TEACHING THINKING SKILLS

Browse through the information and publications at the Critical Thinking Community. The posters, the Thinker's Guide "How to detect Media Bias and Propaganda" and "The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking for Children" are particularly useful.

Another way of looking at critical thinking focuses on asking good questions. See the work of Jamie McKenzie at his online journal, From Now On.

The work of Tom March, the 'inventor' of webquests.

Another approach is to encourage students to consider a variety of viewpoints when making decisions. The material at The Choices Program at Brown University outlines how to do it. Note the Teachers Guide to the ÔFog of WarÕ documentary about Robert McNamara and the online lessons on the Cuban Missile Crisis as well as role plays about different scenarios for the US role in the world today. The Teaching with the News section is worth regular visits.

The "Making Sense of Documents" and "Scholars in Action" sections of the History Matters website provide important advice on training students to evaluate evidence. It has detailed discussion on Oral History and Numerical analysis for history students.