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"But a fascinating review of the scientific research on how to teach critical thinking concludes that teaching generic critical thinking skills, such as logical reasoning, might be a big waste of time. Critical thinking exercises and games haven't produced long-lasting improvements for students. And the research literature shows that it's very difficult for students to apply critical thinking skills learned in one subject to another, even between different fields of science."

Critical Thinking Skills Cheatsheet is a simple infographic offering questions that work to develop critical thinking on any given topic. Whenever your students discover or talk about new information, encourage them to use these questions for sparking debate and the sharing of opinions and insights among each other. Together they can work at building critical thinking skills in a collaborative and supportive atmosphere.

Visible Thinking is a flexible and systematic research-based approach to integrating the development of students' thinking with content learning across subject matters. This site informs on the pedagogy and practices to enable visible thinking in students.

This routine helps students to reflect on their thinking about a topic or issue and explore how and why that thinking has changed. It can be useful in consolidating new learning as students identify their new understandings, opinions, and beliefs. By examining and explaining how and why their thinking has changed, students are developing their reasoning abilities and recognizing cause and effect relationships.

Students who are exposed to think alouds outperform their peers without such instruction on measures of reading comprehension. Think alouds make invisible cognitive processes visible for our students. As we think aloud, we eliminate the guesswork of comprehension.

"In this routine, students are generally recording their thinking at each step along the way before moving on to the next one. Decide whether sharing of thinking will happen in small groups or as a whole class. Document the main threads that permeate the discussion of the whole class, particularly noting the differences in viewpoints."

"When educators employ critical thinking in their classrooms, a whole new world of understanding is opened up. What are some reasons to facilitate critical thinking with our students? Let me begin:"

Alan November article covers: Did the assignment build capacity for critical thinking on the web? Did the assignment develop new lines of inquiry? Are there opportunities for students to make their thinking visible? Are there opportunities to broaden the perspective of the conversation with authentic audiences from around the world? Are there opportunities for students to create a contribution (purposeful work)? Do students own their learning?

Strategies to cultivate independent thinking abilities through what you read, but more importantly, how you read.

"To develop understanding of a topic or subject area, one has to experience and engage in Authentic Intellectual Activity. That means solving problems, making decisions, and developing new understanding using methods and tools (Ritchhart, Church & Morrison, 2011). Exploring a range of Thinking Pathways allows teachers and students to move beyond surface learning that focuses on the memorisation of knowledge and facts, to more deep and reflective learning that is focused on developing understanding through more active and constructive processes."

"Experts maintain that regular opportunities to engage in activities requiring use of higher order thinking skills can significantly improve student achievement as measured on standardized tests. "

"One way to boost the level of thinking is through the use of scenarios and real-world applications of students' knowledge. By including new introductory materials, tasks and assessments will move beyond the Remember level on Bloom's taxonomy to increasing levels of cognitive complexity."

There are very few iPads apps which specifically target critical thinking skills. Those listed here provide an interesting mix of literature, gaming, conflict resolution, etc.

"Critical thinking 'involves students learning to recognise or develop an argument, use evidence in support of that argument, draw reasoned conclusions, and use information to solve problems,' (ACARA, 2016). The ability to 'critically analyse information and ideas from a range of sources' appears across subject areas."

"In response to increasing focus of 21st century education on the development of students' skills, the Centre for Assessment Reform and Innovation (CARI) at the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) has developed an evidence-based approach for teaching and assessing critical thinking, creative thinking and collaboration in the classroom."

"The major activity of this project was to investigate ways of assessing the 21st-century skills of critical thinking, creative thinking and collaboration."

"We all can agree that one of the most rewarding experiences in teaching is helping that one student find their voice and take a commanding role to contribute to the classroom learning experience. Allowing students the opportunity to engage in discourse that involves externalizing, elaborating on their thinking, and receiving feedback will lead to construction of their knowledge and understanding of a topic. However, these discussions require students to have authority and command over their own thinking to reconstruct ideas and concepts based on their previous knowledge and existing schemas."

"Fostering investigative conversation in grades K-2 isn't easy, but it can be a great vehicle to promote critical thinking."

So often, people think of presentation slides as just that: a visual aid for delivering a presentation in front of an audience. But these slide apps (like Google Slides and PowerPoint in Office 365) really are powerful tools for delivering interactive user experiences. They can also create visually stimulating products to deliver a message and valuable content. By thinking outside the box with Google Slides, PowerPoint and other similar tools, teachers can create unique learning experiences for students. Or students can create them to share with other students.

A gateway to a series of literature response activities that support and reflect values in education and could be adapted to support the Australian Curriculum General Capabilities and Cross Curriculum Priorities. Examples are over a decade old but the for layout and critical thinking strategies embedded are still relevant.