At TeachThought, we have always focused on promoting critical thinking cross for use in ‘human’ applications–namely, people (i.e., education stakeholders) and places (i.e., communities).
Our mission has been apolitical by design—centered on improving thought, education, and human potential without aligning with political ideologies or factions.
However, recent events in the United States have made remaining entirely apolitical a luxury we can no longer afford.
The Idea of Liberalism in Education
This brings us to the idea of liberalism.
To be clear, ‘liberalism,’ is not ‘Democratic party as we use the term. Rather, it is intended for philosophical, apolitical meaning: a commitment to reason, freedom, equality, diversity, and the belief in the potential for progress.
Liberalism, in this sense, prioritizes open-mindedness and values dialogue, inquiry, and self-determination—all inherently central to education itself.
Education seeks to empower individuals, enabling them to think critically, embrace learning, and better themselves and their communities.
These are liberal ideals—not in a partisan context but as intellectual principles foundational to knowledge, democracy, and justice.
Why Take A ‘Stance’ At All?
It’s impossible to champion critical thinking while staying silent about efforts to suppress individual thought, reduce diversity, dismantle critical federal departments, and resist the very progress education aims to sustain.
The current circumstances demand resistance to policies that undermine civil liberties, challenge inclusivity, and threaten the foundations of education itself.
A Call for Critical Thinking
I/we oppose measures that restrict inquiry, diminish diversity, and compromise the integrity of education.
As an organization, we strive to promote and advocate for:
Critical Thinking: The ability to question, analyze, and synthesize knowledge in the face of growing misinformation and partisanship.
Diversity (Cultural and Intellectual): A recognition that inclusivity enriches learning, creativity, and community understanding.
That these ideas would be at all controversial might speak to the need for them to be advocated for and supported.
In increasingly technologically advanced and socially fractured times, the role of critical thinking is–well, critical.
Issues like the misuse of social media, politicized partisanship, and dwindling support for public education require a response rooted in rationality, evidence, and humane values.
Our Position
While we remain an organization focused on education, our commitment to critical thinking calls us to speak against the conditions eroding trust, inclusivity, and progress.
From the deliberate weakening of federal institutions to decisions that limit diversity and suppress access to opportunity, we stand firmly against such measures.
The current administration’s policies in the United States represent a particularly urgent threat to these essential values, and I personally am compelled to oppose them as part of broader advocacy for education and informed, rational discourse.
Regardless of the circumstance or context, our goal will emphasize the power–and necessity– of critical thinking in navigating the challenges of our time while maintaining respect for diverse voices, experiences, and beliefs.
How can you tell if a student really understands something?
They learn early on to play the game—tell the teacher and/or the test what they ‘want to know,’ and even the best assessment leaves something on the table. (In truth, a big portion of the time students simply don’t know what they don’t know.)
The idea of understanding is, of course, at the heart of all learning, and solving it as a puzzle is one of the three pillars of formal learning environments and education.
1. What do they need to understand (standards)?
2. What (and how) do they currently understand (assessment)?
3. How can they best come to understand what they currently do not (planning learning experiences and instruction)?
But how do we know if they know it? And what is ‘it’?
Understanding As ‘It’
On the surface, there is trouble with the word ‘it.’ Sounds vague. Troublesome. Uncertain. But everyone somehow knows what it is.
‘It’ is essentially what is to be learned, and it can be a scary thing to both teachers and students. ‘It’ is everything, described with intimidating terms like objective, target, proficiency, test, exam, grade, fail, and succeed.
And in terms of content, ‘it’ could be almost anything: a fact, a discovery, a habit, skill, or general concept, from mathematical theory to a scientific process, the importance of a historical figure to an author’s purpose in a text.
So if a student gets it, beyond pure academic performance what might they be able to do? There are many existing taxonomies and characteristics, from Bloom’s to Understanding by Design’s 6 Facets of Understanding.
The following actions are set up as a linear taxonomy, from most basic to the most complex. The best part about it is its simplicity: Most of these actions can be performed simply in the classroom in minutes, and don’t require complex planning or an extended exam period.
By using a quick diagram, concept map, t-chart, conversation, picture, or short response in a journal, quick face-to-face collaboration, on an exit slip, or via digital/social media, understanding can be evaluated in minutes, helping to replace testing and consternation with a climate of assessment. It can be even be displayed on a class website or hung in the classroom to help guide self-directed learning, with students checking themselves for understanding.
How This Understanding Taxonomy Works
I’ll write more about this soon and put this into a more graphic form soon; both of these are critical in using it. (Update: I’m also creating a course for teachers to help the, use it.) For now, I’ll say that it can be used to guide planning, assessment, curriculum design, and self-directed learning. Or to develop critical thinking questions for any content area.
The ‘Heick’ learning taxonomy is meant to be simple, arranged as (mostly) isolated tasks that range in complexity from less to more. That said, students needn’t demonstrate the ‘highest’ levels of understanding–that misses the point. Any ability to complete these tasks is a demonstration of understanding. The greater number of tasks the student can complete the better, but all ‘boxes checked’ are evidence that the student ‘gets it.’
36 Thinking Strategies To Help Students Wrestle With Complexity
The Heick Learning Taxonomy
Domain 1: The Parts
Explain or describe it simply
Label its major and minor parts
Evaluate its most and least important characteristics
Deconstruct or ‘unbuild’ it efficiently
Give examples and non-examples
Separate it into categories, or as an item in broader categories
Example Topic
The Revolutionary War
Sample Prompts
Explain the Revolutionary War in simple terms (e.g., an inevitable rebellion that created a new nation).
Identify the major and minor ‘parts’ of the Revolutionary War (e.g., economics and propaganda, soldiers and tariffs).
