Thinking & Learning in the 21 Century

Prof. Adnan Farah

UNIVERSITY OF BAHRAINBAHRAIN TEACHERS COLLEGE

Thinking is the most complex types of human behavior.

It is the highest levels of mental activity, and is one of the most important characteristics that distinguish man from other creatures.

It is the function of our brain that can be expressed orally or physically.

What is Thinking

What is Thinking

The process of using your mind to consider something carefully;

Is an internal mental process that uses data or information as input, integrates that information into previous learned material.

What is ThinkingIt may occur at any moment including while eating,

sleeping or working on an unrelated task.

Thinking is involved in any mental activity that helps to formulate or solve a problem, to make a decision or to seek understanding.

Thinking involves critical and creative aspects of the mind, both the use of reason and the generation of ideas.

Characteristics of Thinking

1. Purposeful: Always has a purpose.2. Individualistic: it is different from one person to

another.3. Developmental: it is different from one Stage to

another. 4. Interactive: Between the Individual and his

environment.5. Multi-Modal: has different types, shapes e.g.

critical, creative, concrete, and abstract.

The Importance of Thinking

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• For Students• For Teachers

Why thinking is Important ??• Thinking is important because otherwise we

would just be mindless animals.

• Thinking is what makes us different from other animals.

• Also, with thinking we can avoid danger.

• Can you think of other factors that make thinking very important ?? >>>

How to Build a Student for the 21st Century, TIME Magazine, December 18, 2006

>>> Why thinking is Important ??

21st Century Skills Framework

Thinking and Learning Skills

• Critical Thinking & Problem Solving Skills Literacy and Critical thinking initiative- Mosaic of thought , Ellen Keene

• Creativity & Innovation Skills New Bloom’s taxonomy

• Communication & Information Skills Web 2.0, social networking

• Collaboration Skills Professional learning communities at all levels

>>> 21st Century Skills Framework

Thinking and Learning SkillsEvery student in the 21 Century must be:

• A critical thinker• A problem solver• An Innovator• An effective communicator• An effective collaborator• A self-directed learner• Information and media literate• Globally aware• Civically engaged• Financially and economically literate

Why 21st Century Skills?

• What skills are most important for job success when hiring University graduate?

Work Ethic 80%Collaboration 75%Good Communication 70%Social Responsibility 63%Critical Thinking & Problem Solving 58%

>>>

>>> Why 21st Century Skills?

• Of University Students that recently hired, what were their deficiencies?

Written Communication 81%Leadership 73%Work Ethic 70%Critical Thinking & Problem Solving 70%Self-Direction 58%

Thinking Process• A thinking process is a relatively complex

sequence of thinking skills.

• The Thinking Processes is cognitive mental process .

• a range of cognitive, affective and meta-cognitive knowledge, skills and behaviors which are essential for students to function effectively in society, both within and beyond school.

What are Thinking Skills• A skill is commonly defined as a practical ability in doing something or

succeeding in a task

• Thinking skill: The human capacity to think in conscious ways to achieve certain purposes.

• specific mental/cognitive behaviors that a thinker uses (what they do in their heads) and draws upon to think.

• Such processes include remembering, questioning, forming concepts, planning, reasoning, imagining, solving problems, making decisions and judgments, translating thoughts into words and so on.

>>>

• A thinking skill is a practical ability to think in ways that are judged to be more or less effective or skilled.

• They are the habits of intelligent behavior learned through practice.

>>>

>>> What are Thinking Skills

• Many researchers have attempted to identify the key skills in human thinking, and the most famous of these is Bloom’s Taxonomy.

• Bloom's taxonomy of thinking skills (what he called ‘the cognitive goals of education’) has been widely used by teachers in planning their teaching.

>>> What are Thinking Skills

Bloom's taxonomy of thinking skills/ Educational Objectives

• He identifies a number of basic or ‘lower order’ cognitive skills:

knowledge, comprehension and application

and a number of higher order skills:analysis, synthesis ,evaluation and produce.

• The following are the various categories identified by Bloom and processes involved in the various thinking levels. >>>

1 Knowledge: Say what you know, or remember, describe, (knowing and remembering) repeat, define, identify, tell who, when, which, where, what

2 Comprehension: Describe in your own words, tell how you feel (interpreting and understanding) about it, what it means, explain, compare, relate

3 Application: How can you use it, where does it lead, apply (applying, making use of) what you know, use it to solve problems, demonstrate

>>> Bloom's taxonomy of thinking skills/ Educational Objectives

4 Analysis: What are the parts, the order, the reasons why, (taking apart, being critical) the causes/problems/solutions/consequences

5 Synthesis: How might it be different, how else, what if, (connecting, being creative) suppose, put together, develop, improve, create your own

6 Evaluation: How would you judge it, does it succeed, will it (judging and assessing) work, what would you prefer, why you think so

7 Create: Design, Build, Construct, Produce.

>>> Bloom's taxonomy of thinking skills/ Educational Objectives

• You could plan or analyze many learning activities in terms of the above categories.

