Brian Fitzpatrick English 1102-025 4/28/13 Joining the Conversation: Part 3 American science and math students consistently

demonstrate low test scores, and the science curricula and teacher preparation programs in K-12 science education are weak, (Songer, 2009). This lack in scholarly success is as a direct result in a failure to teach students to thinking critically. This failure has been pointed out and analyzed continually in recent years and yet very little has changed in the public educational system. The question that Im asking in light of this overwhelming evidence is: to what extent is critical thinking taught in high school and how can that extent be improved? US students are distinctively lacking in their ability to think critically as compared to students from other industrialized countries. A study was conducted in an attempt to answer this question and to analyze the methods in place for teaching critical thinking; this study was detailed in the article A Preliminary Investigation into Critical Thinking Skills of Urban High School Students: Role of an IT/STEM Program. To form a base line, students in urban schools were asked to take a test that examined their ability to think critically. On average, the students scored in the 20th percentile which is another way of showing that US students critical thinking abilities are severely lacking. Using this base line, the effectiveness of critical thinking programs could be properly analyzed. STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) is a program

that seeks to introduce students to science, technology, engineering, and math at an early age in both a fun and interesting way. The goal of this is to get these students excited about learning and to show them what one can do when one applies him/herself as well as improving his/her critical thinking skills. The study found that students in schools that had a STEM program had markedly better critical thinking skills than students at schools without a STEM program. Furthermore, it was discovered that upon introducing a STEM program to a school that formerly had no such program in place, the test scores and critical thinking abilities of the students drastically increased (Duran, 2012). If this is the case, why is the overall critical thinking rating for US students so low? I had heard of STEM when I was in middle school yet I have never take part in the program. Neither in middle nor high school did I have access to a STEM program, the same was true for all of the schools around the area. As effective as this STEM program is, its benefits on the nation are limited because it is not in the majority of schools in the US. Location certainly plays a large role in whether or not one has access to a STEM program however, as highlighted by this study, the STEM program cant do its job if it is not available. Despite many attempts to improve the critical thinking skills of students, no major increase in rating or test scores has occurred. While a few programs such as STEM seem to have improved critical thinking, schools have yet to find a solution via the curriculum of accomplishing this same improvement. This search for a standardized method of teaching critical thinking has been going on for decades, starting in the 1990s after a report released by the National Commission of Excellence in Education said that most US students aged 17 were unable to use high order intellectual skills (Willingham, 2008). After the call for critical

thinking skills that followed, Willingham suggests in his article Critical Thinking: Why Is It So Hard To Teach? that the state of the critical thinking ability in US students hasnt changed much. A student who has learned to thoughtfully discuss the causes of the American Revolution from both the British and American perspectives doesnt even think to question how the Germans viewed WWII, (Willingham, 2008). Willingham shows that although US students have been taught to memorize certain situations and can analyze those few situations from many different perspectives, they are still not using critical thinking to do so. The students arent taking the processes that have been taught and applying them to other, new problems. Stephen D. Brookfield, the author of Teaching for Critical Thinking, explains that this happens because students are being taught to thinking critically using a certain method which is by definition opposed to good critical thinking habits. He says that critical thinking is complex and multifaceted, and although critical thinking across many academic disciplines has the same goal, how its employed can be very different. Critical thinking is so hard to teach because it isnt just another school subject such as math and science; one cant memorize how to think critically because critical thinking is always changing in nature (Willingham, 2008). It must be taught alongside with and interwoven into every other subject in order to allow the students to experience all different kinds and critical thinking and how to apply them. While STEM programs have been shown to work locally, work is being done to design new methods of teaching in schools to allow for such improvements in critical thinking to be accomplished more globally. The article How and When does Complex Reasoning Occur? Empirically Driven Development of a Learning Progression Focused on Complex Reasoning and Biodiversity, details the process of creating a new learning progression that aims to achieve

