Get Your Students Hired
I find that no matter the age of my students, many are lacking in critical thinking skills. Often they can't apply reason to a problem to figure out a solution -- for example, if a knob is missing on a piece of equipment, but there are 5 other removeable knobs that are exactly the same on that same piece of equipment, how can you figure out what the setting is on the control that's missing a knob? Beyond the technical skills they need to do the job, they need problem solving skills. How do other instructors address this issue?
I agree with this statement. When discussing critical thinking skills in class, I find several areas to use as an example. One area I discuss is how beliefs years back were established and handed down with out the aspect of critical thinking. Prejudice is an example identified in a text recently used.
I use the think out loud method to help the students see how I figure it out. This allows them a starting point for the next time they come across a problem. The think out loud method gives them structure to grasp previous experiences and how they can apply their thoughs/experiences in a meaningful way.
I use the think out loud method to help the students see how I figure it out. This allows them a starting point for the next time they come across a problem. The think out loud method gives them structure to grasp previous experiences and how they can apply their thoughs/experiences in a meaningful way.
Julia,
This is a question that all of us educators ask ourselves. I use some cuing steps to get the students to think about how they can problem solve something. I have them do a "STOP", "THINK" and "REWARD". So when they are facing a situation they do the stop, think, reward model. The stop is for them to stand still, think look at the situation, and then make a decision. The reward then comes as a result of the making the right decision.
Hope this helps give you some ideas to work with.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
Thank you for your suggestion. I can see how this would work for the example of the oven temps, and I'll use it to address that specific issue.
However, there are more situations that arise in the classroom every term than I could possibly address in this manner.
My question is more about how to encourage the students to think for themselves. I know they can come up with the right answer if they think about it, but instead they want me to give them the right answer. So how do I encourage them to approach situations in a logical manner?
Thanks in advance.
Julia,
When I have had to teach sequence to my students I developed a check list for them to follow. I had them in teams of 2-3 students create a flip chart drawing using colored markers. I was teaching them a six step sequence they have to follow in order to meet legal and programmatic requirements. There were 6 teams so each team created a cartoon type of drawing to illustrate the step they were charged with highlighting. In this case step one was document. So they drew a doctor, a female sheep (ewe) as well as the letter U, and a mint (document). The drawing was posted up on the wall. So then I had the class recite out loud each of the six steps as I pointed to each drawing. I left the posters up for two weeks and I went through them with the class at the beginning of each session. Then I took the posters down and just pointed to the place on the wall where each poster had been located and had the students recite the sequence step out loud. This is called loci or location learning. The end result was that each student memorized and followed the steps when they went into the lab. I would create a similar learning strategy to get them to check the ovens and temps as a regular part of their processing sequence. Hope this makes sense for you, if not let me know and I can offer some other suggestions.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
Thank you for your response.
Because of the environment we're in, there are ample opportunities for students to apply critical thinking skills. There's no need to create situations. Let me give you another example: There are 6 ovens, at 6 different temps. Some students will turn down the temp on a particular oven to the desired temperature, never realizing that because of the stone decks, it could take hours to cool down. They're not looking at the other ovens to see that some of them are already at the desired temp! How do I get them to look at the other ovens first? That's what I'm really asking.
TIA
Eitan,
Critical thinking is important part of career success. The more we can offer students the opportunities to practice and develop their problem solving and thinking skills the more valuable they will be when they are out in the work place.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
I am part of a creative technical program and in my experience, troubleshooting is not something you can teach but rather, something that can be part of a hands-on project.
If needs be, a technical assignment can be 'modified' with some deliberate problems that will force students to workaround or troubleshoot.
When I was in the army, I was in communication and had to learn to operate hi-tech equipment.
Our performance exams included us needing to come in and assemble a piece of equipment and operate it. It always was 'handled' by our instructors prior to the exam, on purpose forcing us to troubleshoot (power cord not all the way in, paper between the battery and contact etc..)