While we all embrace the convenience of having information at our fingertips, we need to think about the impact of digital media on our children. The constant access to information makes it difficult for students to critically evaluate the information received, says Professor Patricia Greenfield, director of the Children's Digital Media Center at UCLA.

 

In order to become a strong decision maker, whether it is in writing, reading, or being an effective team player, students have to be able to think critically about a number of things: who is their audience and what will they respond to? How can they separate what information is relevant and what is not? What is the best, clearest, and most interesting way to organize their verbal and non-verbal messages?

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It isn’t enough for students to just learning the basics of reading and writing ("Remembering" and "Understanding" in Broom's cognitive learning model). Critical/deep thinking, like playing an instrument, or math, or writing itself, is a set of skills that can be learned through instruction. However, many institutions of learning, even universities, still lag behind in this aspect. A study found that critical thinking measurements increased by 3.5 times more in a class that included critical thinking as a part of the curriculum. Students were able to develop their critical thinking skills in one semester of classes focusing on them as they were in 2 years of study without this added curriculum element. In short, critical thinking can be learned, but students need the opportunity to learn them.

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While we want our child to think critically and understand the complexity of a situation including who they are as an individual, how many of us are aware of what “complexity” or critical thinking truly mean? Our Deep Thinking and Communication Module, which is a stand-alone class as well as embedded in our Reading and Writing class, helps students to think about complex issues and situations by breaking them down so that they can be identified and understood. This helps students to approach difficult problems - whether it’s a multi-part problem on their final test, making a decision about how best to organize a school project, understanding what leadership truly means, or forming opinions about world events.

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"Deep Thinking and Communication" is a module developed by our team of Ivy League educators to promote deep thinking, communication skills, and personal growth. Based on research as well as years of experience working with K-12 students in the Washington DC area as well as from around the country, our team has identified several areas of difficulty for students and seeks to address them through a specialized curriculum that will help students develop habits of deep thinking as well as thoughtful communication.

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This class was created based on the following barriers we observed in some students, who are often gifted and achievement oriented:

1. Over reliance on patterns and routines 

2. Close mindedness (not considering alternatives)

3. Performance orientation

4. Lack of awareness of what deep thinking actually entails

5. Not giving themselves enough time to really think through an issue—rushing through ideas to finish quickly or move on to the next assignment or part of the assignment 

6. Perfectionism and fear of making a mistake

 

To address these barriers, we focus on several sub-modules, including the ones below:

• Goal Setting: Students will learn the differences between kinds of goals and the effort it will take to achieve them.

• Active Listening and Active Reading: Students will learn strategies for listening and close reading that will allow them to fully understand the material and think more critically.

• Deep Thinking: Students will learn how to both develop complex thoughts about a given topic as well as how to adjust those thoughts based on new information.

• Leadership: Students will learn about different leadership styles and the leadership skills that define them.

 

The purpose of this course is to further develop students’ cognitive processing ability by allowing them to think deeply about themselves and their actions. Although the course incorporates parts of the academic curriculum, particularly reading and writing, the focus of this class is to develop habits and modes of thinking that will serve students in their academic goals more broadly. This includes an emphasis on open communication and critical thinking.

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Students who are aware of the multitude of ways a situation can be understood are more likely to arrive at a fuller knowledge of their subject of study. This class can also be offered as a private 1-on-1 or a small group class. Please contact us at veritasedu@uscecc.org to get more information about this class. 

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Student feedback:

“The projects were really good and planned out. The topics were also very interesting and I was always looking forward to presenting. The teaching methods were very creative. For example, the perspective exercise taught me how to see things differently and how blindly I could look at things if I had not learned those things.” -6th grader

 

“It was helpful and I like that we actually learned stuff that we're gonna use in life like time management.” -7th grader

“The class is very helpful and I learned lots of things from the class like what success really is.” - 9th grader