Let’s get digital with critical thinking. Using art, science and civics as the context, this workshop examines new digital content for developing and measuring critical thinking skill development. Participants need to bring in their own device.

1. Dr. Julie A. Evans
Project Tomorrow
@JulieEvans_PT
Dr. Kari Stubbs
BrainPOP
@KariStubbs
March 16, 2017

2. PREP WORK!
www.brainpop.com - sign in to your student account
Click on “enter code” at top of page
Here is your quiz code: CTDigital2

3. WELCOME TO THIS WORKSHOP!
Dr. Julie A. Evans
Chief Executive Officer
Project Tomorrow
@JulieEvans_PT
Dr. Kari Stubbs
Vice President
BrainPOP
@KariStubbs

4. GETTING TO KNOW EACH OTHER

5. Tweet with us! #CTDigital #CUE17
@JulieEvans_PT @KariStubbs
@SpeakUpEd @BrainPOP

6. WORKSHOP TOPICS
 What does “critical thinking” really mean?
 Best ways to help students develop those skills
 Leveraging digital tools for skill development
 Assessing competencies
 Additional resources for you
 Questions, comments, ideas

7. WORKSHOP TOPICS
 What does “critical thinking” really mean?
 Best ways to help students develop those skills
 Leveraging digital tools for skill development
 Assessing competencies
 Additional resources for you
 Questions, comments, ideas

8.  What does “critical thinking” really mean?
What does that term mean to you?

10. What do
you see?

11.  What does “critical thinking” really mean?
“Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined
process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing,
applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating
information gathered from, or generated by,
observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or
communication, as a guide to belief and action.”
Source:
Scriven & Paul, 8th Annual International
Conference on Critical Thinking and
Education Reform, 1987

12.  What does “critical thinking” really mean?
“Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined
process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing,
applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating
information gathered from, or generated by,
observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or
communication, as a guide to belief and action.”
Source:
Scriven & Paul, 8th Annual International
Conference on Critical Thinking and
Education Reform, 1987

13.  What does “critical thinking” really mean?
“Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined
process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing,
applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating
information gathered from, or generated by,
observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or
communication, as a guide to belief and action.”
Source:
Scriven & Paul, 8th Annual International
Conference on Critical Thinking and
Education Reform, 1987

14.  What does “critical thinking” really mean?
“Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined
process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing,
applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating
information gathered from, or generated by,
observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or
communication, as a guide to belief and action.”
Source:
Scriven & Paul, 8th Annual International
Conference on Critical Thinking and
Education Reform, 1987

15. WHY IS CRITICAL THINKING IMPORTANT TODAY?
1. Information intensive society and economy
2. Accelerating pace of change
3. Employability

16. WHY IS CRITICAL THINKING IMPORTANT TODAY?
 72% of employers say critical thinking is key to their
organization’s success
o But only half say their employees are good
critical thinkers
 93% of employers say a candidate’s competencies
with workplace skills such as critical thinking are
more important then their undergraduate major
Sources:
• American Management Study, 2012
• AACU Survey, 2013

17. QUIZ RESULTS
How important is critical
thinking for today’s students?

18. Most important
skills students
need to master for
future success
% Parents
who agree
% District
Admin who
agree
%
Community
Members
who agree
Critical Thinking 85% 94% 85%
Creativity 75% 78% 71%
Communications 66% 77% 63%
Collaboration 74% 87% 74%
Source:
Project Tomorrow’s Speak Up Research
Project. Data collected in fall 2016 from
514,000 education stakeholders

19. CRITICAL THINKING AS A WORKPLACE SKILL
http://cte.ed.gov/employabilityskills/

20. WHY IS CRITICAL THINKING IMPORTANT TODAY?
 75% of employers want education institutions to
place a higher emphasis on these students’ skills:
o Critical thinking
o Complex problem solving
o Written and oral communications
o Applying knowledge in real world
situations
Source:
• AACU Survey, 2013

