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COMO FOMENTAR EL PENSAMIENTO CRITICO EN EL NINO Y JOVEN

Ante la realidad del creciente postmodernismo en la sociedad, ¿qué papel juega el pensamiento crítico en ayudar a nuestros alumnos a perseguir la verdad? ¿Cómo podemos fomentarlo en todas las materias y en una forma apropiada para su edad?

¿Qué quieres decir con esto?

¿Qué quieres decir con esto? En otras palabras, define tus términos. Vamos a comenzar definiendo postmodernismo y luego lo que quiero decir con pensamiento crítico. Quiérase o no, nuestros alumnos están creciendo en un mundo postmodernista. Es nuestro contexto; sin embargo no existe una definición definitiva de postmodernismo. Pero, Andy Crouch (2000) ofrece un poco de entendimiento con esta descripción.

Los postmodernistas rechazan fervientemente la noción de que existan verdades absolutos y considerarían cualquier declaración de haberlo encontrado una jugada de poder, una imposición y muy falta tolerancia.

Se puede entenderlo un poco al contrastarlo con el modernismo (Goetz 1997). El modernismo, que comenzó más o menos en los 1700s y supuestamente se ha terminado en los 1950s, es la perspectiva cultural que pone su fe en el optimismo, el progreso, y la búsqueda de conocimiento objetivo, y en las ciencias. J.L. Packer dice, “Modernismo…. asumía que era dentro del poder de la razón resolver todos los problemas del mundo y determinar todo lo que el hombre necesitaba saber.

El postmodernismo es su medula esta en contra de todo lo asume el modernismo. Tienden a ser muy pesimistas hacia cualquier progreso verdadero del hombre. Los postmodernistas no creen en la existencia de una verdad objetivo (es decir, algo externo a uno mismo) o absoluto (aplicable a todo el mundo). Mas bien, creen en verdades subjetivas, formada por cada persona según su parecer y experiencia. Puedes escuchar esta creencia en los programas de televisión con comentarios como: Esta es tu verdad, mi verdad es otra. Cada quien tiene su propia verdad. Ahora, vamos a definir pensamiento crítico. Aunque suena mas bien como algo que diría Winnie-Pooh, la forma más fácil de definirlo es lo siguiente: El pensamiento critico es pensar acerca de tu pensamiento mientras estás pensando para poder pensar mejor (Paul 1992). Para la mentalidad postmodernista, el pensamiento crítico es un fin en si. Desde la perspectiva bíblica, el pensamiento crítico forma una parte de un proceso de aprender y saber/conocer. (Vamos a considerar intercambiables las palabras aprender, saber, y conocer.) Para entender mejor el papel que juego el pensamiento crítico en la enseñanza, tenemos que tomar un paso para atrás para analizar un modelo de conocimiento. Recuerda, hay varios modelos; el modernismo tiene uno que difiere del modelo que visualiza el postmodernismo. El modelo que presento fue recopilado de varios libros, los cuales se encuentran en una bibliografía que puedo entregarles por aparte al final de la clase si lo desean. Dios, nuestro Creador, ha provisto una variedad de fuentes de conocimiento para aprender y crecer. Aprender no es solamente una actividad mental como los modernistas querrían hacernos creer. Los postmodernistas reconocen una pequeña faceta de la verdad de Dios cuando argumentan a favor de otras fuentes de adquirir conocimiento.

Taller impartido por Lisa Anderson de Umaña: Convencion de ACSI Honduras, Sept. 2007

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Aprovecha el énfasis de los postmodernistas en la experiencia

Dado el hecho de que los postmodernistas atribuyen un alto valor a la experiencia subjetiva, a los maestros les conviene maximizar el uso de la experiencia y participación activa de los alumnos en la clase. Yo estaría de acuerdo con la premisa de los postmodernistas que todo aprendizaje comienza con la experiencia. Considera las leyes de físico. Fueron descubiertos y después escritos en libros de texto sobre la base de las experiencias personales de los inventores. Lo que ha pasado es que con el pasar de los años nuestros libros de texto han separado el conocimiento de las mismas experiencias que los produjo. Exigimos que los alumnos memoricen contenido sin que entiendan la conexión con las circunstancias o experiencias originales de donde se provenían (Piensa en las ecuaciones y formulas matemáticas de las cuales decimos: ¡Algún día vas a necesitar esto!) Durante este taller, discutiremos estrategias para hacer esta conexión según tu materia y / o grado que enseñas (Tennant 1991, 196-197). Los maestros necesitan vincular sus explicaciones y ilustraciones con la previa experiencia que traen en si mismos los alumnos.

