bianji@xiaoyuanyingyu.com
Introduction
The basic aim of social studies is to help students make informed decisions when they face public and political issues. And how well the critical thinking skills one person acquires results in his effective participation in his future public life. Therefore, it is generally agreed that it is necessary to develop students’ critical thinking skills.
5-Step Model for Teaching Critical Thinking
Step 1 Setting Learning Goals
Setting learning goals is an effective way to make the students to do what is allowed when they are in the class. And in order to realize critical thinking, the learning goals should be in accordance with the higher levels of Bloom’s taxonomy, which consists of five levels of knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation from the bottom to the top. In the knowledge level,, the students are expected to answer the simple questions like what, who and acquire the ability to describe, state and list what they have learned. Moving to the comprehension level, the students are expected to summarize, explain, paraphrase, compare and contrast what they have learned in the class. And in the application level, the students are expected to apply, construct, solve, discover and show what they have learned. Additionally, the students are expected to examine, classify, categorize, differentiate and analyze in the analysis level. While in the synthesis level, the students are expected to combine, construct, create, role-play and suppose. And in the highest evaluation level, the students are expected to assess, criticize, recommend, predict and evaluate. Therefore, scientific learning goals would encourage the desired behavior and realize the expected behavioral response. Thus it is important to set learning goals according to Bloom’s taxonomy to accelerate the students’ movement toward the critical thinking.
Step 2 Teach through Questioning
Questioning stands as a crucial part of teaching process. It makes it possible for the teachers to get a fully comprehensive of how well their students have learned. And it serves as the basis for further extension of students’ ideas and understandings. In addition, questions are vital tools to establish interaction between teachers and students and they are a way to challenge the students of defend their positions to realize critical thinking. When teachers prepare their classes, they should consider the purpose of each question and try to select an appropriate level and the kind of questions to accomplish the purpose.
相关推荐
[校园英语杂志社] Comparative Analysis ofIntegrated Mode of English Teaching
[校园英语杂志社] Suggestions for Integrated Mode of English Teaching
[校园英语杂志社] Analysis on the Translation of Accounting English from Skopo
[校园英语杂志社] An Analysis of the Moth as a Metaphor in“The Death of the M
[校园英语杂志社] Grammatical Devices of Cohesion Analysis in Texts of High S
[校园英语杂志社] On the Integrated Mode of English Teaching in Higher Vocatio
[校园英语杂志社] Analysis of the Theory of Second Language Learning
[校园英语杂志社] based Language Teaching and Further Pedag
[校园英语杂志社] A Comment on English teaching in China
[校园英语杂志社] A Brief Analysis of “Rooms” in The Story of an Hour
[校园英语杂志社] The strategies of optimizing grade teaching in the construct
[校园英语杂志社] Applying differentiated instruction in the teaching of Colle
[校园英语杂志社] The Application of Hatim and Mason’s Model of Context Analys
[校园英语杂志社] An Analysis of the Cultural Connotation within Guiqiong Nome
[校园英语杂志社] An Analysis of Definitions and Views of Language