Episode 19 - How We Learn Like A Scout: Critically Thinking About Critical Thinking
Darron and Jeff discuss what it means to teach critical thinking in the classroom. They begin with a few concerns they share about how this is currently done, then move into an exploration of how ideas from two books, “The Scout Mindset” by Julia Galef, and “How We Learn” by Stanislas Dehaene, might be used to develop a more useful conception of critical thinking and provide insight into how it, or anything else, might be taught and learned more successfully. They conclude with a brainstorming session geared towards the development of a new unit that Jeff can implement in his English classes during the upcoming school year using the ideas they previously discussed.
Notes:
2:15 - Listen to Beautiful Illusions Episode 18 - Making Progress Better from September 2021
12:23 - The Scout Mindset: Why Some People See Things Clearly and Others Don't by Julia Galef
12:26 - How We Learn: Why Brains Learn Better Than Any Machine...for Now by Stanislas Dehaene
12:53 - See an outline of The Scout Mindset (Effective Altruism Forum)
13:41 - See the “hyperreality” Wikipedia entry and read “On Exactitude in Science” by Jorge Luis Borges
14:27 - See “Soldier Mindset / Scout Mindset” comparison table
21:08 - See “Carol Dweck: A Summary of Growth and Fixed Mindsets” (fs Blog)
21:58 - See the “testing effect” Wikipedia entry and “The Ultimate Learning Machine”, a summary of an interview with Stanislas Dehaene: “One of the most surprising insights coming from current research is that we learn more from regular testing than we do from extra lesson time. Testing doesn’t necessarily entail doing a formal exam, it’s more about brief, daily testing during class and can involve doing an exercise, using flashcards or having the teacher ask questions after introducing a new concept. The best is to alternate teaching and testing, even within a single lesson. “Teachers think that evaluation is for them to get an idea of what the kids are doing, but according to the recent science, testing is really for the learner,” Dehaene says. “It’s an essential part of the learning algorithm. You learn when you test yourself.” In this sense, testing and evaluation are misunderstood by teachers, he believes.”
22:58 - See “Bloom’s Taxonomy” (Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching) and the “Bloom’s taxonomy” Wikipdedia entry
34:58 - Listen to Beautiful Illusions Episode 06 - What We Talk About When We Talk About Politics from November 2020
35:10 - Difficult Conversations by by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, Sheila Heen
39:09 - For a nice summary of Dehaene’s 4 pillars see ”Did neuroscience find the secrets of learning?” (Article by Stanislas Dehaene, Paris Innovation Review, 2013) and “Science: These are the 4 Pillars of Learning” (Daniel Gogek)
40:59 - See an outline of The Scout Mindset (Effective Altruism Forum)
41:00 - Watch Julia Galef’s TED Talk “Why you think you're right — even if you're wrong”
43:51 - See “What are Book Clubs?” (Fountas & Pinnell Literacy Blog)
57:36 - Listen to Brain Science Episode 167 - Stanislas Dehaene on “How We Learn” from February 2020
1:02:50 - See Metacognition (Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching) and the “Metacognition” Wikipdedia entry