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  • Home
  • Outcomes
    • Critical Thinking & Problem Solving
    • Character
    • Collaboration & Communication
  • Instructional Practices
    • Arts Integration
    • Critique
    • Problem-Based Tasks in Math
    • Student-Led Conferences
    • Student-Led IEPs
    • Learning Expeditions
  • Events
  • Blog
  • CAREERS
  • Contact

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​
​Critical thinking 
&
 problem solving

"The illiterate of the 21st Century are not those that cannot read or write, but those that cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn."

Alvin Toffler, Author and Futurist
How do we define critical thinking and problem solving?

We use the term “expert thinking” to refer to critical thinking and problem solving.  Expert thinking involves developing a deep fund of knowledge that students can apply in a variety of settings beyond a single discipline.  Expert thinking skills may be applied in a particular way in a biology class, but the same skills can transfer to a literature class or to jobs in our modern economy.  Expert thinking includes the ability to analyze information and formulate creative solutions to complex problems.

Specifically, we identify five core components of expert thinking:
  1. ​Schema Development: The ability to learn vast amounts of information and organize it in ways that are useful for understanding
  2. Decision Making: The ability to identify options for a choice, to articulate criteria for evaluating those options, and to evaluate those options based on the articulated criteria
  3. Effective Reasoning: The ability to create claims and support them with logical evidence
  4. Problem Solving: The ability to identify the key questions in a problem, develop possible paths to a solution, and follow through with a solution
  5. Creativity and Innovation: The ability to formulate new ideas that are useful within a particular context
Further Reading
The New Division of Labor: How Computers Are Creating the Next Job Market by Frank Levy and Richard Murnane
External Resources
  • ​Partnership for 21st Century Learning
  • Deeper Learning Network
  • EL Education
  • ​MyWays from Next Generation Learning Challenges
Two Rivers Public Charter School's mission is to nurture a diverse group of students to become lifelong, active participants in their own education, develop a sense of self and community, and become responsible and compassionate members of society.
Learn With Two Rivers is supported by a generous grant from the Office of the State Superintendent of Education to support the dissemination of best practices with DC-area educators. 
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