Stop Learning, and
Go Think! Strategies
to Challenge
Students’ Minds
Gem Thomerson, Ed.D.
gthomerson@dorchester2.k12.sc.us
SEED-y Thinking
 Higher-order thinking requires students to manipulate
information and ideas in ways that transform their meaning
and implications.




State
Elaborate
Exemplify
Demonstrate
- define
- using your own words, explain
- synonyms, antonyms
- metaphor, analogy, visual
metaphor, charts, graphs
(Paul & Elder, 2008)
Content, Process & Product:
Where Can We Create Spaces for
Higher-Level Thinking?
ADVANCED
CONTENT
Related
•Pre-assess to
measure
student
knowledge of
content
•Delivered at a
level of depth
and pace
appropriate for
learners
•Centered
around a
concept(s)
HIGH LEVEL
PROCESSES
Connected
•Ask questions to
check for student
understanding of
content and to
challenge
thinking
•Design learning
tasks related to
content and to
measure how
students are
mastering and
manipulating
content &
concepts
CHALLENGING
PRODUCTS
•Post-assess
•Students show
mastery of
advanced
content and
scholarly
thinking.
•Concept(s)
represented
•Repeat
process with
new content
and learning
goals
Creating Spaces for
Higher-Level Thinking
 Assess what students already know and
streamline the curriculum to ensure that students
will have the opportunity to learn something
new and apply it to their ever evolving schema
and knowledge base
 Various Methods of Pre-assessment/Data Gathering
 THEN: Acceleration via Curriculum Compacting
 OR THEN: Accelerate via - Depth, Complexity, and Abstractness
 OR: Reteach
 Appraise student interests and favored styles of
learning and use this data to inform instructional
decisions and motivate their learning growth
after readiness has been assessed.
Creating Spaces for Higher-Level
Thinking
 Create an environment where using diverse and expansive body of
vocabulary is expected.
 Help students connect their learning to a larger context beyond the
classroom
 Concepts – organize material around big ideas
 Relevancy
 Encourage and provide learning opportunities for inquiry, problem
solving and reasoned thinking.
 Emphasize critical thinking that allows students to analyze, synthesize,
evaluate and create.
 Teach and model cognitive and meta-cognitive thinking skills so that
students understand how they learn and have the language to
describe how they learn. Allow students to practice regularly in the
context of every content area.
 Be the KING/QUEEN of wait time.
 It’s all about the QUESTIONS WE ASK!
Ways to Implement HigherLevel Questioning
Essential or Over-arching Questions
 Connected to standards
 Talk Moves
 Paraphrasing
 Examples/Non-examples
 Scaffolding Questions
 Move from concrete to abstract levels of thinking
 Jacob’s Ladder
 Socratic Questions & Socratic Method
 Paul’s Reasoning
Elements of Reasoning
Purpose/
Goal
Point of
View
Evidence/
Data
Assumptions
Issue/
Problem
Concepts/
Ideas
Inferences
Implications/
Consequences
(Paul, 1992)
Question Tree based on
Reasoning Model
 What is the question or issue of interest? Why?
 What is the purpose of _____________? How do you know?
 What points of view or perspectives are important to
 understanding __________________? Provide evidence.
 What assumptions underlie each perspective on ________?
 What data/evidence support a given perspective on _____?
 What inference can be made about ______________, based on the
evidence?
 What are the implications and consequences of __________?
Metaphorical Thinking
Is thinking a rock or a feather?
Justify your reasoning.
#A-has
 This is a quick and easy
strategy that gives the students
the space to synthesize their
understanding of content using
a relevant medium to
communicate their thinking.
 Students are asked to create
a hashtag to summarize their
learning for the day.
Gem Thomerson, Ed.D. gthomerson@dorchester2.k12.sc.us
Websites & Resources to Assist You in
Creating Spaces for Higher-Level Thinking
 Foundation for Critical Thinking – www.criticalthinking.org
 The Critical Thinking Company – www.criticalthinking.com
 Copeland, M. (2005). Socratic circles: Fostering critical and
creative thinking in middle and high
school. Maine: Stenhouse
Publishers.
 Elder, L. & Paul, R. (2005). The Nature & Functions of Critical &
Creative Thinking. Dillon Beach: Foundation for Critical Thinking.
 Paul, R. & Elder, L. (2007). The art of Socratic questioning. Dillon
Beach: The Foundation for Critical Thinking.
 Richards, S. (2006). Academic rigor or rigor mortis. Gifted
Education Communicator, 37(4), 23-25.
 VanTassel-Baska, J. L. & Stambaugh, T. (2009). Jacob’s Ladder:
Reading Comprehension Program. Waco: Prufrock Press Inc.