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Christopher Melvin Rodriguez

Instructor Douglas

ENG 112-01

1 February 2017

Critical Thinking: Should We Teach More of It

Have you ever thought about how teachers teach in school and how the students use

critical thinking in school? Teaching Critical Thinking in schools is a very controversial topic in

our society today and how it can affect students who take standardized tests. There have been

many articles on whether we should teach it and the different ways that it can be taught. Maricia

Clemmitt, article Teaching Critical Thinking talks about the ways the students ability to use

critical thinking can affect students, how we can make kids smarter, and if the PISA test really

matter. Ron Ritchhart and David Perkins, article Making Thinking Visible challenges the idea

of critical thinking and suggests six key principles of visible thinking for students.

Marcia Clemmitt writes a very interesting article on the viable ways we can make kids

smatter and discusses if the PISA test should really matter in her article which was published in

2015. She truly writes an informational and statistic article giving many examples which helps

her get the point toward the audience. Clemmitt explains how experts can make kids smatter by

teaching numerous critical thinking approaches in school. She shows current examples for

example she states an example that cultivating certain attitudes toward thinking is a vital part of

learning to think effectively, and constant reinforcement of these attitudes is required said by
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Art Costa, a professor at the California State University. Clemmitt also explains if the PISA test

actually matters and weather it really shows the quality of American schools. She continues to

help the audience by organizing We Can Make Kids Smarter and Does the PISA Test Matter

into two sections. She enhances the article by explaining to the audience by giving an example

which is that in 2012 our reading and science scores internationally was average and our math

was below average. Some of the strengths in her article is that she points out standardized testing

statistics and what the PISA tests actually measures which is a students potential for deep

analytical thinking and problem solving. Overall she gives valid information on how experts can

make kids smarter and an argument on wheater the PISA test actually matters and how it should

or should not shows the quality of American schools.

In Ron Ritchhart and David Perkins article Making Thinking Visible they write a very

organized and through article on what visible thinking is and methods of it they also give the

audience an example of how a teacher used a visible thinking in her classroom. They continue

with a strength in the article with giving the audience examples of what visible thinking is some

of the examples are learning is a consequence of thinking, good thinking is not only a matter of

skills but also a matter of dispositions, the development of thinking requires making thinking

visible, the development of thinking is a social endeavor etc. They also discuss an example of a

some of the principles in action they took a preK-12 school in Australia demonstrate these

strategies in a class setting. However, the some of the audience may not relate to this because it is

only being shown in a preK setting as of right now and may not relate to the older students trying

to understand how to make thinking visible and Ron Rithhart and Don Perkins show a

tremendous amount of evidence throughout their article. The lack of data for the older students
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seems to drag the article a little but not too much that it takes away from the point it is trying to

convey they also give teachers a culture of thinking when trying to make thinking visible.

Critical Thinking is clearly an ongoing debate on if there are ways to make children

smarter and if PISA test really matter on determining quality of American schools. Also, if

making thinking visible can really improve critical thinking in an individual. Ron Ritchhart and

David Perkins successfully made there point with examples of strategies on how to make

thinking visible by using tons of facts and a real-life example on the strategies in a classroom

scenario. Both authors would agree that thinking is a very important matter in the school system.

The American culture has led us to many questions with the public-school system for

standardized tests and the use of critical thinking in them. How is it taught? Is it taught in a

correct way? Why should a test determine a societies quality? Even though public is speaking up

about this it is up to the childrens future articles like Clemmitts and Richharts & Perkins to keep

the conversations relevant so other experts in the future can address this in the future.
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References

Clemmitt, Marcia. "Teaching Critical Thinking." CQ Researcher 10 Apr. 2015: 313-36. Web. 1

Feb. 2017.

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Lyman, F. T. (1981). The responsive classroom discussion: The inclusion of all students. In A.

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Marshall, H. H. (1988). In pursuit of learning-oriented classrooms. Teaching and Teacher

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Perkins, D. N., & Ritchhart, R. (2004). When is good thinking? In D. Y. Dai & R. J. Sternberg

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and development (pp. 351384). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Perkins, D. N., Tishman, S., Ritchhart, R., Donis, K., & Andrade, A. (2000). Intelligence in the

wild: A dispositional view of intellectual traits. Educational Psychology Review, 12(3), 269293.
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Ritchhart, R. (2002). Intellectual character: What it is, why it matters, and how to get it. San

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Ritchhart, R., Hadar, L., & Turner, T. (2008, March). Uncovering students' thinking about

thinking using concept maps. Paper to be presented at American Educational Research

Association, New York.

Ritchhart, R., Palmer, P., Church, M., & Tishman, S. (2006, April). Thinking routines:

Establishing patterns of thinking in the classroom. Paper presented at American Educational

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Ritchhart, R., & Perkins, D. N. (2000). Life in the mindful classroom: Nurturing the disposition

of mindfulness. Journal of Social Issues, 56(1), 2747.