ABSTRACT
A teacher’s goal is to help create critical thinkers and independent learners. One mark of effective teaching is the extent to which students want to and are able to learn after the lesson, unit, or school year. Student perseverance is a hallmark of teaching excellence. Beyond the necessity of intrinsic motivation, or the drive to know, is the equally important element of learning strategy, or how to know. Students need to know the thinking paths to problem-solving, decision-making, inquiring, and creating, as well as the mind actions, or thinking types, required along these paths. Intellectual independence rests upon meta knowledge or knowing about knowing. They should learn to use their minds as a carpenter uses tools—skillfully and strategically. Some basic “tools” are recall, similarity, difference, cause and effect, idea to example, example to idea, and evaluation (see thinking types in Glossary).
