Teaching thinking skills

Direct teaching of thinking and its skills: it distances itself from the content of the study material, and the owners of this approach believe that it leads to the best results, helping the mental development of the teacher and the learner alike, and thus leading to the development of society, and then building systematic minds, and given that learning to think possesses strategies and activities However, teaching in this direction needs a longer time, although the curricula consist of cramming and excessive length.

Integration of thinking skills in the content of the study: The proponents of this approach justified that what is learned from the mental processes of that method is reinforced jointly by all academic subjects, so thinking skills are combined with the study subjects, and the meanings and concepts that they include are based on. The materials are even new experiences that students participate in solving, and this trend has stated that “learning to think through an independent material causes the student to flop and not get used to that method compared to what has been used to.”

Education for thinking: This is done by creating and equipping the environment that stimulates thinking, and among the elements of this preparation: (formulation of activities and questions that stimulate thinking).

• The first direction is the additional entrance (independent).
• The second direction is inclusion (integration of thinking).

There are two steps to the process of integrating thinking into teaching, namely:

• The first step: integrating thinking skills into academic courses.
• The second step: Incorporating thinking skills while teaching.

The advantages of integrating thinking into the teaching process are divided into advantages related to the teacher and others related to the learner, and the following is an explanation of them:

Teacher features

• Make him able to plan well the teaching process.
• The teacher applies modern strategies for learning, such as: self-learning, cooperative, and others, effectively and efficiently.
• It helps the teacher to achieve the objectives of the lesson with the highest efficiency, whether in terms of (the degree of assimilation and understanding or the duration of achieving them).
• Can employ appropriate skills to deliver all lessons in the curriculum in a fully informed manner, as planned in advance.

• Encouraging the motivation of the learner.
• Learn the curriculum in a more comprehensive and deeper way.
• The application on the steps of learning and thinking skills.
• The learner is effective and has a pivotal role in the educational process.
• The learner builds the knowledge he learns on his own, in addition to being an effective partner in the education program.
• Enhancing the self-esteem of the learner because of his awareness of controlling thinking, and his ability to employ it in various fields.
• Diversity in the forms of implementing thinking skills in various educational fields, which contributes to the learner’s ability to implement skills in different life environments.

• The one who has the first and last word in the class is the teacher.
• Teachers rarely use cooperative learning strategies in the classroom.
• In the event that the teacher punishes the student who asks and exposes him to ridicule.
• When teachers do not accept asking questions that deviate from the topic of the lesson.
• Teachers tend to reward students who demonstrate obedience and conformity behaviour.
• If the course in the textbook is the teacher’s only reference most of the time.
• The teacher being the focus of action, monopolizing lesson time, and students becoming idle.
• If the majority of questions asked by the teacher are of the type that requires minimal thinking skills.
• It is rare for teachers to ask questions that begin with interrogatives such as: (how, why, what if).
• Learners often receive stereotypical verbal reinforcement based on their memorization and acquisition, and not on their creativity.
• The teacher often evaluates his students by recalling information that they supposedly memorized earlier.
• It is rare for a teacher to rely on modern methods of communicating information, such as (discussion, research and investigation).
• The teacher’s belief that thinking skills exist and grow and develop with the growth of the student’s body, and therefore believes that learning has a limited effect on them in terms of quality and quantity.
• Teachers relying on a small number of students, so that they always ask them questions in order to solve difficult questions to save the situation, without trying to involve other students.