• Convenient, flexible, easy-to-use

  • Online learning that fits
    your schedule
  • Learn wherever and whenever you want
  • Easy-to-use learning platform guides you through the course



• We've helped educators at more than 15,000 schools

  • "This is how I'm going to get my continuing education credits from now on."

    - Wendy J. Cope, French Teacher, Lancaster Catholic High School, Lancaster, PA

  • "This course lives up to its promise. It is real and easy to implement. It's made a big difference in my teaching!"

    - Frank Martin, Principal, The Stevens School

  • "I absolutely love the class I am taking. I am taking it to improve my leadership skills. It's been great!"

    - Connie Cullip, Special Education Supervisor, Rudyard, MI EUPISD




• • "The Coursework is convenient and interesting! I definitely recommend the program."

    - Jennifer Desloges, 7th Grade English Teacher Plymouth Elementary, Plymouth, NH

  • "I am through about 4 lectures and am loving the ease and simplicity of how it all works! Everything is so easy to navigate."

    - LuAnn Funk, 2nd Grade Teacher, Case Avenue Elementary

• • "I took this course with some reservation, but it proved to be very helpful. Some of the simple things that I learned made a huge impact on the amount of energy my students put into learning"

    
    

    "It was easy to do. I got to work at my own pace, explore all the websites and absorb the materials As a 28 year veteran I do believe you can teach old dogs new tricks."

    - Joseph Fusco, Physics Teacher Lodi High School, NJ

Course 1065

Teaching for Understanding: Implementing Critical Thinking in All Content Areas

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Apply this towards your professional development requirements

Tuition: $575 for all 3 modules complete

This course provides an essential overview of the different elements of critical thinking and a background on how critical thinking skills can impact your students. Numerous strategies are provided so that you can incorporate critical thinking into each and every activity in your lesson plan. Discover how Multiple Intelligences, Bloom's Taxonomy and Project-Based Learning can change the way your students receive and retain knowledge. Led by Bruce Campbell, one of nation’s foremost experts on critical thinking, differentiated instruction, brain-based learning and multiple intelligences; this convenient online course lets you earn Professional Development credits, hours or certificates of completion whenever and wherever you like. It combines the following three learning modules:

• Teaching Students to Think: Promoting Critical Thinking in the Classroom
• Proven Critical Thinking Strategies: Improve Comprehension and Achievement in Your Classroom
• The Critical Thinking Toolbox: Essentials for Higher-Level Thinking

What You'll Learn

Teaching students to think is an educator’s primary responsibility. But with an ever-growing emphasis on standards and “teaching to the test,” critical thinking skills are being increasingly overlooked in the classroom. The good news: research has proven that achievement increases dramatically when students are given direct critical thinking instruction. What’s more, student achievement improves when teachers are trained to teach critical thinking skills in their classrooms.

In this module you’ll gain a comprehensive overview of critical thinking and discover time-tested methods for promoting higher-level thinking in your classroom. Acclaimed instructor Dr. Bruce Campbell will examine the functions of the brain that are responsible for critical thinking, as well as outline proven techniques for boosting retention and comprehension within your students. You’ll discover how to:

• Build a positive, stimulating and encouraging classroom climate
• Promote higher-level thinking in your classroom
• Teach for maximum understanding and comprehension
• Utilize Multiple Intelligences to engage students in critical thinking
• Understand the brain’s role in critical thinking
• Build thinking skills in all grade levels and disciplines

Highlights

Understanding the Brain and its Role in Human Intelligence

• Building the brain and "growing dendrites"
• Principles of Multiple Intelligences that boost critical thinking
• Action verbs that maximize student thinking, understanding and comprehension
• Bloom’s Taxonomy and other models that incorporate thinking skills

Practical Techniques that will Engage Students in your Classroom

• Tips for encouraging analytical, critical and evaluative thinking skills
• Tapping into prior knowledge to promote critical thinking
• Questions educators can ask that engage students in "big picture" thinking
• Specific, actionable tools and activities you can implement in your classroom

Teaching for Understanding

• Alternative assessment methods that encourage divergent thinking
• Using inferences to help students make judgments and draw conclusions
• Problem-solving models for any content area and grade level
• Utilizing problem-based learning to engage students of all learning styles

What You'll Learn

Critical thinking is a vital component of every part of the school day. With each activity that students engage in, they are utilizing critical thinking skills – skills that must be fostered and encouraged by educators so students can perform at the highest level possible. Using various strategies and tactics, educators can ensure that they are continuously cultivating critical thinking skills throughout the day so that student achievement is constantly being emphasized.

