Critical+Thinking+TC

//Members: Mary Damiani, Katrina Lantz, Jennifer Jones/Andrea Divijak, Jan Horetski, Debbie Emans, Robert Walling, Barbara Robeson//

What we want to learn:
 * What kinds of websites are available?
 * Define Critical Thinking
 * How can we use technology to develop critical thinking skills?
 * Research teaching techniques.

What we want to do for our 3 hr. All Day Coach Meeting in Oct.: Accomplished Work at the All Day Tech Coach Meeting in October: Webpage links found by the group: [|CIESE-The Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education]-Online collaborative projects in science education for K-12 [|Georgia Critical Thinking Skills Program]- links to lessons and resources for various critical thinking activities. [|Webquest.org] - The original page of webquests from Bernie Dodge. [|Alice Christie Webquest Page]- An ASU professor with a collection of webquess created by ASU students. [|The Big Bad Wolf Meets the Blooms] - A choral reading to review Bloom's Taxonomy
 * Explore Critical Thinking sites on the internet
 * Create a definition for integrating technology into critical thinking.
 * Investigate further including; CIESE, The Critical Thinking Community
 * Compile lesson ideas.
 * Compile websites.
 * Choose a lesson plan to implement in our classrooms
 * Define Critical Thinking- The process of formulating significant questions, exercising sound reasoning, understanding interconnections, while making complicated choices and decisions. Critical Thinking uses strategies such as the higher levels of Bloom's Taxonomy and Rigor/Relevance format.

__Planning for January Meeting__ Before meeting, each member will find materials or websites/resources and post to the wiki Choose or create a lesson plan to implement in our classrooms after the Jan. meeting. Tasks for Peggy: Can you find a few examples of lesson plans that implement critical thinking skills at the elementary level??

Links from Peggy [|Edutopia Problem Based Learning] - articles and resources [|Creativity and Innovation Skill Resources] - links to resources for creativity and innovation [|Critical Thinking and Problem Solving Resources] - links to resources for critical thinking and problem solving [|Communication and Collaboration Resources] - links to resources for communication and collaboration [|Creativity Web] - links to resources for creativity [|Edutopia Assessment] - provides resources and left nav has other topics with information and resources [|Project Lead the Way] - Problem Based Learning initiative in math and science for middle and high school. A Sunnyside person has experience with it and says it's great. It has some elements of programs like FIRST and STEM, but is more comprehensive with a middle school component as well.

What do we want to do in February All Day Meeting We would all like to have the opportunity to either find or create a webquest to implelement with our students. We would also like to make bookmarks to other lessons that we can implement.

Today I looked for critical thinking lessons that I can do this school year. I focused on social studies and science. I found these websites: __http://questgarden.com/47/74/6/070310154830/index.htm__ Life during the civil war-- Students create a Civil War scrapbook.-First, the students will be placed into a group of brave Americans consisting of a communicator, a soldier, a civilian, and a medical personnel. Next, each member will gather information based on his/her specific role. Then, will combine individual knowledge into the group project. Finally, submit scrapbook to President Lincoln and classmates.
 * Katrina 2-12-08**
 * http://www.stonewall.fayette.k12.ky.us/wq/cwwebquest/civilwar.htm
 * Civil war battles research-write a letter telling about battle to your best friend who is on the other side
 * http://www.msdpt.k12.in.us/staffdev/webquest/chhendr/index.html
 * [|[[http://questgarden.com/51/51/0/070516153949/(research|http://questgarden.com/51/51/0/070516153949/]]] (research a planet and determine if it would be good for life)—write a letter to the President telling him your findings

[|Tapped In] – This is a site educators can join (free). The site is designed for all educators to “learn, collaborate, share and support one another.” My hope is that I will find new ideas for students/educators involving critical thinking.

