Hi Terizian,
These are great questions to ask students to make them utilize their critical thinking skills. As I read the questions, I began to think critically as well. Excellent exercise to promote critical thinking.
Patricia Scales
Hi LE,
Students really learn what it is like in the work place whenever they learn through the use of simulations. Simulations make learning more real to students, and they get a better understanding as to how it is in the real world.
Patricia Scales
Hi Rosana,
Love it! I absolutely love how you make learning real with your students by using scenario-based learning and role playing. Students thoroughly enjoy when a class is made highly interactive.
Patricia Scales
I have a project that the students pick an item and give a presentation to the class.The guidelines are to present this item as if we were all investors looking for an investment.
In my course we are using a Simulation. The results of the simulation require the students to evaluate the performance of a company and to determine if the company is meeting its goals. Additionally, they will also perform Analytic work by finding solutions to correct performance problems as they occur.
I start my students off with a scenerio based on information we discussed the previous day. They then have to do some role playing to get to the answers.
School systems in the United States usually teach critical thinking from elementary school up through college level courses. Teachers encourage students to learn critical thinking through writing assignments and problem solving.
For example, younger students i might be aske how their lives would be different if they were born in another country or in a different time period. Since i am form a different country, i ry always to compare united states to different countries to open discussion with the student espically first time.
Older students i might be aske how history would have been different if Hitler never came into power and start dicussion about their different experience in life and how help in our subject.
this help in two ways:
first: i know the student better
secomd: make them think about the subject and how they will use it in real life
Hi Joseph,
Some of our students are quick thinkers and can really think out of the box. We do have some students that we have to help them think and give them various scenarios to help with the thinking.
Patricia Scales
Attempting to inspire students to be able to think on the fly and out of the box is critical for me. Being able to focus under pressure also a great asset.
I agree that it is best for students to be actively involved. They should be put into situations where they have to assess a question or situation, come up with solutions for problems and then evaluate the results to determine if their solution was effective. Then make adjustments to increase the effectiveness.
Hi Marc,
Love it, when learning is made real. Students can actually understand how this lesson can be extremely beneficial on the job.
Patricia Scales
Currently, I am teaching a restaurant operations course and the students operate the restaurant. Almost every activity requires critical thinking, from the host determining where in the dining room to seat the next party to the grill cook evaluating whether the burger is medium rare or not to the server assessing when the guest is ready to place their order. And some of the most common questions I ask during the recap of the day’s events are, “what can we improve for tomorrow…and…what would you have done differently and why?â€
Hi Diane,
Great question to have students give thought to what was done, the importance, the relevance, and the benefit.
Patricia Scales
I currently teach a programming course. During my "lectures" I review times to use certain types of constructs. I follow this up by providing an example scenario whereby the process is followed to solve the problem. A critical thinking component would be to follow this up with posing a question to the class about how effective the proposed solution was and what might be done to make it better.
Hi Sharon,
I have seen the same thing take place. Some students are easier to get blood from because they have bigger veins while others are extremely difficult to get blood from because of having smaller veins.
Patricia Scales
I often teach lab classes and students perform skills on each other. No one is the same so the procedure may be easier on one person and more difficult on someone else. They need to think outside the box sometimes to complete the task.
Hi Rachel,
I am sure you give these students various guidelines to make them think critically based on the article they have researched.
Patricia Scales
I think having students find journal articles online, and then have them cite the article would be a great way to teach my research class. This enables the students to find an article they're interested in finding, and then applying what they have learned to an actual research assignment. By having them work in groups, the students can use what they have retained together an apply it to successfully work on their project.
Hi Rebecca,
Case studies can get a great discussion going. Students learn a lot from case studies and have a lot of fun with them.
Patricia Scales
I like to give the students a case study and ask them to come to class prepared to discuss the case study. Most of the student prepare themselves and are ready to discuss the specific situation with their classmates.
