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Welcome to:Asking Critical Thinking Questions in the Kindergarten Classroom

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Marwa Al SamsamOxford University PressEducational Consultant

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Asking Critical Thinking Questions in the Kindergarten Classroom

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1- Critical Thinking skills are learned and can be improved.

2- Classroom resources are essential in developing thinking skills.

3- Raising students’ awareness of their thinking helps them become better learners.

4- The six thinking hats activity in the classroom.

Session Objectives:

Dollar BillDiceTricycleFour Leaf CloverHandSix-PackSeven-UpOctopus

Cat LivesBowling PinsFootball TeamDozen EggsUnlucky FridayValentine’s DayQuarter Hour

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Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully

conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating

information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience,

reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action. In its

exemplary form, it is based on universal intellectual values that transcend

subject matter divisions: clarity, accuracy, precision, consistency, relevance,

sound evidence, good reasons, depth, breadth, and fairness.

National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking Instruction

Harold Brown

The feature of cognitive agents that they exhibit when they adopt beliefs on the basis of appropriate reasons ... Following rules is not always required [for reasoned thinking],since one task of rational assessment is to determine which rules should be followed in a particular situation ... Mindlessly applying rules just because they are logically correct is foolish.

which box might contain the bow?

Which is the smallest box that the bow could fit in?”

Which is the smallest box that the bow could fit in—assuming that we didn’t scrunch up the bow?”

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Helping Young Children Think Critically

American Federation of Teachers.

The processes of thinking are intertwined with the content of thought (that is, domain knowledge).Thus, if you remind a student to ‘look at an issue from multiple perspectives’ often enough, he will learn that he ought to do so, but if he doesn’t know much about an issue, he can’t  think about it from multiple perspectives. You can teach students maxims about how they ought to think ,but without background knowledge and practice, they probably will not be able to implement the advice they memorize. (Willingham, 2007)

Bring Thinking to Visual Level

repetition

discussion

variety of activities

dialogue

Soak it in

Critically By Having Them Put on their Thinking Hats

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Show and Tell

• The animals – Read with Me pages:

Fifi is a young sensible fox. She is kind, thoughtful and

intelligent. Good at problem solving.

Benny is big and lovable, but also a little clumsy and

accident prone.

Prickly is a cute little hedgehog. She is a bit shy and often

needs help from the others.

Lets Think Hats

Raising Young Children’ s Awareness about Their Own Thinking

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marwa.alsamsam@oup.com

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Thank you