Gifted students are often observed being pulled out of the classroom at least one hour weekly from the regular education setting to work on assignments with their resource teacher that involve critical thinking skills. On the other hand, the remaining students in a regular education setting may not take part in critical thinking activities on a regular basis. Instead, they are asked to regurgitate orally content curriculum daily in order pass yearly-standardized tests. This limits their ability to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information effectively that is vital strategies needed for decision-making.

The objective of my research for EDCI 590 is to demonstrate that all students in the regular education setting can benefit from critical thinking strategies combined with content-based instruction. This will necessitate that I approach this project from two avenues. The first will require a literature survey in which I intend to research a definition of critical thinking that is acceptable for purposes of instruction and to identify and review effective critical thinking strategies that can be implemented daily in the classroom.

The second avenue will be to develop daily lesson plans that integrate critical thinking strategies into the content area of social studies for one unit of study. I will supplement these plans with graphic organizers and thinking maps, design targeted assessments utilizing critical thinking, and create a pre/post student inventory.

Home
Purpose
Definitions of Critical Thinking
Teachers' Utilization of Critical Thinking in the Classroom
Correlation of Teaching Critical Thinking Skills to Standardized Test Improvement
Methodology
Analysis of Results - Questionnaire Analysis
Analysis of Results - Cartoon Analysis
Analysis of Results - Analysis of Chapter Quiz
Analysis of the Individual Assignment
Analysis of Group Assignment
Teacher Analysis of Daily Lessons