刊物属性
  • 刊物名称:校园英语
  • 国内刊号:CN 13-1298/G4
  • 国际刊号:ISSN 1009-6426
  • 邮发代号: 18-116
  • 数据库收录:中国知网
  • 投稿邮箱:
      bianji@xiaoyuanyingyu.com
  • 作者:校园英语杂志社 字数:2731 点击:

      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.