SOURCES OF INFORMATION
ABOUT HOW TO TEACH
THINKING SKILLS
 Developmental psychology
 Cognitive psychology
 Constructivist theories
 Brain research
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Major work on the development of
frameworks to support specific complex
thinking skills was done in the 1980’s,
using cognitive psychology, by:
 Dr. Floyd Robinson
 Dr. Floyd White
 Dr. John Ross
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They focused mainly on the processes
and frameworks for teaching the skills of:
 concept clarification
 comparison
 decision making
3
Research from other areas and educators
has provided an extensive view of things
to attend to in order to make the most
effective use of instructional efforts when
teaching thinking skills.
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These approaches include:
 systematic instruction to
increase students’ selfdirection
 strategies informed by our
knowledge of
developmental and
cognitive psychology,
constructivist theories,
and brain research
 use of realistic problems
and structured and goaloriented thinking
strategies to engage
students’ interest
 provision of challenging,
new experiences during
instruction to stimulate
students’ model growth
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 recognition and allowance
for sudden, non-linear
insights
 use of approaches that
appeal to different
learning styles and multisensory needs
 opportunities for, and
recognition of, affective
responses
 strong models
 reflective practice with
repeated and related
experience
 use of non-examples and
inconsistencies to
strengthen mental models
 timely feedback
 recognition that real
understanding can lag
behind related action
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 a physical component to
support neural
development
 early stimulation and
interaction
 continuous use of ideas to
maintain neural pathways
 recognition of the changes
in brain development
(myelination) around age
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 recognition that the
teacher must support
instruction by developing
personal intuitive,
procedural, and
declarative knowledge
 teaching thinking as a
discrete and
instructionally identified
objective
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 teacher’s ability to
analyze his/ her own
thought processes
 naming the thinking skill
that is being taught
 providing rules and
general observations
about the applicability of
the specific skill
 having teachers value
thinking skills, reflect on
their own thinking, base
practice on theory,
include these skills
specifically in unit design,
and learn strategies for
teaching thinking skills
 immersion of learners
into the skill’s use; use of
the skill to construct
common understanding
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 recognizing that practice
will move use of any
thinking skill from a
process focus to a more
strongly internalized use
where correct context
application is
characteristic
 direct and specific
teaching of metacognitive
skills and control of
thinking
 practice, including the use
of concept language
 non-examples to
strengthen metacognitive
control; use specific
strategies to teach
metacognition
 ensuring that teachers
have mastered the subject
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matter, pedagogy,
curriculum aims and
content, and know their
students
 teachers have a clear
conception of what
thinking skills are
 teachers are clear about
what they believe and
value about teaching
thinking
 skills are proceduralized,
contextualized, and
governed by discipline
bound criteria of sound
judgment ( e.g., critical
literacy criteria)
 skills are connected to
prior learning
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Defining what we mean by
“Thinking Skills”
remains somewhat unclear
for many teachers.
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BLOOM’S COGNITIVE TAXONOMY
 KNOWLEDGE
 COMPREHENSION
 APPLICATION
 ANALYSIS
 SYNTHESIS
 EVALUATION
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CURRICULUM THEORY AND
METHODS ( Auger and Rich, 2007)
D
E
C
I
S
I
O
N
Metacognition
A
Problem Solving
U
Critical Thinking T
Creative Thinking O
Basic Reasoning
M
A
K
I
N
G
N
O
M
Y
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CRITICAL THINKING IS:
* Purposeful
*Contrasting
*Analytical
*Goal-oriented
* Comparing
* Systematic
* Labeling
* Predictable
*Linear
*Categorizing
* Specific
*Dealing with
components
(Auger and Rich, 2007)
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Robinson, Ross, White, Maynes
(1989)
 built on their earlier conception of
Topic Elaboration
 proposed that a set of connected
complex skills could be
applied to the intense study of any
topic
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TOPIC ELABORATION STARTS AN INQUIRY
BY APPLYING A SET OF GENERIC
QUESTIONS
GENERIC QUESTION APPLIED TO THE
TOPIC “ULTIMATE
FRIZBEE”
What is it?
How does it work?
What are its interesting
characteristics?
How do these characteristics
change ( i.e., with time, place,
etc.)?
What are these changes
related to?
What would happen if…?
What could/should/ will be
done about this?
What is ultimate frizbee?
What are the rules for playing
ultimate frizbee?
What makes this game so
much fun? ...such good
exercise? …so popular?
How can ultimate frizbee be
adapted to play in smaller
spaces? How has the game
evolved since its introduction?
What has caused this game to
change since its introduction?
What would happen if:
*all students in Grade 4-8
were taught ultimate frizbee?
*the game was a mandatory
part of the P.E. curriculum?
*local leagues were available?
Should we organize a local
ultimate frizbee league?
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In turn, each Topic Elaboration question calls up a skill,
supported by a set of adaptable procedures that operationalize
the skill:
COMPLEX
THINKING SKILL
GENERIC INQUIRY
QUESTION
Concept Clarification
What is it?
Model Building
How does it work?
Narration
Description
Map Making
Comparison
What are its interesting
characteristics?
Correlation
What are these changes
related to ?
Causal Reasoning
What would happen if…?
Decision Making
What would/ could/ should be
done about it?
How do these characteristics
change (over time, place, etc.)?
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