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- Support SARSEF for FREE using your Arizona State Tax Credit!
- Arizona STEM Adventure Gives Students Opportunity for Hands-On Science
- SARSEF Named as the New Host of the Arizona Regional Junior Science and Humanities Symposium
- SARSEF’s Virtual Science and Engineering Fair 2021: Update
- Mentors Play a Key Role in Supporting High School Students Preparing for the SARSEF Science and Engineering Fair
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Thoughts about Critical Thinking/Problem Solving
Critical Thinking can be deployed at any time, in any context. It is a type of thought that even 3-year olds can engage in – and even trained scientists can fail in.
Knowing that one should think critically is not the same as being able to do so. That requires domain knowledge and practice.
Within a content area like science, students have more context clues to help them figure out which metacognitive strategy to use
Background knowledge is necessary to engage in scientific critical thinking.
– Daniel T. Willingham
Additional Thoughts….Why Students Don’t Critically Think….
- Too many Facts, too little conceptualizing
- Too much memorizing, too little thinking
- Lecture and rote memorization doesn’t require critical thinking
- Students are not trained to think
- Critical thinking is more than engagement
– Mark Jon Snyder, Elon University