Educational Psychology: Effective Teaching, Effective Learning by Elliott, Kratochwill, Littlefield Cook & Travers
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1. Take the "personal learning style inventory" found at the Learning Strategies Web site (http://www.howtolearn.com/ndil3.html). What is your learning style? What do you think is the relationship between teacher and student learning styles? Why is it important for teachers to recognize the learning styles of their students?

2. Asking questions is a specific example of how teachers can help students improve their thinking skills. Imagine that you're creating a test for a specific subject area topic, such as the Civil War. Use each of the six categories of Bloom's Taxonomy to generate test questions about your chosen topic. Use the chart on p. 299 of your text and the Bloom's Taxonomy Web site (http://www.valdosta.peachnet.edu/~whuitt/psy702/cogsys/bloom.html) to help you complete this exercise.

3. How could you use Gardner's multiple intelligences model in the classroom to enhance your students' problem solving skills? Visit Multiplying Intelligence in the Classroom (http://www.newhorizons.org/art_miclsrm.html) to view one teacher's approach to applying multiple intelligences in an elementary classroom. In what ways do you think this teacher's students improved their problem solving skills?

4. Choose one of the "remodeled lesson plans" from The Critical Thinking Community: Teacher Resources (http://www.sonoma.edu/CThink/K12/k12class/trc.nclk). What specific problem solving skills do you think this lesson would enhance in your students? What are some other ways you could "remodel" the lesson to improve students' critical thinking and problem solving skills?

5. Review the "Characteristics of Creative Children" on pages 320-321 of your text. What can teachers do to foster these characteristics in children and adolescents? How do you think the use of time, space, materials, classroom environment, and community experiences could influence creativity? (See the Encouraging Creativity Web sites at http://www.ericeece.org/reggio/edward95.html.)

   Focus on TIPS

6. Study the TIPS ON LEARNING on page 305 of your text. Develop another set of strategies that you could implement in the classroom for helping students with their thinking skills. What specific thinking skills would be fostered in your students through the application of these strategies?

Focus on the Case Study

How well do you think Mark is engaging Karim in meaningful problem solving? What kinds of strategies would you recommend to Mark for integrating a focus on problem solving in his instruction? In what ways would your strategies engage Karim in his studies? (See The Critical Thinking Community: Teacher Resources at http://www.sonoma.edu/CThink/K12/k12class/trc.nclk.)

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