For example when telling a story, a teacher might ask the following kinds of questions,

• 1 Knowledge: What happened in the story?2 Comprehension: Why did it happen that way?3 Application: What would you have done?4 Analysis: Which part did you like best?5 Synthesis: Can you think of a different ending?6 Evaluation: What did you think of the story? Why?

• 7 Create; Can you think of a new title of the story?

>>> Bloom's taxonomy of thinking skills/ Educational Objectives

Bloom’s Quiz

bloom_quiz.ppt

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What is the relationship between Intelligence and Thinking

Whish important for the other ?

Thinking and Intelligence

Thinking and Intelligence• Thinking is the driving skill with which each

individual drives his or her intelligence.

• Intelligence is like the horse power of a car. A powerful car has the potential to drive at speed. But you can have a powerful car and drive it badly.

• EDWARD DE BONO believes that, "..many highly intelligent people are bad thinkers”.

• Certain level of intelligence is fundamental basis of thinking processes.

• But you don not need a high level of intelligence to think.

• Intelligence involves good qualitative and quantitative Thinking Skills.

Types/Patterns of Thinking

There are two basic Categories for types of thinking:

1) Basic /lower types of thinking2) Complex /higher types of thinking3) Goal Oriented Thinking

>>>

>>> Types/Patterns of Thinking

1) Basic /lower types of thinking

We use lower thinking skills such as:

1. Knowledge2. Comprehension3. Application4. Retention & Remembering 5. Comparison 6. Application

>>> Types/Patterns of Thinking2) Complex /higher types of thinking

We use higher thinking skills such as:

1. Analysis2. Synthesis3. Evaluation4. Abstract5. Critical6. Creative7. Reflective

>>> Types/Patterns of Thinking

3) Goal Oriented Thinking Two Types:

• Decision Making• Problem Solving

Meta-cognition

“Awareness of one's own cognitive processes and of one's own self-regulation, or what may be termed “knowing about knowing”.

“The awareness individuals have of their own mental processes, and the subsequent ability to monitor, regulate, and direct themselves to a desired end”. >>>

>>> Meta-cognition

Teaching Thinking Skills

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• What is the importance of teaching Thinking skills

Teaching Thinking Skills• Why teaching Thinking Skills?

There are several reasons for teaching thinking skills:1. Thinking skills are necessary for individual to have in

our rapidly changing, technologically oriented world.2. Students in general do not have well-developed

thinking skills.3. Research supports the idea that thinking skills are

teachable and learnable.4. Research found that thinking skills instruction

promotes students intellectual growth and enhances their academic achievement.

Tips on Teaching Thinking Skills

1. Encourage your student to ask a questions, even if they sound very silly and strange.

a. Be enthusiastic while answering questions. b. Your student should feel that he or she is being listened to by

people. c. Encourage questions e.g. why, where, what and how.

2. Give your students the opportunity to think and analyze whether a given set of information is really true or not, to differentiate the right from the wrong.

3. Encourage student to answer their own questions.

International Perspectives on Teaching Thinking Skills

• Canada: thinking skills is an important basis for teaching.

• Chile: the official tests of critical thinking is the basis for admission to the university.

• France: the focus on effective thinking through meditation and visualization.

• Japan: the school primary role is the development of the ability to think and reason and self-expression.

• Norway and the United Kingdom : Problem Solving is an essential part of the curriculum.

International Perspectives on Teaching Thinking Skills

Do we Teach Thinking or Thinking Skills ?

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• What should we teach ?

• Teaching thinking means providing students with opportunities to practice opportunities to think such as: creating an atmosphere of dialogue, reading, and discussion.

• The teaching of thinking skills focus directly on (how and why) and teach students directly or indirectly, how to implement thinking skills, such as application, analysis, comparison.

Do we Teach Thinking or Thinking Skills ?

Comparison Between Traditional Teaching and Teaching that focus on Developing Thinking

1. Focus on content 2. Isolation of teachers from each

other3. The acquisition of knowledge 4. Conformity 5. Conservation and remembering 6. External review (the teacher) 7. Receive orders and instructions 8. School is the only place to learn 9. Teacher carrier of knowledge

1. Focus on processes 2. Cooperation between teachers

and 3. Production of knowledge 4. Diversity 5. Application and transfer of learning 6. internal self-Evaluation7. Decision-making 8. Society in general place to learn 9. Teacher facilitator for the

construction of knowledge