ISTE Standard #4: Developing Critical Thinking and Problem Solving Skills Through Technology

ISTE Standard #4 requires learners to use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources.

My question: What age-appropriate digital tools might help young learners cultivate critical thinking and problem solving skills in the classroom?

The Global Digital Citizen Foundation is a rich resource I dove into more deeply in my search to answer this week's question, and I found this article by the GDC Team extremely helpful: 

26 Critical Thinking Tools Aligned With Bloom’s Taxonomy (Links to an external site.)

The piece is organized according to which digital critical thinking tools help learners in different areas: remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating. 

My biggest takeaway from this week's research is actually more about my own understanding of what critical thinking is for a digital generation. The Global Digital Citizen Foundation helped me make important parallels between the learning I did as a child and the ways kids in 2016 still develop critical thinking and problem solving skills, but through the lens of a digital native. 

Digital natives, a term I understood and identified with instantly, but had not heard before, are members of the generation having grown up in this incredible technological boom. My family got AOL junk mail beginning in fourth grade, when I first logged onto the Beanie Baby website, clogging our family's phone line for hours as the photos of stuffed elephants loaded onto each page. I'm the same age as Mark Zuckerberg--I remember sitting in my college residence hall and submitting my request (invite only, back then!) to join this new online community for college students only: Facebook. It was a glorified phone book at the time, but the rest is history. My students, however, will never know a time when the phone book actually came to my doorstep, and most will have their own smartphones long before they can drive. They are true digital natives. 

So their learning will look a lot different.

Check out this massive list of digital and online actions that correspond to Bloom's Taxonomy. I had never thought of commenting on a blog post as a form of analyzing (critical thinking), but of course it is! Animating is creating, mind mapping is analyzing, and tweeting is understanding (not a statement I could call gospel truth, but it is possible.)

The truth is, and I'm a little embarrassed to admit it when I know the world wants and need digital education, but I'm starting to see much more value in educational technology now that I'm connecting these dots.

Bates's writing on the difference between technology and media also helped clarify some of these same questions for me. He says, "In judging the value of a technology, we need to look more closely at the ways in which it is being or could be used. In essence this means focusing more on media--which represents the more holistic use of technologies--than on individual tools or technologies themselves, while still recognising that technology is an important component of all media" (Bates, n.d.). Basically, a cool app means nothing on its own. Put it in the context of enriching educational media, and it could be magic.

I still don't believe the youngest students need more than a few minutes of screen time exposure every day--there's just too much literature (Reddy, 2015) warning us of the damage of such high doses--but I can now see all the ways my digital teaching strategies will expand their skills sets. It feels like a real breakthrough for me, and it feels good!

References

Bates, A.W. Understanding technology in education. In Teaching in a digital age (6). Retrieved from: https://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/chapter/8-8-understanding-the-foundations-of-educational-media/

Global Digital Citizen Team. (2016, January 11). 26 Critical thinking skills aligned with Bloom's Taxonomy. Retrieved from: https://globaldigitalcitizen.org/fostering-critical-thinking-skills-with-online-tools

Reddy, Sumathi. (2015, October 15). Pediatricians rethink screen time policy for children. Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from: http://www.wsj.com/articles/pediatricians-rethink-screen-time-policy-for-children-1444671636

How Can a Teacher Foster Self-Esteem?

Not too long ago my preschool-aged son made a comment about his required vegetable intake, and his comment included a word not allowed on network television. That word rhymes with "it." Of course, I was mortified. My husband was mortified. We would like to consider ourselves polite people who do not talk like sailors at the dinner table...or ever! But somewhere along the way, our kid heard that word and decided it would be a good time to use it. It was a low parenting moment, and frankly we were relieved that no one else heard it. (Now that I'm admitting it on the internet...hmmm.)

But the truth is, it was probably just a textbook example of social cognitive theory at work in the world. What you see (or hear, in his case) is what you learn. 

I appreciated Dr. Scheuermann's reminder of this principle in the context of literacy--showing kids how we re-read, stop to consider facts vs. opinions, and picking out main ideas in the text all jump starts a process they might not initiate naturally (Scheuermann, 2016). 