Evaluate the Revolutionary War and identify its least and most important characteristics (e.g., caused and effects vs city names and minor skirmishes)
Domain 2: The Whole
Explain it in micro-detail and macro-context
Create a diagram that embeds it in a self-selected context
Explain how it is and is not useful both practically and intellectually
Play with it casually
Leverage it both in parts and in whole
Revise it expertly, and explain the impact of any revisions
Domain 3: The Interdependence
Explain how it relates to similar and non-similar ideas
Direct others in using it
Explain it differently–and precisely–to both a novice and an expert
Explain exactly how and where others might misunderstand it
Compare it to other similar and non-similar ideas
Identify analogous but distinct ideas, concepts, or situations
Domain 4: The Function
Apply it in unfamiliar situations
Create accurate analogies to convey its function or meaning
Analyze the sweet spot of its utility
Repurpose it with creativity
Know when to use it
Plausibly theorize its origins
Domain 5: The Abstraction
Insightfully or artfully demonstrate its nuance
Criticize it in terms of what it might ‘miss’ or where it’s ‘dishonest’ or incomplete
Debate its ‘truths’ as a supporter or devil’s advocate
Explain its elegance or crudeness
Analyze its objectivity and subjectivity, and how the two relate
Design a sequel, extension, follow-up, or evolution of it
Domain 6: The Self
Self-direct future learning about the topic
Ask specific, insightful questions about it
Recall or narrate their own learning sequence or chronology (metacognition) in coming to know it
Is comfortable using it across diverse contexts and circumstances
Identify what they still don’t understand about it
Analyze changes in self-knowledge as a result of understanding
Advanced Understanding
Understanding by Design’s 6 facets of Understanding, Bloom’s Taxonomy, and Marzano’s New Taxonomy were also referenced in the creation of this taxonomy; a learning taxonomy for understanding
Social learning theory is a behavioral theory that posits that new behaviors can be learned by observing and imitating others. It is underpinned by the idea that meaning-making (i.e., learning) is a cognitive behavior and process that occurs in social settings. And it is the possibility of future social interactions that drive a ‘need to know,’ curiosity, and general motivation to learn.
In short, the idea behind social learning theory is that people learn by observing others.
Who Is Responsible For The Development Of Social Learning Theory?
As a ‘field’ and topic, social learning theory has had key contributions from dozens of behavioral researchers and theorists, most notably Albert Bandura, B. F. Skinner, Ronald Akers, Clark Leonard Hull, and Julian Rotter.
Classroom and teaching designs often depend on the principles of social learning to enhance students’ memory and retention of new information. Some of the more prevalent teaching strategies incorporating social-learning principles are call-and-response teaching, choral reading, modeling, and the guided participation method where the teacher tells the audience to speak a phrase, and students both mimic the action and replicate it, which may aid learning.
Social learning also refers to a type of learning that occurs when students learn from each other. It’s the kind of learning that often occurs in the classroom but can happen anywhere social interactions occur–or, through reflection, after a real or imagined interaction.
When students interact in digital communities or message in small groups–these are forms of social learning but technology isn’t required for it to occur. Technology does, however, change the practice of social learning in important ways including the increased speed of feedback loops, the scale of social interactions, the frequency and varied forms of punishment and rewards, and more. In short, technology rapidly accelerates and intensifies social learning while increasing the sheer quantity of social learning episodes over a given time period.
What Is Social Learning Theory?
Further, it is not only behaviors that are observed but also the perceived causes and effects of these behaviors including punishments and rewards (this is vicarious reinforcement). This form of social learning occurs not through observation but prediction and reflection. Feedback loops play a significant role in social learning. As a social process, rewards vary but generally speaking, if a behavior is thought to result in a regular reward, it will likely continue. If it is punished, it is less likely to be continued over time if the person experiencing the punishment believes they have alternatives to that behavior that is likely to result in improved outcomes.
Conditioning through feedback loops and the observation, anticipation, and reflection of social interactions are all central to the process of social learning. Learning occurs in two stages: the acquisition of new information and the incorporation of that information into existing knowledge (Gurian, 2006). Social learning can be observed in a variety of contexts. It is an essential element of social behavior to learn what types of behavior will be punished or rewarded by others.
According to Albert Bandura’s Principals Of Social Learning Theory, “social learning theory aligned mostly with previous behavioral theories–the novel component was its emphasis on imitation in learning. It stated the following:
When someone witnesses a ‘model’ performing a specific behavior, as well as the consequences of that behavior, they can commit the sequence of actions to memory and recall that data to guide their future behaviors.
People do not learn new behaviors simply by attempting them, and then succeeding or failing. Instead, they depend largely upon the imitation of action sequences by other people.
People choose to replicate or dismiss certain behaviors based on how they observe others being rewarded or punished for those behaviors, or the outcomes of those behaviors.
In other words, monkey see, monkey do (or do not…). Over time, Bandura’s theory of social learning moved away from the behavioral end of the spectrum and closer toward the cognitive end. He published a significant revision to his theory in 1977, which included the concept of self-efficacy at the core of its theoretical framework. In this revision, individual choices, effort, and feelings about those choices are affected by their beliefs about their own abilities to perform certain behaviors in order to achieve certain outcomes.”
The concept of conditioning is often used in behavioral psychology to explain the change that occurs in an organism’s response to a stimulus. Conditioning can be defined as the process by which an organism acquires a new response or behavior to an environmental stimulus. In order to explain the change in behavior that occurs with conditioning, it is useful to use an experiment performed by Ivan Pavlov. In his experiment, Pavlov conditioned a dog to salivate at the sound of a bell. In this experiment, Pavlov rang a bell whenever he fed his dogs. As soon as the dog heard the bell, it would salivate in anticipation of receiving food.
Social learning theory has significant overlap with Pavlov’s experiment. External stimulus cause conditioning is both a cause and effect of how the brain works and makes meaning. In the case of social learning, it is the observation and imitation of other behaviors that are a kind of subsequent catalyst and conditioning.
In addition to Bandura’s theoretical work on social learning theory, B. F. Skinner brought a more empirical approach to the concept through “the use of stimulus-response theories to describe language use and development, and that all verbal behavior was underpinned by operant conditioning. He did however mention that some forms of speech derived from words and sounds that had previously been heard (echoic response), and that reinforcement from parents allowed these ‘echoic responses’ to be pared down to that of understandable speech. While he denied that there was any “instinct or faculty of imitation,” Skinner’s behaviorist theories formed a basis for redevelopment into Social Learning Theory.”
In 1954, Julian B. Rotter published his book, Social Learning and Social Clinical Psychology. This was the first summary of a comprehensive social learning theory.
Rotter developed a more holistic way of thinking that viewed individuals as a part of their environment.
He was attempting to unify behaviorism (which was useful for predictions but was limited in its ability to explain complex social interactions) and Gestalt psychology (which better handled complexity in these models but was less accurate in terms of predicting behaviors). In his work, he stressed that the social context and individual personality created significant effects.
In his theory, social dynamics and individual personality gave rise to the chances that one’s behavior would follow, and the social reinforcement of this behavior gave rise to learning.
The two most influential environments in shaping behavior are the individual and social environments. The reinforcement of any activity leads to learning. While his theory of learning used language similar to behavioralism, Rotter’s emphasis on internal functioning and individual traits was unique and acted as a kind of precursor to a shift toward cognitive theories and approaches of learning.
