Brian Fitzpatrick English 1102 4/28/13 Annotated Bibliography Songer, Nancy Butler; Ben Kelcey; Amelie Wenk Gotwals.

2009. How and When Does Complex Reasoning Occur? Empirically Driven Development of a Learning Progression Focused on Complex Reasoning About Biodiversity. Journal of Research in Science Teaching. http://ehis.ebscohost.com.librarylink.uncc.edu/eds/detail?sid=9d8e97ed354d-4c87-af86-aca73835f221%40sessionmgr115&vid=2&hid=109 Songer covers the processes by which an alternative learning progression that is focused on critical thinking was created. This article begins by explaining the necessity for critical thinking in todays world and how students in the US are consistently less proficient at thinking critically than those in other countries. After this need for better critical thinking is established, the article moves on to defining what a learning progression is and how students could benefit from being taught in this way. Following this, the article goes into extensive detail as to how its new learning progression was formed and tested and the results/data that was collected proving its viability. This source seems to be very credible and even more thorough. It went to great lengths to properly define the problem and relevant definitions such as what a learning progression is

now and what they want to change it to. This article provides a large amount of both primary and secondary research that it used to substantiate its claims. So far, this article seems like it will be a very good source to use in my essay. One thing that it does particularly well is recognize and point out some of the shortfalls of the current teaching process and progression. This was pointed out so well so that the article could allow the reader to properly see the differences and improvements that it had made with its new learning progression. I think I will use the source to help me better define critical thinking and represent differences in curriculum and methods of teaching said curriculum. This article will also give me a plethora of applicable research that shows how US students are lacking in their critical thinking skills. American science and math students consistently demonstrate low test scores, and the science curricula and teacher preparation programs in K-12 science education are weak as compared to others industrialized countries. Recognizes the inherent presence and interconnection of content knowledge with inquiry reasoning. Therefore defining a learning progression as only content knowledge without consideration of inquiry reasoning is problematic. We chose evidence-based explanations as the core idea of our first inquiry reasoning progression.

Willingham, Daniel T. 2008. Critical Thinking: Why Is It So Hard To Teach? Art Education Policy Review. http://ehis.ebscohost.com.librarylink.uncc.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=8a4dd641 -b4ea-4644-9f9b-065430611faa%40sessionmgr111&vid=2&hid=109 This article begins by describing the sort of critical thinking movement that began in the 1990s. Daniel T. Willingham says that after a report released by the National Commission of Excellence in Education showed that most 17 year old US students we unable to use higher order intellectual skills. This brought on the widespread call for schools to better teach critical thinking skills. The article goes on the explain how this call for critical thinking and the programs that it spawned were not incredibly helpful and that this nation and educational system are still desperately in need of a workable method to teach kids how to think critically. Furthermore however, this article details why this task is an incredibly difficult one and why there hasnt been much improvement despite all of the effort and commotion. This source seems to be fairly reliable and concise. It provides a lot of background and perspective on the hot topic of critical thinking in our educational system. However, there arent nearly as many cited sources or use of sources in this article as in the previous one which leads me to think that this might slightly too opinionated. That said, the topic of this article isnt whats wrong with the system or how to fix it; this article discusses what makes critical thinking so difficult to teach which there seems to be a reasonable consensus on. I really like what this article says and the position it takes, that position being one of minimal bias. I think that I will be able to use this article to depict many of the speed bumps in

the way of teaching critical thinking. This article also provides a different perspective from the usually one sided view which only demand better critical thinking from students and can overlook the how, aspect of the argument. I think this added perspective will help to keep my essay unopinionated while also giving the reader some varying ideas and aspects on the situation. A student who has learned to thoughtfully discuss the causes of the American Revolution from both the British and American perspectives doesnt even think to question how the Germans viewed WWII. Typically, the students are focusing on the scenario that the word problem describes (its surface structure) instead of on the math required to solve it (its deep structure). After repeated exposure to either or both, the subject simply perceives the deep structure as part of the problem description. Duran Mesut and Sherkan Sendag. 2012. A Preliminary Investigation into Critical Thinking Skills of Urban High School Students: Role of an IT/STEM Program. Creative Education. http://ehis.ebscohost.com.librarylink.uncc.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=5893ce48 -bb86-4d73-9899-7641e9ac30b8%40sessionmgr115&vid=2&hid=109 This article begins in much the same way as How and When Does Complex Reasoning Occur, which is by examining how US students are lacking in the critical thinking skills. It shows that prior to the study, the urban high school students participating were in the ~20ith percentile when being tested for their critical thinking and reasoning abilities. After this, the

