Critical thinking

How to teach
critical and creative thinking
Dr Britta Jensen
Marist College North Shore
Dr Robyn Moloney
Macquarie University
Introductions...
Overview of this session
Why creative and critical thinking in languages?
Intersection with the critical inquiry needed to explore intercultural issues
(Robyn: research evidence)
Ideas and methods from Philosophy for Children
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Thinking tools and thinking skills
Metalanguage of thought
Community of inquiry
Context
Why? Rationale
‘… achieving proficiency in other languages is one of the
great learning experiences in the human condition … the
compelling reasons for learning languages reside in the
intellectual enrichment of the individual learner – a better
understanding of the world, Australia’s place in it, and the
many communities within Australia.’
(Board of Studies, French K-10 Syllabus, p.8)
Aims
The (Language) Syllabus aims to enable students to:
● develop communication skills
● focus on languages as systems
● and gain insights into the relationship between language
and culture
Objectives
ACARA general capabilities
CEO Statement on Authentic Learning (2015)
Teachers enable authentic learning when they:
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… foster creativity through open-ended tasks …
… provide challenges that require higher order thinking …
… model respect and trust in relationships …
… demonstrate commitment to both excellence and equity in
learning ...
The Challenges
▪ How do we facilitate the development of (critical and
creative) thinking skills in our students?
▪ How do we find the balance between the cognitive needs
of our learners and the content demands of our
languages?
Get Creative…
...From Day 1
Danske navne
Kvinder
Mænd
Anette
Helle
Anne
Erik
Thorvald Peder
Birgitte
Katrine
Trine
Hans
Nils
Viggo
Bodil
Line
Lis
Svend
Axel
Thomas
Jytte
Lone
Alma
Johan
Anders
Arne
Concordia Language Villages
Nomen est omen
Nominative determinism
Louis
Renowned warrier
Frank
Frenchman or free man
Vincent
conquering
Charles
Free man
Zinedine
beauty of the faith
Nomen est omen
Nominative determinism
Ratatouille
Croissant
Choosing target language names
- Benefits and implications:
Authenticity of context
Authenticity of questioning
Encourages risk taking
Helps to build trust among learners
The “target language” identity
The L2 future self- (Dornyei & Ushida 2009) now recognised
as a major factor in motivation for language learning
Other than a name identity, how else can this identity be
nurtured?
Very important in supporting elective choices, continuity,
transition to University study (Moloney and Harbon 2014).
Continues to develop through the year(s)
How do you define creative?
What kinds of creative activities or tasks work well for you?
Chat with a partner (2 minutes)
What ideas can we take from
Philosophy for Children?
Philosophy for Children - the four Cs
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Caring
○ Listening & valuing
○ Consideration and respect for others and their interests
Collaborative
○ Communicating and supporting
○ Working constructively within a group of learners
Critical
○ Questioning and reasoning
○ Justifying and evaluating ideas
Creative
○ Connecting and suggesting
○ Introducing new thoughts and building on those of others
Philosophy for Children - the four Cs
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Caring
○ Listening & valuing
○ Consideration and respect for others and their interests
Collaborative
○ Communicating and supporting
○ Working constructively within a group of learners
Critical
○ Questioning and reasoning
○ Justifying and evaluating ideas
Creative
○ Connecting and suggesting
○ Introducing new thoughts and building on those of others
Thinking skills should be explicitly
taught and practiced (Cam, 2006).
Thinking through Modern Foreign
Languages (Lin & Mackay, 2004)
What does thinking look like in your
classroom?
Thinking skills - a non exhaustive list
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Questioning
Give reasons
Make distinctions, suggestions and inferences
Examine generalisations
Identify (underlying) assumptions
Use examples and counterexamples Engage with the meta-language of thought - to reflect
on one’s own and others’ thinking moves
Thinking skills - a non exhaustive list
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Questioning
Give reasons
Make distinctions, suggestions and inferences
Examine generalisations
Identify (underlying) assumptions
Use examples and counterexamples Engage with the meta-language of thought - to reflect on one’
s own and others’ thinking moves
Questions
“To inquire is first and foremost to question”
Phil Cam
Teacher talk and questions
Pattern I-R-E initiation- response- evaluation
Example? Uses?
