Making Critical Thinking Real with Digital Content - CUE 2017

Dr. Julie A. Evans

Project Tomorrow

@JulieEvans_PT

Dr. Kari Stubbs

BrainPOP

@KariStubbs

March 16, 2017

PREP WORK!

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Click on “enter code” at top of page

Here is your quiz code: CTDigital2

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WELCOME TO THIS WORKSHOP!

Dr. Julie A. Evans

Chief Executive Officer

Project Tomorrow

@JulieEvans_PT

Dr. Kari Stubbs

Vice President

BrainPOP

@KariStubbs

GETTING TO KNOW EACH OTHER

Tweet with us! #CTDigital #CUE17

@JulieEvans_PT @KariStubbs

@SpeakUpEd @BrainPOP

WORKSHOP TOPICS

What does “critical thinking” really mean?

Best ways to help students develop those skills

Leveraging digital tools for skill development

Assessing competencies

Additional resources for you

Questions, comments, ideas

WORKSHOP TOPICS








What does that term mean to you?

What do

you see?


“Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing,

applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by,

observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action.”

Source:

Scriven & Paul, 8th Annual International

Conference on Critical Thinking and

Education Reform, 1987





Source:








Source:








Source:




WHY IS CRITICAL THINKING IMPORTANT TODAY?

1. Information intensive society and economy

2. Accelerating pace of change

3. Employability


72% of employers say critical thinking is key to their

organization’s success

o But only half say their employees are good

critical thinkers

93% of employers say a candidate’s competencies

with workplace skills such as critical thinking are

more important then their undergraduate major

Sources:

• American Management Study, 2012

• AACU Survey, 2013

QUIZ RESULTS

How important is critical

thinking for today’s students?

Most important

skills students

need to master for

future success

% Parents

who agree

% District

Admin who

agree

%

Community

Members

who agree

Critical Thinking 85% 94% 85%

Creativity 75% 78% 71%

Communications 66% 77% 63%

Collaboration 74% 87% 74%

Source:

Project Tomorrow’s Speak Up Research

Project. Data collected in fall 2016 from

514,000 education stakeholders

CRITICAL THINKING AS A WORKPLACE SKILL

http://cte.ed.gov/employabilityskills/


75% of employers want education institutions to

place a higher emphasis on these students’ skills:

o Critical thinking

o Complex problem solving

o Written and oral communications

o Applying knowledge in real world

situations

Source:

• AACU Survey, 2013

WORKSHOP TOPICS







QUIZ RESULTS

What are the best ways for

students to develop workplace

skills?

Ways to develop workplace

skills

% of parents

who agree

% of district admin

who agree

% of community

members who

agree

Work experience 80% 79% 81%

Team experience 64% 64% 57%

Using technology within

classes

63% 76% 61%

School leadership 63% 73% 62%

Project-based learning 55% 80% 51%

Taking STEM classes 50% 47% 34%

Using technology outside of

school

49% 56% 50%

Take CTE classes 45% 49% 53%

Source: Speak Up 2016 Research findings


Recommended strategies for classroom teachers:

Do not always jump in to help students with answers

Engage students in brainstorming about new activities

Provides opportunities for questioning and inquiry

Leverage activities that support classifying and

categorization, comparing and contrasting

Enable connection-making – how does this influence that?

Allow for peer learning, collaborative problem solving

Sources:

• Partnership for 21st Century Skills

• TeacherHub

How digital tools can support your efforts in the

classroom

Let’s think about:

Reflection activities

Peer review activities

Digital storytelling

Content creation

Small group activities

Discussion forums

Source:

• Northwestern University Education Blog

WORKSHOP TOPICS







CRITICAL THINKING SKILL DEVELOPMENT

Our focus today:

Categorization and classification activities

Making connections between ideas and concepts

Creating content as a way to apply knowledge to create

new meaning

Inquiry activities and self-reflection that document thinking

processes


Our focus today:

Categorization and classification

Making connections

Creating content

Inquiry/self-reflection

© 2015 BrainPOP. All rights reserved. For information on BrainPOP trademarks & copyrights, visit

brainpop.com/trademarks.

BrainPOP’s GameUP

brainpop.com/games 100 games in all subject areas


Categorization and classification activities

Why important?

o Requires close observation

o Facilitates identification of features and attributes

o Sorting process exercises how to discover, understand and apply

rules to a problem

o Comparison amplifies understanding of differences and similarities





Choose a Sortify data set Play with a partner!

