WAYS TO IMPROVE STUDENTS' THINKING
© William Peirce 2004
1. Improve students' metacognitive abilities
- Model thinking processes
- Ask students to unpack their thinking
- Ask for monitoring and reflection by informal writing
2. Use effective questioning strategies
- Ask for clarification, evidence, reasoning--not just recall, not
just
the one correct answer
- Ask questions with more than one correct answer
- Ask questions requiring several kinds of thinking
3. Have students use oral and written language often
and
informally
- Have students write answers to questions, before speaking up in
class
- Use small-group tasks
- Teach students reading and note-taking strategies
- Use personal response and academic journals
4. Design tasks that require thinking about content
as
a primary goal
- Use active-learning strategies that require students to process
information, not just recall it
- Sequence the tasks developmentally
5. Teach explicitly how to do the thinking needed
for the tasks
- Practice is not enough
- Model the cognitive processes required
- Give feedback to students as they apply the steps in the needed
cognitive processes
6. Create a classroom atmosphere that promotes
risk-taking
and speculative thinking
- Arrange physical space to promote student-student interaction
- Avoid competition
- Foster interaction among students
Back to PGCC annotated list of documents
Back to MCCCTR Homepage