Module+3+--+Critical+Thinking,+Problem+Solving,+Decision+Making

NETS Addressed

Students will use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources.

Participants:
 * will explore critical thinking skills, problem- and project based learning.
 * will Identify and define authentic problems to focus on for a final project and integration plan and begin to develop a learning activity appropriate for participant's own students and subject area.

Graphic Organizer

**Critical Thinking Skills: What Do I Do? What Would I Like to Do?**


 * **Critical Thinking Skill to be Developed** || **Description of What I Do Now** || **New Ideas for Change** || **Technology Tools I Could Use and How** ||
 * Creating || There are countless opportunities for creation in my class. I mention below how you could write the traditional research paper as a documentary. Another example is my 7th graders do a project where they “create their own world”. Normally this is done with paper and pencil, artistic supplies, brain power. However... || What if we turned this into more of a research project as well? After all, I give the students a few examples of laws and guidelines for their nation, but add in the aspect of looking up other countries. They would discover how other countries operate, freedoms of their people, etc., and how it would affect their ideas on creating a nation. || In addition to discovering various laws and treatments, students could also create maps and such online. They could consider weather-related issues. You could open this up to all sorts of things and present a description via voice thread or another medium. ||
 * Evaluating || Students create a hypothesis or theory and set about writing the traditional “research paper”. They use some digital tools, but ultimately the form is the same as it has been for decades. || While keeping some of the traditional means of writing, there may be ways to adapt technology into the presentations. || Students could do their research as usual, but perhaps present findings in the form of a documentary, collaborative or individual. Anderson and Krathwohl mention validating, and students would still have to evaluate validity of their sources. ||
 * Analyzing || Students compare and contrast various pieces of literature to critique as well as observe similarities and differences. || Students may use both the written word but also visual and audible media for comparison. || Using Youtube or other suitable video sites, students can draw links between written and movie versions of novels. They could also draw conclusions on author purpose and relationships between different types of media. ||
 * Applying || Students may apply their knowledge of proper grammatical structures as well as character development to create an interesting story. || Much of “application” in the English classroom also goes into the above three sections, so it is tough to single out. || As per what Anderson and Krathwohl said, students could upload and share many of their ideas via social networking sites and wikis. ||
 * Understanding || Students understand the concepts in English class, being able to rephrase and explain appropriately. This is often does through classroom question and answer. || Students can find new ways of commenting on and sharing information in class. || Blog journals might be an easier way for some students to keep up with things as opposed to traditional paper journals. Likewise, voice threads can be an excellent way to show understanding through commentary. ||
 * Remembering || Students take notes, discuss and review information and terms that they need for projects and tests. || I want students to be able to more easily review and recall said information. || Students can use bullet-pointed word documents, as well as bookmarked websites to find information. They can also learn to properly use Google for searches along with online social bookmarking. ||
 * Remembering || Students take notes, discuss and review information and terms that they need for projects and tests. || I want students to be able to more easily review and recall said information. || Students can use bullet-pointed word documents, as well as bookmarked websites to find information. They can also learn to properly use Google for searches along with online social bookmarking. ||

Thoughts on Project-Based Learning

When we look at project-based learning, I think there's a lot of good things that can be gleaned from it, but we need to make sure we look at both sides. After all, as helpful as it may be to most students, no one thing can help all students. Let's look at a few points on both sides, shall we?

1. Project based learning is good because it allows students to break away from the traditional read-notes-test pattern that is easy to fall into in any classroom, but I think especially English. I try to mix things up constantly and offer them projects. One of the biggest (and most interesting, I think) projects that I do all year is with the 7th graders after we read the book, The Giver. The students "create their own world". They must create everything about their country from flags and national anthems to laws and rights of the people. They design the terrain, the economics, everything. I've seen really amazing things in four years. Some groups have gone above and beyond and created projects which were in-depth and come up with systems of government that seemed entirely plausible. However...

2. Just because you are presenting this in a project form does not mean that students who struggle will magically get their act together. In my experience, those "amazing" projects were from students who were engaged in the class regardless. Students who struggled with reading and writing often produced sub-par results. Students who didn't have much interest to begin with often failed to complete entire sections. Yes, it provides alternative assessments, but it's far from a magic cure.

3. Then there's always the usual concerns. What about assessment? What's the best way to judge their work? Better yet, how do you tell if they learned anything? This is a great point. With my 9th graders this year, we did a unit on the media and how things are crafted on television. They brought up the point of how public service announcements are cheesy and silly, so I had them create their own. This wound up taking more time than I had planned. Many students were unable for various reasons to finish up projects. More still were unable to edit their work together and some were even unable to get it to school on an appropriate media source. If it wasn't for the video camera I own along with the two we are fortunate to have in our tech lab, our students would have had no access to cameras it seemed. Likewise, I had to make sure to split up the few tech-savvy students I had so they could edit their films with Windows Movie Maker. Which leads into my next point...

4. How much time do you spend explaining how to do certain aspects of the projects? In retrospect, I'm not entirely sure how much the students learned by creating these PSAs. They had to pick out a topic, research it, and write a small script for their commercial, but many still treated it as a joke. I also wound up spending just as much time trying to get technical questions answered as far as editing went. And then, what do you do with the people who "finished it at home"?

That said, I think there was a lot of good that came from our projects. Students had to work together, and some learned the basics of Movie Maker. Others took on parts in PSAs acting when they may not have done so before. It allowed them to open up a little. They still did some research and writing, but with the not-so-exact method of assessment, I was left wondering how worthwhile the activity was, especially since it took longer than expected and after all, there's no video production on the PSSAs. Right? (/sarcasm)