NECC: Teaching Thinking with Technology
How can technology be used for something greater than information gathering or personal productivity? Intel believes that they have an answer in their online Thinking Tools. Intel’s committment to education is focused on constructivism, as is clearly demonstrated in this Seymour Papert quote on their web site: “Better learning will not come from finding better ways for the teacher to instruct but from giving the learner better opportunities to construct.” Their Thinking Tools can allow students flexibility and power in constructing their own learning.
Three free online tools are available: Visual Ranking Tool, Seeing Reason Tool, and the Showing Evidence Tool. The Visual Ranking Tool allows students to rank order their ideas about a particular idea or topic. Once they have placed their thoughts in order, they can comment on why they chose that order. One of the most powerful features in the tool is a comparison feature which will visually show the corellation of one order to that of another. This could open room for even further discussion, or allow students to create their own broad, overarching questions about a topic.
The Seeing Reason Tool looks like Inspiration on the surface, allowing students to create a web of ideas. An added feature is the ability to draw relationships between the ideas - what influence does one have on the other? This is represented by arrows in varying thicknesses.
The Showing Evidence Tool guides students through developing an argument. Students gather information about various views on an issue, then document and analyze those sources, finally making a determination about various views on the issue.
Intel has provided teachers with lots of resources for each tool: example lessons, example units, a demonstration, and ideas on how to integrate the tools into original lessons. I found this to be a very productive workshop. I can see teachers using the tools, but I can also see myself using them in a professional development experience. I liked how the focus was on good teaching: developing good questions, focusing on big ideas. I’m sure Intel will keep adding to these interactive online thinking tools.
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