The purpose of such questioning is to elicit information from the students so
that the teacher can ascertain whether they know the material.(Hall, 2002)
More Productive talk does not just happen , needs to be deliberately
systematically planned (what do I want them to discover, discuss?)
Teacher thinking => student thinking
3 Blind Mice (A nursery rhyme)
Three blind mice.
Three blind mice.
See how they run!
See how they run!
They all ran after the farmer’s wife, who cut off their tails with a carving knife.
Did you ever see such a sight in your life, as three blind mice?!
Question Quadrant
Comprehension (“Look
Brainstorm Questions– there
Textual
could be a number of answers,
and See” Questions) –
Questions
none are wrong so long as they
the answer can be
fit with what is in the text.
found in the text
How many mice
Why were the mice
blind?
were there?
Closed
Questions
Who wrote ‘Three
Blind Mice’?
“Ask an Expert”–the
answer can be found
from a reliable source.
Is it right to be cruel
to animals?
Intellectual
Questions
Open
Questions
Discussion Questions - The
BIG QUESTIONS that require
thinking beyond the text.
Question quadrant
On voit un petit garçon dans une
planète étrange. Il y a des fleurs. Il y a
des étoiles. Le petit garçon regarde le
vapeur de la planète.
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Que pense-t-il?
Où est le petit garçon?
Quelle sorte de vapeur est-il?
Pourquoi est-il sur cette planète?
Source: http://www.magdasayeg.com
Ways to use the question quadrant
● Teacher to prepare and circulate questions of different types
and ask students to correctly position them
● Ask students to generate (compose) questions of each type
● Ask students to correctly place others’ questions
Value of the question quadrant
● Makes explicit the different types of questions
● Makes students aware of the different functions of
questions
● Not all questions are equally hard to formulate or hard
to answer
● Gives students the capacity to question - leading to
deeper (student led) inquiry
Evaluate: Question quadrant
Question types explored: grammatical structure of
● Yes / No questions
● Information-seeking questions
● Wh-Questions
Student comment - baffled: “This feels like English class”
Intersection with intercultural learning
(language)
Importance of classroom talk in constructing diverse
knowledge and opinions together. Can be elicited by
* thoughtful questions, planned ahead (what do I want them to
explore, discover?) (may involve wait-time, protocol)
Morgan (2008) Harbon & Moloney (2012, 2013, 2016)
Going beyond information seeking questions
Noticing, surmising, interpreting, constructing……..(HSC interpretation
questions- relationships? Implications? intent?)
creation of community of learners, through classroom patterns of discourse
(Hall, 2002)
May involve linguistic risk-taking (Byram, Gribkova & Starkey, 2002). The
teacher takes a risk in asking students (planned) questions without fixed
answers.
Questions for enquiry: etiquette at a Spanish dinner party
T ……. What’s missing?
S Bye!
T Adios, yep. What else is missing?
S Thank you.
T Thank you. There is no way of thanking. … What else is not there?
T There isn’t a word in this dialogue about thank you or please. There is ‘mucho gusto’, and ‘very
pleased to meet’ which are very respectful. But at no point do they say ‘thanks’. What else is not
there?
S Por favor.
T Si. ‘Por favor.’…..? Do you think they are like polite or impolite?
S Ya. Polite.
T
…. So, how do they express the politeness and the respect?
S
Compliments.
T
Que mas?
S
They invite them to their house?
T
Yeah. So they invite them over. That’s very typical in Spain. Before you leave you say “Oh how
about you come to our house in two weeks? Nos vemos en dos semanas.” No?
Thinking skills - a non exhaustive list
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Questioning
Give reasons
Make distinctions, suggestions and inferences
Examine generalisations
Identify (underlying) assumptions
Use examples and counterexamples Engage with the meta-language of thought - to reflect
on one’s own and others’ thinking moves
Metalanguage of thought:
Teaching higher order mental
stage language
Brainstorm a quick list of “mental state
language” in your target language.