21. WORKSHOP TOPICS
 What does “critical thinking” really mean?
 Best ways to help students develop those skills
 Leveraging digital tools for skill development
 Assessing competencies
 Additional resources for you
 Questions, comments, ideas

22. QUIZ RESULTS
What are the best ways for
students to develop workplace
skills?

23. Ways to develop workplace
skills
% of parents
who agree
% of district admin
who agree
% of community
members who
agree
Work experience 80% 79% 81%
Team experience 64% 64% 57%
Using technology within
classes
63% 76% 61%
School leadership 63% 73% 62%
Project-based learning 55% 80% 51%
Taking STEM classes 50% 47% 34%
Using technology outside of
school
49% 56% 50%
Take CTE classes 45% 49% 53%
Source: Speak Up 2016 Research findings

24.  Best ways to help students develop those skills
Recommended strategies for classroom teachers:
 Do not always jump in to help students with answers
 Engage students in brainstorming about new activities
 Provides opportunities for questioning and inquiry
 Leverage activities that support classifying and
categorization, comparing and contrasting
 Enable connection-making – how does this influence that?
 Allow for peer learning, collaborative problem solving
Sources:
• Partnership for 21st Century Skills
• TeacherHub

25.  How digital tools can support your efforts in the
classroom
Let’s think about:
 Reflection activities
 Peer review activities
 Digital storytelling
 Content creation
 Small group activities
 Discussion forums
Source:
• Northwestern University Education Blog

26. WORKSHOP TOPICS
 What does “critical thinking” really mean?
 Best ways to help students develop those skills
 Leveraging digital tools for skill development
 Assessing competencies
 Additional resources for you
 Questions, comments, ideas

27. CRITICAL THINKING SKILL DEVELOPMENT
Our focus today:
 Categorization and classification activities
 Making connections between ideas and concepts
 Creating content as a way to apply knowledge to create
new meaning
 Inquiry activities and self-reflection that document thinking
processes

28. CRITICAL THINKING SKILL DEVELOPMENT
Our focus today:
 Categorization and classification
 Making connections
 Creating content
 Inquiry/self-reflection

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BrainPOP’s GameUP
brainpop.com/games 100 games in all subject areas

30. CRITICAL THINKING SKILL DEVELOPMENT
 Categorization and classification activities
Why important?
o Requires close observation
o Facilitates identification of features and attributes
o Sorting process exercises how to discover, understand and apply
rules to a problem
o Comparison amplifies understanding of differences and similarities

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Choose a Sortify data set
Play with a partner!

33. CRITICAL THINKING SKILL DEVELOPMENT
 Making connections between ideas and concepts
Why important?
o Seeing patterns is a key first step in the process
o As children get older, move from the concrete patterns to making
connections between abstract concepts
o Basis for creativity – finding novel connections and alignments
beyond what we see
o Develops cognitive flexibility

34. Helps the brain transform bits of information into knowledge or understanding
by creating and labeling connections and associations among ideas and
experiences we confront everyday.
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brainpop.com/trademarks.
Concept Mapping

35. Let’s Try One!
1) Login as student
2) Choose any BrainPOP Topic
3) Click Make a Map
4) Begin Mapping
5) If you’d like to share - click submit
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brainpop.com/trademarks.
Make-A-Map

36. CRITICAL THINKING SKILL DEVELOPMENT
 Creating content as a way to apply knowledge to create
new meaning
Why important?
o Process of synthesis and interpretation with an audience in mind
o Promotes new questions, i.e., what is appropriate representation of
these ideas, how can I tell the story of my ideas?
o Applying knowledge to get beyond self
o Development of authentic learning experiences

37. Make-a-Movie
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brainpop.com/trademarks.

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brainpop.com/trademarks.

