Education for Thinking

by Deanna Kuhn

What do we want schools to accomplish? The only defensible answer, Deanna Kuhn argues, is that they should teach students to use their minds well, in school and beyond. Bringing insights from research in developmental psychology to pedagogy, Kuhn maintains that inquiry and argument should be at the center of a "thinking curriculum"—a curriculum that makes sense to students as well as to teachers and develops the skills and values needed for lifelong learning. We have only a brief window of opportunity in children's lives to gain (or lose) their trust that the things we ask them to do in school are worth doing. Activities centered on inquiry and argument—such as identifying features that affect the success of a music club catalog or discussing difficult issues like capital punishment—allow students to appreciate their power and utility as they engage in them. Most of what students do in schools today simply does not have this quality. Inquiry and argument do. They are education for life, not simply more school, and they offer a unifying purpose for compulsory schooling as it serves an ever more diverse and challenging population.

Genres: Education, Nonfiction

218 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[layam · Rating 1 out of 5]

NO ES MALO pero si no fuera por el electivo nunca lo habria querido leer y me aburri por eso y em estrese y estaba triste y no quieria leer pero no queria llegar mañana sin haber leido el libro y me cago aun mas el dia y me duelen los ojos xq solo estaba online y no entendi mucho y fue una mala experiencia d lectura y y y y y

[Martina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rescato la propuesta linda de educación. Pero era como un gran ensayo PAES como me dijo mi amigo Liam, y estuve estresada toda la mañana y triste por 6 horas seguidas, odie tanto este libro por la experiencia de lectura que no puedo ponerle más estrellas, lo siento mucho Deanna kuhn

[Zdravko · Rating 5 out of 5]

here's the best proposal for educational reform that i've seen. to teach thinking, teach inquiry and argument. the author doesn't go as far as to advocate abandoning the traditional content-based curriculum (which should be at least significantly reevaluated), but she emphasizes skills-based approach where students interact with a phenomenon (usually via a simulated model) to determine its causal structure (to teach inquiry), or with each other (to teach argument skills).

the book is on the academic side, and there's a lot of detailed description of their research activities, which can be skipped, but are still interesting to read in their own right.

[Phil Marcoccia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and simple to understand. Some of Kuhn's ideas coincide with the likes of John Dewey's theories on education and democracy. Reading these two simultaneously has been an interesting experience.