Author:
 Sarah Henninger

Grade Level:
 Eighth Grade

Subject:
 Critical Thinking Skills

Purpose:
By the end of the lesson, the students will leave the room knowing how to use critical thinking skills to solve everyday problems.

Objectives:
The students will understand the steps involved in critical thinking problem solving by:
1. Working together to solve 4 problems given by the teacher.
2. Demonstrating their solution to see if it really works (meaning, acting it out).
3. Creating one problem on their own and solving it.

Materials:
 Orange
 Knife
 Bottle of frozen water
 Three manatee beanie babies
 One zebra beanie baby
 Copy of the problems for each student

Procedure:
1. The teacher will ask the students to think about the steps involved in critical thinking.
2. With the help of the teacher, the students will make a list of the steps needed in solving problems.
3. The students will be given a copy of four word problems.
4. As a group, the students will work together using the steps they thought of earlier to solve the problems.
5. The teacher and students will discuss the answers and the methods used to obtain them.
6. As a group, the students will be asked to create and solve a problem using critical thinking skills.

Closure:
As a class, we will discuss the students’ answers to each problem and the steps they used to obtain the answer.

Assessment:
The students will create their own problem.  Using the critical thinking skills they just learned, they will work together to solve the problem they created.  The students will then demonstrate to the teacher the solution.  In addition, students must put together their problem using the computer and any sources on the computer so their problem can be displayed for the school view.

Conclusion:
 By the end of the lesson, the students should know what critical thinking skills are and how to use them.  This activity will help encourage students to think and be alert about everyday problems because they will know how to terminate the situation.  If the students are having difficulty understanding the concept of critical thinking, then I will reteach the lesson using another method.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Critical Thinking Problems

1. There is a building and in one of the rooms there is a table.  On that table there is bowl and in the bowl there is an orange.  You walk into the room and see two different hands grabbing for the last orange.   The children start to fight.   What do you do?

2. It is a hot summer day and you are very thirsty.  You open the door of the refrigerator to get your bottle of water and it is frozen.  For some reason the refrigerator was turned up to the highest degree and froze everything in it.  You want the water now.  What should you do?

3. There is a classroom where four children are playing.  One child decides to play with his beanie babies and invites the others to join him.  He only has three manatees and one zebra with him.  You walk in as they start to play and after some time, all of them want to play with the manatees.  They start to argue.  How are you going to handle this?

4. There is an island the size of this room and all of you are stranded on it.  The main land is 1/16 of a mile away and there is a river of lava surrounding the island.  One of you finds a pair of magic shoes that can be used to walk across the lava and your feet will not burn.  The only problem is that each foot can only wear the shoe once, meaning, the right foot can only wear the right shoe once and one way and the same for the left foot.  You want to get everyone across with no injuries.  How are all of you going to get off the island?

a lesson developed in EDU 360                      David Stoloff, Instructor
email: stoloffd@ecsu.ctstateu.edu                 DISCLAIMER