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BxwOJlUwxW4gaU1LWW9wVUxzWUU


Making connections between ideas and concepts

Why important?

o Seeing patterns is a key first step in the process

o As children get older, move from the concrete patterns to making

connections between abstract concepts

o Basis for creativity – finding novel connections and alignments

beyond what we see

o Develops cognitive flexibility

Helps the brain transform bits of information into knowledge or understanding

by creating and labeling connections and associations among ideas and

experiences we confront everyday.



Concept Mapping

Let’s Try One!

1) Login as student

2) Choose any BrainPOP Topic

3) Click Make a Map

4) Begin Mapping

5) If you’d like to share - click submit



Make-A-Map



Creating content as a way to apply knowledge to create

new meaning

Why important?

o Process of synthesis and interpretation with an audience in mind

o Promotes new questions, i.e., what is appropriate representation of

these ideas, how can I tell the story of my ideas?

o Applying knowledge to get beyond self

o Development of authentic learning experiences

Make-a-Movie



https://educators.brainpop.com/video/student-made-movie-megalodons/





Inquiry activities and self-reflection that document thinking

processes

Why important?

o Critical thinking = evaluative thinking

o Learning that is active, persistent, self-directed

o Provides an emotionally supportive learning environment

o Promotes development of a growth mindset through self-reflection

• addition

• division

• multiplication

• subtraction

• factoring

• hypothesizing

• stats

• isolated variable

• deductive reasoning



Lure of the Labyrinth What skills did we practice?

WORKSHOP TOPICS








How do you assess critical

thinking competency?

• Vocab: Have key vocabulary terms been effectively integrated?

• Relationships: Has student explained concepts/relationships in his/her

words?

• Link Labels: Are the link labels correct and precise?

• Logical Connections: Are the connections between ideas logical & accurate?

• Complexity = Understanding? Does the quantity and complexity of the map nodes reflect

deep understanding or mindless clicking?



Assessing Concept Maps:





SnapThought



Sortify: Game

Assessment with GameUp

Sortify: Data

• Reflection

• Communication

• Process

• Assessment



SnapThought™



SnapThought™



TimeZone X: Data Collection

Challenge

Class

Summary



The Quiz Mixer

http://bpopne.ws/mixeroverview

http://bpopne.ws/mixeroverview



The Mixer

WORKSHOP TOPICS







ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

www.tomorrow.org/speakup/MakingCriticalThinkingReal_SXSWedu2017.html

o Additional readings on critical thinking

o Links to games and activities from BrainPOP

o Copy of this workshop presentation

Link to sign up for extended trial of MyBrainPOP -

http://bpopne.ws/mbptrial

bit.ly/CTDigitalResources

http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/MakingCriticalThinkingReal_SXSWedu2017.html

What do

you see

now?

“Without data,

you are just

another person

with an

opinion.”

Deming

Getting beyond opinion, myth and anecdote when

planning for effective technology use to help students

develop essential skills . . .

1. Tap into the Speak Up reports and infographics

2. Have your class, school and district participate in

the Speak Up Research Project

1. Tap into the Speak Up reports and infographics

National Speak Up reports and infographics

Targeted and thematic reports

Digital learning trends

Mobile learning & social media

Games in the classroom

Blended learning outcomes

Presentations, podcasts and webinars

Services: consulting, workshops, evaluation and efficacy studies

www.tomorrow.org/speakup

@JulieEvans_PT @SpeakUpEd

2. Have your class, school and district participate in

the Speak Up Research Project

Online surveys for:

o K-12 students – individual + group

o Parents – English and Spanish

o Teachers

o Librarians/Media Specialists

o School Site & District Administrators

o Technology Leaders

o Community Members &

Communications Officers

All class, school, district level data given back

to participating entities – with state and

national data for benchmarks – 100% free

service to schools and districts

Surveys open Oct 2017 – Jan 2018

Sign up to be your school contact at:

Gain news insights - have

a louder voice in local,

state and national policies

and programs

http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/MainContactInformation.html

2. Have your local teacher preparation program

participate in the Speak Up Research Project

Online surveys open now for:

Pre-service teachers in community

college, college and university

preparation programs

All student data given back to

participating entities – with state

and national data for benchmarks –

100% free service to colleges and

universities

Speak Up Survey for Tomorrow’s Teachers:

Understand needs and

aspirations of tomorrow’s

teachers

http://www.tomorrow.org/tomorrowsteachers/index.html

Dr. Julie A. Evans

Project Tomorrow

@JulieEvans_PT

Dr. Kari Stubbs

BrainPOP

@KariStubbs

March 16, 2017

Thank you for joining us today!