Critical Attributes strategy
1. What is critical attributes strategy?
The critical attributes teaching strategy focuses on identifying essential ideas of a concept to discourage the creation of inaccurate concepts which may lead to inadequate ideas. “Teaching children to distinguish the noncritical and critical attributes is a systematic strategy that leads to the most accurate conceptualization and sound decision making.” (Page 42) Systematically and rationally analyzing concepts allow new information to be synthesized correctly without bias.
2. Develop a critical attributes list of the concepts in your current event topic. List the content, definitions, and examples. What are some non critical attributes? Current event topic: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Concepts: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Landfills, natural resources.
Definitions:
Reduce: We need to reduce the amount of the earth's resources we use to make products which may not be essential. Reducing the amount of consumption of store bought products on a daily basis.
Reuse: We need to adopt the habit of reusing products. Don't just throw an item away, instead, why not see if a friend, relative, or charity can make use of the item. Many items can be used for projects and creative ideas
Recycle: process of re-using a given product (beyond its intended use), or producing a new product from a recyclable material. We need to be able to identify old products which could be made into something new. Is the product recyclable?
Landfill: A method of solid waste disposal in which refuse is buried between layers of dirt so as to fill in or reclaim low-lying ground.
Natural Resources: A material source of wealth, such as timber, fresh water, oil, gas or a mineral deposit, occurring in a natural state and has economic value.
Examples:
Non-critical attributes: fallacies of thinking: Global Warming is not occurring so we don’t need to change anything. I recycle everything I buy even if it is band new (not reusing or reducing consumption and therefore producing unnecessary waste.
3. What is your level of passion in this topic and/or your detached objectivity?
I am very passionate about saving the earth’s delicate environment. The need to reduce, reuse and recycle is rooted against the very origins of our consumer based society. Educating students about the harmful effects of human activity on our climate and habitats can set a path of improvement.
4. Do you think a level of passion gets you more fired up to want to learn it? How can this be tempered and harnessed at the same time? (Duplass pg.41 and reference to topic 3 on social emotional learning) explain.
The passion for a subject or topic definitely gets me fired up to learn. This same passion based motivational drive is crucial to engaging students in any lesson or activity. Collaborating ideas and being open to new ideas is part of the learning process. “Everyone’s perspective deserves to be aired and examined” (page 41) even if their beliefs are drastically different. “The emphasis on thoughtful, considerate, detached, objective analysis and discussion of history, cultures, (and) current events” (page 41) are crucial to the development of social and emotional learning and detached objectivity. This balance of self-interest and the public good rests on the recognition and management of their emotions and behaviors (page 20). A students’ perspective can be tempered, or have a certain disposition based on personal experiences. The students’ perspective can also be harnessed or controlled based on the views of society.
5. How can you avoid a discussion in your classroom becoming a debate? (bottom page 41)
Discussions of personal beliefs can sometimes turn into a debate. During a teacher led discussion we can avoid a debate by emphasizing the use of “thoughtful, deliberate analysis of facts and concepts…to ensure they understand that any issue has multiple perspectives that they should thoughtfully consider.”(page 41). Simply understanding that not everyone has the same views is crucial to social studies instruction because it is part of living in the real world. Modeling the thought process of a thoughtful person who solves problems systematically is a good first step.
6. Take the four challenges, and develop four questions you would ask to facilitate a discussion in our class on Tuesday on your topic.
1. Where does trash go if we do not reduce, reuse and recycle? A landfill
2. How are landfills hurting our environment? Landfill areas are filled with junk, paper, plastic and waste that could harm the soil as well as the ecosystems within the environment.
3. How can I stop contributing to landfills? Reduce, Reuse and Recycle all “trash” materials.
4. How can I reduce, reuse and recycle? You can reduce the amount of things you buy every day, reducing waste in landfills. You can reuse things by giving them to other people, schools, organizations or you can use the materials for fun projects!
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