Using Technology
to Promote
Higher Order Thinking Skills
Karen Oliver Vernon
Gilbert Public Schools
Northern Arizona University
Hi. My name is Karen. I have a lot of technology in my classroom, but it is often merely a source to create presentations. I created this book to help both of us create a more technology rich environment that supports higher order thinking skills in the classroom.
Alex and Emma (bottom left of this screen) will appear on each page to help you think about the information on each page.
A recent Executive Summary from President Obama stated that appropriate technology use in education is a priority. There were two goals established. First, to raise the number of college graduates from 41% to 60% of our population by 2020. Second, to close the achievement gap causing all students to emerge from high school ready to enter either college or career.
In addition, the National Education Technology Plan (NETP, 2010) urged the following from the education sector:
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"Be clear about the outcomes we seek.
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Collaborate to redesign structures and processes for effectiveness, efficiency, and flexibility.
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Continually monitor and measure our performance.
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Hold ourselves accountable for progress and results every step of the way."
Full text at: http://www.ed.gov/technology/netp-2010/executive-summary
As educators, we have been handed a heavy responsibility when it comes to teaching children to become good critical thinkers. The fact that we are visiting the pages of this book together is evidence of our committment to students.
Let's start by examining what "critical thinking" means?
Almeida & Franco (2011) coined a definition that takes today's society into the equation:
"In a social era characterized by a large amount of information, easily accessable and with which people see themselves confronted by at every moment, it is crucial to know how to apprehend the information that is essential and submit it to an appropriate treatment, whether it is to accept it as reliable and worthy of being processed, or whether it is to classify it as fallacious and disposable. In this sense, and given the everlasting and swift social transformations, critical thinking stands out as a fundamental cognative resource. It might even constitute itself as the decisive element to successfully accomplish, succeed or be succesful when performing the multiplicity of tasks and situations we tackle on a daily basis" (p. 178).
Click on the following link if you wish to review the basics of critical thinking: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OLPL5p0fMg
"Specifically in the school context, critical thinking skills allow students to organize their learning, and also to supervise and evaluate their school tasks, which positively affects their academic performance"
"...critical thinking can be defined as a more complex and significantly demanding logic form of higher-order reasoning. In terms of its operationalization,critical thinking presumes a repertoire of faculties: articulation of ideas; meaning elicitation; consideration of divergent arguments and search of evidence to evaluate the legitimacy of one; formulation of hypothesis; justification of personal arguments and beliefs; decision making; problem solving; monitoring and evaluation of personal cognitions and actions."
(Almeida & Franco, 2011, pp. 178, 179)
At the beginning of this book, I suggested that I would like to use technology to enhance higher order thinking skills. How can we come to a place where technology helps our students think smarter?
Burns (2005) suggested that "students and teachers must become creators of information and ideas, not simply users of technology" (p. 51). She further suggested that we consider critical thinking first and technology as a tool to use after our goals are in place.
Virtual Classrooms? i Pads? Exel?
Latptops? Web 2.0 tools?
Here's a link that will help you get started:
Discovery Education - Web 2.0 Tools
References:
Brady, M. (2008). Cover the material-- Or teach students to think?. Educational Leadership, 65(5), 64.
Burns, M. (2005/2006). Tools for the mind. Educational Leadership, 63(4), 48-53.
Conn, D. R., & Rue, L. A. (2011). Checking the dipstick in the virtual classroom: Maintenance lessons for distance learning environments. Quarterly Review Of Distance Education, 12(4), 255-264.
Executive Summary | U.S. Department of Education. (n.d.). U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from http://www.ed.gov/technology/netp-2010/executive-summary
Facer, K., Furlong, J., Furlong, R., & Sutherland, R. (2001). Constructing the child computer user: From public policy to private practices. British Journal of Sociology of Education,22(1), 91-108.
Pongsuwan, S., Hoksuwan, S., In-udom, W., & Chalakbang, W. (2011). Development of an E-learning model based on the meaningful learning process through a constructivist theory. European Journal Of Social Science, 24(4), 625-633.
Rourke, A., & Coleman, K. (2010). A Learner support system: scaffolding to enhance digital learning. International Journal Of Technology, Knowledge & Society, 6(1), 55-70.