this goal. As of now, subjects such as science are taught as a sequence of science topics (Songer, 2009). This article explains that this progression and method is severely oversimplified in that it doesnt seem to take into account an essential aspect of the NRCs (National Research Council) definition of a learning progression. Successively more sophisticated ways of thinking about a topic they say recognizes the inherent presence and interconnection of content knowledge with inquiry reasoning, (Songer, 2009). This learning progression that is being created takes into consideration that no subject is a collection of facts, rather one must have a broad and connected understanding of the material in order to be able to think critically. Therefore defining a learning progression as only content knowledge without consideration of inquiry reasoning is problematic, (Songer, 2009). This type of learning progression is similar to that of a university level education. Throughout my freshman year in college, I have notice many differences in the how I am taught and the expectations of me as compared to high school such as atmosphere, amount of group work, and work load compared to time spent in class. I feel that I am much easily able to understand, remember, and apply the knowledge and skills that I am learning in college than I was in high school. A study was done to assess the effectiveness of universities in adequately preparing their students for the professional world and this was detailed in the article Critical Thinking Pedagogy and Student Perceptions of University Contributions to Their Academic Development. This study not only showed that universities were indeed preparing students. It also showed to what extent students were being taught to think critically. University students proved to have tremendously increased critical thinking and problem solving skills which also accentuated their readiness for careers over students at the high school level, (Beachboard, 2010). These are exactly the results sought after

for high schools. One can only infer that there are some aspects of universities that high school lack that drives this drastically improved progression. This study also considered many of the aspects of a study that might skew results such as gender, race, and parental education so as to provide the most accurate and clear results. With so much evidence of the success of different learning progressions and academic systems, why isnt more being done to better model high schools after universities? Critical thinking is clearly a hot topic and one that needs some serious attention. All of this research has shown me that the US is in desperate need of a solution for improving the critical thinking abilities of students. It seems that the evidence points to the need for a remodeling of the educational system in order to achieve these desired goals. Such a remodeling should focus on employing the successes and characteristics of universities to guide its creation. Incorporating aspects such as a redesign and redefined learning progression that specifically and intentionally connects content knowledge with critical thinking and problem solving. In addition, this new model should encourage the application of cooperative group work enhancing the learning process and the understanding of critical thinking methods and how to apply them. Beginning my research knowing that critical thinking was an issue in US schools, and now after reading only a fraction of the research works available about critical thinking, I am left questioning why more hasnt been done to address this known problem. It has been 20 years since the last call for improvement in this aspect of the educational system and I think it is absolutely time for another.

References Songer, Nancy Butler; Ben Kelcey; Amelie Wenk Gotwals. 2009. How and When Does Complex Reasoning Occur? Empirically Driven Development of a Learning Progression Focused on Complex Reasoning About Biodiversity. Journal of Research in Science Teaching. http://ehis.ebscohost.com.librarylink.uncc.edu/eds/detail?sid=9d8e97ed-354d-4c87-af86aca73835f221%40sessionmgr115&vid=2&hid=109 Willingham, Daniel T. 2008. Critical Thinking: Why Is It So Hard To Teach? Art Education Policy Review. http://ehis.ebscohost.com.librarylink.uncc.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=8a4dd641-b4ea4644-9f9b-065430611faa%40sessionmgr111&vid=2&hid=109 Duran Mesut and Sherkan Sendag. 2012. A Preliminary Investigation into Critical Thinking Skills of Urban High School Students: Role of an IT/STEM Program. Creative Education. http://ehis.ebscohost.com.librarylink.uncc.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=5893ce48-bb864d73-9899-7641e9ac30b8%40sessionmgr115&vid=2&hid=109 Beachboard, Martine Robinson and John C. Beachboard. 2010. Critical Thinking Pedagogy and Student Perceptions of University Contributions to Their Academic Development. The International Journal of an Emerging Transdiscipline. http://ehis.ebscohost.com.librarylink.uncc.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=0b54528e-d9eb403f-92c8-0c069f4255bc%40sessionmgr115&vid=7&hid=17 Brookfield, Stephen D. 2012. Teaching for Critical Thinking: Tools and Techniques to Help Students Question Their Assumptions. San Francisco: Jossy-Bass.