article then defines critical thinking as well as other skills and terms used in study. However, in this article, a current program for teaching and developing critical thinking is examined instead of creating a new process. In this case, the program is STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) which introduces students to these four subjects in many different ways that are unique an exciting. Its purpose is to get students involved in math and science to help foster a want to learn, so that the students might be more open, receptive, and excited about learning. I think that this article will be a good source for my essay because it provides great research and explanation relating to critical thinking and the measures being taken to teach it. This article seems to be a good contrast to the How and When Does Complex Reasoning Occur, article as it studies current programs geared toward teaching critical thinking skills. With this comparison, I can illustrate the many different solutions being attempted to improve the critical thinking and reasoning abilities of todays students. Also with this comparison, I can tie in the second article about why its so hard to teach critical thinking by showing that critical thinking is such an overarching skill and requires learning on many different levels and about many different knowledge bases. This source became unavailable after I had already used much of its content so instead of quotes, I will paraphrase.

Beachboard, Martine Robinson and John C. Beachboard. 2010. Critical Thinking Pedagogy and Student Perceptions of University Contributions to Their Academic Development. The International Journal of an Emerging Transdiscipline. http://ehis.ebscohost.com.librarylink.uncc.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=0b54528e -d9eb-403f-92c8-0c069f4255bc%40sessionmgr115&vid=7&hid=17 This article details a study that was conducted to assess whether or not universities are educating their students. This study was conducted to answer the question of whether or not students are being properly prepared for the real world; a world full of nonstop decision making and problem solving which both require a fundamental understanding and ability to apply critical thinking. Through many sources of data and surveys, this study found that the university students were being well educated in their use of critical thinking skills. It also showed that this improved ability to think critically greatly improved the stud ents preparation for jobs, and their readiness to participate in sectors such a government and industry. This source seems very credible and it is one of the only sources that Ive found that talks about whether or not students are being prepared for the next level of education of life. This study was done as a part of a national inquiry into how well universities are really working. It ended up showing more than that, it revealed just how much the critical thinking skills that students are learning prepares them for the real world. This study also took into account many different variables that might skew results such as gender, race, parental education, etc. This source was incredible thorough and well defined both the question and the answer.

I think I am going to use this article to assess the others in a way as well as to help define preparedness. My question is are students being prepared enough with regards to critical thinking for college? This study shows that college is doing a great of prepari ng students and teaching them to think critically but are we achieving similar results from high schools and if not, how can we? Brookfield, Stephen D. 2012. Teaching for Critical Thinking: Tools and Techniques to Help Students Question Their Assumptions. San Francisco: Jossy-Bass. Teaching for Critical Thinking is rather all encompassing in its discussion of critical thinking. The book touches on many of the key aspects that raise many questions about critical thinking such as its definition, its learning process, and its applications. The book begins by asking what critical thinking really is and follows by defining it. More interestingly to me, after the definition of critical thinking, the book discusses how critical thinking is learned in reality and cites many studies and surveys to show this. Teaching for Critical Thinking also talks about how critical thinking applies across disciplines and curricula. I like this book because it seems to be written well and in a way that is easy to read and understand. More importantly though, it covers all of its bases when talking about critical thinking which will allow me to get a broad and in depth understanding of critical thinking as opposed to some of my other sources which are more narrow and specific. I think that this source will be very helpful and beneficial in enabling me to provide a clear and full picture when I write my essay.

I think I will be able to use this source in many different ways. One being to fill in some of the blanks or overlooked assumptions by my other sources while another will be to give credible and specific research to show what critical thinking is. I think this book will also help substantiate some of the claims of my other sources, some of which might be slightly more opinionated rather than research based (not to say that they dont have research). This book will allow me to write a full, well rounded paper about critical thinking. The point of getting students to think critically is to get them to recognize, and question, the assumptions that determine how knowledge in that discipline is recognized as legitimate. Overwhelmingly, students pick out participating in small group activities as the most engaging moments in learning to think critically.