Rotter’s theory is also known as expectancy-value theory due to its central explanatory constructs. Expectancy is defined as the individual’s subjectively held probability that a given action will lead to a given outcome. It can range from zero to one, with one representing 100% confidence in the outcome. For example, a person may entertain a given level of belief that they can make a foul shot in basketball or that an additional hour of study will improve their grade on an examination.
Reinforcement value is defined as the individual’s subjective preference for a given outcome, assuming that all possible outcomes were equally available. In other words, the two variables are independent of each other. These two variables interact to generate behavior potential, or the likelihood that a given action will be performed. The nature of the interaction is not specified, though Rotter suggests that it is likely to be multiplicative. Interestingly, Rotter even developed a basic predictive equation, B.P. = f(E & RV) where Behavior Potential (BP), Expectancy (E) and Reinforcement Value (RV).
What Is Observational Learning?
People learn behaviors from other people by imitating them and that imitation is not always conscious. Sometimes we do things without even knowing why we did them.
When we see someone else doing something, we try to figure out what they might know that we don’t. In some cases, we copy what we observe because we want to fit into a group. We want to be accepted by our peers. We also copy what we see because we think it may help us in the future. This is called observational learning. Observational learning helps us understand how the world works.
What is Automatic Imitation?
Learning is a cognitive process that occurs in a social context. It can be observed when we observe a behavior and see the consequences of the behavior. Learning can also take place without any visible changes in behavior. Observation, extraction of information from the observations, and decision-making play important roles in learning. Learners are active participants in learning. Their environment influences how they think about things. They also learn from what they do and see. Both environment and behavior affect cognition.
In the digital age, school curriculums are struggling to keep up with the changing ways in which students learn. With the internet and an endless supply of information at their fingertips, students are no longer confined to textbooks and worksheets. They can now find information on any topic they’re studying with a few quick clicks of a mouse. This presents both a challenge and an opportunity for schools.
Social learning emphasizes the importance of observation, collaboration, and shared experiences in education. In professional settings, networking and peer-driven study methods can also enhance learning outcomes. This is particularly relevant for those preparing for industry certifications, where resources like Microsoft AZ-104: Practice Test Dumps help candidates engage with real exam scenarios and apply their knowledge effectively.
What Is Vicarious Learning?
Vicarious learning is a form of social learning. Specifically, it is learning through others, though this can take many forms. Sometimes we learn about ourselves when we watch others.
For instance, if you see someone getting angry, you might feel anger yourself. This is called vicarious learning. Vicarious learning lets us know that we are capable of certain emotions. This knowledge can help us deal with those feelings.
Social Learning In Education
Management is a dodgy technology for the 21st-century.
Daniel Pink’s words, not mine, but it’s true.
Bandura’s Social Learning theory explained that children learn in social environments by observing and then imitating the behavior of others.
Management is a construct of industrialization. To be fair, it has a role anywhere: networks, sports teams, software, app stores, parks, and retail environments are all managed (with varying degrees of efficiency and success). But what about in learning? What should be managed there?
What is to be learning–so, standards? The pattern and form of those standards–so, curriculum? How that curriculum is delivered to students–so, teaching? What happens when pre-determined learning outcomes aren’t met–so, remediation?
These are all constructs that we often seek to refine rather than replace, but our relative lack of success here compared to our expenditure of time, money, and ideas should make us wonder–are we doing it right? Social Learning is already happening.
But as economies, institutions, connectivity, technology, and information access morph the world around us and make it unrecognizable to the Sesame Street generation, it would make sense to at least be able to contextualize social learning:
What is it?
What should I understand about it?
What is it ‘doing’ to learning?
How should I adjust my actions and behavior as an educator accordingly?
And more broadly, what parts of the learning process need to be managed and which need to be left alone? Because if it all needs to be managed, we’re doing a fantastic job.
TeachThought’s mission is to promote critical thinking and innovation education.
In the always-changing–recently even more so–landscape of education, the cultivation of creativity is a vital component of learning.
Combinig existing ideas into new forms–into new ideas–is a part of creativity.
More than just an artistic endeavor, creativity can lead to curiosity, enhances problem-solving capabilities, and can–well-implemented–a deeper, more authentic and nuanced understanding of the world. As we mentioned in The Significant Benefits Of Creativity In The Classroom, “Not only can you practice creativity through many different mediums, its benefits are applicable to almost all professions.”
This adaptability and wide-ranging impact underscore the significance of nurturing creative thinking in educational settings. The following quotes offer diverse perspectives on the power and essence of creativity, inviting reflection on its crucial role in personal and intellectual growth.
40 Of The Best Quotes About Creativity For Teaching And Learning
1. “Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
2. “To be creative means to be in love with life. You can be creative only if you love life enough that you want to enhance its beauty, bring a little more music to it, a little more poetry, and a little more dance.” – Osho
3. “An idea is salvation by imagination.” – Frank Lloyd Wright
4. “Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties.” – Erich Fromm
5. “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, while imagination encircles the world.” – Albert Einstein
6. “You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.” – Jack London
7. “Creativity is a wild mind and a disciplined eye.” – Dorothy Parker
8. “The world always seems brighter when you’ve just made something that wasn’t there before.” – Neil Gaiman
9. “Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.” – Pablo Picasso
10. “Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.” – Scott Adams
11. “Creativity doesn’t wait for perfect moments. It fashions its own moments from the ordinary.” – Bruce Garrabrandt
12. “Passion is one great force that unleashes creativity. If you’re passionate, you’re more willing to take risks.” – Yo-Yo Ma
13. “Creativity is piercing the mundane to find the marvelous.” – Bill Moyers
14. “Imagination is the beginning of creation: you imagine what you desire, will what you imagine, and create what you will.” – George Bernard Shaw
15. “The chief enemy of creativity is ‘good’ sense.” – Pablo Picasso
16. “Have no fear of perfection — you’ll never reach it.” – Salvador Dalí
17. “Your life is already artful — waiting, just waiting, for you to make it art.” – Toni Morrison
18. “Creativity is not the finding of a thing, but the making of something after it is found.” – James Russell Lowell
19. “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” – Maya Angelou
20. “An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail.” – Edwin Land
21. “Creativity is a way of sharing your soul with the world.” – Brené Brown
22. “The creative adult is the child who survived.” – Ursula K. Le Guin
23. “Think left and think right, think low and think high. Oh, the things you can think if only you try!” – Dr. Seuss
24. “Stop thinking about art. Start thinking about work. It’s not about inspiration; it’s about discipline.” – Twyla Tharp
25. “Originality is nothing but judicious imitation.” – Voltaire
26. “The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.” – Albert Einstein
27. “Creativity: seeing what everyone else has seen, and thinking what no one else has thought.” – Albert Szent-Györgyi
28. “Creativity is the power to connect the seemingly unconnected.” – William Plomer
29. “There is no innovation and creativity without failure. Period.” – Brené Brown
30. “Everything you can imagine is real.” – Pablo Picasso
31. “Don’t think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity.” – Ray Bradbury
32. “Creativity is contagious. Pass it on.” – Albert Einstein
33. “Every artist was first an amateur.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
34. “Some people see things as they are and ask why. Others dream things that never were and ask why not.” – George Bernard Shaw
35. “The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas.” – Linus Pauling
36. “Creativity takes courage.” – Henri Matisse
37. “Every great advance in science has issued from a new audacity of imagination.” – John Dewey
38. “Creativity begins with an affinity toward risk.” – Ed Catmull
39. “Without creativity, there would be no progress, and we’d be forever repeating the same patterns.” – Edward de Bono
40. “Art, freedom, and creativity will change society faster than politics.” – Victor Pinchuk
TeachThought’s mission is to promote critical thinking and innovation education.
