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Mindomo is a visually appealing and collaborative tool allowing students to create minds maps, concept maps, and outlines. Students become skilled at brainstorming questioning, analyzing, synthesizing, problem solving, etc, helping improve student's critical thinking skills.

coggle.it is an online, collaborative mind-mapping application, ideal for students who think "visually", as in the langue of flowcharts and diagrams. coggle.it allows users to graphically map out concepts and their connections, and to easily remap and rearrange those ideas as the project evolves. Fellow collaborators can comment or make changes.

BrainPop offers a variety of activities for students to work together in pairs or groups on any device. To implement critical thinking in a lesson, teachers can use games, concept mapping, videos, and quizzes. One of the many aspects of Brainpop is that it provides resources for any subject, grade, or skill level. The educator section for teachers offers activities and lesson plan ideas that align with Common Core, national, and state standards. For example, BrainPop provides a detailed lesson plan for the Quandary Game (https://educators.brainpop.com/lesson-plan/quandary-problem-solving/?bp-topic=critical-reasoning). During the various episodes of the game, students use their problem-solving skills to assess issues and find solutions for each challenge. Through critical thinking, students learn how to put themselves in another's shoes by viewing a situation from a character's point of view.

Mind Meister is a free application used to create mind maps. Students can work collaboratively on group projects, sharing ideas and seeing how everything relates. Teachers can use it to break down hard concepts. It promotes higher thinking and is visually stimulating.

Instagrok is a great tool to use with students who are learning how to conduct online research. Students and teachers can access this application on any device. Teachers can create free student accounts and their own dashboard to assign tasks, provide search guidelines, and monitor student progress. To access all of the dashboard features, there is a relatively affordable yearly subscription. Through customized searches, students are able to read and assess information, take notes, create concept maps, and cite sources. Instagrok can also help students to collaborate on group projects and develop critical reading skills while collecting information for papers and assignments.