Making Critical Thinking Real

Julie Evans 
Project Tomorrow – CEO

Kari Stubbs 
BrainPOP - VP Learning & Innovation

Everyone from employers to educators are talking about the need for today’s students to develop effective critical thinking and problem solving skills-but few people know what that really looks like in a classroom or how to measure student competency in a meaningful way. This workshop is designed to take the conceptual understanding of critical thinking to a more practical reality. Grounded in research about employers’ expectations and educators’ challenges in this area, the workshop will use innovative digital content and games to demonstrate how students can effectively develop problem solving muscles, and how teachers can measure student competencies. Features Arts, Science and Civics.

BrainPOP Resources

• Sign up for extended trial of MyBrainPOP
• BrainPOP
• BrainPOP Jr.
  
• GameUp
• Sortify
• Make-a-Map
• Make-a-Movie
• Challenges
• Make-a-Map Rubric
• The Quiz Mixer

Interesting resources on critical thinking:

• Do companies want critical thinkers or problem solvers
• American Management Association study on critical thinkin
• AACU survey results on what employers want from new employees
• CTE Employability Framework from the US Department of Education
• P21 Blog Post
• Teaching strategies to promote critical thinking
• Using technology to support critical thinking skill development