1 De acuerdo a tu materia, ¿cuáles explicaciones o ilustraciones pueden ser vinculados directamente con las experiencias previas de tus alumnos?

Los maestros puede intentar a vincular las actividades en la clase con lo que están viviendo en casa, en su comunidad o trabajo.

2 ¿Cuáles problemas actualmente enfrentan tus estudiantes en casa o en la vida cotidiana que tu materia puede ayudarles a resolver o tratar?

Los maestros pueden crear experiencias de las cuales el aprendizaje fluirá. En otras palabras, pueden diseñar actividades que los hará participes en su propio aprendizaje como juegos, dinámicas, dramas (sketches) o acertijos. Estas experiencias establecerán una base común de la cual cada alumno construirá su propio significado por medio de la reflexión individual y grupal posterior.

3 Qué actividad participativa puedes crear que promovería que tus estudiantes hiciera preguntas sobre la material o clase?

Referirse a la clase que Lisa enseñó sobre el cielo para niños de segundo grado.

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Los maestros pueden conscientemente provocar incertidumbre, ambigüedad y duda en la mente de sus alumnos sobre ciertas interpretaciones o suposiciones que ellos tienen. Considera lo que Jesús hizo cuando él intencionalmente sanó la mujer paralítica en el día sagrado del Señor. Léelo en Lucas 13:10-17. Jesús consideró que sus suposiciones estaban equivocadas e hizo algo que los provocaría.

4 ¿Cómo puedes ayudar a tus alumnos a descubrir qué piensan y suponen que podría ser incorrecto o malinterpretado?

Para muchos, esto es la esencia del pensamiento crítico. Consideramos otros ejemplos de la Biblia. Mira cómo Jesús les ayudó a sus discípulos descubrir que sus suposiciones sobre porqué la gente se enfermaba estaban equivocadas. Juan 9:1-3: “A su paso, Jesús vio a un hombre que era ciego de nacimiento. Y sus discípulos le preguntaron: —Rabí, para que este hombre haya nacido ciego, ¿quién pecó, él o sus padres? —Ni él pecó, ni sus padres —respondió Jesús—, sino que esto sucedió para que la obra de Dios se hiciera evidente en su vida. Otro ejemplo de fomentar el pensamiento crítico en la visión que Dios le dio a Pedro en Hechos 10. Dios le mostró una visión de los animales impíos para retar las suposiciones que Pedro tenía sobre los gentiles y Dios le indujo a una forma alterna de pensamiento sobre los gentiles: Que eran dignos recipientes del mensaje de salvación por medio de Jesucristo.

¿De dónde obtienes tu información?

¿De dónde obtienes tu información? Para este taller estudié la Biblia y varios libros y artículos que se encuentran en una Bibliografía aparte si desea tener una copia.

¿Cómo sabes que es verdad??

¿Cómo sabes que es verdad? No puedo tener un 100% de certeza que todo lo que he leído y lo que yo he escrito sea infaliblemente cierto y verdad. Después de todo, somos seres humanos y solamente Dios es infalible. Pero yo confío que Dios ha revelado su verdad tanto en la Palabra como en el mundo y que El desea que conozcamos la Verdad y que crezcamos en nuestro conocimiento. Puedes validar por ti mismo la veracidad del Diagrama 1 por medio de personalizarlo con tus propios ejemplos de aprendizaje. Completa los espacios en blanco debajo de cada figura usando un ejemplo personal donde has aprendido o descubierto verdades. Este ejercicio te obligará a reflexionar sobre tus pensamientos y acciones en aquel entonces.

