How to teach and learn to think?

Traditional education is based on a systematic and mechanical learning process in which the main weight is supported by memorization. Currently, there are many studies that defend a different way of teaching. Learning to think is one of the main objectives of this educational revolution which little by little we are attending. The objective is to provide students with tools to search for information and assimilate it critically.

We must change processes and prepare students so that in the future they can solve problems effectively and make decisions that start from a good analysis. Therefore, teaching how to think means that good thinking permeates all our actions in the classroom so that young people become good thinkers and not just dedicate themselves to memorizing.

Why teach and learn to think?

In most educational centers there is not usually an educational model that teaches use thought. The traditional school is still steeped in short-term tools, methods and techniques; He spends almost all his time teaching students to solve equations and memorize texts that will probably be forgotten in days without leaving any trace.

Many education professionals are betting on methodologies that focus on understanding, on the value of questions rather than answers, creating new ways to solve problems using thinking. To achieve this, we also need to renew procedures and tools.

What is Thinking-Based Learning (TBL)?

Currently, many educational institutions have taken a step forward, recognizing that traditional methodology focuses on learning by repetition with very little intrinsic meaning. This teaching model is ineffective because critical and reflective thinking is not put into practice.

Thinking-based learning (TBL) provides more conscious and deeper learning that changes the way the learner approaches new information. Robert Swartz, one of the most influential personalities in the field of education and creator of this method, defines it as a methodology in which people are taught to think creatively and critically.

Robert Swartz explains that this methodology arose when he attended a class given by a History professor in Boston. He offered his students two different stories to confront and asked them to figure out which one they should believe. Swartz realized that these children were learning to decide whether what they were reading was something they should accept as truthful and reliable, and he discovered that this perspective could be applied to everything.

This active methodology goes beyond the contents, ensuring that students learn to think and have the opportunity to solve real-world problems using that content, taking into account different options and investigating which is the best solution option. So that the learning process does not depend on memorization, but on the internalization of the contents.

Collaborative thinking in the classroom

To learn to think in the classroom the teacher is required to be a facilitator and guide to student teams to solve problems, cases and projects together. With this, the active participation of students is encouraged.

Group work is crucial in classrooms that teach thinking, since all thinking has better results when it is collaborative. Thinking together with others about important issues requires teamwork, a way of collaborating with others that makes us reflect and share learning.

The importance of questions to learn to think

Dialogue is a resource of incalculable value for the generation of knowledge. Already in the 5th century BC, Socrates realized its usefulness and designed an entire method: maieutics. The Socratic method understands the use of questions as a way to develop thinking. The questions we ask in the classroom are the stimulus for students to try to answer and/or ask new questions.

The questions are intended for students to increase their ability to structure their ideas, synthesize their answers and defend them through reasoning., increasing their degree of autonomy to move with similar tools in unknown fields. In this sense, a good teacher knows the types of questions and knows which ones are most appropriate for each situation.

Six hats to think about

The six thinking hats is a technique created by Edward De Bono to facilitate the resolution or analysis of problems from different points of view. It favors and stimulates lateral and creative thinking, encourages parallel thinking and is an alternative to traditional reasoning.

The six hats represent six ways of thinking, each with six colors that represent the directions of thought that we can use when facing a problem. In this technique, each of the participants imagines putting on and taking off a hat to indicate the type of thinking she is using.

You might be interested…