Reading is simply a sequence of symbol interpretation.
By understanding that letters make sounds, we can blend those sounds together to make whole sounds that symbolize meaning we can all exchange with one another. By mastering the symbols and their most common contexts, reading becomes a practice in thought–less about decoding and more about understanding.
Without getting too Platonic about it all, reading doesn’t change simply because you’re reading a text from another content area. Only sometimes it does.
Science content can often by full of jargon, research citations, and odd text features.
Social Studies content can be an interesting mix of itemized information, and traditional paragraphs/imagery.
Literature? Well, that depends on if you mean the flexible form of poetry, the enduring structure of a novel, or emerging digital literature that combines multiple modalities to tell a story.
This all makes reading strategies somewhat content area specific. Stopping (maybe the most undervalued strategy ever) and Rereading might make more sense in science, while Visualization and Text Connections may make more sense reading literary works. Questioning the Text may make equal sense in both.
But if you’d like to start with a basic set of strategies, you could do worse than the elegant graphic above from wiki-teacher.com. (Useful site, by the way.) It lists 12 basic reading comprehension strategies, to which we’ve added 13 for a full 25.
25 Reading Strategies That Work In Every Content Area
1. Reread
Definition: Students revisit portions of a text to clarify, confirm, or enhance understanding.
Example: In a science class, after reading a complex lab procedure, students reread it to ensure key steps are understood before beginning the experiment.
2. Activate Prior Knowledge
Definition: Students recall relevant prior experiences or knowledge to connect with the text’s content.
Example: Before reading a historical account of the Civil War, the teacher discusses students’ prior knowledge about slavery and its effects.
3. Use Context Clues
Definition: Students use surrounding words or phrases to deduce the meaning of unfamiliar words.
Example: In a literature class, students decipher the meaning of ‘inebriated’ in a sentence: ‘After drinking too much, he stumbled in an inebriated state.’
4. Infer
Definition: Students make logical guesses or conclusions based on clues in the text combined with prior knowledge.
Example: In a mystery novel, students infer the identity of the culprit based on clues sprinkled throughout the story.
5. Think Aloud
Definition: Teachers or students verbalize their thought processes while reading.
Example: In an elementary classroom, the teacher pauses to say, ‘I’m wondering why the author uses this phrase here. Let’s keep reading to find out.’
6. Summarize
Definition: Students condense the main ideas of a text into a brief summary.
Example: After reading about mitosis in biology, students create a one-paragraph summary explaining the phases.
7. Identify Key Words
Definition: Students identify and focus on important words that carry the main ideas of the text.
Example: When analyzing a news article, students highlight terms like ‘recession,’ ‘unemployment,’ and ‘inflation’ to understand the main points.
8. Make Predictions
Definition: Students guess what will happen next based on textual evidence and personal experience.
Example: While reading a story in ELA, students predict how the character will resolve a conflict based on their actions thus far.
9. Use Word Attack Strategies
Definition: Students decode unfamiliar words by breaking them down into root words, prefixes, or suffixes.
Example: In a vocabulary exercise, students decode the word ‘photography’ by recognizing ‘photo’ (light) and ‘graphy’ (writing).
10. Visualize
Definition: Students create mental images of scenes, characters, or concepts in the text.
Example: In geography, students visualize the layout of landforms described in a passage about ecosystems.
11. Use Graphic Organizers
Definition: Students organize textual information visually using Venn diagrams, concept maps, flowcharts, etc.
Example: After reading about the water cycle in science, students create a flowchart showing evaporation, condensation, and precipitation.
12. Evaluate Understanding
Definition: Students assess their comprehension through reflection, quizzes, or discussions about the text.
Example: After reading a math word problem, students evaluate their understanding by rephrasing the problem in their own words.
13. Question the Text
Definition: Students ask questions before, during, and after reading to deepen understanding.
Example: A history student asks, ‘Why did the author focus on this particular battle? What were its broader effects?’
14. Stop
Definition: At unplanned or predetermined points, students pause to reflect or clarify understanding.
Example: During a complex chemistry text, the student stops midway to summarize the section on covalent bonds.
15. Monitor & Repair Understanding
Definition: Students notice when comprehension breaks down and take steps to fix it.
Example: If a student doesn’t understand a paragraph in a social studies text, they reread it or look up unfamiliar terms.
16. Paraphrase
Definition: Students restate the text or specific portions in their own words.
Example: After reading a scientific article, students rewrite the conclusion in their own words to demonstrate comprehension.
17. Annotate the Text
Definition: Students add notes, symbols, or highlights to engage with the text actively.
Example: In an English class, students underline metaphors, highlight new vocabulary, and write margin notes about literary themes.
18. Adjust Reading Rate
Definition: Students change their speed depending on the difficulty or purpose of the reading.
Example: A high school student slows their reading pace for a Shakespeare play while speeding up for an easier math word problem.
19. Prioritize Information
Definition: Students identify which parts of the text are most important and focus on them.
Example: In a textbook chapter, students prioritize bold terms, headings, and summaries for their study notes.
20. Use Graphic Notetaking
Definition: Students create visuals (like Cornell notes or sketches) to represent information.
Example: During a physics lecture on Newton’s laws, students create comic-like diagrams for each law.
