Author: Terrell Heick

Standing for Critical Thinking and Progress by Terrell Heick At TeachThought, we have always focused on promoting critical thinking cross for use in ‘human’ applications–namely, people (i.e., education stakeholders) and places (i.e., communities). Our mission has been apolitical by design—centered on improving thought, education, and human potential without aligning with political ideologies or factions. However, recent events in the United States have made remaining entirely apolitical a luxury we can no longer afford. The Idea of Liberalism in Education This brings us to the idea of liberalism. To be clear, ‘liberalism,’ is not ‘Democratic party as we use the term.…

  What Is Cognitive Dissonance? A Definition For Teaching Understanding Cognitive Dissonance: A Psychological Framework for Growth and Learning Human beings strive for consistency between their thoughts, beliefs, and actions.  When an inconsistency arises—when beliefs and behaviors clash—it creates a sense of discomfort or tension known as cognitive dissonance. This concept, first introduced by psychologist Leon Festinger in 1957, provides insight into how humans respond to conflict within themselves and how they work to resolve internal contradictions. Its implications stretch across fields like psychology, decision-making, behavior modification, and, crucially, education. What Is Cognitive Dissonance? Cognitive dissonance is the psychological discomfort…

A critical thinking strategy is simply a ‘way’ to encourage or facilitate the cognitive act of thinking critically. Critical thinking is the ongoing application of unbiased, accurate, and ‘good-faith’ analysis, interpretation, contextualizing, and synthesizing multiple data sources and cognitive perspectives in pursuit of understanding. What are the 7 critical thinking strategies? Someone emailed me recently asking that question and I immediately wondered how many more than seven there were. 27? 77? Infinity? This is a post that’s going to have to be updated over time because do define, clarify, offer tips for and examples of each would be a short…

by Terry Heick How can you tell if a student really understands something? They learn early on to play the game—tell the teacher and/or the test what they ‘want to know,’ and even the best assessment leaves something on the table. (In truth, a big portion of the time students simply don’t know what they don’t know.) The idea of understanding is, of course, at the heart of all learning, and solving it as a puzzle is one of the three pillars of formal learning environments and education. 1. What do they need to understand (standards)? 2. What (and how)…

by Terry Heick What does ‘critical thinking’ mean? Well, that depends on who you ask. For educators, as a term, critical thinking is similar to words like democracy, global, and organic: You hear people use them all the time, but no one seems to understand exactly what they mean. This kind of etymological opacity lends itself to them being misused, fumbled awkwardly, and abused. Over the long term, such abuse empties it of meaning until we all either throw it around casually in the middle of an overly complex sentence to bolster our own credibility or avoid the term altogether. If…

by Terry Heick What’s the 3-2-1 strategy? The 3-2-1 strategy is simply a format that can frame–well, really anything. Examples Of The 3-2-1 Strategy It doesn’t even have to be about about teaching and learning. You might ask someone to name… 3 of your favorite genres of music, 2 of your favorite songs, and 1 pattern you noticed making that list of genres and songs 3 cities you’ve visited, 2 of your favorite memories of those 3 cities, and 1 place you’d like to go next 3 causes of pollution, 2 solutions that could help address those causes, and 1…

by Terry Heick The long-term output of any school should be not just proficient students, but enabled learners. An “enabled” learner can grasp macro views, uncover micro details, ask questions, plan for new knowledge and transfer thinking across divergent circumstances. This doesn’t happen by content “knowledge holding,” or even by the fire of enthusiasm, but by setting a tone for learning that suggests possibility, and by creating a culture of can. First, it’s important to realize that a “culture” is comprised of tangible factors (students) and intangible factors (curiosity). It is also ever-present — it exists whether or not we…

by Terry Heick This is a quick post that just occurred to me while writing about–well, writing about writing. I was brainstorming ways to use technology to help students improve their writing and realized that over and over again, I was thinking about the process of writing and how crucial it is to quality of whatever the writer is left with at the end. Great writing starts at the beginning, whether with an idea or need or purpose of social context or spark of inspiration. Whatever it is that ’causes’ the writing to begin–what’s wrought there at the beginning is…

I. Human beings are capable of extraordinary joy and extraordinary suffering. II. Suffering is inherent in the human condition and is not entirely correctable. III. Suffering that occurs as a kind of product–something occurring by design–is, however, correctable. IV. Many of the issues that cause suffering do, in fact, occur ‘by design’ and are thus correctable. V. Identifying and prioritizing these ‘issues’ is the work of a culture and its human infrastructure. VI. This will not happen automatically, nor without great effort, affection, patience, and a willingness to not reach for ‘quick solutions.’ VII. The ability to prioritize and confront and…

A Basic Framework For Teaching Critical Thinking In School by Terrell Heick In What Does Critical Thinking Mean?, we offered that ‘(c)ritical thinking is the suspension of judgment while identifying biases and underlying assumptions to draw accurate conclusions.’ Of course, there are different definitions of critical thinking. The American Philosophical Association defines it as, “Critical thinking is the ability to think clearly and rationally, understanding the logical connection between ideas. It involves being active (rather than reactive) in your learning process, and it includes open-mindedness, inquisitiveness, and the ability to examine and evaluate ideas, arguments, and points of view.” But…