- Colton Cutchens
- Neosho, MO
- United States
This conversation is closed. Start a new conversation
or join one »
Would reforming the core curriculum to include a Metacognition class and a Critical Thinking class be effective in education?
What is your opinion about adding a Metacognition class and a Critical Thinking class to the core curriculum? How would this effect students? Also, how would we need to structure these classes if we were to go about doing them? A Metacognition class would be defined to teach about self-reflecting, understanding, and discovering one's own talents, personality, and ways of thinking (this could be similar to a Psychology class). And a Critical Thinking class would be defined to outline what logic is and teach how to think logically and question rationally (this could be similar and categorized as a Philosophy class).
Topics:
education
Mary Meduna
LEE DURY 500+
Fritzie Reisner 100+
Mike Colera 10+
He replied " You could have, all you needed was an undergraduate degree and covered the tuition".
As has been already said, children learn (acquire knowledge) based on the information they can process.
Maybe, if I had gone to the class (I didn't have the degree or cash)...
No, I think my adolescence would have been the same.
Everything in it's time and in it's place.
Brock Hardwood
Lisanne Ophoff
Such classes would have to be very different from ordinary classes. The teacher could give some pointers, but every student would have to figure our for themselves how exactly they want to do this. If a student want to learn how to be critical, let them chose for themselves what they want to criticize. It would be a great oppurtunity to let students learn what they want to learn.
Colton Cutchens
Again, an advocating environment may be key with progressive development in logical thinking. And that may have to be introduced as a class once one's cognition is developed enough to handle abstract reasoning (around the age of 11, according to Jean Piaget), so that they can use logic to understand and know how to apply the subjects they learn later in school.
Joshua Kloppers
Before a class along either of these lines can be introduced this stigma or dogma of how useless they are needs to dealt with. I do not know how but I do know that if the stigma is not dealt with then it will not be taken seriously and it will never achieve its purpose to further develop the youth of today
Colton Cutchens
Fritzie Reisner 100+
Some schools over the last half century have offered specific modules related to "study skills" or "problem-solving" at the launch of courses or a school year for all students or included such content in courses called Guidance or Homeroom.
Colton Cutchens
And in reference to your second statement, what are some resources on schools that have those modules that I could research?
Fritzie Reisner 100+
You could do a search for "teaching critical thinking," "teaching metacognition," "teaching study skills," and "teaching problem-solving." You will find much, more than you can use.
One resource that pools research results in education is called ERIC. I don't remember what it stands for.
In terms of grading, I never know what people mean by "the traditional grading system." In my experience, teachers use their own rubrics, either formal or informal, to evaluate work. Criteria in that evaluation include whether arguments are presented clearly and supported with evidence, whether different points of view or counterarguments are addressed, and so forth. In a subject like math, the assessment might be on whether the proof proceeds in such a way that no leaps are made that assume things that cannot be assumed, that assumptions are clearly expressed... In writing, conventions are often important and are part of the evaluation...Lab reports have rubrics that include whether the variables are defined along with means of measurement... Are these the sorts of things you include in "traditional grading systems?- criteria that echo the way work is evaluated in the disciplines by actual practitioners of those disciplines?
Colton Cutchens
Second, I am not sure if I agree with your first paragraph, because, from my perspective, it seems that classes are more about teaching the subjects themselves, instead of going over the logic, thought, or reasoning that may preside over or before the subject itself appropriately so the student can question it effectively. Although, my perspective is limited, so I may be wrong in this statement.
Lastly, I think I need to rephrase my previous statement, and I apologize for the confusion. What I meant by saying "traditional grading system" is not so much what it consisted of, but mostly the emphasis that is placed on it. I see the purpose of the examples you have given, and that is not the issue I am addressing. What I am addressing is the emphasis of which the letters “A, B, C, D, and F” are able to clearly represent the actual cognitive ability of a student in the corresponding subject. I think it is flawed for it being possible for a student to receive a low grade even though they reached the criteria though different means, because of their own creativity or in-depth reasoning and questioning, or maybe because they questioned the criteria itself. For I think it is a necessity for schools to be a place that advocates creative and independent thinking in all areas. What is your opinion of this?
Fritzie Reisner 100+
One thing teachers are typically expected to convey is the style of inquiry that the field entails- how work in the field is done, using what sorts of resources and tools. Teachers can most effectively do this by putting students through the experience of searching and generating conclusions in the field. In science this might be by experiment and independent, scaffolded analysis of data. In history this might include examining original documents or practice in collecting data on recent history.
Teachers and textbooks will, indeed, vary in how well they do all this, but best practice in this respect has long been established. There is a classic work by Jerome Bruner, for example, 1977, that provides a snapshot of what the process of education in the lower grades should entail to represent disciplines with integrity.
I have never heard of the letter grading system as a way of measuring cognitive ability. Assessment and classroom grades in my experience aim to measure only what a student shows he /she understands and is able to do with respect to the material of the course. Teachers will evaluate this in different ways. Indeed if a student does not show or communicate understanding via one of the forms of assessment the teacher uses, the teacher would not have the evidence to assign a high grade. The grade can only represent what a teacher is able to detect through the person's oral and written communications, projects, and demonstrations.
Competent teachers typically use multiple forms of measurement to triangulate on a judgment.
The grade is not emphasized as if it is somehow the goal of the educational undertaking. The goal is learning and the grade only a rough summary measure.
Colton Cutchens
Fritzie Reisner 100+