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!
www.brainpop.com - sign in to your student account
Click on “enter code” at top of page
Here is your quiz code: CTDigital2

WELCOME TO THIS WORKSHOP!
Dr. Julie A. Evans
Chief Executive Officer
Project Tomorrow
@JulieEvans_PT
Dr. Kari Stubbs
Vice President
BrainPOP
@KariStubbs

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

What does that term mean to you?

“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

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

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

 Best ways to help students develop those skills
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

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!

 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

 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?

 Assessing competencies
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

The Quiz Mixer

The Mixer

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

“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!

Making Critical Thinking Real with Digital Content - CUE 2017

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