critical thinking and problem solving: 21st century skills
DESCRIPTION
Learn how to implement critical thinking and problem solving in foreign language classrooms using 21st Century tools!TRANSCRIPT
21st Century Skills with 21st Century Tools:Critical Thinking & Problem Solving
Why is it essential in foreign language classrooms?
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What is critical thinking?Learning how to answer and ask questions of evaluation, analysis, and synthesis
Puts learners in the role of problem solvers
Students reflect on their own thinking processes
Expands the learning experience and makes language learning more meaningful
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Benefits of Second Language Learning on Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
More Creative
Better at solving complex problems
Have greater cognitive flexibility
Better at higher order thinking skills
Better at understanding how language works and can be manipulated
Students become:
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How to foster these skillsEncourage all students to think
Use a variety of methods and strategies
Set the scene for thinking
Give adequate thinking time
Build background knowledge & cover topic in depth
Model thinking process
Support and explain solutionsThursday, April 3, 2014
Types of questions to ask to promote Critical Thinking and Problem Solving skills
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Higher Order
Thinking Skills
Critical thinking is inherent in the higher-
order thinking skills of Bloom’s
Taxonomy
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Tools to cultivate Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
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Make activities that...Combine cooperative, creative, and critical thinking
Make learners collaborate
Relate to the real world
Identify relationship between second language and first language
Draw inferences
Use language creatively
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ACTFL Definition and Sample Activities
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One Massachusetts Avenue NW, Suite 700 Washington, DC 20001 202-312-6429 www.P21.org Publication date: 03/11 9
Critical Thinking and Problem SolvingStudents as inquirers frame, analyze, and synthesize information as well as negotiate meaning across language and culture in order to explore problems and issues from their own and different perspectives.
EXAMPLE: Students develop a survey to investigate the eating habits of the class, interview students, analyze the data in terms of good nutritional habits, synthesize it into a graph, and create a document to share the results with others.
EXAMPLE: With the job title omitted, students read various job/career ads and then match the appropriate job title to the ad. Students are divided into groups. Each group is asked to investigate 3-5 different career/job sites and identify the jobs and careers that are in high demand in a particular city, region, or country. Students present their findings to the class.
EXAMPLE: Using a word cloud generator, present students with a graphic visualization of a text (poem, song, rhyme, fable) and have them predict (whole class, groups or pairs) the main theme, idea or key concepts.
EXAMPLE: Students explore an environmental issue in a target language country with a group of peers from that country. Together they propose solutions that are environmentally safe.
EXAMPLE: Students examine a variety of resumes from Internet sites. They then identify possible jobs/careers that the resume writer(s)might seek. Using an Internet resume site, students complete a template for a job/career they might have at some time in the future, and write a cover letter in which they "apply for" a prospective job. Students organize a class job/career fair, alternately playing the roles of interviewer and interviewee.
EXAMPLE: Students investigate an immigration issue in the US and a target-language country, analyze and synthesize the information, and propose a solution in the form of a letter to the editor.
• Exercising sound reasoning in understanding
• Making complex choices and decisions
• Understanding the interconnections among systems
• Identifying and asking significant questions that clarify various points of view and lead to better solutions
• Framing, analyzing and synthesizing information in order to solve problems and answer questions
INFORMATION, MEDIA AND TECHNOLOGY SKILLS
Novice Range Intermediate Range Advanced Range
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More Activities!Students research topics given to them using Spicynodes to organize information and support and explain solutions to hold debates in class.
Students use Google Maps to follow directions to unknown destinations and find alternate routes due to “closed” roads.
Students in groups use Google Maps and local real estate websites in a target country and synthesize the information to find an apartment for their made-up families.
Before class begins, encourage all students to think and brainstorm a cultural topic as a class using Padlet as your medium to express ideas.
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More Activities!Place students in groups and give each group a different question on Tricider comparing two solutions to a problem. Have the students analyze the pros and cons of each solution and then present their work. The rest of the class will then vote on which solution is the best.
Have students collaborate on mindmeister to organize and plan information and work for group projects.
Students will use lino to share ideas and discuss what was presented during class time to continue building their schema on the topic.
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Tell me what you think and share more ideas!
https://todaysmeet.com/CriticalThinking21
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Further ResourcesDo you know the true benefits of learning a foreign language?
How Global Language Learning Gives Students the Edge
The Benefits of Second Language Study
ACTFL 21st Century Skills Map
Developing Critical Thinking through Cooperative Learning
Future Foreign Language Teachers' Social and Cognitive Collaboration In an Online Environment
Exploring the Relationship Between Critical Thinking, Reading Comprehension and Reading Strategies of English University Students
Enhancing critical thinking in foreign language learners
Newmann, F.M. (1990). Qualities of thoughtful social studies classrooms: An empirical profile. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 22, 253-275.
Turouskaya, Faina A., and Iryna S. Turouskaya. "Teaching Critical Thinking in a Foreign Language." Education Et Sociétés Plurilingues, N° (2001): n. pag. Web.
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