Use of Technology to Reinforce Critical Thinking Skills in a 7/8th Grade social studies setting.
differentiate, categorize, analyze, synthesize, and reform data with an emphasis on deduction and inference. Critical thinking skills require an elevation of the thought process to the metacognitive level - that of thinking about thinking (Gocsik, 1997). In the formation of these thought structures, the critical thinker is developing a paradigm in which the way in which the person thinks comes into scrutiny, not what the person is actually thinking about. Therefore, unlike some learning skills which are simply learned patterns (such as reading from left to right/top to bottom, or the process of addition) critical thinking skills are able to be applied in virtually any situation, any subject, and any context in which a person finds themselves. What our education system bases much of its teaching precepts upon is helping students to develop their individual critical thinking skills in all areas of the curriculum so that those skills become generalized throughout the continuum of the student's academic and personal life. It is the purpose of this paper to examine the techniques and strategies that encourage the higher level thinking skills with the assistance of technology. The paper is followed by an example lesson plan that is developed upon these concepts