(2 minutes)
Do your Stage 5 students know these terms?
Programme description:
“This unit includes...describing and expressing
opinions about clothes…”
A mon avis…
Je suis d’accord avec toi/vous
Je ne suis pas d’accord avec toi/vous
Je crois (craindre)
Je pense que (penser)
Je sais (savoir)
In my opinion
I agree with you
I disagree with you
I believe
I think
I know
Language of Opinion
Pour aborder un sujet…
Ecoutez…
Dites…
En ce qui concerne…
Dans la domaine de…
A propos de…
Au sujet de…
Il s’agit de…
Pour exprimer une réaction, une
opinion
C’est bon / normal / chouette.
C’est triste / dommage / ridicule /
épouvantable.
C’est un navet. / Quel navet!
Je suis content(e) / ravi(e) / déçu(e).
Je pense que…
Assessment
Part B (20 marks) Write the transcript of an interview with an expert about your
chosen area of interest. Depending on the subject matter, this
could be a same-aged peer living in France, a famous athlete,
a musician, the French PM, etc. Students are strongly
encouraged to use the ‘language of opinion and evaluation.’
One half page written in French
Student work sample - Interview (1)
Interview With Pierre Rolland -- Fred: F, Pierre: P
F: Bonjour, Pierre! Ca va?
P: Bonjour Fred. Ca va tres bien, merci.
F: Alors, comment est-il d'être un cycliste professionnel?
P: C’est bon.
F: Quelle a été votre tournée préférée?
P: 2012, quand j’etais huitième.
F: Que visez-vous pour cette année?
P: Gagner.
F: Pensez-vous que l'australie est forte?
P: Oui, Australie est tres forte. Cadel Evans peut gagner.
F: Comment pensez-vous de dopage?
P: Je pense que c’est un disgrace.
F: Merci pour l’interview, Pierre.
P: Merci.
Student work sample - Interview (2)
Interviewer- Bonjour! Je suis ici avec Zinedine Zidane, Zinedine comment ca va?
Zinedine Zidane- Bonjour! Tres bien merci.
I- Parlons le foot. Comment est-il different en France en Australie? Est-il en France?
Z- Sans aucun doute, je crois que le foot est plus importante, plus une affaire. Si vous perdez vous restez
a la maison. Si vous sortez vous etes insulte. Si votre équipe perd un match important, méfiez-vous.
I- Que
Z- Je
pensez-vous du foot en Australie?
pense que c'est le développement et besoin de quelque temps pour devenir le meilleur, il peut être.
I- Comment comparez-vous les ligues? pensez-vous qu'ils sont incomparables?
Z- Loin de la, ils sont à des stades distincts. Ils pourraient avoir un grand écart entre eux, mais une fois que la
ligue française était comme ça.
I- Pensez-vous qu'un jour que l'Australie pourrait être aussi bon que France dans le monde du football?
Z- Peut-etre, s'ils s'efforcent et travaillent quelque chose de dur est possible.
Take home: work with partner same TL
What could this look like in your TL, in one chosen topic area?
List structures/ expressions of opinion, attitude, etc useful in the topic area.
Construct an assessment task for Stage 4/5 in which students have the chance
to construct an argument within the topic area, using some of the techniques of
creative and critical thinking
Map backwards, how you will scaffold towards this task.
Philosophy for Children
Methodology:
Community of Inquiry (COI)
Community of Inquiry: Procedure
1. Introduce a stimulus (image, story, video clip…)
2. Generate questions in response to ‘what did you
notice, find puzzling / interesting?’
3. Write all questions on board
4. “Evaluate” questions - take note of similarities /
differences to compose more abstract questions
5. Choose a question for your community to explore
Community of Inquiry: Expectations
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Generally sit in a circle
One person speaks at a time
When not speaking, active listening
Students encouraged to ‘build on’
Teacher to facilitate and point out /
applaud meta-language of thought as
appropriate
Promotes equality,
respect within the
community
Scaffolding inquiry
Community of Inquiry: social benefits
Students learn how to respectfully disagree - because
the focus is explicitly on agreeing or disagreeing with a
claim rather than taking issue with a person.
