News

Educators Demand Thinking in Schools...Again

July 9th, 2008

Ithaca, NY - Educational Leadership, a national magazine for leadership in education, emphasizes the need for schools to focus on teaching thinking skills.  This idea is not new: the magazine devoted an entire issue to the topic of thinking earlier this year.  The recent summer edition revisits the issue, with great discussion about the way thinking is taught to students of every age.

As one educator from Virginia states,  "Clearly, students should be learning more than just the content we teach today.  Whether they're exploring one topic in-depth or thinking about Big Ideas, they need timeless skills, plus the ability to transfer those skills to any domain.  It's a big challenge, but our future depends on meeting it."

Editor Marge Scherer writes about a recent professional development session in which participants listed the most important skills for their students.   At the end of a spirited discussion, the educators had a long list of ideas.  But "in a world where teachers cannot teach every student what each will need," Scherer writes, "thinking skills" was at the top of everyone's list.

This was no surprise to ThinkWorks COO Dr. Laura Colosi.  "In every school district we visit, teachers and administrators know that content alone will not prepare students for their future," she said.  "It's the mastery of content and development of essential and important thinking skills that enables students to pass tests in school and pass the tests of life."

About Educational Leadership: A monthly publication of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, this magazine offers research and viewpoints to over 175,000 educational leaders.  In addition to school-based educators, the magazine has a large audience of curriculum designers and superintendents.