EDCT 5435 - Teaching Kids to Think Without Losing Your Mind

Course Description

There is currently a renewed focus on developing skillful thinking in our students, most apparent among recent standards, but equally stressed among leaders in business, industry, and higher education. Teachers, meantime, are left in a quandry about how to transition from teaching content to teaching students how to think about content. This course is a blueprint for K-12 teachers of any subject area, all of whom are tasked with this daunting challenge. Participants will learn how to foster and support students' thinking using six teacher-friendly strategies from Harvard's Project Zero "innovating with intelligence" project, each of which is designed to simultaneously create a culture of thinking, build mental muscle incrementally across time, and transform student learning from an act of passive reception to one of continuous, "minds-on" learning. And as participants further explore how learning style plays an important role in the success of this endeavor-for both teacher and students-they will gain unique perspectives about how to make a seemingly complex process both manageable and productive.