● Collaborative, respectful dialogue
● Active listening
● Trust-building - leads to considered risk taking
Community of Inquiry: cognitive benefits
Students practice:
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How to question
How to examine a question,
How to contribute to a discussion (to agree / disagree / supply an
example or counterexample),
How to refine ideas in accordance with new information
Development towards contentious Extension course issues- needs
classroom management!
One Classroom example:
Stage 5 French
Stage 5 Moving Between Cultures (MBC.1)
A student explores the interdependence of language and
culture in a range of texts and contexts.
Students learn about:
Students learn to:
• cultural concepts and ways they are
reflected in language and behaviour
• identify and analyse ways in which
culture is reflected in language use in
diverse contexts
• the value of developing respect for and
appreciation of other cultures
• etiquette and ethical behaviour
associated with cross-cultural
communication.
• discuss and compare the values and
beliefs of diverse cultures
• reflect on attitudes and practices that
differ from their own
Stage 5 Moving Between Cultures (MBC.1)
A student explores the interdependence of language and
culture in a range of texts and contexts.
Students learn about:
Students learn to:
• cultural concepts and ways they are
reflected in language and behaviour
• identify and analyse ways in which
culture is reflected in language use in
diverse contexts
• the value of developing respect for and
appreciation of other cultures
• etiquette and ethical behaviour
associated with cross-cultural
communication.
• discuss and compare the values and
beliefs of diverse cultures
• reflect on attitudes and practices that
differ from their own
Stage 5 Moving Between Cultures (MBC.1)
A student explores the interdependence of language and
culture in a range of texts and contexts.
Students learn about:
Students learn to:
• identify and analyse ways in which
culture is reflected in language use in
diverse contexts
• the value of developing respect for and
appreciation of other cultures
• discuss and compare the values and
beliefs of diverse cultures
The stimulus text
In the wake of 13/11 in Paris
Engaging with an authentic text
What did you find striking / puzzling about the text?
● Can flowers really combat guns?
● What makes someone typically French?
● How are all children alike?
Engaging with an authentic text
What did you find striking / puzzling about the text?
● Can flowers really combat guns?
● What makes someone typically French?
● How are all children alike?
Is he a typical French child?
NO
Yes
based on judgments about appearance based on his language ability
his father’s claim that this is “our home”
In the course of the discussion - aim to identify cultural
stereotypes and dispel prejudice
Stage 5 Moving Between Cultures (MBC.1)
A student explores the interdependence of language and
culture in a range of texts and contexts.
Students learn about:
Students learn to:
• identify and analyse ways in which
culture is reflected in language use in
diverse contexts
• the value of developing respect for and
appreciation of other cultures
• discuss and compare the values and
beliefs of diverse cultures
A second example...
Stage 5 Moving Between Cultures (MBC.1)
A student explores the interdependence of language and
culture in a range of texts and contexts.
Students learn about:
Students learn to:
• cultural concepts and ways they are
reflected in language and behaviour
• identify and analyse ways in which
culture is reflected in language use in
diverse contexts
• discuss and compare the values and
beliefs of diverse cultures
COI to explore MBC
COI using a culturally salient stimulus
“En suisse, on nettoie même les montagnes”
Questions...
● Is French more than just France?
● How does this video showcase cultural stereotypes?
○ Switzerland as pristine, efficient, Swiss people as nature
loving, collaborative, technologically advanced…
○ Languages - not a barrier to nationhood
● Do French dialects sound different in different parts of the
world? Are they mutually intelligible?
● Is using exaggeration as a form of humour universally funny?
Using COI to unpack a cultural text
Potential ways to address MBC objectives:
● Perspective taking
● Identify stereotypes and cultural bias
○ e.g., driving on the left or right side of the road.
