to know more than what he learned, and to learn why things are happened.

Implication: • The teacher decided to focus on the critical thinking more

than she used to and ask the students harder.

Case Study example

Tatiana

Before:• Quite.• Does not answer

teacher questions.• She needs help most

of the time to know how to think.

• After:• Asking natural

questions.

What is Next?• A teacher Guide.• Combining the funds of knowledge with this study.

Teacher Researcher:• My first study (Novice).• Confident.• I became more critical thinker with the process.• Teaching Teachers.

References

•A. Mujallid, Tessa, 12 Apr, 2011.•Brainstorming with 5- to 8-year-olds. ( 2008, Nov 4th) Retrieved from web log post, In Our Write Minds, http://www.writeshop.com/blog/.•Critical and Creative Thinking - Bloom's Taxonomy. Retrieved from Teacher Tap website, http://eduscapes.com/tap.•Elder, Linda. (2007) an Interview with Linda Elder: About Critical Thinking and Gifted Education. Interview by Michael F. Shaughnessy and Randy Seevers. Retrieved from The Foundation for Critical Thinking, www.criticalthinking.org.•Gonza’lez, Norma, Luis Moll, and Cathy Amanti (2009). Funds of Knowledge. New York: Routledge.•Goswami, Dixie, Ceci Lewis, Marty Rutherford, and Diane Waff (2009). On Teacher Inquiry. New York: Teachers College Columbia University. •Hubbard, Ruth Shagoury, and Brenda Miller Power (1993-2003). The Art of Classroom Inquiry. Heinemann. •Kitzinger, Jenny (1995).Introducing Focus Groups. BMJ, 311, 299-302.•Parson, Linda T. (2006).Visualizing Worlds from. Language Art, 83, 492-500.•Paul, Richard, and Linda Elder (2007). The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking. Paper presented at the annual meeting of International Conference on Critical Thinking, Berkeley, CA. Foundation for Critical Thinking.