To Think Or Not To Think:
That Is the Question
Hannah J. Oberlander
EDUC 606, Spring 2015
Abstract
Year after year, teachers recognize that many of their students lack critical thinking skills or resist
critical thinking within the classroom. I wanted to find out why this phenomenon was occurring and what I
could do about it. Studies indicate that critical thinking can be learned and that the demanding school culture,
emphasizing one right answer is a huge reason for students not displaying this ability in the classroom. Critical
thinking is not a measurable objective that can be assessed on standardized tests, and thus teachers often skip
over these skills in an effort to cover all of the tested material. My goal was to turn that school cultural
structure around and bring attention to the process of thinking rather than the remembering of content. I took
the students in my classroom and used them as a test case to see whether I could observe any improvement in
their critical thinking skills over the course of a series of critical thinking lessons. Within these lessons, I
eliminated the objective of finding the one correct answer and focused on the students’ effort in taking risks,
asking questions, and attempting trial-and-error on their own quests for answers. My findings revealed that the
lessons I conducted in my classroom did affect my students’ overall awareness of themselves as thinkers. Many
of my students who had at first either lacked or resisted critical thinking, showed signs of using critical thinking
in other academic experiences after these lessons. Critical thinking skills can be learned, and the results of
teaching critical thinking skills are invaluable. Teachers who strive to rise above the school’s cultural
mentality of “teaching to the test” by teaching critical thinking skills and protecting valuable time for students
to use and explore these skills are doing their students a far more valuable service to their overall learning
experience.
Puzzlement
Why do so many of my students not know how to critically think? And if they do know how, why do the
majority of these students resist critical thinking in the classroom?
Cultural Questions
3.1 How might my beliefs be contributing to the puzzling situation?
3.2 How might aspects of the school’s culture be contributing to the puzzling situation?
Data Collection
Student cultural and background surveys, critical thinking student self-assessments: (1) pre-assessment and (2)
post-assessment, teacher interviews, and teacher observation (anecdotal) notes.
Actions
My plan was to be my own “test case” to see whether or not students can make steady progress in their abilities
to critically think if a teacher teachers specific lessons to her students about how to actually do the following
critical thinking skills: (1) analyze, (2) evaluate, (3) problem solve, (4) hypothesize, (5) clarify, and (6)
determine by using the lesson plan structures laid out from the book How to Teach Thinking Skills Within the
Common Core. I created specific Power Points for each lesson to outline the skills and lesson activities,
integrating each with the content from the fourth grade reading, science, history, and math curriculum. My goal
for each lesson was to get students to verbalize their thinking through words and conversation, so that they had
ideas to write down when they needed to show their thinking through written responses. Each lesson ended
with a reflection that the students would think and write their “take away” from the experiences.
Findings
Through teaching the critical thinking lessons, the glaring truth that has come to light is that students are
hesitant and resistant to exert effort in trying to critically think if they sense the threat that they may be wrong.
My biggest takeaway from this experience is that teaching critical thinking lessons has a bigger impact on
students than I ever thought that it would. When I compared the pre-assessment to the post-assessment results,
my students showed significant gains from having been taught the six critical thinking lessons laid out in my
Action Plan. In responding to all eight questions in the self-assessment, the answer average increased. Critical
thinking can be learned, and this data provides proof that explicit instruction of critical thinking skills along
with guided practice and hands-on experiences that engage students in the process of thinking significantly
affect student perceptions of themselves as thinkers (Klemm, 2011, p. 1). I also have noticed that students view
themselves as thinkers in a more positive light—as I have stressed in all of the lessons how important putting
forth the effort is rather than just a quick, right answer that no thought was given to (Klemm, 2011, p. 2). In
addition, I see students beginning to embrace the “struggle” of thinking with less resistance, because they are
aware that this is linked with the learning experience.
Comparisons Between the Results of Student Pre and Post Assessments
4.5
4
3.5
3
2.5
Pre-Assessment
Results
2
1.5
Post-Assessment
Results
1
0.5
0
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q5
Q6
Q7
Q8
Conclusions
Critical thinking takes time for students to learn and practice. The amount of time needed to conduct the critical
thinking lessons and the pacing of the content are at odds with one another. School culture currently prevents
and in many ways prohibits students from critically thinking (Jacob, 1999, p. 1). As long as the high-stakes,
standardized testing band wagon continues to convince well-meaning citizens, law makers, and even educators
that the results of those tests indicate an ability to learn, students will continue to lack these skills. No matter
how challenging it may be to bring the truths to light that testing is not the answer to making our students learn
more or make our teachers teach better, teachers need to develop professional capital so that we can join forces
in a valiant effort to shake the school culture that is truly holding us back.
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