In this module you’ll learn how to encourage critical thinking and active learning, as well as tactical and structural recommendations to enhance your lessons, different approaches to thinking, and how to drive thinking through questions. You will discover:

• The intrapersonal components involved in critical thinking
• The role of critical thinking in student interactions
• How to incorporate critical thinking strategies into every activity and lesson plan
• The various approaches to thinking

Highlights

Strategies that Encourage Critical Thinking and Active Learning

• 9 effective strategies that target the intrapersonal facet of learning
• 17 "big picture" cognitive strategies that enhance interaction with the world
• 9 "micro-skill" cognitive strategies that support individual cognition
• 11 active learning strategies that can be implemented throughout the day

Tactical and Structural Recommendations

• Strategies to enhance lessons throughout the day
• Increase the amount of knowledge students can retain
• Cultivate reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills
• Design activities that promote critical thinking

Drive Thinking Through Questions

• Utilize questions during lessons to generate thinking
• Apply different approaches to thinking
• Master the "Six Thinking Hats" and how they are used in the classroom

What You'll Learn

Critical thinking skills are important for students to learn, but can often be difficult to teach. In order to help your students gain a deeper understanding of all subject material, it is essential to provide them with varied learning tools. You will learn ways to adapt the tools to fit the specific needs of your students. This module will provide you with the tools you need to help your students:

• Visualize key concepts in every content area
• Make inferences and predictions using context clues
• Think out loud to identify and replicate strategies that improve their skills and knowledge
• Use dialogue and debate as a means to improve thinking and learning

Highlights

Boost Your Students' Comprehension Using Visual Aids

• Using connector maps to help students understand analogies
• How to teach comparing and contrasting with circle maps
• Help them make connections using concept maps

Using Questioning as a Method to Promote Active Learning Skills

• Key questions students should ask themselves before, during and after every activity
• The big questions you should ask to get their wheels spinning

Implementing Project-Based Learning to Promote Higher-Level Thinking

• Implementing PBL in three stages
• Interactive mini-projects your students can do today
• Ways you can relate learning to life beyond school

The Virtual Teachers Lounge™

Check in with your peers and get answers to your questions – any time, 24/7. Taking this course will give you exclusive access to the thoughts, insights and experience of other educators and K-12 experts discussing your topics and giving you solutions and ideas for whatever is on your mind. In the Teachers' lounge, you can:

• Learn new, working strategies and solutions from other educators – live!
• Get answers to your toughest questions from top K-12 experts
• Discuss course topics with your peers and benefit from their experiences
• Share your success stories and best practices to benefit other teachers and administrators
• Get new perspectives, fresh ideas and guidance – whenever you need it.
• You can log whenever is most convenient for you, 24/7

All you have to do is sign up for this course, and you're in!

Connect with, hear from and get help from you peers.

Materials & Assessment

Lectures	Your lectures, delivered by one of the nation's leading, recognized experts on this topic, are presented in multiple parts to make listening and tracking your progress easier. You can listen to each as often as you like by playing it on your computer, downloading it to your iPod or other MP3 player, even burning it to CD. Listen wherever it is most convenient for you: at home, in your car; at the park; and whenever you like: before or after work, at night or on weekends. Many educators can complete a module in only a week.
Text Resources	Virtual text resources are downloadable and expand on the material covered in your lectures. They may include articles, web links to related materials and web sites, definitions of important terms and concepts, and a bibliography. All materials can be viewed on your computer or downloaded and printed.
Assessment	To receive your Certificate of Completion or Certificate of Attendance and earn Professional Development/Continuing Education units/credits/hours, you will need to complete all assessments and submit all final projects.
Virtual Teachers Lounge	To gain Professional Development credits or hours for any of these three modules, you must participate in the Virtual teachers Lounge discussion for that module. If you are not seeking credits or hours, participation in the Lounge is not mandatory, but you are still welcome to connect with and share your thoughts, questions, insights and experience with your peers at any time.