21. Predict
Definition: Students anticipate what will come next using textual evidence.
Example: Midway through a novel, students predict how the protagonist will overcome a major obstacle.
22. Set a Reader Purpose
Definition: Students read with a specific purpose, such as to argue, summarize, or critique.
Example: Before reading an argumentative essay, students are instructed to identify its thesis statement and supporting arguments.
23. Text-Connections
Definition: Students relate the text to personal experiences (text-to-self), other texts (text-to-text), or broader world issues (text-to-world).
Example: After reading about environmental issues, students discuss connections to news stories on climate change (text-to-world).
24. Skim
Definition: Students quickly glance over the text to get the gist or main points.
Example: Just before a lecture, students skim the assigned reading for key headings and bullets to prepare for deeper comprehension.
25. SSQ (Stop, Summarize, Question)
Definition: A structured approach involving pauses to summarize major content and generate questions for discussion.
Example: In a history class, students stop every two paragraphs of a primary source, write down what it says in their own words, and create one discussion question.
We’ll gather these and put them in a Before Reading, During Reading, and After Reading matrix soon. Only because we like you.
Understanding how the brain actually learns has been a a scientific challenge for millennia.
Based on recent advances in neuroscience and its application to learning, there is an emerging model of how the brain learns and it is unlike anything that was expected. It is suggested that the brain does not have one learning system but rather four integrated systems–each with its own unique memory pattern and accompaniments.
Each system makes use of different cell types and processes. Before educators can embark on new pedagogies of practice that are consistent with 21st century demands, we need to understand quite clearly how the brain learns and remembers.
The neurosystems of learning refer to specific systems in the brain that work together to help us acquire, process, and apply new knowledge and skills. Understanding these systems is important for teaching because it helps us design lessons that align with how the brain naturally learns. Below are some of the key neurosystems involved in the learning process:
Explanation: This system is responsible for helping us focus on information and filter out distractions. Without attention, learning cannot take place effectively.
Related Brain Areas: Prefrontal cortex (for decision-making and focus) and parietal lobe (for awareness).
Classroom Tip: Activate student attention with engaging hooks (like stories, visuals, or questions) and use strategies like chunking lessons and movement breaks to help maintain focus.
Working Memory: Where we temporarily hold and manipulate information (like solving a math problem).
Long-Term Memory: Where knowledge and skills are stored permanently.
Related Brain Areas: The hippocampus (for storing memories) and the prefrontal cortex (for working memory).
Classroom Tip: Use repetition, storytelling, and hands-on practice to help students move information into long-term memory.
3. Emotional System
Explanation: Strong emotions—positive or negative—can make memories stick. The more emotionally charged a lesson is, the more likely students are to remember it.
Related Brain Areas: Amygdala (processes emotions) and hippocampus (links emotions to memories).
Classroom Tip: Create a positive learning environment and connect lessons to students’ personal interests and experiences to boost engagement.
4. Motivation and Reward System
Explanation: This system encourages us to seek out and repeat behaviors that feel rewarding. Dopamine, a brain chemical, plays a key role here.
Related Brain Areas: Nucleus accumbens and prefrontal cortex.
Classroom Tip: Offer clear goals, rewards (like praise or progress tracking), and choices to motivate students.
5. Language and Symbol System
Explanation: This system handles our ability to process, interpret, and respond to language, which is a core part of learning for many subjects.
Related Brain Areas: Broca’s area (speech production) and Wernicke’s area (language comprehension).
Classroom Tip: Use clear language, provide visual aids, and encourage discussion to strengthen language comprehension.
6. Sensory Processing Systems
Explanation: These systems take information from our senses (sight, sound, touch, etc.) and help the brain interpret it. Multisensory learning improves understanding and retention.
Related Brain Areas: Occipital lobe (vision), temporal lobe (hearing), and sensory cortex (touch).
Classroom Tip: Incorporate activities that involve visual aids, hands-on experiments, or music to activate multiple senses.
7. Executive Function System
Explanation: This system is essential for planning, problem-solving, controlling impulses, and making decisions—important for higher-level thinking.
Related Brain Areas: Prefrontal cortex.
Classroom Tip: Teach skills like goal-setting, organizing tasks, and self-monitoring to strengthen executive function.
8. Social Learning System
Explanation: Humans are wired to learn from others by observing, collaborating, and mimicking. Social interactions help build deeper understanding.
Related Brain Areas: Mirror neurons (help us “mirror” others’ actions) and the prefrontal cortex.
Classroom Tip: Use group projects, peer teaching, and discussions to encourage cooperative learning.
The Wild & Crazy Brain
The brain starts out life with about 80% of its cells being neurons. That percentage decreases until our mid 20’s when it stabilizes at about 7%. In one apocalyptic night between the ages 8-10 the brain prunes out over 30% of its neurons. The total number of cells in the brain remains roughly constant at about 1 trillion. By our late 20’s we are left with less than 90 billion neurons.
This emerging model of how the brain learns confronts the anecdotal and urban myths associated with thinking, remembering and learning. The solution focuses on emerging research surrounding the interplay between neurons (7-8% of the brains cells), astrocytes (76% of the brain cells) and the activity of brainwaves. This model also integrates the role of the dendritic spines and their possible memristic qualities, and how these may answer many questions surrounding the nature of memory storage and retrieval that is carried out in tandem with structures in the brain known as the hippocampus, amygdala and the gyrus .
We need to re-look at what neuroscience tells us about brain functionality and how we can use this to a craft a set of teaching and learning capacities that focus on building appropriate knowledge bases, encouraging the development of conceptual frameworks of understanding. These can then be applied to creatively develop new ideas and concepts (innovation) and applications (ingenuity) of these in the form of new products, systems and environments.
TeachThought’s mission is to promote critical thinking and innovation education.
Self-Directed Learning is not a new concept, but it’s often misunderstood—especially in the context of K-12 classrooms.
In a prior reflection, Terry Heick explored the relationship between self-directed learning and the true purpose of education:
“The goal of the model isn’t content knowledge (though it should produce that), but rather something closer to wisdom—learning how to learn, understanding what’s worth understanding, and perhaps most importantly, analyzing the purpose of learning (e.g., personal and social change). It also encourages the students to examine the relationship between study and work—an authentic ‘need to know’ with important abstractions like citizenship and legacy.”
Self-directed learning is gaining traction as educators look to modernize instructional practices. As dissatisfaction with traditional schooling grows, and with the wealth of online resources available in the age of information, it’s a powerful framework to help learners thrive independently. This model, popularized by Gerald Grow, breaks the journey into four stages of self-directed learning—closely mirroring the gradual release of responsibility teachers already know well.
