Discussion Board 8: Higher-Level Thinking In The Classroom

He states that there are five levels, starting with the most basic and finishing with the most intricate ways of learning and behaving. The levels are as follows: perceiving (level one), remembering (level two), creating (level three), organizing (level four), and thinking on a higher plane (level five). At the basic level, Levine states that the child must first be able to understand the relationships and the important characteristics of a spatial or sequential pattern. Once this is accomplished they can store this information for later use (remembering), which will help the child create output that is arranged spatially or sequentially (level three). Level four is where the child is expected to be good at “time management (sequential) and materials management (spatial)” (Levine, p.152). Finally the child is able to reason, solve problems, and form concepts using their spatial and sequential ordering systems.

After researching higher-order thinking the older boy I work for, O.R, approached me with two toy dinosaurs he had won at school during a contest. He asked me what type of dinosaurs they were and, unfortunately, I had no idea. I had just read about the teaching method called Higher-order thinking and decided to give it a try. Therefore, I admitted I did not know the answer, and instead, encouraged him to look up the information with me. He eagerly ran to the book shelf and selected a book on dinosaurs and brought it over to me. Then, together, who perused the book in an attempt to identify them. I asked him open ended questions such as, does the dinosaur look like this one?” “Why or why not?” We were eventually able to find the correct dinosaurs and then spend some time learning various facts about them. This method was more effective them me either saying, “I don’t know” or if I had known the answer, simply giving it to him. Not only did he learn about other dinosaurs while we examined the books, he also learned several facts about the particular ones we were looking at, in addition

Mr. Sargent uses terms such as “justify”, “solve”, “explain”, and “formulate” to help his students implicate their understanding in his lecture. In one case, he had a student explain the answer they got from a specific problem to make it clear that they know it. This also brings into account in contributing ones own understanding for other students is at the same level as everyone else. I feel this definitely presents higher level thinking in any grade level. He uses the term justify in a different approach when wanting his students to give a comment or opinion on how a problem. This in my opinion also represents an example of a higher-level thinking. There have been multiple times in which my mentor teacher has had students solve problems

Higher-level questioning require people to use more in-depth thinking. Their responses require intense thinking and reflection and are processed at a slower rate and may not require simple short answers. An example of higher-level questions asked are; (why do you think? and would this be true if? (Mastropieri et al., 2014).

My eighth grade classroom is set in a Jr-Sr. High school and is located in the Jr. High hallway, in the rear of the high school. I have thirty-two student desks situated in rows and two small tables at the front of my room used for paper pick up. My desk and computer are in the back corner of the room. The students all have their own Chromebooks and I have a desktop computer as well as a Samsung Tablet. Google Classroom is used daily as well as many other applications suited for 1:1 schools. I also have a projector hanging from the ceiling and two large white boards located on the front and side walls of my classroom. The class that I will be focusing on in this paper is made up of 26 students, 15 boys and 11 girls. One student with learning disabilities, another is an ELL student. This class meets for 55 minutes.

By participating in the RISE program, I will be able to further my critical thinking/reasoning skills, lab technique, as well as being able to fully understand the materials I have learned in class. Science is a life-long learning process and changes throughout time. Physicians have to be quick adapters to these changes and will need to stay up to date with the new research to provide the best healthcare. If I am able to gain experience within this program, I will have an opportunity that many are not able to receive and would advance me in my

By using the different DOK levels when questioning and making the students apply information to solve defined problems in a novel situation (level 3 and 4), students are required to justify and defend their reasoning, thus we, teachers, are promoting the critical thinking and rigor that occurs at DOK Higher Levels 3 and 4, which is our goal for preparing them for higher grades and ultimately for life. This artifact helped me understand the progression of cognitive skills, and the ways in which purposeful questioning clues the understanding, the development of creativity, and decision making in real world situations, as well as acquiring facility in developing higher order questioning techniques using Webb’s Depth of Knowledge. I also gained experience relating and integrating different subject matters with life experiences, as well as sequencing concepts to ensure coherence and required prior knowledge. I realized that teachers are to be, ever more, up-to-date with

After learning studying the technics from Unit 2 on improving critical thinking skills, I feel that I have devised a plan to help me through this process. The steps in the lesson that include using wasted time and asking specific questions, planning to handle one problem per day, and internalize intellectual standards and having clarity and understanding about devising a game plan has helped me put the changes into action. Keeping a journal and trying to practice intellectual strategies are all part of my plan to improve my thinking.

