Transcript Why Are HOM So Important?

Developing Problem Solvers
and Fostering Their Habits of Mind
Jerry Kobylski
Hilary Fletcher
Educated Students
Critical Thinking
and Creative
Thought
Instructor
Assessment
Training vs.
Education
Life long
Learning
Habits of
Mind
Student
Deep vs. Surface
Learning
Technology
Problem
Solving
Strategies for
Motivating
Students
Relationships
Great Teachers
Characteristics
of Great
Teachers
Communication
and
Writing
How Students
Learn
Motivation
Why are problem solving and habits of mind so
important?
Did You Know?
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Example Institutional Student Learning Outcomes
• Critical Thinking and Analytic Reasoning: To enhance critical
thinking skills and reasoning that will encourage continuous inquiry,
problem solving, and learning.
• Creative Expression: To encourage expression of originality,
imagination and innovation.
• Lifelong Learning and Life Skills: To enhance a student’s selfmanagement and interpersonal skills, and provide a student with
skills for a career, transfer, lifelong learning, health and/or selfimprovement.
Example Institutional Student Learning Outcomes
• Critical Thinking and Information Literacy
The student will be able to:
A. Differentiate facts, influences, assumptions, and opinions
to draw reasoned conclusions.
B. Identify critical issues and apply investigative and analytical
thinking to develop supporting arguments and a conclusion.
• Creative Problem Solving
The student will be able to produce an original creative response that
synthesizes research, planning, and practice.
What Does This Mean For Us As Educators?
The Best Of The Teaching Professor, 2005
• Most professors seek learning outcomes that involve (for example)
communication, conceptual thinking, problem solving, and decisionmaking goals. But these calls are rarely taught explicitly. Instead,
we expect students to magically acquire them while we
diligently cover content.
• Our strong orientation to teach content hampers our ability to
develop life long learning skills.
• Some of the most popular teaching approaches are not
particularly good at fostering student habits that we think are so
important.
• The challenge then is to…??
“Think about the significance of not just preparing our students for a
life of tests but rather for the tests of life.”
http://www.instituteforhabitsofmind.com/blog/self-directed-learning
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Reflection On This Morning’s Activity
Polya’s Problem Solving Process
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Understanding the Problem
Devising a Plan
Carrying Out the Plan
Looking Back
Why Are HOM So Important?
•Good habits of mind can help take us from all of this information and synthesize
it into knowledge and intelligence.
•We are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist…Using
technologies that haven’t been invented . . .In order to solve problems we don’t
even know are problems yet.
•The increasingly rapid pace of change in the world means that once effective
solutions will probably not solve newly emerging problems.
•“One’s intelligence is the sum of one’s Habits of Mind.” Lauren Resnick
*http://www.dean.usma.edu/departments/math/courses/ma103/
Structuring Examples
*Richard E. Mayer, Valerie Sims and Hidetsugu Tajika. “A Comparison of How
Textbooks Teach Mathematical Problem Solving in Japan and the United States”
American Educational Research Journal, Vol. 32, No. 2, Summer 1995, p. 443-460.
Structuring Activities
Options that can be used to teach problem
solving often fall into two categories:
•Holistic Approach- Consider the process
in the context of solving problems completely.
•Components- Break the problem solving process
into components, develop each component,
and then give practice in applying the relevant skill
to the complete problem solving process.
*Donald R. Woods. “How Might I Teach Problem Solving?” New Direction for
Teaching and Learning, Summer 1987, p. 55-71.
Structuring Activities
It’s your turn……
• Modify one of your existing activities
(e.g., in-class problem, HW, etc.) to
emphasize the problem-solving process
*Donald R. Woods. “How Might I Teach Problem Solving?” New Direction for
Teaching and Learning, Summer 1987, p. 55-71.
Structuring Activities
* http://www.dean.usma.edu/departments/math/courses/ma103/MA103CourseFiles/Book/MRCW.pdf
How Do You Define (+) HOM?
“…dispositions that are skillfully
and mindfully employed by
characteristically intelligent,
successful people when they
are confronted with
problems, the solutions to
which are not immediately
apparent.” The Institute of
Habits of Mind
http://www.instituteforhabitsofmind.com/
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What are some +HOM?
