Putting it into Practice

Developing Student Critical Thinking Skills in Teacher Education – the Models, Methods, Experiences and Results

Edited by:
Paula Jones, Eastern Kentucky University
Debbie Haydon, Eastern Kentucky University

Published 2012

Most teachers would agree that they teach reasoning skills in their classes. However, are they explicitly incorporating strategies that teach students to think critically? If so, how do they know these methods are effective? The purpose of this book is to summarize and share a variety of methods for developing students’ critical thinking skills. Each chapter focuses on a select teacher education class where the instructor implemented components of the Paul and Elder Model of Critical Thinking.

Written from the instructor’s point of view, each chapter details how each instructor utilized components of the Paul and Elder Model to support students in the development of their critical thinking skills. Importantly, each instructor's use of the model varied and those variations are shared in detail. Chapter authors found that utilizing components of the Paul and Elder Model resulted in more consistent use of critical thinking skills by students within their teacher education classes. In this practice-based book, interested teachers will be challenged to think through the methods they currently use in their own classes and will be provided new ideas or strategies to try.

CONTENTS
Acknowledgment and Preface, Paula Jones and Debbie Haydon. Forward, Linda Elder and Richard Paul. 1: Learning to Think Critically, Paula Jones and Debbie Haydon. 2: Using the Elements of Reasoning to Teach Students to Think, Sue Mahanna-Boden. 3: ASL Students and Deaf Participants Learning to Think Critically, Nina S. Coyer. 4: Faculty “Thinking Through” Their Course, Debbie Haydon. 5: The Metamorphose of the SEE-I Critical Thinking Model into the I-SEEMS/Elements of Thought Model, Delinda Dent. 6: Critical Thinking Skills in an Elementary Social Studies Methods Class, Karen Larsen Maloley. 7: Developing Close Reading Skills through Critical Thinking, Diana L. Porter. 8: Methods and Resources to Teach Students to Think in Speech-Language Pathology, Tammy Cranfill. 9: Methods for Teaching Graduate Students How to Think Through Research in an Online Course, Paula Jones.