TEACHING AND LEARNING STRATEGIES. FOR THE THINKING CLASSROOM

Abstract

Many teachers realize that engaged teaching and active learning are desirable. Teaching that encour-ages students to ask questions and look for answers, to apply what they have learned in order to solve problems, to listen to each other and debate ideas politely and constructively—this is teaching students can use in their lives. But knowing that these things are important is not the same thing as knowing how to make them work in the classroom with a crowded curriculum, short class periods, and many students. The staff development program Teaching and Learning Strategies for the Thinking Class-room (The Thinking Classroom) came about to satisfy the need in the schools for deeper lear-ning, life-long learning—learning that students can use and that makes them not only better stu-dents but more productive members of society. And it also came about in order to teach “the small ideas,” as one teacher called them. “The big ideas” are the lofty proclamations about how important active learning and critical thinking are. The “small ideas” are how to actually teach for active learning and critical thinking, in real classrooms.