39. CRITICAL THINKING SKILL DEVELOPMENT
 Inquiry activities and self-reflection that document thinking
processes
Why important?
o Critical thinking = evaluative thinking
o Learning that is active, persistent, self-directed
o Provides an emotionally supportive learning environment
o Promotes development of a growth mindset through self-reflection

40. • addition
• division
• multiplication
• subtraction
• factoring
• hypothesizing
• stats
• isolated variable
• deductive reasoning
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Lure of the Labyrinth
What skills did we practice?

41. WORKSHOP TOPICS
 What does “critical thinking” really mean?
 Best ways to help students develop those skills
 Leveraging digital tools for skill development
 Assessing competencies
 Additional resources for you
 Questions, comments, ideas

42.  Assessing competencies
How do you assess critical
thinking competency?

43. • Vocab:
Have key vocabulary terms been effectively integrated?
• Relationships:
Has student explained concepts/relationships in his/her
words?
• Link Labels:
Are the link labels correct and precise?
• Logical Connections:
Are the connections between ideas logical & accurate?
• Complexity = Understanding?
Does the quantity and complexity of the map nodes reflect
deep understanding or mindless clicking?
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Assessing Concept Maps:

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46. SnapThought
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brainpop.com/trademarks.
Sortify: Game
Assessment with GameUp
Sortify: Data

47. • Reflection
• Communication
• Process
• Assessment
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SnapThought™

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SnapThought™

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TimeZone X: Data Collection

51. Challenge
Class
Summary

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The Quiz Mixer

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The Mixer

54. WORKSHOP TOPICS
 What does “critical thinking” really mean?
 Best ways to help students develop those skills
 Leveraging digital tools for skill development
 Assessing competencies
 Additional resources for you
 Questions, comments, ideas

55. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
www.tomorrow.org/speakup/MakingCriticalThinkingReal_SXSWedu2017.html
o Additional readings on critical thinking
o Links to games and activities from BrainPOP
o Copy of this workshop presentation
Link to sign up for extended trial of MyBrainPOP -
http://bpopne.ws/mbptrial
bit.ly/CTDigitalResources

56. What do
you see
now?

57. “Without data,
you are just
another person
with an
opinion.”
Deming

58. Getting beyond opinion, myth and anecdote when
planning for effective technology use to help students
develop essential skills . . .
1. Tap into the Speak Up reports and infographics
2. Have your class, school and district participate in
the Speak Up Research Project

59. 1. Tap into the Speak Up reports and infographics
National Speak Up reports and infographics
Targeted and thematic reports
Digital learning trends
Mobile learning & social media
Games in the classroom
Blended learning outcomes
Presentations, podcasts and webinars
Services: consulting, workshops, evaluation and efficacy studies
www.tomorrow.org/speakup
@JulieEvans_PT @SpeakUpEd

60. 2. Have your class, school and district participate in
the Speak Up Research Project
Online surveys for:
o K-12 students – individual + group
o Parents – English and Spanish
o Teachers
o Librarians/Media Specialists
o School Site & District Administrators
o Technology Leaders
o Community Members &
Communications Officers
All class, school, district level data given back
to participating entities – with state and
national data for benchmarks – 100% free
service to schools and districts
Surveys open Oct 2017 – Jan 2018
Sign up to be your school contact at:
Gain news insights - have
a louder voice in local,
state and national policies
and programs
http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/MainContactInformation.html

61. 2. Have your local teacher preparation program
participate in the Speak Up Research Project
Online surveys open now for:
Pre-service teachers in community
college, college and university
preparation programs
All student data given back to
participating entities – with state
and national data for benchmarks –
100% free service to colleges and
universities
Speak Up Survey for Tomorrow’s Teachers:
Understand needs and
aspirations of tomorrow’s
teachers
http://www.tomorrow.org/tomorrowsteachers/index.html

63. Dr. Julie A. Evans
Project Tomorrow
@JulieEvans_PT
Dr. Kari Stubbs
BrainPOP
@KariStubbs
March 16, 2017
Thank you for joining us today!