February 12, 2008 - (Jan) Today I looked through sites for Critical Thinking lessons to use during the rest of the year. I spent time investigating webquests and Seise site. I also investigated Smartboard lessons while I was searching. http://wveis.k12.wv.us/nclb/Content/public/Uplans/U_menu.cfm?tsele1=1&tsele2=105 This is the same site but at a page for upper elementary. http://education.smarttech.com/ste/en-US/Ed+Resource/Lesson+activities/Notebook+activities/Find+Curriculum+Standards.htm At this site, you put in the state, level and topic and the site brings up the standards and any activities that have been submitted by your grade level and standards http://jc-schools.net/tutorials/vocab/ Academic vocabulary games by grade level and topic http://www.juliethompson.com/SMART.html Great sites for smartboard – k-3 http://technology.usd259.org/resources/whiteboards/smartlessons.htm Smartboard and Airliner activities http://webquest.org/search/index.php This site is where we can find webquests by grade level as well as topic. There are several good webquests – An Insects Perspective will be a good addition to our unit about insects. http://www.ciese.org/realtimeproj.html Real time projects for all levels. Square of Life would be a good activity for the spring – this year!!! Mary Damiani 2/12/08 Our group searched various sites for learning activities requiring higher level critical thinking skills. I visited a number of sites recommended by Katrina for 21st Century learning from Dec. Tech Talk. [|http://wvde.state.wv.us/teach21] [|http://jc-schools.net/tutorial/vocab] [|www.21stcenturyskills.org/route21] [|http://www.oldmagazinesarticles]

I also visited [|http://webquest.org] which lists hundreds of webquests for all subjects and grade levels. In particular I found webquests for the Solar System, the Revolutionary War, Good Ol’ Days, and the Underground Railroad.

Feb. 12. 2008 Barbara Robeson Today, I revisited several links I had visited before. Peggy provided a definitive list of links in January, but today I spent more time & read articles that I believe will positively impact my lesson during the rest of this year. I spent time a significant amount of time investigating Web Quests & Edutopia looking into potential resources & noted lessons that I would like to experiment with & modify to my needs. I especially thought that the Science web Quests were of interest given that they incorporate the need to read, write, complete math tasks, log notes, & collaborate. See [|http://webquest.org/search/webquest_results.php?language=en&descwords=insect&searchfield=descrip&search=Search+SDSU+Database]Feb. 12. 2008 Barbara Robeson Today, I revisited several links I had visited before. Peggy provided a definitive list of links in January, but today I spent more time & read articles that I believe will positively impact my lesson during the rest of this year. I spent time a significant amount of time investigating Web Quests & Edutopia looking into potential resources & noted lessons that I would like to experiment with & modify to my needs. I especially thought that the Science web Quests were of interest given that they incorporate the need to read, write, complete math tasks, log notes, & collaborate. See [|http://webquest.org/search/webquest_results.php?language=en&descwords=insect&searchfield=descrip&search=Search+SDSU+Database]

Read Please to analyze their own reading and writing. They also used it as an editing tool. They were able to catch errors they might not have otherwise seen/heard. Mary used INTEL website to solve a problem from space and then they shared their solutions in class.
 * What we accomplished this school year**: Robert and Katrina both did a podcast. Robert had his students reflect on a project they had done. Katrina had her students use a podcast to share poems they had written. Robert' students are using smartboard to create a backdrop with Powerpoint. My students individually used several websites to find pros and cons of the Revolutionary War and then they got in groups and shared their information. In each group they ranked the pros and cons and then used this information to write persuasive essays. Debbie make SB notebook presentation and then take one literary term to teach class. They had to have def., examples, practice for each and closure. Also, why this is important to know and understand and be able to use. Barbara used

Feb. 12. 2008 Barbara Robeson Today, I revisited several links I had visited before. Peggy provided a definitive list of links in January, but today I spent more time & read articles that I believe will positively impact my lesson during the rest of this year. I spent time a significant amount of time investigating Web Quests & Edutopia looking into potential resources & noted lessons that I would like to experiment with & modify to my needs. I especially thought that the Science web Quests were of interest given that they incorporate the need to read, write, complete math tasks, log notes, & collaborate. See [|http://webquest.org/search/webquest_results.php?language=en&descwords=insect&searchfield=descrip&search=Search+SDSU+Database]

On April 23 we will share the critical thinking sites we have found this year, and if we found them useful.