This column will change your life: design thinking If you're a graphic designer, you'll already know that "kerning" refers to making tiny adjustments to the spaces between letters. If you're not, there's a strong possibility you won't care. But either way I suspect you'll see why I was sceptical about a new book entitled Life Kerning: Creative Ways To Fine Tune Your Perspective On Career & Life, which treats kerning as a metaphor for living. No offence to the designers I've known, but they tend to be neat-freaks with an obsessive attention to detail (and stylish spectacles). These are excellent attributes for the job, but are they really a recipe for happiness? So I was pleasantly surprised to find that the book, by the Chicagoan designer Justin Ahrens, is a solid collection of antiperfectionistic advice – a font of wisdom, even. The notion that designers might have much to teach the rest of us has swept the business world. There's legitimate eyeball rolling to be done here.
Universal Intellectual Standards by Linda Elder and Richard Paul Universal intellectual standards are standards which must be applied to thinking whenever one is interested in checking the quality of reasoning about a problem, issue, or situation. To think critically entails having command of these standards. To help students learn them, teachers should pose questions which probe student thinking; questions which hold students accountable for their thinking; questions which, through consistent use by the teacher in the classroom, become internalized by students as questions they need to ask themselves. The ultimate goal, then, is for these questions to become infused in the thinking of students, forming part of their inner voice, which then guides them to better and better reasoning. CLARITY: Could you elaborate further on that point? PRECISION: Could you give more details? DEPTH: How does your answer address the complexities in the question? BREADTH: Do we need to consider another point of view?
Critical Thinking Guide Critical thinking is a skill, so develop the following habits to help develop your critical thinking skills: Check the requirements of your courses What are the lecturers' expectations of their students? Read strategically Look at the title, abstract, summary, introduction, and conclusion of your readings to decide whether you need to read all of the text, only some of it, or whether you can skip it altogether. Make notes as you read Make notes as you read, using your own words. Work with classmates to discuss ideas You should always write your own assignments, but you can improve your understanding by discussing ideas and information with your peers and your tutors. Write regularly about your own ideas Write regularly about your own ideas, thoughts and feelings on a topic. Find your voice Express your ideas and do not be afraid to take risks.
Developing Students' Critical Thinking Skills Through Whole-Class Dialogue ReadWriteThink couldn't publish all of this great content without literacy experts to write and review for us. If you've got lessons plans, videos, activities, or other ideas you'd like to contribute, we'd love to hear from you. More Find the latest in professional publications, learn new techniques and strategies, and find out how you can connect with other literacy professionals. More Teacher Resources by Grade Your students can save their work with Student Interactives. More Home › Classroom Resources › Lesson Plans Lesson Plan Overview From Theory to Practice Students take positions all the time. back to top
Innovation Methods Based On Bad Neuroscience Designing Experiments Using the Scientific Method - dummies How do the scientists know what they know? When it comes to gathering information, scientists usually rely on the scientific method. The scientific method is a plan that is followed in performing a scientific experiment and writing up the results. As you’re about to see, the format of the scientific method is very logical. Hypothetically speaking When preparing to do research, a scientist must form a hypothesis, which is an educated guess about a particular problem or idea, and then work to support it and prove that it is correct, or refute it and prove that it is wrong. Whether the scientist is right or wrong is not as important as whether he or she sets up an experiment that can be repeated by other scientists, who expect to reach the same conclusion. The value of variables “Why is it useless,” you ask? Experiments must contain the following steps to be considered “good science.” 1. The data should be presented visually, if possible, such as through a graph or table. 2. 3. 4.
Critical Thinking Model 1 To Analyze Thinking We Must Identify and Question its Elemental Structures Standard: Clarityunderstandable, the meaning can be grasped Could you elaborate further? Could you give me an example? Could you illustrate what you mean? Standard: Accuracyfree from errors or distortions, true How could we check on that? Standard: Precisionexact to the necessary level of detail Could you be more specific? Standard: Relevancerelating to the matter at hand How does that relate to the problem? Standard: Depthcontaining complexities and multiple interrelationships What factors make this a difficult problem? Standard: Breadthencompassing multiple viewpoints Do we need to look at this from another perspective? Standard: Logicthe parts make sense together, no contradictions Does all this make sense together? Standard: Significancefocusing on the important, not trivial Is this the most important problem to consider? Standard: FairnessJustifiable, not self-serving or one-sided Think About... State the Question
Critical thinking web Critical thinking is a meta-thinking skill. It requires thinking about thinking. We have to reflect on the good principles of reasoning and make a conscious effort to internalize them and apply them in daily life. This is notoriously hard to do and often requires a long period of training. § C04.1 Theory If we want to think correctly, we need to follow the correct rules of reasoning. Also, it would be useful to know something about what not to do if we want to reason correctly. § C04.2 Practice However, merely knowing the principles that distinguish good and bad reasoning is not enough. Similarly, to be good at critical thinking skills it is necessary to internalize the theoretical principles so that we can actually apply them in daily life. § C04.3 Attitudes Good critical thinking skills require not just knowledge and practice. To improve one's thinking one must recognize that the importance of reflecting on the reasons for belief and action.