5 Qué aprendiste sobre tu papel en ayudar a tus alumnos perseguir la verdad y el conocimiento?

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BIBLIOGRAFIA

Bohlin, Sue. 2007. Four killer questions. Richardson, Texas: Probe Ministries International. Accessed 28 September 2007. Available from http://www.probe.org/current-issues/four-killer-questions.html; Internet. (I used three of these killer questions as sub-titles for the handouts.)

Brookfield, Stephen D. 1987. Developing Critical Thinkers: Challenging Adults to Explore Alternative Ways of Thinking and Acting. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Crouch, Andy. 2000. What Exactly Is Postmodernism? The often-maligned movement is today's academic Rorschach blot. Accessed 28 September 2007. Available from http://www.christianitytoday.com/spiritualhelp/articles/le7l1052.html: Internet.

Goetz, David L. 1997. The Riddle of Our Postmodern Culture: What is postmodernism? Should we even care? Leadership Journal, Vol. XVIII, No. 1: 52. Accessed 28 September 2007. Available from http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2000/november13/8.76.html: Internet.

Meek, Esther Lightcap. 2003. Longing to Know: The Philosophy of Knowledge for Ordinary People. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press.

Mezirow, Jack and Associates. 1990. Fostering critical reflection in adulthood: A guide to transformative and emancipatory learning. San Francisco, Calif.: Jossey-Bass.

Paul, Richard. 1992. Critical thinking: What every person needs to survive in a rapidly changing world. Santa Rosa, Calif.: Foundation for Critical Thinking.

Tennant, Mark. 1991. Adult and continuing education in Australia. In Learning in adulthood: A comprehensive guide, ed. Merriam, Sharan B. and Caffarealla, Rosemary S., 327. San Francisco, Calif.: Jossey-Bass.

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Teaching Agenda: Promoting Critical Thinking in a Post Modern World

Honduran Convention of the Association of Christian Schools International September 28-29, 2007 AGE RANGE OF STUDENTS:

Young Adults

NUMBER OF STUDENTS: 30

CLASSTIME Aprox. 50 min.

EDUCATIONAL PURPOSE: LEARNING GOALS: (AS THE LORD BLESSES THIS CLASS, IN FAITH, I SEE THESE TEACHERS…

Asking

LEARNERS:

Young adults, many recently graduated from college, most with teaching degrees.

TEACHERS: Lisa, PhD student final assignment for a class in Instructional Design for Critical Thinking

DEVELOPMENTAL ISSUES:

PHYSICAL SETTING

Classroom with tables and chairs.

Time-Duration /

Responsible

Group size

Educational Activity Notes / Materials

PROCESS

1. 5 min. Explain my agenda. Allow those for whom this particular slant is not what they thought it would be to participate in another workshop.

2. 5 min. Define term of critical thinking. 3. 5 min. Define postmodernism. 4. 10 min. Define Meek’s model of “acts of knowing” from the diagram. 5. 15 min. Discuss what their role as a teacher can be in their student’s transformative learning as each small group answers

one of the questions and listens to the others. 6. 10 min. Hand them a blank diagram and ask them to fill in the empty balloons with an incident of transformative

learning from their own life. Comment on their validation or not of this model of knowing. 7. 5 min. Allow time for wondering and questions.

Lisa

PRE-SESSION PREPARATIONS

Post the written agenda on the flipchart. Handout name tags and markers for people to do their own nametag. Have on hand the reference books. Sample props from teaching heaven to second graders.

. ARRIVAL AT CLASS

Warmly greet the people at the door as they arrive. Ask them to put on nametags (self-adhesive labels).

Introduction

LEARNING GOAL

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During the Session

5 min.

Lisa

Large group

Introduce myself briefly. Explain my agenda. Allow those for whom this particular slant is not what they thought it would be to participate in another workshop.

Definition of terms

LEARNING GOAL

During the session

10 min.

Lisa

Large group

5 min. Define term of critical thinking. 5 min. Define postmodernism.

Read through handout with them

Meek’s Model of acts of knowing

LEARNING GOAL

During the session

10 min.

