Designing Critical Challenges

Six Types of Critical Challenges

Prompts Critique the piece Judge the better or Rework the piece Decode the puzzle Design to specs Perform to specs Students assess the merits/ shortcomings of a best Students transform a product or Students suggest and justify a Students develop a product that Students perform or undertake person, product or performance (which may be performance in light of additional proposed solution, explanation or meets a given set of a course of action that meets a Students judge from teacher-provided or student-produced). information or an assigned focus, interpretation to a confusing or given set of criteria/conditions. among two or more criteria/conditions. perspective, genre, etc. options (teacher-provided enigmatic situation. or student-generated) which best meets the identified criteria. Englis • Determine the appropriate punctuation for this • In Hamlet, who is the • Write two editorials—one • Deconstruct the message • Prepare briefing notes for the • Develop and implement a “stripped-down” version of the song Galileo. more noble character: supporting, another refuting— embedded in the ads. premier on today’s news, that realistic action plan to pursue h/ • Is My Left Foot an appropriate choice of novel Laertes or Hamlet? that the charge of the Light • Using corroborating references are relevant, comprehensive your writing priorities for this langua for study in high school? • Is the Wolf in The True Brigade was "That glorious from elsewhere in the story, and succinct. term. ge arts Story of the Three Little blunder of which all explain the author’s message in • Create an anti-smoking poster • Perform the assigned role Pigs good or bad? Englishmen are justifiably this section. using four persuasive expressing at least three • Which of the student proud. techniques. feelings developed interpretations of the poem is the most compelling? Science • Are the results of this experiment to be trusted? • Who has the greatest • Given data on the behaviour of • Based on the findings from the • Build a structure using the • Conduct an experiment with • Is the information on this web site credible? mind: da Vinci, Newton an object in earth’s gravity, simulated dig of dinosaur remains, materials provided that will paper airplanes to establish • Are the special effects in the clip from or Einstein? reconstruct the results if this write a short account explaining achieve the specified results. which design variations (nose Armageddon based on sound physics? • The earth is overdue to object was on Mars. what occurred on this site. • Design a habitat for a weight, pager size, stiffness, be struck by a heavenly classroom pet that meets all of shape) result in the farthest object. Which should we the animal’s needs. flight. fear the most—being hit by a meteor, an asteroid or a comet? Social • How powerful are our proposed questions of the • Which is the more • Rewrite an historical account • Find a powerful metaphor that • Create six questions for an • Make a lasting contribution to WWII guest? effective form of using the “Role-Audience- characterizes an aspect of end-of-unit exam that are someone else’s life. Studies • Does the textbook provide a fair and adequate transportation in the Format-Topic-Strong verb” Canadian life. clear, non-trivial, manageable • Mount an information account of what actually happened? Arctic: the dog sled or the framework. • Identify and support with evidence and require more than mere campaign to boycott products snowmobile? • Given the information, the R-A-F-T-S in a fellow recall of information. of companies that exploit • Should your family provided, write a letter of student’s writing. their workers. move to Weyburn or reference for Thomas More. Prince George? • Which of the nominees is the most impressive legacy of ancient Egypt? Math- • Are the Ministry of Education’s conclusions • Think of three methods • Convert the following patterns • A hemispherical bowl with radius • Design a four-panel cartoon • Lead a small group through an about student performance warranted by the data of estimating the sum of into an algebraic expression. of 20 cm contains water to a depth that explains in a humourous activity to help them ematic presented in the table? money in a stack of of 4 cm. To what angle must the but effective manner key understand the concept of one s dollars bills. Which bowl be titled before water spills? features of an assigned million. would be the most mathematical concept (e.g., efficient and yet still be numerator). highly accurate? Music • Does Beethoven’s Fr Elise deserve to be one of • Considering the duet of • Transform the binary piece, (a • Find a powerful metaphor to • Write a limerick where the first • Perform the assigned piece, Develop the most famous piano pieces? Would you rate Pavarotti and Sting piece they can play), you have describe the period in music line contains a composer’s expressing at least three it as 4-star piece, 3-star or less? performing Schubert’s learned into a ternary piece, history that is currently being name and the remaining lines feelings. ed • Is Bartk’s Concerto For Orchestra an appropriate Ave Maria, which keeping the general studied. describe the composer’s style • Practice the assigned piece, byNancy choice for detailed study in Grade 12 Music? performance is the better characteristics of the A • For each of the following musical and attributes. expressing at least four Olfert, example of a Romantic section. examples, identify the musical era • Build an instrument according feelings. Choose two feelings Bob song performance? • Write your own permutation of to which each belongs. to the details and criteria to use in your performance for Rice, • As a Canadian Idol judge, an assigned tone row • Find the second statement tone row provided. the class. Sharon create your own persona (inverted, transposed, in the first movement of Webern’s • Create a radio script to • Launch a school-wide media Reynold and performance retrograde). Five Pieces for Orchestra. introduce two contrasting campaign to extol the virtues s, criteria. Analyse two genres of music to a listening of school music programs. Luanne performances and audience of non-musicians. pronounce your Schluete judgment. r • Would your family’s musical needs be better met by moving to Havana or Vienna? © The Critical Thinking Consortium 2005

2 Designing Critical Challenges

Critique the piece Judge the Rework the piece Decode the puzzle Design to specs Perform to specs Students assess the merits/ shortcomings of a person, better or best Students transform a product or performance in Students suggest and justify a Students develop a product that Students perform or undertake a product or performance (which may be teacher- light of additional information or an assigned proposed solution, explanation or meets a given set of course of action that meets a given Students judge from provided or student-produced). focus, perspective, genre, etc. interpretation to a confusing or set of criteria/conditions. among two or more criteria/conditions. options (teacher- enigmatic situation. Outcome provided or student- generated) which best meets the identified criteria.