Stage 1: Dependent (Teacher as Authority and Coach)
At this stage, students rely almost entirely on teachers to introduce knowledge, provide structure, and guide their learning. They lack the confidence and skills to learn independently.
Teacher’s Role: Act as a coach and authority, offering clear instructions and immediate feedback to build foundational skills.
Practical Strategies:
Introduce students to new ideas via direct instruction, guided practice, and scaffolding.
Use adaptive platforms like Khan Academy for structured, skill-building exercises.
Create safe opportunities for students to take small risks without fear of failure.
Stage 2: Interested (Teacher as Motivator and Guide)
Students begin to demonstrate curiosity and start taking initiative but still rely on the teacher for structure and encouragement.
Teacher’s Role: Motivate and guide students, fostering engagement through connections to real-world experiences.
Practical Strategies:
Use real-world, project-based learning to make content meaningful and inspire inquiry.
Gamify lessons with tools like Classcraft or Quizizz to sustain engagement.
Include lessons about goal-setting and self-management, helping students explore their own interests within structured parameters.
Stage 3: Involved (Teacher as Facilitator)
Here, students take an active role in their own learning. They can set goals, collaborate with peers, and manage tasks with minimal supervision.
Teacher’s Role: Facilitate by being a guide on the side, promoting student-led activities while offering support when needed.
Practical Strategies:
Encourage student-driven collaboration through group projects or seminar-style discussions. Use tools like Google Workspace to support teamwork.
Introduce inquiry-based learning, fostering critical thinking as students use research to ask and answer their own questions.
Provide students with choice menus or flexible frameworks for projects, giving them autonomy while maintaining boundaries.
Stage 4: Self-Directed (Teacher as Consultant and Delegator)
Students now take full responsibility for their learning, independently setting goals, tracking progress, and seeking resources. Teachers shift into a consulting role, offering feedback and support only as requested.
Teacher’s Role: Act as a consultant or delegator, stepping aside to let students take ownership.
Practical Strategies:
Assign passion projects or independent research tasks to encourage autonomy.
Use tools like Notion or reflective learning journals for tracking goals and progress.
Incorporate peer-network accountability, where students share goals and provide feedback to each other.
The Purpose of Self-Directed Learning
The ultimate aim of self-directed learning isn’t just mastering content but achieving something closer to wisdom—learning how to learn and understanding why learning matters. This model encourages students to explore the relationship between studying and real-world applications like work, citizenship, and personal growth.
With effective guidance through these four stages, self-directed learners uncover their need to know and build skills that transcend the classroom. It’s not just about knowledge—it’s about preparing students to adapt, grow, and innovate in a constantly changing world.
Additional Resources:
The Four Stages Of The Self-Directed Learning Model
Learner Teacher
Stage 1 Dependent Authority, Coach
Examples: Coaching with immediate feedback. Drill. Informational lecture. Overcoming deficiencies and resistance.
Stage 2: Interested Motivator, Guide
Examples: Inspiring lecture plus guided discussion. Goal-setting and learning strategies.
Stage 3: Involved Facilitator
Examples: Discussion faciliated by the teacher who participates as equal. Seminar. Group projects.
Stage 4: Self-Directed Consultant, Delegator
Examples: Internship, dissertation, individual work or self-directed study group.
Theories of Teaching and Learning: The Staged Self-Directed Learning Model, G.Grow. from Barbara Stokes; Four Stages Of A Self-Directed Learning Model
TeachThought’s mission is to promote critical thinking and innovation education.
What Is Cognitive Dissonance? A Definition For Teaching
Understanding Cognitive Dissonance: A Psychological Framework for Growth and Learning
Human beings strive for consistency between their thoughts, beliefs, and actions.
When an inconsistency arises—when beliefs and behaviors clash—it creates a sense of discomfort or tension known as cognitive dissonance.
This concept, first introduced by psychologist Leon Festinger in 1957, provides insight into how humans respond to conflict within themselves and how they work to resolve internal contradictions. Its implications stretch across fields like psychology, decision-making, behavior modification, and, crucially, education.
What Is Cognitive Dissonance?
Cognitive dissonance is the psychological discomfort that arises when an individual encounters a conflict between what they believe and how they behave, or between two competing beliefs. This mental tension arises because human beings are wired to seek alignment between their cognition (beliefs, attitudes, knowledge) and their behavior. When dissonance occurs, it acts as a motivator to address and resolve the inconsistency.
For example, a student who values academic achievement but fails to study for an upcoming test experiences dissonance. Their belief, “Studying is important for success,” conflicts with their behavior of procrastination. This tension prompts them to take action—either by changing their behavior (studying) or by rationalizing it (“This test isn’t that important”).
How Does Cognitive Dissonance Work?
Cognitive dissonance operates as a psychological self-regulation tool, pushing individuals to restore harmony between conflicting thoughts or behaviors. People typically respond to cognitive dissonance in one of three ways:
Changing Beliefs: Adjusting one’s view to make it compatible with their behavior. Example: Instead of believing that hard work leads to success, a student might conclude that external factors, like luck, matter more.
Changing Behaviors: Aligning one’s actions with pre-existing beliefs. Example: A student who procrastinates on studying decides to set aside time to prepare after acknowledging the importance of academic effort.
Rationalizing the Conflict: Adding new justifications to resolve the tension without changing beliefs or behaviors. Example: A teacher justifies cutting corners on lesson prep by telling themselves, “I’m more effective when I teach on the fly.”
The brain’s goal is to reduce the dissonance as efficiently as possible, and the method chosen often depends on which option is easiest or least threatening to one’s sense of identity.
Cognitive Dissonance in Education
In teaching and learning environments, cognitive dissonance often occurs when students or educators encounter new information or experiences that challenge their existing beliefs or practices. While this discomfort might feel unproductive at first, it is actually a powerful tool for growth.
Here are three key ways cognitive dissonance manifests in education:
1. Promoting Critical Thinking
Students who are confronted with new ideas or evidence that contradict their existing understanding often experience cognitive dissonance. For example, a middle school science student learning about climate change might struggle to reconcile their family’s routine use of disposable plastics with the new knowledge that plastic pollution harms ecosystems. This tension forces the student to either reject or integrate the new information, encouraging deeper inquiry into the topic.