○ e.g., All French teenagers eat croissants for breakfast
● What would a French boy find difficult about learning
English?
A third example...
Debrief an immersion simulation (English)
The immersion experience IS the stimulus for discussion. Students
discuss what they found striking / challenging / about the simulation.
● What skills were needed? (listening, speaking, reading, writing),
quick thinking, noting language and body language
● Community building
● Group dynamics, reflection on learning
● Thinking skills - agree/disagree, examples, reason giving
Debrief an immersion simulation (French)
In French - language-ability appropriate expectations
○ Give examples / reasons
○ Make generalisations
■ J’ai aimé la leçon… (Je l’ai aimée → Nous l’avons aimée)
○ Reinforce the language of opinion (A mon avis…)
○ Reinforce the metalanguage of thought (Je suis d’accord…)
A fourth example...
Student led COI in the TL (Stage 5)
1. Qui est le prof le plus sévère?
Who is the most strict teacher?
2. Quelle est la meilleure équipe (de foot/rugby) du monde?
Which is the best football / rugby team in the world?
3. Quelle matière préférez-vous?
What is your favourite subject?
4. Aimez-vous le film _______________? What do you think of the
film….
Community of Inquiry - in the
language classroom
Could be used..
1. to discuss a language/cultural text (in English)
2. to debrief a simulation (in English or the target language)
3. to engage with a thematic discussion in the target
language
To conclude
To promote critical and creative thinking...
● Explicitly teach and practise thinking skills
● Teach and reinforce higher order mental state (target)
language.
○ e.g., language of opinion / preference / reason giving
(justification) / evaluation
● Engage students within communities of inquiry
Bibliography
Board of Studies. (2003). French K-10 Syllabus.
Cam, Phil. (2006). Twenty Thinking Tools. ACER Press.
CEO. (2015). Statement on Authentic Learning in Sydney Archdiocesan schools.
Concordia Language Villages. 2014. Village Life accessed 7/1/2014 via this link
“En Suisse, on nettoie même les montagnes.” (2009). accessed 7/2/14 via this link
“French kid and his father interviewed after Paris attack.” (2015). accessed 20/11/15 via this link
Dörnyei, Z., & Ushioda, E. (Eds.). (2009). Motivation, language identity and the L2 self (Vol. 36). Multilingual Matters.
Hall (2002).
Harbon, L., & Moloney, R. (2013). Language teachers and learners interpreting the world: Identifying
intercultural development in language classroom discourse.
Jensen, Britta. (2013). 21st Century teachers should promote thoughtful dialogue: we should establish and
sustain communities of inquiry. Presentation at the Department of Education Knowledge Fair,
Macquarie University.
Jensen, Britta & Kennedy-White, Kate. (2014). The case for Philosophical Inquiry in the K-12 Classroom. Scan
14, 33:2 p. 6-11.
Kennedy White, K. (2013). How to Embed Philosophy into the Crowded Curriculum. Talk presented at the
Australasian Conference on Philosophy for Children, Sydney and International Conference of
Philosophy in Schools, South Africa.
Lin, M., & Mackay, C (2004). Thinking through Modern Foreign Languages. Chris Kington Pub.
Marzano, R. J., Pickering, D., Arredondo, D. E., Blackburn, G. J., Brandt, R. S., & Moffett, C. A. (1992). Dimensions of learning.
Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Moloney, R., Harbon, L., & Fielding, R. (2012). Varying the IRE turn: Pre-service language teachers adopting
an intercultural stance in their pedagogy. Culture in foreign language learning: Framing and reframing
the issue, 488507.
Moloney, R., & Harbon, L. (2014). Transition from senior secondary to tertiary languages study: student
attitudes in three Sydney schools. Babel, 49(3), 4.
Morgan, A. M. (2008). The importance of questioning and questions for consideration in programming for intercultural language learning.
Babel, 43(1), 13.
To learn more...
Philosophy in Schools Association of NSW (PinS)
www.philosophyinschoolsnsw.org
Kinder philosophy
www.philosophyandchildren.com