Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc. 312 Unit 4 The Teacher Building students’ abilities to use progressively more complex thinking skills is a major goal of education. Younger children are not able to see problems with a perspective other than their own, a skill necessary for crit- ical thinking. They can, however, learn to think about different possibilities when presented with a problem. Young children also have a sense of curios- ity, an important part of learning to think critically. They can ask questions and learn to ask better ones. Teachers can use these abilities to begin to lay the framework for critical thinking in the elementary grades. The ability to think abstractly comes in later childhood and adoles- cence. Students gradually develop the ability to take charge of their own thinking and learning. They learn to ask probing questions and find new solutions. Students begin to rely on reason, not just emotion, in analyz- ing points of view. They can develop criteria and standards for evaluating their own thinking. As they enter adolescence, students can learn to exam- ine problems closely and reject information that is incorrect, irrelevant, or biased. Skills such as these evolve through activities that incorporate critical-thinking skills. In Chapter 13, you learned about the importance of setting clear learn- ing goals that identify how students will demonstrate their learning. This is especially important in developing objectives (or outcomes) that promote critical-thinking skills. Note that the whole objective, not just the verb, must reflect a particular level. Because of their students’ abilities, elementary teachers primarily use objectives at the lower end of the thinking scale as students build their knowledge base. As students move to middle and high school, the propor- tion of objectives shifts to those in the higher levels. High school teachers must include more objectives and learning activities that focus on analyze, evaluate, and create levels to help students refine important critical-thinking skills necessary for success in college, career, and life. Key Instructional Skills No matter which activities you devise to meet your learning objectives, there are basic teaching skills you will utilize constantly. Several directly relate to developing and presenting learning activities. These include developing effective questions and examples to stimulate learning. Teachers also must know how to judge tim- ing or pacing within a lesson and help students reflect on their learning at the end of a lesson (Figure 14.3). Teacher education students learn these skills and practice them in various situations. It is in student teaching and their first years as teachers, however, that they truly understand their impor- tance. That is why even experienced teachers continue to look for ways to enhance these key teaching skills. monkeybusinessimages/iStock/Getty Images Figure 14.3 Effective teachers encourage students to reflect on their learning at the end of a lesson.