Divergent thinking Divergent thinking is a thought process or method used to generate creative ideas by exploring many possible solutions. It is often used in conjunction with its cognitive opposite, convergent thinking, which follows a particular set of logical steps to arrive at one solution, which in some cases is a ‘correct’ solution. By contrast, divergent thinking typically occurs in a spontaneous, free-flowing manner, such that many ideas are generated in an emergent cognitive fashion. Many possible solutions are explored in a short amount of time, and unexpected connections are drawn. After the process of divergent thinking has been completed, ideas and information are organized and structured using convergent thinking. Traits associated with divergent thinking[edit] Psychologists have found that a high IQ (like Albert Einstein) alone does not guarantee creativity. Promoting divergent thinking[edit] Playfulness and divergent thinking[edit] Effects of sleep deprivation on divergent thinking[edit] 1.
Exploring Potential and Kinetic Energy - WeAreTeachers During a physics unit, have students explore potential and kinetic energy with these five fun experiments that encourage problem solving and play. Balancing Lever Construct a lever that can be used as a balancing scale or a catapult! Materials: 4 plastic cups Ruler Straw Sturdy stick (could use a chopstick) Tape Instructions: 1. Insert stick inside of straw. 2. This experiment was inspired by Jameson’s Lab. Ramps, Angles and Measuring Integrate math and science by constructing ramps. Kids investigate how different angles can affect the speed and distance of a ball. Before you test out your ramps, have kids make a prediction. Have kids measure the distance produced by each ramp (standard or nonstandard, depending on age group). Let’s Swing Explore forces and motion by creating a simple machine to demonstrate energy transfer. Energy Transfer To help kids understand energy transfer, conduct this simple experiment that demonstrates potential energy (stored) and kinetic energy (moving). 1.
Teaching Information Literacy Now Last week, a new study from Stanford University revealed that many students are inept at discerning fact from opinion when reading articles online. The report, combined with the spike in fake and misleading news during the 2016 election, has school librarians, including me, rethinking how we teach evaluation of online sources to our students. How can we educate our students to evaluate the information they find online when so many adults are sharing inaccurate articles on social media? While social media isn’t the only reason for the surge in fake news over the last 10 years, it’s certainly making it harder for information consumers of every age to sort through fact and fiction. Until now, I have taught web evaluation the same way every year: I start by introducing students to the CARS method of web evaluation (similar to the CRAAP test), using tools to evaluate credibility, accuracy, reasonableness, and factual support. Rethinking how we teach evaluation Read laterally. Switch it up.
Critical Thinking: How to Grow Your Child's Mind What kind of thinker is your child? Does he believe everything on TV? Does she always figure out how to get what she wants? Does he ask questions? Whether your child is just starting summer vacation or in the midst of the school year, parents can help keep minds active in fun ways. The nonprofit Foundation for Critical Thinking cultivates core intellectual virtues that lead to fair-minded thinking. Naïve Nancy doesn’t believe she needs to think because her parents do it for her! What is Critical Thinking? What is critical thinking? To be good at thinking, children must believe that thinking is fun and want to be good at it. You can talk about these ways of thinking with your children by watching this video together. 5 Ways to Help Kids Think Critically The Foundation for Critical Thinking developed a short series of five “Intellectual Standards,” ways of helping elementary-aged children learn to think better. Photo Credit: JoeBenjamin
Nabokov on Inspiration and the Six Short Stories Everyone Should Read by Maria Popova “A prefatory glow, not unlike some benign variety of the aura before an epileptic attack, is something the artist learns to perceive very early in life.” “Show up, show up, show up,” Isabel Allende advised, “and after a while the muse shows up, too.” That’s precisely what Vladimir Nabokov addresses in an essay titled “Inspiration,” a fine addition to famous writers’ collected wisdom on writing, originally published in the Saturday Review on November 20, 1972, and found in Strong Opinions (public library) — the same fantastic volume that gave us the author’s rare BBC interview on literature and life. He begins with several dictionary definitions of the elusive grab-bag term: Writing three decades after Rosamund Harding’s Anatomy of Inspiration and just eight years after Arthur Koetler’s cult-classic The Creative Act, Nabokov addresses the dismissive attitude many “serious” writers take toward the notion of inspiration — an attitude that E. Thanks, Natascha Donating = Loving