Infusing Critical and Creative Thinking Into Content Instruction

Download or read book Infusing Critical and Creative Thinking Into Content Instruction written by Robert J. Swartz and published by Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc Incorporated. This book was released on 1994 with total page 541 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the concept of combining effective classroom techniques for teaching students to become good thinkers with effective strategies to engage students in thoughtful learning of the regular elementary school curriculum. The technique of lesson design and instruction that results is called "infusing critical and creative thinking into content instruction." Part one, which explains the lesson plans concept and designing infusion lessons, also provides reproducible lesson plan forms. Part two addresses engaging in complex thinking tasks and provides sample lessons and reproducible materials in the areas of decision making and problem solving. Part three focuses on understanding, retention, and clarifying ideas. This section provides sample lessons and reproducible materials on comparing and contrasting, classification, determining parts and whole relationships, sequencing, finding reasons and conclusions, and uncovering assumptions. Part four addresses creative thinking and provides sample lessons and reproducible materials on generating possibilities and creating metaphors. Part five focuses on critical thinking and provides sample lessons and reproducible materials on determining the reliability of sources, causal explanations, prediction, generalization, reasoning by analogy, and conditional reasoning. Part six addresses designing and teaching infusion lessons, focusing on instructional methods, the role of metacognition, and selecting contexts for inclusion lessons. (SD)