Modeling a positive environment is another essential component of a teacher's work, and the same social effect takes place when we show kids how to be kind at school. By observing uplifting, positive behaviors in the classroom, good self esteem takes deep roots. This means the spirit of the learning community must be one that is encouraging rather than shaming, forgiving rather than begrudging, hopeful rather than bleak, and restorative rather than destructive. 

Carl Rogers' research supports this idea: "For students identified as having learning difficulties, the teacher’s level of interpersonal facilitation was the single most important contributor to the amount of gain on all outcome measures" (Rogers, n.d.). Getting yelled at makes anyone feel crummy, whether you are a second grader struggling with fractions or a corporate lawyer on a conference call. If teachers can cultivate a sense of safety and personal care, then every student will be honored and feel safe enough to take the risks necessary to do the hard work of learning. It's not surprise a student who feels he belongs, no matter his learning needs, will be more successful.

It's not realistic for any teacher to have a perfect 10 on the communication scale every day, but by making the tone of one's teaching a main priority, kids will observe not just the academic skills they need to develop to be successful in school, but the social and emotional maturity they need to be healthy members of society. 

Rogers sums it up beautifully: "The research evidence clearly indicates that when students’ feelings are responded to, when they are regarded as worthwhile human beings capable of self-direction, and when their teacher relates to them in a person-to-person manner, good things happen" (Rogers, n.d.).  

References

Rogers, C. (No date). Teacher Effects Research on Student Self-Concept. Retrieved via R. Scheuermann's EDU 6526 Session 8: Albert Bandura and Social-Cognitive Learning. Retrieved from: https://bbweb03.spu.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-1129497-dt-content-rid-2467018_1/courses/EDU6526_27922_201562/SIS%20Session%208%20Reading%20%28Rogers%29.pdf

Scheuermann, R. (2016). Session 8: Albert Bandura and Social-Cognitive Learning. Retrieved from: https://bbweb03.spu.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-1129496-dt-content-rid-2467017_1/courses/EDU6526_27922_201562/SIS.%20Session%208%20Outline%20%28Social-Cognition%29.pdf

Welcoming Everyone: Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom

When I think about all the children who struggle to "perform" in American schools, all the times they feel confused or left behind at the end of a math lesson, or bored by a discussion of literature in high school English class, I realize how much they need to hear from people like Howard Gardner. 

Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences, which posits that all people have a wide variety of capacities, validates the learning styles and natural giftedness across a fascinating and varied spectrum. 

The intelligences below, which I have taken (and slightly paraphrased) from Dr. Richard Scheuerman's class outline, should be treated as equally valuable and without hierarchy:

1. Verbal-linguistic—the use of words orally and in writing; learners are most successful when they can speak, listen, read, or write 
2. Logical-mathematical—the basis of the hard sciences and all fields of mathematics; learners use numbers and reasoning in logical patterns and relationships 
3. Visual-Spatial—the use of pictures and images with a sensitivity to color, line, shape, and form and their interrelationships; learners are keenly perceptive of visual details and have a good sense of location and direction 
4. Bodily-kinesthetic—the expression of ideas and feelings through the use of one’s body with physical skills such as coordination, balance, and dexterity; learners are most successful by doing, moving, or acting things out
5. Musical—the use of musical form as a means of expression, perception, and transformation of thoughts; learners are sensitive to environmental and musical sounds
6. Interpersonal—perceiving and making distinctions in the words, intentions, motivations, and feelings of others; learners are successful with they work in groups, serve as mentors, learn best by interacting with others
7. Intrapersonal intelligence—the act of gaining access to one’s own feelings and emotions; learners are independent and self-directed and are often introverted
8. Naturalist—the accute awareness to the world of plants and animals, geography, and natural objects; learners dispaly a preference for outdoor settings and environmental appreciation

Although some Western teaching methods do not necessarily accommodate each intelligence in the classroom in obvious ways, it's important for educators to notice the unique learning styles and personalities of each student and consider them in the grand scheme. And like every other item on a teacher's to-do list, it's not an easy task. When it's time to teach the nitty gritty of comma rules, how in the world does a student whose primary intelligence is naturalist fit in? What about when talkative, extroverted students must work alone for a quiet hour of writer's workshop?