Teachers can intentionally create these “productive discomfort” moments by presenting open-ended questions, challenging assumptions, or introducing dilemmas relevant to students’ lives. When students reflect on how their beliefs align—or don’t align—with the evidence, they engage in critical thinking and develop more complex, nuanced perspectives.
2. Encouraging Behavioral Change
Cognitive dissonance highlights the gap between beliefs and actions, motivating students to adapt their behavior to align with their values. For instance, high schoolers who feel passionate about environmental sustainability but regularly litter might change their habits after reading a persuasive essay on the consequences of pollution. Similarly, a student who believes in the importance of punctuality but repeatedly misses deadlines may begin using organization tools to avoid these inconsistencies.
Educators can leverage this phenomenon through interventions and goal setting. When students recognize how their current behavior undermines their goals, they are more likely to take actions to create harmony.
3. Improving Educator Practices
Cognitive dissonance isn’t limited to students; educators experience it as well. A teacher might believe in the value of differentiated instruction but feel overwhelmed by time constraints, reverting to a one-size-fits-all approach. This clash between belief and practice can prompt reflection, leading the teacher to seek small, manageable ways to incorporate differentiation into their routines.
Professional development often leverages cognitive dissonance by introducing strategies or evidence that push teachers to examine and question their current approaches. For example, learning about the positive impact of student-centered learning might motivate teachers to adjust their instructional practices.
Overcoming Cognitive Dissonance in the Classroom
While cognitive dissonance can be a powerful driver of change, it can also lead to resistance or defensiveness if left unmanaged. Here are some strategies educators can use to help students and colleagues productively navigate dissonance:
Normalize Discomfort: Reassure students and peers that it’s okay to feel uncomfortable when encountering new ideas. Frame cognitive dissonance as a natural, even healthy, part of learning and growth.
Foster Reflection: Encourage students to ask questions like, “Why do I feel conflicted?” or “How can I align my actions with my beliefs?” Journals, discussions, or self-assessments can create space for this reflection.
Support Change Gradually: Instead of expecting immediate transformation, provide opportunities for small, manageable steps toward resolving inconsistency.
Provide Evidence and Counterexamples: The more information students and colleagues have access to, the better equipped they are to evaluate their assumptions and act thoughtfully.
Conclusion
Cognitive dissonance is a psychological phenomenon that occurs when beliefs, values, or actions contradict one another, creating a sense of mental discomfort. While this tension can be unsettling, it is also a crucial driver of reflection, change, and critical thinking. For educators, understanding cognitive dissonance offers an opportunity to create a learning environment where students feel challenged but supported as they confront inconsistencies in their thoughts and behaviors.
By leveraging the power of cognitive dissonance, educators can deepen student learning, encourage growth, and foster intellectual curiosity, ensuring that both students and teachers continually strive for self-improvement in their pursuit of knowledge and understanding.
What Is Cognitive Dissonance? A Definition For Teaching
While the initial surge of enthusiasm for MOOCs in the early 2010s has tapered off, they remain a valuable and widely-used resource for lifelong learning, professional development, and academic enrichment.
Let’s take a look at how and why that’s true.
1. Continued Demand for Flexible Learning
MOOCs thrive because they offer flexibility—anyone can learn at their own pace, from anywhere in the world.
They suit working professionals, students, and individuals who want to learn new skills without committing to full-time or formal education.
Platforms like Coursera, edX, Udemy, and FutureLearn have seen steady or rising enrollments, driven by growing demand for short, focused, ‘microlearning’ experiences.
2. Popularity Among Professionals
Interest in MOOCs has shifted toward upskilling for careers. Many offer industry-recognized certifications such as Google’s Career Certificates (e.g., in Data Analytics or Project Management).
Enterprises increasingly use MOOCs for corporate training programs (e.g., Coursera for Business or edX for organizations).
MOOCs have become essential for reskilling in sectors experiencing rapid digitization and automation, like IT, healthcare, and education.
3. The Rise of ‘Microcredentials’ and Online Degrees
Many MOOC providers have introduced microcredentials, short certificate programs, and affordable online degrees in collaboration with top universities.
Example: EdX and Coursera now partner with universities to offer Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees through MOOCs, which makes higher education more accessible.
Growing popularity of certifications over traditional credentials, such as MBAs, reflects the credibility of MOOC-based qualifications.
4. Widespread Adoption in Education
MOOCs are now integrated into traditional classrooms as blended learning tools or supplementary resources for students.
For instance, college students often take MOOC courses to complement their formal studies or satisfy prerequisites.
Educators use MOOCs to upgrade their skills and improve digital pedagogy techniques.
5. Post-Pandemic Digital Learning Expansion
The COVID19 pandemic revitalized interest in MOOCs as millions transitioned to online education.
Even after the pandemic, online learning remains a preferred option for many, especially in developing regions where MOOCs provide access to quality education at low cost or for free.
Global enrollments spiked on platforms such as Coursera, Udemy, and Khan Academy in 2020–2021, and interest has remained strong in subsequent years.
Challenges and Disadvantages Of MOOCs
Despite remaining relevant, MOOCs have faced challenges:
1. Completion Rates: MOOC completion rates are often low, typically only 1015% finish the courses they enroll in.
2. Credibility Gap: Employers may still prioritize traditional degrees over MOOC certifications, though this is changing in some fields (e.g., data science, AI, coding).
3. Oversaturation: With too many courses available, learners often struggle to choose highquality or organized programs.
Current Trends: More Specialized MOOC Offerings
MOOCs today cater to niche audiences with focused content, including:
AI, Machine Learning, and Data Science (e.g., Andrew Ng’s ‘Machine Learning’ on Coursera).
Business and Leadership (e.g., Harvard’s ‘Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies’ on edX).
Mental Health and Social Sciences (e.g., Yale’s ‘The Science of WellBeing’ or UC Berkeley’s ‘The Science of Happiness’).
Conclusion
MOOCs are no longer considered the ‘disruptive revolution for education’ that many envisioned in the 2010s. Instead, they’ve become a valuable complement to traditional education and a key player in lifelong learning and professional development. Their popularity endures because they adapt to changing needs, offering flexible, accessible, and affordable learning opportunities worldwide.
In today’s world, society has placed its highest value ever on upper education and its requirement in the work force.
Though some have criticized the real value of MOOCs, it is undeniable that these courses give students the capacity to learn at a level never before made available to them. It may not be perfect, nor at times pretty or easy, but it is a step forward towards the ultimate goal of providing a quality education to not only the lucky and privileged, but to all who seek to better themselves through learning.
MOOCs MoFor Teachers:
Learning to Teach Online – UNSW Sydney via Coursera Focuses on effective online teaching strategies for educators.
