To teach and learn how to think

 

To teach and learn how to think

Traditional education has run out of resources to meet the societal challenges of today's everyday life. Today there is so much information out there that we need to teach how to identify reliable sources and how to use them to be able to absorb useful knowledge.

Traditional education is based on a systematic and mechanical learning process where the main goal is to memorize. At present, there are many different schools that advocate new and different ways of teaching and learning. One of the main goals of this educational revolution is to learn to think, and this is a progressive and ongoing development that we are all witnessing. The main goal here is to give students tools to search for information themselves and assimilate it in a researching way.

It is important to change the processes and prepare the students so that they can make good analyzes, solve problems effectively and make good decisions in the future. For this reason, it is important to remember that it is our thoughts that guide our actions when it comes to teaching and learning to think. This is what can help an individual, from a very young age, to become a good thinker instead of just focusing on memorizing.

The importance of teaching and learning to think

Most schools lack an educational model that teaches students to think. Traditional schools in many countries continue to use conventional tools, methods and short-term techniques with the aim of optimizing the results of the most appropriate test. Teachers spend almost all of their time teaching students to solve equations and memorize texts that they will probably not remember in a few days.

But there are also many others in the education system who invest in methods that are based on understanding, the value of questions instead of answers and that create new ways of solving problems with the help of the power of thought. To achieve this, it is also necessary to renew approaches and tools.

A boy is thinking in the classroom

What does Thinking Based Learning consist of?

Today, many educational institutions have taken a step forward. In a way, they have realized that traditional methods focus on repetition with very little inherent meaning. Basically, this teaching model is ineffective because critical and reflective thinking is not put into practice.

Thought-based learning (TBL) provides more conscious and in-depth learning. In fact, this method can change the way the student handles new information. Robert Swartz, one of the most influential personalities in the field of education and the creator of this method, defines it as a method by which one learns to think creatively and critically.

Robert Swartz says that the method originated when he participated in a history course in Boston. The teacher offered his students two different stories to consider and asked them to think about which one they would believe. Swartz realized that at that moment these children were learning to decide whether what they were reading was something they should accept as truthful and reliable. In conclusion, he found that this perspective could be applied to everything.

This active method goes beyond the content. First, it ensures that students learn to think and have the opportunity to solve real problems. Secondly, it encourages students to think outside the box and do their own research in various subjects. In this way, the learning process does not depend on memorization but on the internalization of the content.

Collaboration in the classroom

To teach students to think, the teacher must act as an enabler. The teacher must guide the students to solve problems, case studies and projects. This encourages students to stay active during the lesson.

Teaching and learning to think requires group work. After all, all thinking works best when it happens within a collaboration. Sharing your thoughts and ideas with those around you encourages teamwork, which in turn helps to reflect and share all types of learning.

Teaching and learning how to think: the importance of asking questions

Dialogue is an important resource for reaching knowledge. Already in the 500s BC. Socrates realized its usefulness and devised a whole methodology based on it: Maieutics. The Socratic method regards questions as a way of developing thinking. In other words, the questions asked in the classroom act as a stimulus for students to try to answer and ask new questions.

In addition, questions are effective in increasing students' ability to structure their ideas, formulate their answers and defend them through reasoning. Consequently, their autonomy increases. Suddenly, they feel confident enough to explore unknown areas. In that sense, a good teacher knows which questions are most appropriate for each situation.

"Six thinkers' hats"

Edward De Bono created the technology Six Thinking Hats to facilitate problem analysis or solution from different points of view. It serves to stimulate lateral and creative thinking and encourages parallel thinking, and is an alternative to traditional reasoning.

The six hats represent six different ways of thinking. Each of them has different colors. This represents the directions of thought that one can use when facing a problem. In this technique, each participant imagines putting on and taking off a hat. This is to point out the type of thinking you use.

https://utforskasinnet.se/att-undervisa-och-lara-hur-man-tanker/