Miao+Zhou

Introduction

The basic aim of social studies is to help students make informed decisions when they face public and political issues. And how well the critical thinking skills one person acquires results in his effective participation in his future public life. Therefore， it is generally agreed that it is necessary to develop students critical thinking skills.

5-Step Model for Teaching Critical Thinking

Step 1 Setting Learning Goals

Setting learning goals is an effective way to make the students to do what is allowed when they are in the class. And in order to realize critical thinking， the learning goals should be in accordance with the higher levels of Blooms taxonomy， which consists of five levels of knowledge， comprehension， application， analysis， synthesis and evaluation from the bottom to the top. In the knowledge level， the students are expected to answer the simple questions like what， who and acquire the ability to describe， state and list what they have learned. Moving to the comprehension level， the students are expected to summarize， explain， paraphrase， compare and contrast what they have learned in the class. And in the application level， the students are expected to apply， construct， solve， discover and show what they have learned. Additionally， the students are expected to examine， classify， categorize， differentiate and analyze in the analysis level. While in the synthesis level， the students are expected to combine， construct， create， role-play and suppose. And in the highest evaluation level， the students are expected to assess， criticize， recommend， predict and evaluate. Therefore， scientific learning goals would encourage the desired behavior and realize the expected behavioral response. Thus it is important to set learning goals according to Blooms taxonomy to accelerate the students movement toward the critical thinking.

Step 2 Teach through Questioning

Questioning stands as a crucial part of teaching process. It makes it possible for the teachers to get a fully comprehensive of how well their students have learned. And it serves as the basis for further extension of students ideas and understandings. In addition， questions are vital tools to establish interaction between teachers and students and they are a way to challenge the students of defend their positions to realize critical thinking. When teachers prepare their classes， they should consider the purpose of each question and try to select an appropriate level and the kind of questions to accomplish the purpose.

Step 3 Practice before Assess

Nowadays， active learning has been adopted all over the world and it has been proved to be a much more effective way for students to learn more in a more enjoyable environment. While selecting learning activities， the teachers should bear in mind two principles：first， activities should be selected from three components：Information and Ideas， Experience， and Reflective Dialog. Information and Ideas consist of the primary and secondary sources the students could access in class， outside class or online. Experience consists of doing， observing and simulations. And Reflective Dialog consists of papers， portfolios and journaling. Second， direct types of learning activities， like in-class dialog， are preferred. Additionally， teachers should encourage students to perform an in-depth reflective dialog to find out what they have learned and what else they should learn， during which the students could gradually acquire the critical thinking.

Step 4 Review， Refine and Improve

By continually refine their courses， the teachers could make sure that their instructional techniques are helpful to develop the critical thinking skills of their students. To realize it， the teachers should monitor closely the learning activities and review what have happened during the process. In addition， the feedback of the students is also a guideline for improving the course.

Step 5 Feedback and Assessment

Assessment and other kind of feedback are an effective way to evaluate the quality of students learning. The teachers should make sure that all students fully understand the criteria of their assessment and provide good feedback to their students as often as possible to help them reflective their behaviors so that they could develop critical thinking during the process.

Conclusion

In conclusion， critical thinking is helpful for students to control their own learning and make informed decisions when they face public and political issues. This paper introduces a 5-step teaching model to develop critical thinking for reference.

References：

[1]Yajie，Wu，Li，Chen and Hong，Zhao.Analysis on Teaching Model to Develop Critical Thinking.E-education Research，2014（11）：71- 77.

[2]Zhenhua，Chen.Deputy and Inspiration of Critical Thinking Development.Journal of Higher Education，2014（9）：56-63.