The Habits of Mind as Identified by Costa and Kallick are:
• Thinking and Communicating with
Clarity and Precision
• Managing Impulsivity
• Gathering Data Through all
Senses
• Persisting
• Creating, Imaging and Innovation
• Thinking Flexibly
• Taking Responsible Risks
• Questioning and Posing
Problems
Arthur L. Costa and Bena Kallick, Habits of Mind: A Series , Copyright © 2000
• Striving for Accuracy
• Thinking Interdependently
• Applying Past Knowledge to
New Situations
• Thinking about Thinking
(Metacognition)
• Finding Humor
• Responding with Wonderment
and Awe
• Listening with Understanding
and Empathy
• Remaining Open to Continuous
Learning
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http://www.aacu.org/value/abouttherubrics.cfm
Defining HOM (Creativity and Critical Thinking)
• Association of American Colleges and
Universities (AACU) definitions (handouts)
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Defining Life Long Learning
• Metacognition
• Know that knowledge is changing so rapidly today that
learning a catalog of fax is quickly outdated.
 The half-life in medicine, that is the time it takes for
half of the knowledge to become obsolete, is reputed to
be about 5 years. (Cross, 1996)
 80% of the technical material engineers will use
during their careers they will not have learned in school.
(Wankat and Oreovics, 1998)
The importance of developing effective classroom
activities: “Stop Telling Students to Study for Exams” Commentary - The Chronicle of Higher Education
http://chronicle.com/article/Stop-Telling-Students-toStudy/131622/
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How Might We Incorporate
HOM Into Our Courses?
HOM:
STUDENT OUTCOME 1:
Student Activity
STUDENT OUTCOME 2:
Student Activity
How Might We Incorporate
HOM Into Our Courses?
HOM: Teamwork/Thinking Interdependently
STUDENT OUTCOME: Act responsibly in fulfilling group commitments
Student Activity #1
Student team of two solve problems during class. Each team presents their solution to
the class.
Student Activity #2
Student teams of three select a project and submit one written project report.
How Might We Incorporate
HOM Into Our Courses?
Breakout
• Give some outcomes and supporting student
activities to accomplish these outcomes.
• You will be developing an assessment plan for
this HOM on Thursday.
• Share as a large group.
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PS & HOM
Why Are HOM So Important?
Thinking
Interdependently
CARRYING
OUT THE
PLAN
Curiosity
Gathering
Data Through
All Senses
Applying Past
Knowledge
Work Ethic
Critical
Thinking
…and a Parting Thought
“Today's college teacher, whatever his specialty, must
inculcate and encourage in the students an inquisitive,
associational, imaginative mentality through habits of
mind dedicated to – yes, even obsessed with – the
continuous pursuit of knowledge, linked to the positive
implications of that pursuit for the greater society."
"Learning How to Learn: a Mandate for Change in Today's College
Classroom,” Professor Neil Baldwin
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References
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The Best Of The Teaching Professor , Magna Publications, Inc. 2005
Glatthorn, A. & Baron, J. (1985). The Good Thinker. In A. L. Costa (Ed.), Developing
Minds: A Resource Book for Teaching Thinking. Alexandria, VA: Association for
Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Feuerstein, R, Rand, Y, Hoffman, M and Miller, R. (1980) Instrumental Enrichment: an
Intervention Program for Cognitive Modifiability. Baltimore, MD. University Park Press.
DeBono, E. (1991) The Cort Thinking Program in A. Costa (Ed) Developing Minds:
Programs for Teaching Thinking. Alexandria, VA pp. 27-32: Association for Supervision
and Curriculum Development.
Ennis, R. (2001) An Outline of Goals for A Critical Thinking Curriculum and Its Assessment
in Costa, A. (Ed.) Developing Minds: A Resource Book for Teaching Thinking. Alexandria,
VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development
Whimbey, A. and Whimbey L. S. (1975) Intelligence Can Be Taught. New York:
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Sternberg, R. (1984). Beyond I.Q.: A Triarchic Theory of Human Intelligence. New York:
Cambridge University Press.
Resnick, L (2001) Making America Smarter: The Real Goal of School Reform. In Costa,
(Ed) Developing Minds: A Resource Book for Teaching Thinking: Alexandria,
VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Charbonneau, P., Jackson, H., Kobylski, G., Roginski, J., Sulewski, C., & Wattenberg, F.,
“Developing Student’s Habits of Mind in Mathematics Programs,” PRIMUS, Vol 19, issue 2,
105, March 2009.
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