Theories of Critical Thinking - Robyn Lyle Lowe

As I read these articles, I saw several parallels to my current position as a high school science teacher. Much of my success in the classroom can be attributed to the work I put into developing relationships with my students. The article A Rich Seam really resonated with me as someone who deeply values student relationships. In the article, Fullan places emphasis on the "student's new role as an equal learning partner" in the learning process (Fullan & Langworthy, 2014). This is something I have been working toward in my classroom by loosening the reins and shifting some of the initiative (as well as responsibility) to the student. I also agree with the idea of new pedagogies, which focuses on "deep learning tasks characterized by exploration, connectedness, and broader, real-world purposes" (Fullan & Langworthy, 2014). It is so important to a student's education that the teacher helps create authentic learning opportunities that allow the student to be engaged as well as help direct and analyze their own learning. Digital tools are a great way to provide these opportunities to students.

Digital tools are a wonderful asset to the classroom, but they must be implemented in a way that enhances learning. The simple purchase of new technology doesn't get us ahead in education. These digital tools hold the key to new connections and avenues of exploration previously unavailable to students, and we owe it to them to use these new tools - and teach the students to use these tools - properly in our classroom. In the article Bloom et. al's Taxonomy of the Cognitive Domain, Huitt discusses how digital tools allow students to learn at different levels by illustrating, creating, evaluating, and performing other tasks using digital resources (Huitt, 2011). Kuhn expands on this idea in Connecting Depth and Balance in Class when he addresses the fact that digital tools allow teachers to differentiate their instruction with regards to learning styles, something that doesn't always happen in our classrooms today (Kuhn, 2008). I know using digital resources such as lab technologies, Google Slides, and Edpuzzle have made it much easier for me to reach all learners regardless of learning style as well as enable them to learn at different levels of Bloom's Taxonomy (though I must mention I really use Depth of Knowledge when planning my lessons as I believe it is a better resource).

While there are great benefits to using digital tools in the classroom, there is also great responsibility. As student access to technology increases, we must make sure our students become good "producers and consumers" of digital media (Hobbs, 2011). This means addressing risks that come with using digital tools as well as teaching students to evaluate the credibility of sources they use. These are often not things students think about, so we need to address these issues in the classroom.

As I mentioned earlier, digital tools are wonderful resources for education. However, in order to be useful, they must be adoptable. In his article The Adoption Process, Rogers points out several factors that affect the rate of adoption, including compatibility with existing values, difficulty of implementation, and how much better the new tool is than its predecessor, something he referred to as "relative advantage" (Rogers, 1963). When developing, selecting, and/or implementing digital tools or initiatives, these factors must be taken into consideration. It is also important to know the audience - who is going to be adopting these tools? Rogers classifies adopters into five categories: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards. I have seen the division in these categories in my job many times. Some teachers are willing to accept change - they will adopt new tools, implement new strategies, and participate in new activities with little or no complaint. Then you have the laggards (and maybe some late majority). Sometimes, these people are just afraid of change, but in my experience, they often have a negative attitude that prevents them from implementing new ideas. I have heard things like, "I'm just not doing it," "I've never done it this way, and I'm not starting now," or worse, "My kids are too dumb to understand this, so I'm just going to do it the way I have always done it." These teachers are much harder to convince. One particularly good principal I had dealt with laggards by convincing the more upbeat and progressive teachers to implement the change early, then she used the results to convince those who were more apprehensive. Until reading this article, I didn't know the categories of adopters, but I'm convinced this principal had already read this article and used it to guide her actions in implementing new change. Ultimately, to bring digital tools to the classroom, we need to be aware of how they will be accepted.

Resources

Fullan, M. & Langworthy, M. (2014). A rich seam: How new pedagogies find deep learning. London: Pearson. Retrieved from https://www.pearson.com/content/dam/one-dot-com/one-dot-com/global/Files/about-pearson/innovation/open-ideas/ARichSeamEnglish.pdf

Hobbs, R. (2011). Empowering learners with digital and media literacy. Knowledge Quest, 39(5), 12-17. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.

Huitt, W. (2011). Bloom et al's taxonomy of the cognitive domain. Educational Psychology Interactive. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State University. Retrieved from http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/cognition/bloom.pdf

Kuhn, M. S. (2008). Connecting depth and balance in class. Learning & Leading with Technology, 36(1), 18-21. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.

Rogers, E.M. (1963). The adoption process II. Journal of Cooperative Extension, 1(2), 69-75. Retrieved from http://www.joe.org/joe/1963summer/1963-2-a2.pdf