I think the key to helping all students thrive is to create interesting and engaging angles as much as possible, and then showing them that it's possible to be successful even when they aren't feeling an absolute learning groove, too. For example, if a teacher knows she has several naturalist-minded students, she can tailor her writing samples with stories of outdoor adventure while folding in the cold hard facts about commas and independent clauses (when they're connected with conjunctions, never forget your comma!). The truth is, students may not be thrilled about the comma lesson--and I'm sure there are tons of engaging and fun grammar lesson ideas to ease their pain--but at the end of the day, gently helping kids persevere through not-so-fun moments is a separate lesson they will use for the rest of their lives.

But there is good news: As teachers connect more and more with each other through online resources, more and more ideas spring up for how to creatively meet needs of all kinds of personalities. Pinterest is brimming with movement activities, poetry units inspiring social-emotional growth, and field trip guides for the great outdoors. Not every moment of the day will be a perfect match for every learner, but with all the incredible support available to modern teachers, it's certainly possible to students' eyes sparkle more often than not. 

References

Scheuerman, R. (2016). Session 7: Learner Centered Approaches. Retrieved from: https://bbweb03.spu.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-1129492-dt-content-rid-2467014_1/courses/EDU6526_27922_201562/SIS.%20Session%207%20Outline%20%28Learner-Centered.pdf

Promoting Citizenship in the Classroom

In Classroom Instruction That Works, the authors advocate for the use of nonlinguistic representations in teaching (Dean, 63-76). Many of these strategies could complement direct lessons on citizenship, and I can recall one exercise from high school, which I now know was a popular kinesthetic activity, that is still crystal clear for me.

Students began standing, lined up shoulder to shoulder. As our teacher asked us questions, we stepped forward if we agreed, and stayed in place if not. The questions centered on our experiences of discrimination, and soon it became obvious which of our classmates had endured more than their share of suffering. The lines shifted before our eyes. I don't remember all the questions asked of us, but I remember seeing the effect of racism in front of me, probably for the first time in my extremely sheltered life. 

The discussions that followed the exercise were challenging, mostly because in a majority white school in a wealthy Denver suburb, students of color were marginalized even by being asked to speak on behalf of their own races. I'm not sure what those students would say when reflecting on the same exercise--it might be a painful memory for some of them, but I do know that my awareness of my own privilege grew tremendously that day. I'm grateful my classmates were willing to teach me more about citizenship through their own honesty, their own hard stories.

As I enter the classroom in the coming years, I look forward to applying the idea that the purpose of education is to make people good (Scheuermann, 2016). I will wholly embrace the charge to make my students sensitive to one another's heartaches, eager to contribute to the good of society, and willing to sacrifice on behalf of someone in need. These values are in line with my personal faith, so even if it sounds like a Pollyanna dream to teach like this, I think they will remain my priority because they are so connected with who I want to be as a Christian. 

The so-called architecture of civil education inspires me as a collection of basic human rights, both as a teacher and as a mother, writer, and citizen of humanity. I was so inspired, I created a nonlinguistic representation! I'm looking forward to discovering all the ways I can teach my students just how essential these truths are.

References

Dean, C., et. al. (2012.) Classroom Instruction That Works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Scheuerman, R. (2016). Session 6 Transcript: Citizenship and Moral Education. Retrieved from: https://bbweb03.spu.edu/webapps/blackboard/execute/content/file?cmd=view&content_id=_1129490_1&course_id=_89800_1

Little Researchers: Addressing ISTE Standard #3 in a Young Elementary Classroom

ISTE Standard 3 addresses research and information fluency: Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information. 

My question: What tools are available to help young elementary students begin to understand the process of research?

Giving young primary students a foundation for research skills is no small task in the age of Google. Not only is there a wealth of information available, there is a wealth of bad information available, and sometimes it's much easier to find than quality, curated data. Then there are the challenges of keeping children safe online as they research, which is another moving target for parents and educators alike. 

In an article for Illinois State University's Research and eData Journal, Jennifer Sharkey discusses the challenges older students face when they have not been given a strong head start when it comes to research skills: "Student search strategies are key indicators of their information fluency abilities. Perpetual commentary on the tech-savviness of today’s students creates a misperception that they also possess high information fluency competencies to function in today’s information environment. Students’ dominant use of free search engines has led to information-seeking habits comprised of only using natural language search strings, selection of top hits, and lack of intentional critical analysis in the selection process" (Sharkey, 33).

