Apple Elements of Learning - Critical Thinking

This post is as much informational as it is for me to synthesize my own understanding of the Elements of Learning. Plus if I do it every day that's 5 days of writing that I don't have to brainstorm a new idea. 

The 5 Elements of Learning are: 

Teamwork

Communication and Creation

Personalized Learning

Critical Thinking

Real-World Engagement

A note about the Elements of Learning. Apple's research shows that students that come from classrooms with the 5 Elements of Learning are highly effective learners and the technology just amplifies that learning. 

Element # 4 - Critical Thinking

Critical thinking tasks should involve open-ended questions with multiple correct answers or nonroutine problems. Students should be engaging in lessons that are characterized by one or more of the following: analysis, interpretation, synthesis, evaluation, or generating solutions. Some of these are higher-order thinking skills according to Bloom's Taxonomy. 

https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/blooms-taxonomy

In these lessons, critical thinking should be the main activity.  The place in the lesson where students spend most of their time and are where they are assessed. These lessons should also include intellectual independence. This is where students are responsible for figuring out the solution to the learning challenge and thinking deeply about related issues. Excerpt From: Apple Education. “Elements of Learning.” Apple Inc. - Education, 2018. Apple Books.  https://books.apple.com/us/book/elements-of-learning/id136798126. They don't need to create knowledge that is new to the world, just new to them. 

In an example given by Apple, students read multiple news articles about the challenges of providing medical translations to those who speak English as their second language.  Then students compare and contrast different policies around medical translation and come up with a proposal for new policies. 

I think this is may be the most difficult to do especially in primary classrooms. As of late, I'm not seeing a lot of open-ended questions that are being asked to be solved with higher-order thinking skills. I'm sure this can be done in any subject area but I feel like a good place to start would be a science or STEM classroom. 

Excerpt From: Apple Education. “Elements of Learning.” Apple Inc. - Education, 2018. Apple Books. https://books.apple.com/us/book/elements-of-learning/id136798126