31 Putting It Together: Thinking and Analysis
April Ring
This chapter explored concepts about how we think and introduced strategies to build intellectual rigor through metacognition, deep learning, critical and creative thinking skills. Thinking is a skill, and by continuing to practice these strategies, your ability to problem-solve; connect ideas; identify faulty arguments; innovate; and, indeed, self-improve will set you apart in school, work, and life.
Looking back to Gerald’s challenge: he no longer studies just to acquire new knowledge. He reflected on how he studied and started text-coding during his reading assignments. He imagined historical events from different perspectives and worked to identify bias in information and his own assumptions. He created practice questions that challenged him to apply and analyze ideas, relating them to other concepts he’d leaned. When someone made a claim, he used logic to determine whether the reasoning was good or bad. In short, Gerald practiced metacognition, deep learning strategies, and critical and creative thinking.