Lisa

Large group

Define Meek’s model of “acts of knowing”. Read the example from Transformation learning (on green sheet of paper)

Study the diagram with them

Their role as teachers

LEARNING GOAL

During the session

15 min.

Lisa

Small groups

Assign each group a question to answer, asking them to be very specific regarding their answers. They will be given 10 min. to work on their question and only 1 min. to share their answer with the rest of the group. Their answer should include: • Subject matter/grade. • Methodology, question asked, activity designed, etc. • Discuss what their role as a teacher can be in their student’s transformative

learning as they go through each question Share what you did with the second graders regarding heaven, bring the samples props.

Write on the board exactly what I expect from each small group.

Validation of Meek’ model with their own example

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LEARNING GOAL

During the session

10 min.

Lisa

G-1

GG

• Read killer question 3: Briefly mention the references and show them my books.

• Hand them a blank diagram and ask them to fill in the empty balloons with an incident of transformative learning from their own life.

• Answer questions as needed. • Comment on their validation or not of this model of knowing on the basis

of their own experience.

Allow them time to fill in the blanks.

Conclusion

LEARNING GOAL

During the session

5 min.

Lisa

Large group

Read through the last killer question. Allow time for wondering and questions.

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Evaluation of Promoting critical thinking in a postmodern world

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Promoting a fuller understanding of what you are teaching on the basis of learning styles

Honduran Convention of the Association of Christian Schools International Sept. 28-29, 2007 AGE RANGE OF STUDENTS:

Teachers

NUMBER OF STUDENTS: 20-50

CLASSTIME Aprox. 50 min.

EDUCATIONAL PURPOSE: To teach teachers to attend to all three learning styles, audio, visual and kinesthetic learners. LEARNING GOALS: (AS THE LORD BLESSES THIS CLASS, IN FAITH, I SEE THE TEACHERS…

Appreciating God’s diversity in having created three main types of learning styles.

Struggling with how to teach their subject matter so as to explain it for auditive, visual and kinesthetic learners.

Realizing the inadequacy of teaching only for one or two styles, usually their own.

LEARNERS:

Adult teachers engaged full time in teaching at private Christian schools.

TEACHER: Workshop teacher

DEVELOPMENTAL ISSUES:

Seven-eight year olds are still at a concrete operations level of cognitive thinking, so heaven is being explained with concrete objects in order to try and bridge the gap between the abstract concept of heaven and the choices they make in their day to day living.

Special attention will be made to explain the concepts for all three learning styles: audio, visual and kinesthetic.

PHYSICAL SETTING

Classroom with tables and chairs.

Time-Duration /

Responsible

Group size

Educational Activity Notes / Materials

PROCESS

1. Opening reflection questions 2. Demonstration and timing of teaching a brief portion of the children’s class on heaven only for auditive learners. 3. Demonstration and timing of teaching a brief portion of the children’s class on heaven only for audio and visual learners. 4. Demonstration and timing of teaching a brief portion of the children’s class on heaven for all three learning styles. 5. Brief attempts at teaching to meet the needs of all three learning styles 6. Conclusions

Lisa

PRE-SESSION PREPARATIONS

Questions previously written on the board or Flipchart #1: How do people learn? Flipchart #2: What did you observe in my teaching? What did you feel? Flipchart #3: What did you observe in my teaching? What felt different in my teaching this time? Flipchart #4: What did you observe in my teaching? What difference did it make for me to get you physically engaged? How did your own understanding of heaven vary after each demonstration?

Flipchart #5: What’s the hardest part of teaching this way? What would be the fruit of your efforts if you taught this way?

Flipchart #6: In light of this class, what insights have you gained as to how people learn? Stopwatch Whiteboard markers and eraser Bag of props: Each object will be in its own paper bag: One tennis ball, a jump rope, wooden letters, wooden numbers, flash cards, a Bible verse on a 4x6 card (Mark 9:41)

5 min. STUDENTS ARRIVING TO CLASS SESSION

Game

Introduction to the class

LEARNING GOAL

To awaken in the teachers a desire to address the needs of each learning style as they teach.