Thinking must be practiced in each content field at each educational level. For the teacher, this means hard work. To teach students to memorize facts and then assess them with multiple-choice tests is a much easier choice to make. In a course that emphasizes thinking,

Many studies prove that teaching creative thinking skills helps students gain better achievements. The result of research at Dong Hu Junior High School, for instance, presents that "The overall performance of the students was significantly better on both the academic and technical subjects compared to that in the traditional teaching" (Jeng, YC, Hsu, SL, Xie, J, Lin, R & Huang, CC 2010, P.37). In addition, applying the CASE (Cognitive Acceleration through Science Education) at King's College London, a program of teaching thinking skills, 19% of participating students achieve A-C grades in GCSE (the General Certificate of Secondary Education) science more than those using traditional methods ('Thinking skills' 2003). In English and Maths, the result amazingly varies from 15 to 16% of better achievement. Scientific guidance and lectures from facilitators will effectively motivate pupils’ process of brainstorming, mind-mapping ideas and organizing them in a logical structure, which significantly contributes to the success of their assignments. Moreover, this may even be applied much further into their life because of improving not only knowledge, but also thought processes. Furthermore, being familiar with wise thoughts, students will be confident in learning and considering things thoroughly before going to analysis and then evaluating their tasks or duties. As a result, creative thinking will really help to improve performance of people from

In my opinion, coming to the decision of whether or not to fast-track grade 12 courses was a relatively effortless decision. Based on my interpretation of the data, taking grade 12 Chemistry and Computer Science would be way more beneficial in the long run. I wouldn’t need to spread myself thin during grade 12, and I could give the grade 12 courses priority in grade 11. To me this all made perfect sense, however, I understand how someone else might come to the opposite conclusion. While I tended to pay attention towards the idea of having an easier grade 12 year, somebody else may not have been able to get over the thought of having absolutely no friends in their class. One also could have ignored the same things I focused

In order to thoroughly engage learners and their specific brain dominance it is important to discuss subject matter with a big picture approach and then to discuss the details. This will involve learning from the left side as the small details flow into a larger subject. The right side of the brain will also be engaged when learning a subject through visualization of the big picture. In today’s school systems subjects tend to be taught the same: different subtopics are broken up and taught at different times until all material is covered. The big picture of the new material is not usually united to the many small groups of details that create it. This makes learning much more challenging instead of a natural reaction that teachers should strive for.

Understanding cognition and how we learn is essential in the developmental stages of children. Not all students learn in the same way, understanding the cognitive process will assist in the development of the students. By modifying my approach when giving instructions I have noticed growth in current students that I am working with. Using concrete materials and giving the opportunity for students to be involved in hands-on activities on a daily basis, is essential in making new material meaningful to learners.. The knowledge gained from this topic has increased my understanding and is benefiting the children I am currently

When defining the term “critical thinking” it can seem overwhelming and daunting, especially for young learners. In laments terms, you are teaching your student how to think for him or herself when it comes to problem solving. Instead of giving the student the answer, you give them the tools to discover the answer him/herself. Critical thinking is an important component of any classroom. No matter the age group, these skills stay with a child for the rest of his or her life. As a teacher, it is important to understand what critical thinking pertains to and how to structure part of your lesson plan around developing critical thinking skills.

Mathematics goes far beyond school. That is why it is such an important part of the curriculum. Dr. Richard Restak said, “…intelligence is plastic and modifiable. All of our experiences result in the formation of neuronal circuits. The richer, more varied, and more challenging the experiences, the more elaborate the neuronal circuits.” Learning mathematics can help form those neuronal circuits, which is one of many reasons that mathematics is a vital part of school curriculum. Restak goes on to discuss how the neurons formed by these challenging experiences help students learn other and harder tasks and subjects.