Thinking is Important

Thinking occurs when we ask ourselves questions about information we have previously remembered.

In the process of thinking we create new information from stored information. Remembering takes place in one of our various memory sites in the brain. But thinking occurs in an area at the front of our brain. This area is where we create personal ideas, make choices and judgments of information, and develop explanations for the observations we make. The frontal lobes are the home of creative, critical, and curious thinking. Both memory sites and thinking sites grow as we activate them with questions. The more we activate and extend the thinking sites of student brains the better will be their future thinking.

The ability to create new information is vital for success in a rapidly changing world that is daily flooded with information that we can either accept or reject. Having a good memory for prescribed content is not enough. It is interesting that different levels of thinking can be observed between students even in early childhood classrooms. Why? It is possibly due to the fact that young students vary in their curiosity, imagination, risk taking, questioning, and ability to challenge other points of view. Much of this variation is due to differences in their temperament, disposition, confidence, and self-motivation.

Early childhood is a time for developing “thinking dispositions” that students need for their better future thinking.  But are our teachers at all grade levels being trained to do this? Do they have the teaching resources they need? How do teachers develop the thinking dispositions of their students? And how can teachers test that any interventions they try are actually working?

Better thinking, and the dispositions needed to develop it depends on students being asked questions that require them to think of their own ideas, reasons, and decisions. These are open ended, multiple answer questions. Many are Why? and How? questions but there are other types that are designed to get students thinking for themselves. Consider some sample questions from tests of creative and critical thinking.

What are 4 things that would happen if there were no more birds in the world?

What are 4 unusual uses for an old car tyre?

What are 4 reasons why Australian Rules footballs are oval rather than round in shape?

What are 3 reasons for and 3 reasons against using windmills to make electricity?

What are 3 things that are relevant and 3 things that are irrelevant to mention in your lost dog notice?

A man is seen running from a shop. What are 3 things you can’t be sure of?

Because these ‘thinking questions’ have a range of possible answers teachers have to be flexible in their assessment of answers suggested by students.

Good thinkers need a good disposition or mindset to motivate themselves to think for themselves. But they need more. They need to learn some basic questions that creative, curious, and critical thinkers ask themselves during a task. For example…

• Creative thinkers are open minded, risk taking, imaginative thinkers who easily escape the usual ways of doing, making, using, and solving things.
  They might ask themselves What unusual combinations, reversals, eliminations, alternatives, twists, and extreme cases can I think of? (CREATE).
• Curious thinkers are more questioning and reason seeking. They might ask themselves … Why does this thing have this shape, colour, use, material, part, and size? (SCUMPS)
• Critical thinkers are more cautious, judgmental, and challenging. They might ask themselves Do I accept or reject this consequence, assumption, main point, prejudice, evidence, relevance, and reliability? (CAMPER)

Finally, the process of metacognition has a big part to play in developing better thinking in any classroom. This process involves asking a learner to talk out loud the questions that did, or didn’t, pass through their mind as they completed a common learning task. Research over the years shows that classes where metacognition is regularly used show superior improvement in achievement compared with classes where metacognition is not used. Most importantly, students can become better spellers, readers, problem solvers, and thinkers if they are allowed inside the minds of students who are good at these things.

Author Dr John Langrehr, is a world-renowned author and researcher with a keen interest and special focus on developing and evaluating creative and critical thinking. He has taught in US and Australian universities over his whole career and authored numerous books. The 4th edition of his International Bestseller, Become a Better Thinker has been published by Amba Press.

Image by Olia Danilevich