Search by ‘Free’ Filters: MOOC platforms often have filters for free content.
Check Open Educational Sites: Platforms like Khan Academy, OpenLearn, and Saylor Academy host completely free courses.
Auditing Options: Many platforms allow you to audit premium courses without purchasing certificates.
Note
Most MOOCs can be audited for free, offering access to materials like videos and readings.
Certificates, advanced features, or degrees usually require payment.
Platforms like Khan Academy, Saylor Academy, and occasionally Alison provide entirely free courses. For this list, you can enjoy many for free, but paid options unlock additional features or credentials.
TeachThought’s mission is to promote critical thinking and innovation education.
A critical thinking strategy is simply a ‘way’ to encourage or facilitate the cognitive act of thinking critically.
Critical thinking is the ongoing application of unbiased, accurate, and ‘good-faith’ analysis, interpretation, contextualizing, and synthesizing multiple data sources and cognitive perspectives in pursuit of understanding.
What are the 7 critical thinking strategies? Someone emailed me recently asking that question and I immediately wondered how many more than seven there were. 27? 77?
Infinity?
This is a post that’s going to have to be updated over time because do define, clarify, offer tips for and examples of each would be a short book.
But I did create a graphic and list many dozen to start with below (60 for now). I’ve also started adding some thinking for each but, as I mentioned, this will take time because it’s such an ambitious list (kind of like the Types of Questions post I did recently.) So, on with the list.
1. Analyze
One of the more basic critical thinking strategies is ‘analysis’: Identify the parts and see the relationships between those parts and how they contribute to the whole.
2. Interpret
Explain the significance or meaning of a ‘thing’ in a specific content or to a specific audience. Similar to ‘translate’ but (generally) with more cognitive demand.
3. Infer
Draw a reasonable conclusion based on the best available data. This critical thinking strategy is useful almost anywhere–from reading to playing a game to solving a problem in the real-world.
In fact, many of these strategies are built-in to the taxonomy.
5. Separate cause and effect
And concept map it–and maybe even consider prior causes to the most immediate causes and predict future possible effects. For example, if you’re considering an effect (e.g., pollution), you might see one cause being a new industrial factory built near a river or runoff. But you might also consider what enabled or ’caused’ that factory to be built–a zoning change or tax break given by the local government, for example.
6. Prioritize
Prioritizing is an executive neurological function that demands knowledge to then apply critical thinking to or on.
7. Deconstruct
And narrate or annotate the deconstruction. Deconstruct a skyscraper or a cultural movement or school or app. This is somewhere between analysis and reverse engineering.
8. Reverse Engineer
9. Write
Writing (well) is one of the most cognitively demanding things students commonly do. It’s also a wonderful strategy to promote critical thinking–a kind of vehicle to help it develop. Certainly one can write without thinking critically or think critically without writing but when they work together–in the form of a thinking journal, for example–the effects can be compelling.
10. Reflect
Observe and reflect is a basic pattern for thought itself. The nature of the reflection, of course, determines if it’s actually a strategy for critical thinking but it’s certainly a worthy addition to this list.
11. Separate the subjective from the objective
And fact from opinion.
12. Be vigilant in distinguishing beliefs and facts or truths
To be able to think critically requires
Dewey described critical thinking as ‘reflective thinking’ (see #10)–the “active, persistent and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds that support it, and the further conclusions to which it tends.” (Dewey 1910: 6; 1933: 9) It’s clear that to be able to consistently do this requires one to separate beliefs (which are personal and fluid) and knowledge (which is more universal and less fluid–though the depth and nature of knowledge and understanding can change over time).
13. Link and Connect
This is somewhere between analysis and concept mapping, but seeing the relationship between things–ideas, trends, opportunities, problems–is not only useful as a strategy but is how the brain learns: by making connections.
14. Use formal and/or informal inquiry
15. Use the 5 Ws
A flexible strategy for inquiry and thought, the 5 Ws provides a kind of starting point for ongoing thought: who, what, where, why, and when.
16. Use spiral thinking
17. Concept map
18. Illustrate what’s known, currently unknown, and unknowable
This is part analysis, part epistemology.
19. Use Bloom’s Taxonomy
20. Apply informed skepticism
21. Use question and statement stems
22. Explore the history of an idea, stance, social norm, etc.
Especially change over time.
23. Debate
24. Analyze from multiple perspectives
25. Transfer
26. Patience
27. Adopt the right mindset
28. Humility
29. Judge
30. Study relationships
Between beliefs, observations, and facts, for example.
31. See ‘truth’ in degrees/non-binary
32. Improve something
33. Curiosity
Similar to inquiry but more a cause of inquiry than a strategy itself.
34. Creativity
35. Explore the nature of thinking and belief
This sets the stage for long-term critical thinking.
36. Separate people from their ideas
This isn’t necessarily a pure critical thinking strategy but it can reduce bias and encourage rationality and objective analysis.
37. Making some abstract concrete or something concrete abstract
38. Challenge something
39. Predict and defend
40. Form a question, then improve that question before gathering information
41. Revise a question after information/observation
42. Critique something
43. Observe something
While not actually ‘critical thinking,’ critical thinking rarely happens without it. It’s one (of many) fuels for ‘higher-order’ thinking.
44. Revise something
45. Transfer a lesson or philosophical stance from one situation to another
A lesson from nature to the design of a tool or solution to a problem.
46. Compare and contrast two or more things
47. Test the validity of a model
Or even create a basic mathematical model for predicting something–stocks, real-world probabilities, etc.
48. Create an analogy
This helps emphasize relationships, rules, and effects.
49. Adapt something for something new
A new function or audience or application, for example.
50. Identify underlying assumptions
51. Analyze the role of social norms on ‘truth’
Or even the nature of ‘truth’ itself.
52. Narrate a sequence
53. Identify first truths or principles
A first principle is a proposition that can’t be deduced from another proposition (or assumption) and thus can be thought of as ‘first’ or most fundamental.
54. Keep a thinking journal
55. Identify and explain a pattern
56. Study the relationship between text and subtext
Or explicit and implicit ideas.
57. Elegantly emphasize the nuance of something
58. Identify cognitive biases and blind spots
59. Use model-based learning
I’ll provide a model for this soon but I’ve been using it with students for years.
60. Take and defend a position
Similar to debate but it can be one-sided, in writing, on a podcast, or even concept-mapped. It’s a simple strategy: specify a ‘stance’ and defend it with the best possible data and unbiased thinking
