Cultivating Thinking Skills

Back when I was a student, learning was mostly about knowing the right answers or being able to answer test questions correctly according to what had been taught in lectures or text books.  Frankly speaking, that's what made learning difficult, tiresome, and a bit purposeless (yeah, I still haven't figured out the point of me memorizing the names of inventors during the British industrial revolutions other than to ace the history quiz).

As a teacher, I wouldn't feel satisfied if my students only know a bunch of knowledge without being able to make use/apply them in real life. So, the learning indicators shall not be reduced to how much questions they can answer correctly, but it should be on how they use knowledge for higher purpose (understanding, applying, analyzing, creating, and evaluating).  I want them to develop their thinking skills more than just storing knowledge ( the lowest level of thinking according to Bloom's Taxonomy.)

So, this week I'm glad to show you the activities we had done in class that cultivate the class' thinking culture.  

These two (above and bellow) are our thinking display boards.  We can see the student's thinking process through them.

Group mind-mapping is an effective tool to practice their thinking skills as well as collaboration skills

evaluating pictures using "I see, I think, I wonder" also stimulates thinking

creating class questions, though it's challenging, it's a good way of tuning in to the topic of inquiries  

 Let me close this post with a piece of thought I came up with about this century's learning:
"Before, learning used to be about knowing the right answers. Now, it's more likely about breaking down answers by creating dozens of questions, and discovering range of new possibilities."