EDUC 633- Webibliography Blog

Chapter 15 in Clark and Mayer Book

Critical thinking skills are skills that are desired in school and in the workplace. It is very difficult for people to be taught these skills, but research has been done to show that some of these skills can in fact be taught. Critical thinking also involves evaluation of products or ideas (Clark and Mayer, 2011). Chapter 15 in Clark and Mayer discusses the importance and possibilities on building these skills. Helping people build thinking skills enables them to adapt more easily to changing situations in the work place (Clark and Mayer, 2011).

There are three main types of thinking skills, which are creative, critical and metacognitive. A person who has good creative thinking skills is able to generate new ideas. A critical thinker is able to evaluate products and ideas effectively. Finally, a metacognitive thinker is good at planning, monitoring and is able to focus on the process behind the task (Clark and Mayer, 2011).

With the three types of thinking skills, here are some examples that Clark and Mayer (pg.342) listed:

Creative thinking can be designing an e-learning course, creating a marketing campaign, and drafting an architectural plan. Creative thinking requires a person to be creative and find new solutions to old problems. Critical thinking examples are evaluating validity of Internet resource and considering pros and cons of a new marketing campaign. Critical thinking involves the ability to conduct research and do statistical analysis. Metacognition examples are assessment of what you do and do not know, identifying skills you are not learning, and monitoring progress in a team setting. Metacognition improves the usefulness of our thinking skills and cognitive abilities.

Thinking skills can be taught. People can be taught to think critically.  Thinking skills can be trained to a certain extent. There are effective programs being used that help people develop better thinking skills. The first aspect of an effective program is that the program focuses on a few skills. The second part focuses on contextualizes the skills, and the third part incorporates social learning strategies. Also utilizing job specific training tasks in thinking workshops will help the learner to grasp the concept better (Clark and Mayer, 2011). During workshops the teacher needs to focus the learner’s attention to behaviors of expert models. The theory of the lesson should have the connection to real life skills, because this will make it more meaningful to the learner (Clark and Mayer, 2011). Lastly, the learner should always reflect upon what they learned and how it will be used in their job (Clark and Mayer, 2011). Reflection helps the learner process the information that has been given so the learner is able to develop their own ways of using the information. According to Clark and Mayer, in e-learning you have some unique opportunities to provide learners with feedback on their problem-solving processes and promote reflection on those processes.

Teachers should have good thinking skills because of the different situations they are presented with on a daily basis. There is not always a situation they can be prepared for because students are unpredictable, and teachers have to be able to think on their feet. There technology issues that arise and a lesson may not go as planned; therefore being able to be creative comes into play. When teachers are given training about how to use creativity in the classroom it helps the teacher and student be successful. Creative skills can be taught just like mathematic skills can be taught. Some people may be better than others, but ones that thought they did not have any creative skills may find out that they do.

Thinking skills are definitely a requirement for the ISD project. Working with a group that is long distance presents a lot of challenges. This is why each person in the group should try to do what they are best at. Taking the time to talk about each others strengths and weaknesses will help define the roles in the group. Time and technology are both a factor in this. That is why everyone should try to think creatively sometimes because new ideas are always welcome. Plus everyone brings new ideas to the table because of the different make up of the group.

After graduation I plan to keep teaching and pursue a technology teaching position. Therefore reading the ideas on how to introduce professional development ideas come in handy. I am usually asked to do some type of workshop at the beginning of the year, and I need to know how to effectively reach my audience.

Reference:

Clark, Ruth Colvin, Mayer, Richard E. (2011). E-Learning and the Science of Instruction.

            Third Edition. San Francisco. Pfeiffer Publishing.