During the Session

5 min.

Lisa

Large group

Opening reflection question: How do people learn? How did you just learn the game we did as you entered?

Give folks the opportunity to answer. Observe who answers and try to gauge their depth of understanding on this subject.

There is a large body of research that has been done on the learning cycle, both for children and adults. What we are going to explore today is a very small piece of the pie, there’s an entire bakery available, which to me as a teacher who loves to teach is like eating your favorite pastry! The backdrop of what we’re going to explore together today comes from a David Kolb’s (1985) research on Experiential Learning.

The concepts of the three major learning styles (audio, visual and kinesthetic) form a part of how we learn. To show you what I mean by these three learning styles, I’m going to do three demonstrations of teaching a portion of a class I taught to children on heaven. I would like you to observe the differences between them.

Demonstration of teaching just for auditive learners

LEARNING GOAL

The teachers will experience for themselves the inadequacy of teaching just to one style of learner.

During the Session

5 min.

Lisa

Large group

Teach a portion of the children’s class on heaven just speaking. Read the scriptures from the Bible.

Give someone in the class a stopwatch to time you. Ask him or her to make note on a piece of paper how long each demonstration took. After all three demonstrations, you’ll write the times on the board.

Reflection questions: What did you observe in my teaching? What did you feel?

Demonstration of teaching just for auditive and visual learners

LEARNING GOAL

The teachers will question the adequacy of teaching to just two styles of learners.

During the Session

5 min.

Lisa

Large group

Teach the same portion of the children’s class on heaven but this time both speaking and visualizing.

Draw on the board the timeline. Give them the scripture on handouts and read them together. Give someone in the class a stopwatch to time you. When you are done, ask the person to go to the board and write the time down.

Reflection questions: What did you observe in my teaching? What felt different in my teaching this time?

Visual aid: Draw the timeline on the board.

Demonstration of teaching just for auditive and visual and kinesthetic learners

LEARNING GOAL

The teachers will experience for themselves a greater level of comprehension of the subject matter because all three learning styles were attended to.

During the Session

15 min.

Lisa

Large group

Teach the same portion of the children’s class on heaven both speaking and visualizing and engaging them in the activity with props.

Do a portion of the class on heaven like you did it with the children.

Hand each student a bag of props and exit the classroom. Give them the scripture on handouts and read them together. Give someone in the class a stopwatch to time you. Write the times of each demonstration on the board. Reflection questions: What did you observe in my teaching? What difference did it make for me to get you physically engaged?

How did your own understanding of heaven vary after each demonstration?

Visual aid:

Tape the strings on the board to serve as a visual reference to what they’re doing.

Attempts at teaching for all three learning styles

LEARNING GOAL

The teachers will try their hand at briefly teaching so as to meet the needs of all three learning styles.

During the Session

15 min.

Lisa

Individual practices

Try it! I need several volunteers who are willing to give this a try (choose three).

Put your hand into the prop bag and pull out an object. You have sixty seconds to prepare a three minute class based on the object you’ve chosen. Remember: Explain it to us so all three types of learners understands.

Use a stopwatch to give each of them equally three minutes.

Prop bag

Each object will be in its own paper bag: One tennis ball, a jump rope, wooden letters, wooden numbers, flash cards, a Bible verse on a 4x6 card (Mark

Reflection questions: What’s the hardest part of teaching this way? What would be the fruit of your efforts if you taught this way?

9:41)

Reflection time on how to teach your subject mattes for all three learning styles

LEARNING GOAL

The teachers will struggle with how to teach their own subject matter to meet the needs of all three learning styles, which will in turn deepen their comprehension of the content.

During the Session

5 min.

Lisa

Individual writing and conclusion

Individual learning task: Write down one thing that you as a teacher can do differently in order to meet the needs of all three learning styles and deepen your students’ grasp of your subject matter.

Reflection question: In light of this class, what insights have you gained as to how people learn?

Visual aid:

Write the learning task on the board for each individual to work on.

Provide paper in the handouts for people to journal their answers.