Traditional education lacks the resources to address everyday social challenges. Today, there is so much information that we need to know how to identify reliable sources and use them to acquire knowledge.
Traditional education is based on a systematic and mechanical learning process where the main objective is memorization, many studies now advocate a different teaching method, one of the main objectives of this educational revolution that we are witnessing is to learn to think. provide students with tools to seek information for themselves and assimilate it critically.
- It is important to change processes and prepare students so that in the future they are able to do a good analysis.
- Solve problems effectively and make good decisions.
- So when it comes to teaching and learning to think.
- It is important to remember that all our actions are based on our thoughts.
- This helps young people become good thinkers and not just focus on memorization.
In most schools, there is no educational model that teaches students to think. Traditional schools continue to use short-term tools, methods and techniques. Teachers spend most of their time teaching students how to solve equations and memorize texts they can forget in a few minutes. Days.
However, many education professionals rely on methodologies based on the understanding and value of questions without answers, creating ways to solve problems through reflection, for this it is also necessary to renew procedures and tools.
“Just as the land, however rich, cannot bear fruit if it is not cultivated, so can the spirit without cultivation. “-Seneca-
Today, many educational institutions have taken a step forward, recognizing that traditional methodology focuses on repetition with very little intrinsic meaning, this model of teaching is ineffective because critical and thoughtful thinking is not implemented.
Thinking-Based Learning (TBL) provides more conscious and in-depth learning that can change the way students process new information. Robert Swartz, one of the most influential figures in the field of education and creator of this method, defines it as a methodology that teaches you to think creatively and critically.
Robert Swartz explains that this methodology came about when he took a history course in Boston, the teacher told his students two different stories and asked them to think about what they should believe. Swartz realized that these children were learning to decide whether what they were reading was something they should accept as true and reliable. In conclusion, he felt that this perspective could apply to everything.
This active methodology goes beyond content because it ensures that students learn to think and have the opportunity to solve real-world problems; In addition, it encourages them to consider the different options and determine which is the best, so the learning process does not depend on the memorization, but on the internalization of the content.
“The result of learning that invites reflection is that students develop vital thinking skills and understand the content of the subjects they study in the standard curriculum in a more rewarding and profound way than in more traditional classes. -Robert Swartz-
To learn to think, the teacher must play the role of facilitator, he must guide students to solve problems, cases and projects together, thus encouraging active participation of students.
Teaching and learning to think requires group work; After all, any thought works best when it’s collaborative. Sharing thoughts and ideas with those around you encourages teamwork, which in turn helps students think and share all kinds of learning.
Dialogue is an invaluable resource for acquiring knowledge. As early as the 5th century . C,” Socrates realized its usefulness and devised a whole method: mayeutics. The socratic method sees problems as a means of developing thought. That said, questions asked in class encourage students to try to answer and/or ask new questions.
In addition, questions are useful for students to increase their ability to structure their ideas, synthesize their answers, and defend them through reasoning, increasing their autonomy, suddenly feeling safe enough to explore unknown areas. In that sense, a good teacher knows which questions are best suited for each situation.
“The highest degree of knowledge is to contemplate why. “Socrates
The technique of thinking the six hats was created by Edward De Bono to facilitate problem solving or analysis of different points of view, stimulates lateral and creative thinking, encourages parallel thinking and is an alternative to traditional reasoning.
The six hats represent six ways of thinking, each of them has a different color, representing the directions of thought that we can use in the face of a problem, in this technique each participant imagines putting on and taking off a hat to indicate the type of thinking they are wearing.