In a word: yikes. Just because someone can successfully call up the latest Beyonce video does not mean he or she is prepared for high level academic research, or even quality information for a fourth grade science project. The task, then, is to teach the basics early. Lucky for new teachers like me, there are several strong resources available to help navigate the maze of online research, making it more and more possible to give them a solid foundation.

SweetSearch aims to do exactly that. Developed by researchers, librarians, and teachers, this student-friendly search engine filters results so only the most credible sources land in the results. 

I tested SweetSearch myself to gather more information about one animal fascinating to the young learners I know: howler monkeys. Below is a screenshot of some fascinating results, which included the National Zoo, National Geographic, Science Magazine, and PBS. By comparison, Google's first result was the national-treasure-not-recommended-for-student-consumption: Wikipedia. The results also included a variety of media that kids would find engaging, from videos to Buzzfeed-style (but academic quality) "fun fact" lists. 

I can picture leading a young primary class through a search like this together using the projector, asking students to lead the way as I helped them interpret just what all the lines of jibberish lead to (links are so very ugly). Knowing we were in the controlled domain of a quality search engine like SweetSearch would make it much safer to let the children lead the exploration, giving them hands on experience that helps them grasp what it means to inquire, discover, sort, evaluate, assess--all the things that mean research!

Next, Mary Beth Hertz's article on Edutopia offers other important strategies for answering the same umbrella question: What is research? Third grade is a perfect time to start exploring because of the strength of their reading skills combined with their natural developmental curiosity. The chart below, adaptable for grades 3-7, shows the process by which students can begin learning what we mean by research. This chart in and of itself seems to be a great visual for students trying to get a grasp on what this research thing is all about! In a classroom younger than third grade, the teacher might preselect three to five sources to help narrow things down a bit first, before asking students to dig through the information and synthesize their findings. (Thanks to fellow MAT candidate Marissa for this suggestion!)

 (Links to an external site.

Although teaching internet research skills may not be as beefy, as substantial, in the early primary years, it is possible to expose kids to resources that will whet their appetite for future learning. Planting seeds and scaffolding their learning will certainly lead to a generation that knows how to think more critically and pause before believing everything they read on the Internet.

References

Hertz, M. (2012). "Doing internet research at the classroom level." Edutopia. Retrieved from: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/elementary-research-mary-beth-hertz

O'Conor, L. & Sharkey, J. (2013). “Establishing twenty-first-century information fluency.” Reference & User Services Quarterly, 53 (1): 33–39.

If Knowledge Is Socially Constructed, How Does That Happen?

I strongly believe in the importance of play at school--especially for very young children, there is no better way to discover how to make friends, learn about injustice, cope with frustrations, and make connections from the classroom to everyday life. (But really, those same lessons apply to students nearing high school graduation too!) Constructivism in education espouses the importance of learning through experience, and play-based learning fits the definition perfectly. The theory says that knowledge doesn't take root simply by listening to the facts, it's a process built on collaboration, communication, and connections.

John Dewey advocates teaching students how to "float on their own" in order to keep learning from their experiences for the rest of their lives. It's a style of teaching that requires careful observation and finesse from teachers because it gives students a large amount of independence.

As Dewey says, "To prepare him [a student] for future life means to give him command of himself; it means to train him that he will have the full and ready use of all his capacities; that his eye and ear and hand may be able of grasping the conditions under which it has to work, and the executive forces be trained to act economically and efficiently" (Dewey, 1897). This independent learning, experiencing the world and the people in it, takes every scrap of information a child absorbs and connects it to deep, sustained knowledge for life.

Dewey's emphasis on the integration of home and school is fascinating as well, and in an age when teachers, especially public school teachers in the US, are painfully aware of difficult family situations at home, I am curious how implementing such a practice would work across the board. What if the values in the home do not complement the values taught in school? What if a child does not feel safe and secure in his or her home environment? And since there are so many ways to parent children, I suppose the best a teacher could do is provide a nurturing, respectful, loving school environment where a child knows he will always be welcome, always belong. It certainly couldn't hurt! 

References

Dewey, J. (1897). My Pedagogic Creed. The School Journal. Retrieved from: https://bbweb03.spu.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-1129485-dt-content-rid-2467010_1/courses/EDU6526_27922_201562/SIS%20Session%205%20Reading%20%28Dewey%29.pdf