Critical Thinking and Formative Assessments

Increasing the Rigor in Your Classroom

Todd Stanley, Betsy Moore

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9781138146921
• eBook ISBN: 9781317930167
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Develop your students' critical thinking skills and prepare them to perform competitively in the classroom, on state tests, and beyond. In this book, Moore and Stanley show you how to effectively instruct your students to think on higher levels, and how to assess their progress. As states implement the Common Core State Standards, teachers have been called upon to provide higher levels of rigor in their classrooms. Moore and Stanley demonstrate critical thinking as a key approach to accomplishing this goal. They explore the benefits of critical thinking and provide the tools you need to develop and monitor critical thinking skills in the classroom. Topics include:

• The Difference Between Higher-Level and Lower-Level Thinking
• Writing Higher-Level Thinking Questions
• Assessing Critical Thinking Strategies to Develop Higher-Level Thinking Skills

Table of Contents

Introduction: Why Critical Thinking?

Part I The Basics of Critical Thinking

1 Bloom’s Taxonomy 101

Bloom’s Taxonomy

The History of Bloom’s Taxonomy

What Exactly is Bloom’s Taxonomy?

The “New” Bloom’s Taxonomy

The “Critical” Part of Bloom’s Taxonomy 101

2 Lower-Level Thinking and Higher-Level Thinking: What’s the Difference?

There Is a Difference

Lower-Level Thinking

Higher-Level Thinking

The Final Way of Thinking

The “Critical” Part of Lower-Level Thinking and Higher-Level Thinking

3 How Do Critical Thinking Skills Enhance Student Achievement?

Why Critical Thinking?

Developmental Readiness

Cognitive Ability and Critical Thinking

Critical Thinking Skills and Higher Achievement

Critical Thinking and High-Stakes Tests

Critical Thinking Skills and Life Beyond School

The “Critical” Part of Critical Thinking Skills and Student Achievement

4 How To Write Lower-Level Questions: Knowledge, Comprehension, and Application

What is Lower-Level Thinking?

Knowledge Level

Comprehension Level

Application Level

The “Critical” Part of Writing Lower-Level Questions

5 How To Write Higher-Level Thinking Questions: Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation

What is Higher-Level Thinking?

Analysis Level

Synthesis Level

Evaluation Level

The “Critical” Part of Writing Higher Level Questions

6 Writing Formative Assessments with Critical Thinking Questions

What is a Formative Assessment?

The SCORE Process

Step 1: Understanding the State Standards and State Assessments

Step 2: Developing a Pacing Guide

Step 3: Developing an Assessment

Step 4: Administering the Assessment

Answers to Critical Thinking Questions—What to Look For

The “Critical” Part of Writing Formative Assessments with Critical Thinking Questions

7 Analyzing the Data from Critical Thinking Questions: What Does It All Mean?

Step 5: Analyzing the Data from the Assessment

Grading the Critical Thinking Questions in Formative Assessments

Compiling the Data

Analyzing the Data

The “Critical” Part of Analyzing the Data from Critical Thinking Questions

8 Instructional Strategies to Develop Critical Thinking Skills in the Classroom

You Have the Data, Now What?

Step 6: Making Instructional Improvements Based on the Data

Factors Influencing the Teaching of Critical Thinking Skills

What About Review Time?

How to Provide Time to Teach Critical Thinking

Specific Strategies to Teach Each of the Critical Levels of Bloom’s

The “Critical” Part of Instructional Strategies to Develop Critical Thinking Skills in the Classroom

Epilogue: Where to Go From Here

Part II Blueprints for the Process

1. The Old Bloom’s and the New Bloom’s: What’s the Diff??

2. What Level of Thinking Is It?

3. Higher-Level Questions for Younger Learners

4. How To Write Multiple Choice Questions for All Levels of Thinking

5. At What Level Am I Asking My Students To Think?

6. How To Write a Two-Part Multiple Choice Question

7. I Can ....

8. How I Would Instruct It/How I Would Assess It

9. Questions Conversion Chart

10. The Taxonomy Table

11. A Completed Taxonomy Table

12. Curriculum Pacing Guide

13. Leveled Pacing Guide

14. Sample Questions

15. Short-Cycle Assessment Checklist

16. Critical Thinking Flowchart

17. Developing Answer Rubrics for Critical Thinking Questions

18. Detailed Answer Key

19. Critical Thinking Data Chart

20. Class Profile Graph for Critical Thinking Questions

21. Proficiency on Critical Thinking Items Chart

22. Critical Thinking Item Analysis Graph

23. Questions To Ask When Analyzing Data with Regard to Critical Thinking Skills

24. Instructional Time Distribution Graph

25. Similarities and Differences Chart

26. Analysis Chart

27. Synthesis Chart

28. Evaluation Chart

References

Introduction: Why Critical Thinking?

It is possible to store the mind with a million facts and still be entirely uneducated.

Alex Bourne

How do you teach thinking? The assumption is if you teach all the facts (the knowledge and the skills) thinking will simply occur as a natural extension of learning. This may happen occasionally with students who have a penchant for higher-level thinking, but with many students what you ask for is what you get. If you teach them facts, what you’re going to get back are facts. If your focus is on basic skills, most likely that’s what they’ll show you.

This frame of learning is so ensconced in our educational system that even when you do ask for higher-level thinking, students may simply give you the lower-level knowledge they’ve accumulated over the years. If we want students to be able to think for themselves and access higher-level abilities, then as educators we have to be willing to take them there and show them how to do it.

Unfortunately like most things in education, this is easier said than done. We have hundreds of strategies for teaching rote memorization and knowledge-level learning. After all, this is probably the easiest method to teach, and it has produced results over many years of education. Now, however, the bar has been raised. We’re no longer just competing on a local level with other students in our class—because of standardized testing we’re competing with every student who attends school in the state and even in the country.

The call for increasing rigor in our classrooms is becoming more and more commonplace. With the world becoming smaller due to the advance of technology and the expansion of companies into a global market, we are also competing with people from all over the planet for spaces in colleges, for money, and for jobs. Today’s students have to be able to do more than swallow facts and regurgitate them...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Acknowledgements
• Meet the Authors
• Free Downloads
• Table of Contents
• Introduction: Why Critical Thinking?
• Part I The Basics of Critical Thinking
• Part II Blueprints for the Process
• References